I have been in Cameroon for about two weeks now as a Peace Corps Trainee. I have been in Cameroon for a lot longer than two weeks. My calendar lies.

There just aren't enough cliches or movie references to cut it for this one. I'm going to have to actually attempt to describe what I've been seeing, feeling, eating, and learning during my time thus far in Africa. In actual words. Ca sera difficile.

We spent maybe five days in the capital city of Yaounde essentially quarantined in a hotel for what I assume to be safety reasons. (We've come to assume a lot, and we've come to make asses of ourselves.) There are, I think, fifty-three volunteers-to-be in total. There are twelve of us in the new youth development program (aka "The Dazzling Dozen"). The contagion wasn't so bad, however, as we had introductions, orientations, meetings, vaccinations, African dance groups. Normal stuff. The short amount of time we spent in Philadelphia for staging and Yaounde for official stuff was enough time for it to become apparent that we have an amazing group of people. Most of us are fresh out of college, a few have fairly extensive work experience, and several have Master's degrees or are working on one. I would estimate the average age is 23, but I'm a really bad estimater. I also taught a couple of Zumba classes at the hotel! That was fantastic and extremely useful for overcoming jetlag and the general malaise caused by spending five days in one building.

On our last day in the capital we were given our homestay assignments, water filters, and a less-than-inspiring speech about safety precautions from a US embassy official. (The night before we also met the US ambassador to Cameroon at our PC country director's house in Yaounde.) We then hopped on a bus to Bafia, a medium-sized town about two hours away where we are now training (aka "stage") and will continue until December when we swear-in as volunteers. My homestay family is great. I have a mother, father, grandmother, two younger brothers, a cat, and a dog who shares a name with my biological sister, Rayna. I haven't told the dog yet, but my sister was pretty excited about it. My parents are primary school teachers and my brothers are high school aged. My grandma has a small stand near our house where she sells bread and other food items and drinks. Our home is not at all what I was expecting. We have a tv, refridgerator, modern living room and bedrooms (well, modern concrete with leaky ceilings and questionable electric work) with beds, and if those aren't enough--electricity. Coolest of all, we could actually manage without the last one. But it is allowing me to type on my laptop, though there is no internet chez moi, so I'll try not to jinx it. It's a very nice house and a wonderful family and I am fortunate to be living here. But I know what you really want to know... the toilet. First of all, there is one. And a bathing area. You just have to pour the water from buckets to use either one. I am already completely accustomed to both of them and, seriously guys, I prefer bucket baths. The cold water is refreshing in this African heat and we save so much water. The water from the well by our house is safe to bathe with, but drinking water I have to filter and decontaminate with chlorine bleach. The alternative is contracting amoebic dysentery, cholera, and/or a bunch of diseases I can't pronounce that equal diarrhea. I'm also on anti-malaria prophylaxis (which happens to make me even more sensitive to sunlight. Yeah, that's right. It's possible.) and sleep with a mosquito net tucked nice and snug under my mattress to avoid whatever creatures walk/fly the night here (our curfew is 7 pm, but I'm pretty sure there are creatures.) The reality is I will probably have contracted all of these diseases and more by the time I complete service, but they are all treatable and the Peace Corps will pay. My family, neighbors, and future coworkerks/kids and neighbors may not be as fortunate, which is the truly tough part.

We have traning six days a week (Saturday is a half-day) which includes language (French plus another language for some of us once we receive our assignments), cross-culture, and technical training. In addition, we have sessions on health and safety from time-to-time. For the most part, training has gone well. I'm going to reserve explanations and opinions on this for a later entry. I was placed in advanced-mid French, so I have already met the language requirement and will definitely start learning another language before stage is over. It has been immensely helpful to have learned a lot of French before coming here. Some of us had absolutely no background in francais before arriving, and it's a grueling (though rewarding) process. If I'm placed in the southwest, I will also learn Pidgin English. If north, probably Fulfulde. Some volunteers in other regions will use mostly French. There are well over 200 languages in Cameroon anyway, so I'm not even going to speculate. As a youth development trainee, I live and train in Bafia with the agroforestry trainees (agros). The health trainees (santes) live and train in a nearby town called Bokito. Altogether, we are... awesome. I've already met some people who I could not soon forget and every one of us has something unique and useful to contribute. I think that's pretty cool.

I don't actually own a calendar, so that might be the problem. It's not actually a problem though because, as long as some of the days have seemed, every one of them has been a joy and a priviledge. I'm really happy to be able to say that. There is so much to be said for what is to come, but I'm not psychic so you'll have to wait like everyone else.

A friend of mine, another trainee, recently sent me a text: "ever just realize you're in #*^&!@ Africa?"

My response: "as you sent that my mom ran into the living room to show me the chicken she just decapitated."

Yeah, they killed it right outside my window. After bringing it home alive in a bag next to some rice. "Aujourd'hui j'ai achete un poulet au marche..." "Ah, ouais? C'est bien" "...VIVANT!" "......."

We played football today with some local kids and my brother behind our favorite boutique ("la boutique bleu") and some of the other trainees taught them to play whiffle ball. My new friend Steve, an eight year old Cameroonian boy, dubbed us Team Barcelone. I don't know professional football that well, but I imagine the real Team Barcelone wouldn't be too proud of our performance today. If a career in pro foot doesn't work out for me, we're also hoping Hide-and-Goat-Seek will catch on soon (merci, Georgie). But that game is not always as sporting as it seems because the goat is usually tied to that one tree.

I wouldn't trade interactions like these for anything. And the food is fantastic!

Charla

C'est ça! This is my blog. I'm moving to Africa in three days as a member of the Peace Corps to serve as a youth development coordinator in Cameroon. Cameroon is my home for the next 27 months.

I wrote my first post back in May with the intention of keeping this updated throughout the time left in my application process with the Peace Corps. I got my invitation a fews days later and totally forgot about it. My bad, guys.

Skip ahead four months...

Staging is just 24 hours and a wake up away... so I should be asleep, but I am a time-waster won't have another chance to update before I arrive in Cameroon on Friday so I wanted to get this thing going. Staging is an intense orientation which the entire training class will attend in Philadelphia the day before we fly out to Cameroon. I'm departing Pensacola bright and early Wednesday morning, connecting in Atlanta, and will arrive in Philly later that day where I will be until Thursday. Then it's across the pond til we transfer in Brussels for a flight to Yaoundé, the capital city of Cameroon.

I'll make entries here as often as I can, but I won't have constant access to the internet during the first three months when we train (and possibly very rarely after that), so if I'm not responding to comments/emails then brush the dust off that ol' pen and pad to jot this down:

Charla HoughPeace Corps TraineeCorps de la Paix

B.P. 215Yaoundé, Cameroon

Boys and girls, this is a mailing address. This will be my address for the first 10 weeks with my host family, after which I will move to post and provide you guys with another one. I'm really excited about the prospect of sending/receiving letters, so go crazy! Remember that letters take generally anywhere from two to six weeks to reach me from the States. They can also fall off the face of the Earth, so maybe make copies and number them sequentially (or randomly if we're really having fun). Expect at least a month for packages (was that a subtle enough request for presents?), insure them if possible, and draw crosses on them (Walmart also has decorative stickers). For sheezy, religious symbols increase the likelihood that I will receive it with everything still inside. As nice as empty boxes can be for storing garbage and occupying small children and cats, I would much prefer the original contents. I've heard writing in red ink helps it move along as well. 

Thank you to everyone for the overwhelming support. I love you all. See you later!

Charla

Oooookay.

With the hope that my experiences with the Peace Corps application process could actually be helpful to others in some way, I've created a blog. I'm also doing this so as not to go completely berzerk while waiting to hear where I may spend the next two years of my life. I'll be updating this page throughout the time remaining in my application process and, should I receive and accept an invitation, during my work abroad!

Whether your reasons for joining me be information-seeking (you're probably in the wrong place) or entertainment-searching (laughing with me, not at, right?): Welcome! If you are a friend or family member: I am still in the country, folks. Don't you have better things to do with your time? Like hang out with me?

Charla