Oops, forgot the pictures! Don't forget to scroll past them to the post that explains them!

Spelling out the school initials

At the dance!

Traditional dancing

The football final

The kickoff!

Oops, forgot the pictures! Don't forget to scroll past them to the post that explains them!

Spelling out the school initials

At the dance!

Traditional dancing

The football final

The kickoff!

Getting the hair "did"

Sexy ladies of Manyu!

The whole crew!

At the club...

That's just how I roll...

At the request of Grandma Helen (love you!) here's a much awaited update.

Life continues in Mamfe as it does everywhere. I've come to the conclusion that I'm experiencing something like second year volunteer guilt, along the lines of “crap, I only have a few months left! Should probably try to develop this place, or something!” To that effect, I've been working hard and playing hard (er?). So, I'm teaching a lot of normal hours, as I said. Teacher computer literacy classes are getting off the ground, with 2 teachers coming as regularly as the power is on, and several others who keep saying they will come, and who hopefully will at some point. I'm teaching basic word processing, to one, and working on basic Excel for gradebook purposes with the other. It's fun, and the two guys are definitely motivated, which is nice.

I've also started something like a tutoring program for the students in my science classes that are failing miserably. I'm attempting to do something along the lines of “reading in the content areas” instruction, as these are the kids that really just cannot read. We'll see how it goes, second tests are supposed to come up next week, if there's any improvement in performance, I'll be happy about it!

On the computer front, I think I've decided that torching the lab might be my best (read: least frustrating) option. The introduction of a few teachers with their own internet USB keys has made virus fighting a painfully difficult process, the record so far is 596 on one computer. I've been spending hours and hours working on the office computers, as the secretary and accountant really do need to have fully functional machines working for them. Unfortunately, Jared (my tech genius volunteer across town) and I haven't been able to manage to get a good copy of an operating system burned onto a disc, so all the reformatting that desperately needs to happen has been put on hold. The principal keeps talking about putting internet in for the entire computer lab, something that would be a blessing and a curse at the same time.

The power has also been extremely unsteady for the month of October, it's probably on 2-3 days a week on average, which means that some of the students are really getting ready to mutiny at some point, since they've missed so many lab days. Very frustrating. Oh, and I had my first near-actual electrical fire today, sparks were flying I'm pretty sure I saw actual flames, and way more smoke than usual. Cool.

So, that's the update on work, now for the update on play, since I've been doing a lot of that too! First, Teacher's Day was once again a good time this year. I marched in front of the grandstand, past all the important people, and I don't think I did too bad of a job—don't forget that marching is taken very seriously here! The school staff had lunch and drinks following the march, a little bit of spontaneous dancing, and a general good time. See pictures below!

Then, there was the school feast weekend. It kicked off Thursday with the Bishop giving mass in the morning, classes closed early on Thursday and Friday for the students to prepare themselves. Friday evening saw the Inter-house (think Harry Potter houses) quiz, speech competition, singing competition (painful, unfortunately), and the always delightful Miss QRC competition (which I judged again). Saturday, we had various sports, including your's truly kicking off the Football final. The evening was capped off by the whole school dance, which featured some very *ahem* stylish clothing worn by all the young ladies. I was seen busting a few moves myself, and Jessica and Jeneca joined me at the school to watch Miss QRC. Sunday began with Mass (yes, that's 2 masses for me in one week), and then the traditional dance and choral singing competitions, which were very well done by all the houses (when you can throw the word “laxity” into a song, you know you've done well). Someday, you'll be able to see videos of those things....

And then there's the other type of playing...The Manyu cluster has decided that we are scheduling a self-imposed break from the local nightclub, because we've been there 3 times in the last month. That's just too much good times. (and it's expensive). In any case, the biggest event there of late was my very own 90% of 30th birthday party! (that's 27). It started Friday with my good friend Stella giving up her day to do my hair in twists, which look fabulous, though they're starting to fall out faster than I would have hoped for (yes Melissa, she did boil them). Saturday, the girls and Jared took a shopping trip deep into the bowels of the Mamfe clothing market, and came out with some real treasures. Our goal was to look “nice” according to Cameroonian fancy Western dress standards, but scandalous according to our own. Mission accomplished. We got sooooo many compliments that night, through we probably shouldn't have stopped by that wedding....Anyway, we started the evening at Stanson's house in town, we made chicken tacos/fajitas (what's the difference?), and yes, that means we had to start with a live chicken, thankfully George, one of the best cooks around, dealt with that. We also made some AWESOME refried beans, and a huge mess of Spanish rice. And Cameroonians ate the food and LIKED it! So, gold star to Manyu division for some Goal 2 work. The theme of the party was fiesta, so thanks have to go out to Stanson for providing the Tequila....

From Stanson's, we made an ill-considered pit stop at a wedding (sooooo not appropriate, George, what were you thinking!), and then proceeded to the night club, where things, as they tend to do at the club, got a little silly. Danced the night away, my calves were killing me the next day, and I think a good time was had by all.

Next day, Jessica and I had some actual work to do too, which was perhaps also ill-advised....but it went well. We've been working with a cyclist union (read: moto taxi drivers) to teach them basic First Aid skills, so that if they are the first on the scene of an accident, as they may very well be, they can at least not cause any further harm, and hopefully provide some help. Sunday was the final class where we were to present their First Aid kits, and they were so grateful and cute when they got their stuff, it was really nice to see. We've been invited to become something like adjunct members in their union, what that means is that we'll get to wear their official uniform (matching fabric), to any occasion they are present at, which is really too sweet of them. It's been a really fun project, and it was nice to see the guys so happy about the conclusion of it. Less fun was the required cup of palm wine....but we managed.

And that's where I'm at now. 7 months to go, looking forward to all of them! If you've sent a package, it's probably still in Yaounde, cause that's just how things go during the rainy season in Mamfe...bummer, but I'm surviving. If you're thinking of sending anything from here on out, I can pretty much promise that it will be faster if you send it to my Dad and have him carry it in December. Let me know, and I'll see what can be arranged.

Also, keep checking back here, very soon there should be a link to our Books for Africa project that I mentioned last time—we're just waiting for PC approval, which should be forthcoming.

Love to everyone, I miss you all, I love you all, and I'd love to hear from you all! Keep in touch!

Ok, yes, it's been too long. Working on it!!! Here's the “summer wrap-up”: Bafia is pretty much my least favorite city in Cameroon. Dirty water, no good street food, rude people (French speakers screaming “F*** you!”? Seriously??), nearly as hot as Mamfe...yeah, not a cool place. But, that's where Peace Corps (in their wisdom) held training for the newest group of volunteers this summer. So I got to hang out there for a month with them. Nothing too exciting to report—basically a rerun of last year's training, only that I'm on the flipside. Upgrade: allowed to drink more than one beer. Downgrade: responsibility. In any case, I hope I never have to go there again, at least so I don't get pinkeye again. Holy cow! Worst pinkeye ever—I felt like I had leprosy. Then it got better, because the eyedrops were orange, like fluorescent road worker vest orange. Cool. Came back to Mamfe the first week of August, and was SOOO happy to be back! Highlights of August included: hanging out with a group of motorcycle taxi-boys and teaching them First Aid with Jessica (taking off a latex glove is JUST close enough to a condom demo to incite laughter). Going to a football tournament, also with Jessica, in her village. This involved cheering, being taught what “off-sides” is, and a lot of drinking. Hanging out with Stella, my friend in Okoyong in case you forgot, and just general relaxing before getting ready for school to start. And now the school term is in full swing! My school had excellent results in the national exams, and has experienced an enrollment boost that can likely be attributed to those results. And as a result of that, I'm teaching 21 periods this year, as opposed to 16 last year. I've dropped two levels of computer (thank goodness!), but picked up Chemistry for Form 1 (about 6th grade). There are two classes of Form 1, so it's a lot! But the curriculum isn't too bad, the kids are squirrely and can't really read very well, but I'm managing. I'm also holding practicals one afternoon per week for the girls that I'm not actually teaching computer to this year (they hired a part timer, so she's teaching them wednesday and saturday mornings, but she wants the exam classes to have extra time to review practicals). And, if the power company will ever cooperate, I'm planning to do one afternoon a week of teacher computer literacy. So I'll be busy this year, but I'm excited about it! Things I'm looking forward to over the next 8 months (yes, that's all that's left!): Teacher's day and the School feast are both up this week (check back a year ago if you forgot about those!). The fabric for this year is an absolutely hideous lime green, but I'm gonna mix it in with some satin and try for something crazy....Oh yeah, and my birthday is this month! I've made my postmates promise not to do anything involving naked men jumping out of a cake. But with these kids....I don't know what will happen. And then in December my Dad and Amanda are coming to visit!!!! On the agenda is climbing Mt. Cameroon, Christmas in Mamfe, and possibly trekking through the rainforest looking for elephants (TBD). I am SUPER excited to see them and show them what I've been up to for the last year and a half! In other (sadder) news, my little dog Moki has gone to a better place....town, that is. After coming back from my month and a half away, it became clear to me that Moki and I will both be happier if she stayed with the family that had been taking care of her while I was gone. There are more people around for her to play with and take care of her, and they're not terrified of her the way most of my neighbors and friends were. I have a lot going on this year, and won't be as available to handle all the responsibility of having a dog. So, it's sad, but I'm pretty sure it's for the best, especially as I wasn't ever planning on taking her back to the states with me. Packages: Lindsay gets a gold star for the funniest package yet, including fuse beads, friendship bracelets, and lanyard making materials. Dad has kept me well-shod the whole time I've been here, and just as my running (not that I run) shoes were starting to die, new ones get here. Amanda Matthews gets bonus points for dealing with “girl shopping” for tank tops to replace the ones that Cameroon has eaten. Greg has tormented me by only sending half of the second season of West Wing. Gigi, as always, has satisfied my “gourmet” tastebuds with more delectable deliciousness than I can describe. Gram keeps me reading and thinking, and Mom (until the thievery of small children) kept my water tasting tastier than it thought it could be. THANK YOU ALL!!!!! Current requests: Steady stream of underwear and wide-strap ribbed tank tops, as Cameroon's appetite for casual clothing is insatiable. Clif bars get me through the 12 hour car rides (btw, never traveling in the rainy season again). Crystal light or similar. Books/movies. Etc. Surprise me! On the horizon: The southwest and northwest regions are putting together a massive library project! KK, who is awesome, is leading the way, so be on the lookout for a link to donate soon! Also, you can go to www.booksforafrica.org for more info, maybe you can even send some books! The issue of literacy here is SO serious—something like a third of kids come into secondary school not being functionally literate, and, in my opinion, I think a lot of the issue is having NO access to printed materials, at any age! Zero reading culture, it's sad, but I think this project might help it along. I'll keep you all posted. That's it for now! Sending all kinds of love and hugs across the ocean, I'm missing everyone, and starting to dream about everything I'll do and everyone I'll see and everything I'll EAT when I get back! Love you all, keep in touch!!

I know, I promised philosophical last time and didn't deliver. Working on it. I think this is going to work best in “Top 5” form:

Top 5 Things You Wouldn't Know from Reading my Blog (not that you necessarily wanted to!):

>Shaving legs: totally unnecessary more than once a week. And anything above the knee? Haha...

>I have NOT gone a whole year without kissing anyone. Who? I'll never tell...

>Intestinal worms are just as disgusting as they sound

>I know 78 different ways to refuse an offer of marriage. Ok, that's not a real number. But really...

>Nearly every day, at least once, I find myself marveling at what a beautiful place I live in

Top 5 American Activities That I Miss the Most:

>Teens/Church/Young Adult! Nobody gets it here...

>Being able to talk to my parents/brother/extended family whenever I want to

>Sitting on the kitchen floor with Amanda when one of us has a problem

>Kickboxing/the Gym. Videos just aren't the same.

>Winter. Snowboarding. Sweaters. The sensation of being cold. Now, when it's below 80 I need a sweater.

Top 5 American Foods I Miss:

>Sushi. Cannot be recreated here

>Kashi Go Lean Crunch Cereal

>Whole grain products of any kind. Everything is white here (ironic, right?)

>Panera. Yes, I know that's not one food. Also miss the cathartic conversations I have there.

>Cheese/Yogurt. I eat the crap out of it when I'm in big cities, but it's just not the same as having it regularly. I fear for my tolerance of lactose when I return....

Top 5 Things I don't miss as much as I would have thought:

>TV (except Lost). It's actually kind of nice...

>Washing machines. There's something rewarding about scrubbing the crap out of your dirty clothes, and seeing them actually get clean.

>Running water. While I revel in the occasional hot running water shower, it's not such a bad thing to carry buckets on my head (my neck muscles are super-strong).

>Electricity. I appreciate it more when it's on, but when it's off, I manage.

>Refrigerator. What exactly did I use to keep in there?

Top 5 Things I didn't expect to enjoy as much as I do:

>Taking motorcycles, everywhere. It's exciting

>The sound of the rain pounding on the tin roof at night. It's remarkably soothing

>Going to the market—intimidating at first, but now routine and comforting

>Beer. It's in a giant bottle and only costs a dollar. And you can drink it at noon on a Tuesday, and no one thinks anything of it. Can't beat that...

>Staying close to home. Going to capital cities is just a hassle. Mamfe is mellow...

Top 5 Things I Don't Think I'll Ever Get Used To:

>Hats. People (especially moto drivers) wear the silliest hats here. I'm talking Santa Hats, Pumpkin Hats, Furry Hats, not to mention the traditional ones, which, though traditional, are in fact a bit silly looking.

>Gendarmes disturbing everyone while traveling. No, I don't have my passport. I have my residence card. That's all you need. Jerk...

>Palm Oil. As much as I love the food (see below), it's just soooooo oily....

>Bargaining. Hate it. A lot. Avoid it whenever possible, especially since I'm not particularly good at it.

>Super-slow internet. I'm paying an arm and a leg, and I still have to fight with it...lame...

Top 5 Cameroonian Foods I'll Miss When I Go Home:

>Koki. It's pretty much amazing.

>Burning Fish—whole grilled fish with amazing spices, served with bobolo...yummmm...

>Beans and Beignets. Who knew beans for breakfast was a good idea?

>Spaghetti Omelettes—Delicious and nutritious. Ok, maybe not nutritious...

>Fufu and Eru. The traditional dish of the Southwest. Hate it when it's forced on me 3 times in a day, but I missed it in Bafia, and I'll miss it when I go home.

Top 5 Things I LOVE About My Life:

>BEST. POSTMATES. EVER.

>I feel more independent and self-reliant than ever.

>My wardrobe is the best it's ever been in my life. BTW, my tailor (thanks Melissa!) is amazing.

>The US Government is paying me to have an awesome time. Thanks Obama!

>I have friends here that would drop whatever they are doing to come help me if I really needed it. Any time.

Top 5 Things I've Learned Being Here:

>“Wherever you go, there you are.” All the personal issues I've struggled with in the US have shown up here, sometimes in rare form!

>It's ok to relax. This will be a little hard to bring home, but it's kind of nice to have long vacations, and not feel bad about sitting around reading all day.

>I don't need a whole lot of stuff to be happy. Yeah, there's some things that I could have bought that would make my life a bit easier, but I opted to not live “Posh Corps”...and I'm happy with that.

>I'm pretty much a bad-ass, strong, tough, person. I don't let crap get to me the way it used to—you can't here, or you'll go nuts, because people say random, stupid, mean, inappropriate, crude, and rude things to you nearly every day. And I know that that's not about me, it's about them, and their ignorance, or their pain, or whatever. And I let it go.

>I'm a spiritual being having a human experience. Even when I'm not (physically present) in any community that supports me in that.

Ok, I think that's enough waxing? I'll update again shortly with a “Summer Wrap-Up”, detailing the hell-hole that is Bafia, my glorious return to Mamfe, and changes are a-coming to my school! 14 months down, 10 to go! Start getting ready for the party when I come back (make sure it includes the above-mentioned food items)!

I know, I promised philosophical last time and didn't deliver. Working on it. I think this is going to work best in “Top 5” form:

Top 5 Things You Wouldn't Know from Reading my Blog (not that you necessarily wanted to!):

>Shaving legs: totally unnecessary more than once a week. And anything above the knee? Haha...

>I have NOT gone a whole year without kissing anyone. Who? I'll never tell...

>Intestinal worms are just as disgusting as they sound

>I know 78 different ways to refuse an offer of marriage. Ok, that's not a real number. But really...

>Nearly every day, at least once, I find myself marveling at what a beautiful place I live in

Top 5 American Activities That I Miss the Most:

>Teens/Church/Young Adult! Nobody gets it here...

>Being able to talk to my parents/brother/extended family whenever I want to

>Sitting on the kitchen floor with Amanda when one of us has a problem

>Kickboxing/the Gym. Videos just aren't the same.

>Winter. Snowboarding. Sweaters. The sensation of being cold. Now, when it's below 80 I need a sweater.

Top 5 American Foods I Miss:

>Sushi. Cannot be recreated here

>Kashi Go Lean Crunch Cereal

>Whole grain products of any kind. Everything is white here (ironic, right?)

>Panera. Yes, I know that's not one food. Also miss the cathartic conversations I have there.

>Cheese/Yogurt. I eat the crap out of it when I'm in big cities, but it's just not the same as having it regularly. I fear for my tolerance of lactose when I return....

Top 5 Things I don't miss as much as I would have thought:

>TV (except Lost). It's actually kind of nice...

>Washing machines. There's something rewarding about scrubbing the crap out of your dirty clothes, and seeing them actually get clean.

>Running water. While I revel in the occasional hot running water shower, it's not such a bad thing to carry buckets on my head (my neck muscles are super-strong).

>Electricity. I appreciate it more when it's on, but when it's off, I manage.

>Refrigerator. What exactly did I use to keep in there?

Top 5 Things I didn't expect to enjoy as much as I do:

>Taking motorcycles, everywhere. It's exciting

>The sound of the rain pounding on the tin roof at night. It's remarkably soothing

>Going to the market—intimidating at first, but now routine and comforting

>Beer. It's in a giant bottle and only costs a dollar. And you can drink it at noon on a Tuesday, and no one thinks anything of it. Can't beat that...

>Staying close to home. Going to capital cities is just a hassle. Mamfe is mellow...

Top 5 Things I Don't Think I'll Ever Get Used To:

>Hats. People (especially moto drivers) wear the silliest hats here. I'm talking Santa Hats, Pumpkin Hats, Furry Hats, not to mention the traditional ones, which, though traditional, are in fact a bit silly looking.

>Gendarmes disturbing everyone while traveling. No, I don't have my passport. I have my residence card. That's all you need. Jerk...

>Palm Oil. As much as I love the food (see below), it's just soooooo oily....

>Bargaining. Hate it. A lot. Avoid it whenever possible, especially since I'm not particularly good at it.

>Super-slow internet. I'm paying an arm and a leg, and I still have to fight with it...lame...

Top 5 Cameroonian Foods I'll Miss When I Go Home:

>Koki. It's pretty much amazing.

>Burning Fish—whole grilled fish with amazing spices, served with bobolo...yummmm...

>Beans and Beignets. Who knew beans for breakfast was a good idea?

>Spaghetti Omelettes—Delicious and nutritious. Ok, maybe not nutritious...

>Fufu and Eru. The traditional dish of the Southwest. Hate it when it's forced on me 3 times in a day, but I missed it in Bafia, and I'll miss it when I go home.

Top 5 Things I LOVE About My Life:

>BEST. POSTMATES. EVER.

>I feel more independent and self-reliant than ever.

>My wardrobe is the best it's ever been in my life. BTW, my tailor (thanks Melissa!) is amazing.

>The US Government is paying me to have an awesome time. Thanks Obama!

>I have friends here that would drop whatever they are doing to come help me if I really needed it. Any time.

Top 5 Things I've Learned Being Here:

>“Wherever you go, there you are.” All the personal issues I've struggled with in the US have shown up here, sometimes in rare form!

>It's ok to relax. This will be a little hard to bring home, but it's kind of nice to have long vacations, and not feel bad about sitting around reading all day.

>I don't need a whole lot of stuff to be happy. Yeah, there's some things that I could have bought that would make my life a bit easier, but I opted to not live “Posh Corps”...and I'm happy with that.

>I'm pretty much a bad-ass, strong, tough, person. I don't let crap get to me the way it used to—you can't here, or you'll go nuts, because people say random, stupid, mean, inappropriate, crude, and rude things to you nearly every day. And I know that that's not about me, it's about them, and their ignorance, or their pain, or whatever. And I let it go.

>I'm a spiritual being having a human experience. Even when I'm not (physically present) in any community that supports me in that.

Ok, I think that's enough waxing? I'll update again shortly with a “Summer Wrap-Up”, detailing the hell-hole that is Bafia, my glorious return to Mamfe, and changes are a-coming to my school! 14 months down, 10 to go! Start getting ready for the party when I come back (make sure it includes the above-mentioned food items)!

Ok, first a bit of a normal update, and then maybe some waxing philosophical on my first year here. We'll see how it goes.

Last time we left off, Gloria was just returned from her fantastical bike tour and vacation in the east, and had been having internet problems, and an upcoming trip to Yaounde, as well as the last term of the school year. Let's pick up from there.

The last term of this school year consisted of 3 weeks of instruction, and 1 week of exams. And you thought teachers in the US got a long vacation! Mid-may to early september? Crazy. In any case, due to the scheduling of Peace Corps training (more later), I was only around for the 3 instructional weeks, and had to miss exam week. Oops. That meant that I had to give all my exams for computer during week 3, and fill all my grades before going. *Tears hair, bangs head against wall*. This was a little more stressful than usual, because ALL of the classes had to take their practicals at the same time. Usually, I've been able to stagger them so I'm not doing more than 3 classes at once, but this time I had 5, about 160 kids, all in one week. And as you might imagine, the power went off. Classic. *More hair tearing and head-banging*. Made it work though, by a combination of the generator in the afternoon, and a VERY timely visit to Mamfe by the governor of the South-west region. Funny how the power was on while he was here...Oh yeah, and I was up at the school at 5:45 every morning, and stayed until 10 every night. Yeah, that was super fun. Oh, and did I mention I also had strep throat during this fun little week? Yeah, good times. I actually thought I had malaria also, but the test came back negative, yay! *Collapses into an exhausted heap*.

Anyway, managed to get my other exams to be handled by a couple of other teachers (THANKS!), and I headed back out to Yaounde. Why? Well, because there are new volunteers arriving in just a few days (hi guys!), and somebody has to teach them what to do here...and I just happen to be one of those somebodies!

The program for the week consisted of updating the training schedule from last year, seeing what needed to be changed, deleted, or added, and then making sure our LEARNING OBJECTIVES were very good. Like many government organizations, PC is very big on having things standardized and such, and one of their favorite thing is objectives. Gotta make sure they're on point, or you know the trainees won't learn anything. So, newbies: get ready, you will be inundated with objectives over the next three months, and if you're anything like the rest of us, you will absolutely loathe that word by the end of training. But if you're like those of us that are helping with the training, you're just enough of a masochist to come back and work on those OBJECTIVES again...

Moving on...so, planning the training involves spending about a week and a half in Yaounde. Where do we stay? The peace corps transit house, aka the Cas. It's basically like a frat house for PCV's—there's bunk beds, internet, TV, and a full kitchen. So, we kept things interesting by cooking food, drinking beers at the bar across the street (who never once got our bill right on the first try), and watching a LOT of movies. And a lot of Lost. :)

Anyway, got back to post just in time to see the students off before they went home for the “long holiday” (summer doesn't exist here, it's a tropical zone), and now the campus is very quiet. The national exams are taking place right now, so the girls that are taking them are holed up in all sorts of strange nooks and crannies all over campus, studying their poor brains out! Good luck to them!

So, you ask, what am I up to now? Well, a few things are going on. First, the fantastic Melissa is departing from us! We had a great send-off for her, there must have been nearly 100 people who showed up over the course of the night. She went all out for this, even having “Ashwabi” for the party—that's when everyone makes a clothing item out of the same fabric, so everyone is looking the same at the occasion. It's customary for major events here, and it looked wonderful at her party. Especially the PCV's in attendance, who, not entirely intentionally, made outfits that could fall under the theme of “bad 80's prom-wear”. Pictures will follow! After the party, we went out to the local nightclub, where we strong-armed the DJ into playing a mix cd of american music. “Hey guys, remember that one time that we rocked out to 'Semi-charmed life' at an African night club?” Yeah, that happened. Oh, and to anyone who has ever laughed at/with me while I've cranked the Soulja boy...yeah, that happened too. And it was pretty epic, if I say so myself. Def leppard? Yeah, that happened too. Good times...

So, we've got Melissa's upcoming departure (which later on included her receiving a TITLE from her village, a traditional dance done by her, and the wearing of an absolutely preposterous crown), and in other fun things to do, I've finally gone to the farm with my friend Stella! She's been wanting (and I've been wanting) me to go for a while now, so we went out finally, it's about a 40 minute hike into the bush, and she taught me how to plant cocoyams. (Google it). It was a fun day, and good to see how much work goes into people's personal farms here! Nearly everyone in the village has a farm that they work, mostly for their personal/family use, but it is serious business. I was sore for 4 days, and I still have blisters healing! One of the funniest moments was coming back, I was carrying a big log on my head for firewood, so all the village kids were pointing and staring at me as I was walking back into town. And then laughing at me, because my piece was so small! Yes, I was carrying a smaller piece than I could have—but it's a balance issue, not a weight issue! Seriously!

And then there's the internet. I won't go into the whole story (I don't know if I can tell it in a non-violent way), but the good news is that I'm back online, and I think I'll be able to continue in that way for a while now without major issues. And MTN (service provider) can expect some seriously worded emails from me.

What's next? Mid-june I'll head back to Yaounde for a week of medical check-ups and paperwork following my first year. From there, I go to the training program for a little over a month. August, I'll be back to post, and will probably spend the month preparing lessons for the new school year, reorganizing the computer lab, and spending time with friends around here. Trip to the North that I'd been planning will get pushed back to Christmas-time (timing didn't work out like I'd hoped for the summer), so I think it will be a busy, but restful enough long holiday for me.

Package update: HUGE THANKS to mom for rectifying a serious bra shortage (my dog ate them), Dad for introducing scharfenberger to Africa, and Gram for continuing to make my hair soft and shiny. Love you guys!

Signing off, love to everyone, hugs, et al. Teens/associates, have a GREAT TIME at summer camp this year, I'll be thinking of you and missing you! I'm looking forward to full reports when you get back!

Stanson and Melissa "Walk Their Bikes to the Border" (I walked a lot too)

In the bush! (Note to PC Admin: Check out the helmet wearing!)

Melissa the awesome teacher

The very noted tourist attraction of Ndelele

A Hippo!

Hana in a boat!

Another Hippo!

Lots of Hippoes!

Me in a boat!

Throwback to Women's Day! Check out the matching fabric!

Don't forget to scroll past this to the blog of my trip to the east and the nigerian border! Love! More on the fb coming soon...

Note: This blog was written about 3 weeks ago, since then I've not had internet access. Expect another one in a week or so detailing the last month!

Well, I'm back in Mamfe now after a lovely holiday to the East Region of Cameroon. Few facts about the East: It's generally less developed than the rest of the country, it's in the Congo basin, so it's rainforest-y, though in a “je ne sais quoi” way different than the rainforest I live in. Bertoua is the capital, and there are about 8 volunteers currently posted there from the health and education programs.

Anyway, arrived on Saturday in Bertoua from Yaounde. Side note: Peace Corps Cameroon has transit houses set up in several major cities throughout the country. This is AWESOME because it allows for volunteers to travel easily, knowing that they have a place to stay, and not having to worry about a hotel. So, stayed at the “Case” (pronounced “cause”) Saturday night and Sunday night, generally relaxing and recovering from traveling. Siobhan is the PCV that is in charge of the case there, and she's great! Bertoua doesn't really have a lot going for it as a capital city, compared to others—there's not too much that's special about it that I gathered, but it's a nice enough place, although there's a lot of harassment—more so than I've noticed in other places. The East also has a much higher proportion of Muslims than the Southwest does, so it was interesting to see the prayer rugs everywhere, and mass group prayer happening. Not so much as in the North (or so I've heard), where life shuts down completely for every prayer time.

Next, Monday headed out to Batouri, the next largest town in the East, about 2 hours from Bertoua. There I met up with Jackie, a Health volunteer. She was kind enough to show me around her city. It's similar to Mamfe for size, probably a bit bigger. Ate some yummy street food, had a few drinks, a very mellow relaxing time. The power was off, so things stayed pretty quiet.

Tuesday I headed to Ndelele. This is about 5 hours past Batouri, getting quite out into the jungle! On the road, it's easy to see the lower level of development—houses are made of mud and sticks, almost all thatched roofs, very little metal or cement to be seen. Ndelele itself has no power or running water, and it is much bigger than the villages we passed coming into it. Despite this, the mayor of Ndelele would like for his town to be a tourist attraction! To that effect, he had roads put in to three spots of the river and very large signs erected advising that there is a “Site Touristique” along the river: Hippo Viewing!

So of course, being a tourist, I had to go and see the hippos. Hana, the volunteer in Ndelele, came with me on the half hour motorcycle ride to the second of the three viewing areas. There are fisherman along this river that fish from these traditional canoes made from hollowed out logs—pretty awesome. For a little bit of money and some sweet talking, they'll take you out in their canoe to get a closer view. Now, Hana had been out here a couple of times before, and had not had much success. But this time, as soon as we got to the water's edge, we could look upstream and see what turned out to be 4 hippos in the middle of the river. I'm pretty much the worst judge of distance, but I think we were maybe 100 meters from them at that time. We found a fisherman, and he took us one at a time up to where we were about 50 meters away, and dropped us off in a tree that was overhanging the river. Awesome. We watched them for a while from this vantage point. Pictures unfortunately don't do the experience justice—a hippo doesn't look like much from that far away when 90% of it's body is in the water. But trust me, it was cool. One of the best moments was when this bird swooped down and kinda dive-bombed the whole crew—they all jumped up and out of the water a ways and were obviously quite put out by this outsider. Pretty cool to watch.

Anyway, I was the last to go back to the bank where we put in, but as I was waiting for the fisherman to come back and pick me up, one of the hippos moved closer to where I was! And kept heading downstream! He was in the middle of the river the whole time, so I didn't feel threatened, but it was still a bit scary for a bit. In any case, the boat man didn't feel safe coming back to pick me from water, so I climbed up out of the tree onto the shore and walked back to where we started. The hippo actually came all the way down to where we were standing, stayed in the middle of the water the whole time, opened it's mouth, made a few noises...probably saying “Get the heck out of my territory”, but we were too busy taking pictures to notice...Eventually he turned around and headed back upstream to the rest of the group. Probably for the best. Then we hopped back on our motos and went back to town! A brief pit stop with an angry chief that was trying to extort money from us to go on a PUBLIC road to a PUBLC river to see WILD hippos, some fast french talking and understanding by Hana (awesome, by the way), and we were back. Again, no electricity or water in Ndelele, but we played bananagrams by candlelight (look it up, play it, it's awesome), and by morning we were on the road to Bertoua.

Made it back to Bertoua with no trouble, there were a few people passing through the Case, so we opted for a BBQ night, which was great! Burgers, chicken, and bushmeat. Someday I'll tell the story of the person that left a (live) chicken in a plastic bag in the sun...but for now they should remain anonymous to protect their reputation.

And that's about all there is to that!

Now, of course, I couldn't just sit at home and relax with my dog for a week (much less plan my lessons). No, instead, I was home for one day, and then turned right around out the door to go to Ekok! And in an effort to be not boring, why not on my bicycle! Yes, the Bike to the Border trip has now come and gone, and was quite a success if I say so myself.

Just to remind you if you've forgotten, a few volunteers in this area have been planning for some time to do a bicycle tour to the Nigerian border to raise awareness and sensitize this under developed area about HIV/AIDS. The area between Mamfe and the border has some of the highest AIDS rates in the region (possibly in the country), and there are a lot of other gender/youth issues as well, such as prostitution, very young arranged marriages, even female circumcision still practiced in some places. So, this is a population that needs some training.

The fabulous Melissa (http://travelsdemelissa.blogspot.com/) planned a wonderful program for us, giving out basic information about the disease, it's causes, and prevention, and included a wonderful section on assertive communication techniques, with roleplays for the kids to try out. Throw in Stanson (a business volunteer teaching for the first time) and we were a golden team of 3. All good information, and the combination of knowledge with the power to put it into practice made for a great plan.

First stop was a Catholic school in Nchang. About an hour and a half of biking through mostly good roads. Bit hilly, but we managed. We met with all but the oldest kids here. A very fun day, and hat's off to the school for keeping us well accommodated—we wanted for nothing for the whole time we were there. Best part of this day was that, as a boarding school, we were able to meet with the kids in the afternoon, then have them come back in the evening to present some of the best role plays to the entire school. Any time, any place, any school where you have teenagers talking about sex, there's bound to be laughing. Throw in some comically large (FAKE) marijuana cigarettes (which were REFUSED), and the evening was hilarious. The principal and the staff representative of the teachers gave us some very nice parting words at the end of the evening. We felt good about our first day out, first day teaching this particular material, and ready to go on to the next site.

The next day had us biking about 2.5 hours to Ayukabah. This is starting to get out into some “bush”, if you will. It's a tiny village, the secondary school only goes up to Form 2 (about 7th grade) at the moment, but it's looking to expand, and we were ready to go. This time, we only met with about 40 kids altogether, but it was a good opportunity to see how we each took a different take on things, as we team-taught the program. We wrapped up with presentations of role-plays from everyone (almost), and counted the day a success.

Side note: it is now like the REALLY REALLY REALLY HOT season here. I don't have a thermometer, but basically it's like this. You wake up, you take a shower/bucket bath, you step out, you're drenched in sweat. And yeah, this is what we decided to bike in. This was more apparent in Ayukabah than in other places, because we arrived at the school, walked to the principal's house to bathe, walked back, and we might as well have not bathed at all. Anyway, we all survived. Lot's of iodine was used this week in purifying our water, and special thanks goes out to Mom, Texas crew, and Amanda for things that made my dirty, iodized water taste better than it should have.

Moving on. After spending the night in Ayukabah, and having an “interesting” conversation about TB Joshua (google “Nigerian Prophet AIDS”), we left the next morning for Ayumajock. This is a much larger town (village? I don't know the distinction), and is the seat of a sub-division. The secondary school has about 500 students, and we met with nearly all of them. This was my personal favorite day. I met with the oldest students (10th-12th grade equivalent), and I started thinking I would blaze through the information part of the session (which they've heard about since they were born). However, I quickly found out that while they know the basics quite well (HIV is transmitted by sex and blood, use a condom, etc), they had some “advanced” questions that they wanted answers. Topics ranged from why “pulling out” is not an effective method of birth control or HIV prevention, to whether or not the AIDS epidemic has caused an increase in morality, to whether or not AIDS is just a ploy by the Americans to stop Africans from reproducing. We wrapped up with some excellent role-playing, with some of the boldest, most assertive young women I've met in this country. Even better, after class I was approached individually by some of the quieter girls, and felt very good about getting information to them that they wouldn't have been comfortable with asking in class. We wrapped up the day with presenting the best role plays to the entire school, and everyone seemed very pleased with how things went!

The last day was a couple of hours of rolling hills to Ekok, the last town in Mamfe. Now, we called the trip “Bike to the Border”, but of course going to Nigeria was out of the question. Maybe someday (but not while I'm in Peace Corps!). Ekok is....how to be sensitive...not my favorite village so far in Cameroon. It's a bit dirty, a bit “sketchy”, and we were disturbed (harassed) more there than anywhere else. Border town, what do you really expect? In any case, we had arranged (lacking a secondary school) to meet with a women's group and a youth group via the chief of the village. Unfortunately, he was called to other business. The UN was in town, demarcating the border between Cameroon and Nigeria. Yeah, that's kind of a big deal. So, he was out of the picture. We tried to rustle up a group just around the town, but without a “big man” behind us, we knew we weren't getting anywhere. Throw in the fact that the UN was taking up ALL of the hotel rooms in town, and we opted to return to Mamfe and call it good.

And now I'm back at home, and very happy to be here! The school term is up and running, and it's quite short (only one month, and I'm missing a week of it!), so things will be moving quickly from here on out. I'm glad to be back to my routine, at least for a while, and glad to not have to climb into a bush taxi or bus for some time.

To file under “stories you're glad didn't come with pictures”, I picked up my dog (from the wonderfully understanding and accommodating dog-sitter), and saw what looked like some large pimples on her side. Looked a bit pus-y, so thought I'd try to get some of it out. Imagine my surprise when the bubble of pus turns out to be an inch long maggot. 6 maggots later, and I can officially say that my stomach is made of iron. According to the vet, they're from these little red bugs that I've seen around and admired for their color. Yeah, going to RUN AWAY from them from now on. HORRIBLE.

What's up next: I'll be helping out with the 45 new volunteers arriving in June! In mid-May I'll go down to Yaounde again to help plan the program, trying to make it even better than it was last year! I'll spend a separate week in Yaounde during the summer for my mid-service medical check-ups (aka poo-in-a-cup week). I'm also planning to spend 2-3 weeks in the North of the country. So by the end of the summer I should have visited all 10 regions of Cameroon, yeah! Time is going by SOOO quickly! Also—if you've had the thought of wanting to visit, I'm open to the idea. Talk to me, let me know! I'd love to share this experience with some of the people I love.

Package note: I've had a few requests for package requests, so here we go:

DO NOT SEND: Wipes (baby, antibac, hand, face, disinfecting) of any kind! I have SOOO many. Thanks to all who have contributed to that abundance! Shampoo/Conditioner/soap—again, thanks, but I'm stocked for the moment. Stationery—your letters are in the mail, I promise! Children's card games—I have enough that I think they'll survive till I leave, and will make great presents when I go. Sunscreen, lotion, bugspray. Candles.

Would love to have more of: Clif/assorted nutrition bars, drink mix packets, Dried fruit/nuts. Well-wrapped hard candies. Jelly bellies. Chocolate. Organic peanut butter packets. Pens/pencils (cheap, to give to students). Spices (I can get curry and cinnamon here, other things are scarce). Parmesan Cheese (the dried kind in a can, it makes everything taste good). Underwear, size L (hand-washing of clothing is NOT gentle here) Favorite: http://www.rei.com/product/742858 (Size L) 2nd Favorite: http://www2.victoriassecret.com/commerce/onlineProductDisplay.vs?namespace=productDisplay&origin=onlineProductDisplay.jsp&event=display&prnbr=GN-241072&page=1&cgname=OSPTYMWLZZZ&rfnbr=5528 (Size L). Ribbed, wide strap, cotton tank tops of the Old Navy/Gap/JCrew variety, size M (mine are dying a slow, painful death). Hair ties—preferably the big fat flat ones with rubber on one side. Hair clips (the bendy kind that snap down). Chew toys for my dog (anything to make her stop destroying my house). Letters. Mix CD's (thanks Eric and Jen!). Magazines/catalogs with ideas for making clothes. USB keys with movies (and no viruses) on them. Exercise routines (I have a resistance band now!). Books you think I'd like. Letters. Photographs. Love. Prayers.

Love to everyone, hope everything is beautiful in your life. Thanks for reading—even if I don't know you're doing it, it feels good to know people are out there hearing what I have to say!

Second term is finished! Huzzah! In classic Cameroonian fashion, the end of the term was a giant ball of stress for me. We had to write our end of term exams in the middle of February. This was bad for several reasons: 1) I'm a new teacher, and am not clear on how long it will take for me to cover topics. So, I made a conservative estimate. No trouble. 2) We were not told when the term would end. So, I made a conservative estimate. And then found out I was a week shorter than I thought. Oops. 3) Finally, the last full week of the term, the school's annual retreat would be thursday and friday of that week. This means that classes were cancelled so that students would be silent and communicating with God. Oh crap.

So, I blew through a couple of topics I meant to cover more throroughly, and fortunately it's a boarding school, so I could hold some extra classes when I feel like it! We also lost most of a day of classes due to Women's Day (more later), the monday before exams started on Wednesday, then Tuesday most of the teachers didn't show up...so I stole their periods to hold extra revision. Yay for capitalizing!

THEN, of course, I'm giving practical exams for computer...and the power goes out. God, however, smiled on me, and SONEL (the power company, Sometimes, Or Never, Expect Light) turned the power back on THIRTY MINUTES before I had scheduled practicals to start! Hooray!! So, everything worked out alright, and all is well, my grades are finished and entered, and I'm good to go!

Other business: Women's Day! This is the day that we celebrate women by having them march past all the big men of the town. And there's special fabric. And I'd post pictures if my computer would read my camera card....but it won't, and the cable is not with me at the moment. Sorry! But, saw the women march, managed to weasel my way out of it this year, but will probably have to do it next year. Then went out for lunch/drinks in the afternoon, which turned into the evening....per typical Cameroonian style! Yay for white girls dancing! It was good times...

And then let's talk about Mango season. This is not technically a holiday, but I think it should be. There are about 10 mango trees on my school's campus, which is awesome! The kids bring me mangoes, I've rerouted my morning dog walk to go past as many trees as I can....the result is that I'm going to turn into a mango slowly. Oh yes, it will happen.

Current Affairs: I'm in Yaounde! That's the capital, in case you've forgotten. I haven't been here since we arrived last June! I'm on the Education Steering Committee, and we're meeting to discuss issues such as learning disabilities, and generally trying to decide where the education program in Cameroon should go. Fun stuff! After this, I'm heading to the East region of Cameroon to visit volunteers there and see what there is to see. So look for more coming soon! Following the East, we have plan to ride bicycles from Mamfe to Nigeria! So much more to come soon!

Internet: I'm in the capital at the moment, so I have internet for a few days. Unfortunately, due to “Africa” problems, my personal internet connection is out for the moment. Hopefully will be back by the time I'm back at post, but if it's not, don't worry, I'm not dead or unconscious, I just live in Africa, that's all!

Packages: Thanks go out to Dad, Mom, Gram (x2!), Amanda, and Illinois crew! I now have about a 6 month supply of clif/other assorted bars! Which is great for the upcoming bike to the border trip! On the package front, please continue to send clif bars, trail mix, jelly beans, and chocolate, which apparently survives quite well! Cadbury eggs even made it! Wet wipes, on the other hand, are not needed until further notice—I'm pretty sure I'm at a full 2 year supply by now, thanks!

Sending love your way! Missing everyone! Keep letting me know what's going on back stateside!

Ok, I know I'm becoming remiss in my blogging duties, but remember that life here is just life! You wouldn't write a blog about how you get up, go to work, run out to pick up some food, stop to pick up ingredients for dinner, come home, feed the dog, and go to sleep? I know, I know, when I run out to pick up some food, it involves a motorcycle, and a guessing game about which part of which animal I'm eating, and when I pick up ingredients for dinner, I have to wonder if the tomato lady is ripping me off, and feeding the dog involves cooking dry fish on the stove, and throughout the course of that day I've been called whiteman 15,000 times, and going to work involves the CONSTANT TERROR of whether or not the power will be on during my computer class.....but that's just a Wednesday!

Anyway, major events do require reporting however, and so that's what I'm here to do! First up is Youth Day, the 11th of February. The main theme of Youth Day (and to be fair, every major holiday in Cameroon) seems to be canceling school as much as possible! There's a week of events leading up to the big day, football matches, debate competitions, dancing, etc, all culminating in the “March Past”, where all the students from all the schools march past (get it?) the grandstand where the big men and women of the town are watching. From nursery school right up through the teacher training college. The little kids are SUPER cute marching. By the way, marching is taken VERY seriously here. Probably a holdover from colonization, but it is really a big deal. The girls at my school were practicing for weeks in advance, classes were even canceled to hold last minute marching practice. I missed the marching on Teacher's day (too busy cooking), but according to my friend Melissa, she didn't realize the seriousness of marching (arm swinging, stepping in rhythm, etc), and was really chastized afterwards for not marching well with her school! I may get my first marching chance this coming Women's Day (March 8th), so we'll see how I do!

Like all other holidays in Cameroon, the rest of the day is rounded out with feasting and drinking. I didn't go out too hard that day, so I made it an early evening, and was ok with that. I was just happy to watch my kids march. And very happy that the drum line would no longer be practicing right outside my front door!

And just on the heels of Youth Day came the Race for Hope! This is the annual race to the top of Mt. Cameroon and back, a marathon distance (literally) to the top and back down a 4000 meter peak. And the first runner came back in about 5.5 hours. Yeah. CRAZY, right? The winner this year was a man, didn't catch his name, but the winner of the 7 years previous was a woman (yeah empowerment!) who is now known as “The Queen of the Mountain.” Buff chicks, grrr! We went to the start/finish line and set up a couple of tents to hand out information on HIV/AIDS, along with candy (for the kids) and condoms (for the not kids). Had a LOT of INTERESTING discussions. No, the Nigerian prophet has not cured AIDS. No, you can't get AIDS from kissing. No, we're not quite certain where AIDS comes from, but you can stop yourself from getting it. Yes, lesbians can get AIDS too. No, you should not use a male and a female condom at the same time (friction). I'll spare my delicate readers the more sordid details, but let's just say that I blushed more than once, said some words that aren't usually used in polite conversations, and really feel like people left more educated than they came in. Success.

Had a nice time in Buea as well, we arrived Thursday to have Friday to prepare to set up. I found some nice fabric that I wouldn't have been able to find in Mamfe, and for much cheaper (woot!), so am looking forward to making some new dresses. Also, visited a new “Supermarket” (generic term given to any store that sells american products), and found that they are carrying my EXACT brand of conditioner! Win! Had a nice time hanging out with friends from around the region, ate some good food, and altogether had a very pleasant weekend!

Unfortunately, I also missed enough class that the OCD workaholic teacher part of me feels compelled to hold extra classes to make up time this week. Bummer, this whole conscience thing. Cameroonian teachers feel no such guilt. In any case, this week is also testing week (again, already???), so I'm SWAMPED. But it's all good, this too shall pass. Bike to the Border is still on the horizon, we're still waiting to hear about our application, as soon as I know, you will too! Also, am tentatively considering a trip to the East over “spring break” (we don't have seasons here). There's pygmies there! And real jungles! So, there's something bloggable to look forward to!

In other news (my favorite phrase), Moki continues to grow, I'm starting to worry she's a mutant. She's pure puppy, tons of energy, spastic as my cat, and destructive if left to her own devices. My house will never be truly clean again. Anyone have any ideas about how to train a dog to NOT need to pee at 2am? That's the only thing that's really driving me crazy! Every day!!! Dog whisperer? Something...

In sadder news, I've heard some distressing info about Explorit Science Center, the happy little hippy science museum I was working for in Davis up until I left. They're in pretty serious financial trouble, and may have to close if they don't raise $600,000 in the next 6 months. A pretty steep order in this economy! So, please, this place is awesome, one of a kind, and willing to re-employ me when I show back up in the US disoriented and dressing funny, if you have an extra $10 lying around, send it to them. Even better, scrap the next care package you were planning to send me (I really can live without clif bars and jellybellies), and send the money to them. They're a great place, and I'd hate to hear that they have to close, and hate even more the idea that I don't have at least one solid job opportunity when I get back. Go to www.explorit.org and check out what they have to offer. If you're a teacher in the greater sacramento area (and I mean greater! I went to Benicia, Oakland, Jackson, Yuba City, and Clearlake when I was there), book a program, that's even better (and way more fun).

That's all for now! Feel free to make comments, ask questions, etc. Would be happy to answer any of them! Love to you all! Missing everyone! Special thanks go out to Mom and Kim(the silver dog will be returned, mwahahaha), Jim and Liz and the “Southern” crew, and Dad for their packages. I know I can live without Clif Bars, but they really do make my existence a little bit brighter. As does conditioner and Jelly Bellies. Peace.

Back to Work... Well, post Christmas was a bit of waiting and relaxing. The school's compound was strangely quiet, as all of the girls were of course back at home with their families. I read a lot, planned some lessons, and that was about it for the break! Hung out with friends in town a bit as well, helping the new kids on the block to get well-adjusted. And then school started again! And things have been a bit crazy since then, as should be imagined. Word on the street is that second and third terms go MUCH faster than the first, due to a number of holidays that interrupt classes, and various Peace Corps related activities that also cut into teaching time. So, gotta move FAST to cover the syllabus. In good news, I've only had the power be out once so far during a computer class, so keep your fingers crossed that the (American-owned) power company keeps my light on, at least during my teaching hours! I've also let my Form 2 girls invade the biology and chemistry labs, with limited success (we got kicked out for disturbing an older class once), but they've been enjoying themselves. Classroom management is continuing to be a challenging learning process, especially in the computer lab. Anyone remember Mr. Packham, affectionately referred to as Pac-Man from middle school? He was our computer teacher, and I'd love to know how he did it. Probably had something to do with having current model computers in enough quantity to have each student at their own, but....who knows, really? Other interesting stories include attending my first Cameroonian funeral, and actually, I think something like my third ever funeral, and the first since I've been an adult. The son-in-law of one of the teachers passed away suddenly due to a brain lesion—very sad, he had a young family, had just built a house, and had a very promising career ahead of him. It's a loss for the family and the country, by my estimation. The funeral was very emotionally powerful—there is little reservedness of emotions here, so at times it seemed like the entire village literally was wailing and weeping. I avoided the open casket—my American squeamishness couldn't handle it, but I was really touched by how deeply everyone demonstrated their feelings for this young man. Almost all of the teachers from the school went to show their support for the family, despite the fact that most had never met the man. Very very sad, and touching. On a lighter note, this weekend we had our quarterly regional meeting. With three newbies in the Mamfe area bringing our total to 6, we held the meeting here, so everyone else got to experience the infamous Mamfe roads. I don't think anyone wants to make that trip again soon, but agreed that Mamfe is a very nice place once you're here! We've got two big projects coming up as a region—a booth at the Race for Hope, a foot race to the top of Mt. Cameroon, and “Bike to the Border”, a bicycle tour from Mamfe to the Nigerian border, both intending to educate about HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness. Look for more news in the future, including a chance to help out yourself! We're writing a grant proposal to get the funding for the bike tour, if it goes through, you'll have the chance to donate on the Peace Corps website. If you've got some extra funds lying around, feel free to check out the Cameroon section of the PC website, and donate to someone else's project! https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.donatenow& Moki continues to grow and grow and grow, feel free to include some dog treats or toys in your next package. Her current favorite came courtesy of Gram Carol, and is a Hannukah-themed wiener dog squeaky toy, complete with yarmulke and dreidle. Hilarious. Also included in that package was Dagoba chocolate, which SURVIVED the trip. Just a thought.... In other other news, I've joined the education steering committee, so that means that I'll be giving input to administration about the education program in general. On that note, just today I met a woman who was coming to visit her alma mater—she graduated in 67, and has since moved to the US, and attended UCLA. She was taught chemistry by a PCV in Form 2, which is exactly what I teach now. Now, on the one hand, it's really neat to be part of a legacy, but on the other...what has PC accomplished at this school in the last 40 years? It's a challenging question that is asked a lot, that I'm now asking myself, and not coming up with the answers. Remind me some time, and I'll try to answer it after I've been here a bit longer. That's all for now folks! Continuing to send love your way, especially this month towards all of my CSL friends—missed my first winter teen camp EVER, and that was hard! I miss you all and love you all, and look forward always to hearing from you!

Merry belated Christmas! Or Happy Xmas, as most people say it here (pronounced ecks-mas)! And Happy New Year in advance! Well, plenty has happened since the term ended, including this blog now being brought to you by the spectacularly lightning speed MTN internet. Ok, not actually lightning speed, but at least pictures are now possible, and Skype is fussy, but manageable. So consider giving me a call sometime! Plus it's unlimited, so look for me to be updating facebook status much more than I should be considering I live in Africa.

Anyway, back to the saga of Kribi! Got up at 4am to meet my pre-arranged car (thanks to Melissa, post-mate extraordinaire!), only to wait around for 2 hours because someone didn't want to pay? Or something. It was in Pidgin, and super-early. Oops. Anyway, made it onto the road, which is now DRY, thank GOD, of course that now means that it is DUSTY, but manageable. Melissa had been “dashed” (gifted) some lettuce (a rarity in Mamfe!) and didn't want to waste it, so she packed up a salad, I hard-boiled some eggs, and off we went! That meant that around 9, when our car went “clunk-clunk-clunk-WHUMP”, we sat by the road waiting for our new car to come, and ate salad. And looked completely ridiculous, but it was fun. I think the car didn't have oil in it? That's bad.

So, made it to Buea, consumed a gang of fish pies—the bus station in Buea has amazing fish pies (fried dough wrapped around fish, sauce and veggies, nothing better to start off a day of traveling with!). Left the next morning, passed through Douala, then arrived in Kribi! Huzzah! Beautiful white beaches, schnazzy hotel (thanks Obama!), HOT SHOWERS. Amazing.

We had some sessions (look to Alec Dhuse on facebook for some pictures showing just how riveting those were), where we learned about project planning, funding opportunities, and such. There was a hot debate amongst some of the PCV's about whether or not funding should even be discussed when we're talking about doing sustainable development—the argument being that if a community funds its own project, it's much more sustainable than if there is ANY outside funding. Still awaiting resolution on that one...

And we hung out at the beach! Yes, the Atlantic ocean is beautiful and warm. I got a tan, sand in everything I own, and even managed to collect some seashells that I later managed to leave in Buea. Oops! There was plenty of beer and good food to be had at the hotel, and we all ate like we hadn't seen food for 3 months (some of the northern volunteers actually hadn't, I think).

Last day was a half day of sessions (thanks again Obama!), and we headed out to a waterfall—supposedly one of the only or perhaps the only (got different stories) waterfall that falls directly into the ocean. Gorgeous!

After that, had to head back to post (bummer!). Now, this is the part where traveling got interesting....Stanson (my post mate) and I, were both carrying WAYYYYYY too much stuff to be traveling. Why? Well, he had just gotten back from a trip to Dubai, where he'd picked up many western goods and essentials (like maple syrup). And me? Well, I FINALLY got all my packages! 12 in all—my Christmas morning was definitely in Kribi. Thanks to Mom, Dad, Amanda, Cathy, Gram, Gigi, Clara and CSLD, and Amelia and the Sacramento Assorted Chocolates. (more on packages below!) I was also carrying 3 packages for Melissa, who headed to the North for Christmas this year. Oi! So, we were both hauling 3 large bags apiece, and in addition to being unwieldy, too much luggage is expensive. And since we were leaving Kribi and passing through Douala, I had to bargain and argue about prices at every stop in French, super fun. Ugh, anyway, survived the trip back, all the stuff survived, and then we just had a few days to get ready for Christmas!

Oh, a few notes about the food—we got french fries, and pizza, and sandwiches, and shrimp, and chicken, and salad, and all sorts of yummy goodness! Real butter! Amazing. Thanks again to Obama, and Congress, keep up the funding please! Of course the irony of it is that at the end of the week, I found myself with a strange craving for fufu and eru, and beans and puff puff. Oh goodness...

Now, onto Christmas. Went to church Christmas Eve. Power outage, classic. Favorite Pidgin translation ever: Manger=Beef-dem chop box (box for cow food). HILARIOUS. “You go find that man-pikin for a beef-dem chop box” (you will find him lying in a manger). I'm going to have to get a Pidgin bible....

Morning—went to church again. After, visited a few folks in the compound, then went down to my friend Stella's in the village...had a few drinks, came back, went to town to Stanson's for Christmas dinner. Our friend George cooked fish, veggies, rice, and we had some cakes courtesy of Stanson's mom. Wonderful. Got talked into going out to Mamfe's only night-club, Perosa. Went back to the village (had to feed my dog and had made plans to hang out with Stella some more). Hung out with Stella for a bit, then got picked up in a very schnazzy jeep by some government guy that George knew (with Stella), then we went to the club. Ok, I know this isn't sounding Christmas-y, and trust me, it didn't feel like Christmas AT ALL, but this is pretty much how things go in Cameroon for Christmas—they go to church, then drink the rest of the day and night. So, we get to the club, and meet Edward. Backtrack for a minute—Edward is the former Commandant of the Gendarmerie (something like police but a bit more military), George lived in America for several years, works on many projects around town, and is just about to open a restaurant. So these are two “big men” of the town. So we get to Perosa, which is packed, and Edward commands a table be brought for us, then we go into the inner part of the club (outside you can sit and drink for free, the inside has the dance floor and costs money), fly past gate, commanded another table and a bottle of whiskey. And proceeded to drink and dance the night away! Crazy. Cameroonians can DANCE, for serious, holy crap. And then throw a bunch of American kids into that business...it was pretty funny, but we all had a really good time. Edward also owns a car, and drove us back to Stanson's house, where we crashed, until I woke up the next morning and realized my poor dog had been inside for like 12 hours. Poor Moki!

So, all in all was a very Merry Christmas. Got together at George's the next day for a hangover lunch, with the Christmas leftovers, wonderful. And that's all there is to that....

Up next....well, school doesn't start back until the 11th, so I've got some time to do something with, not sure yet what I'll do, but I'll let you know!

Packages: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! To everyone who sent stuff. I really appreciate the thought and expense you put into it all. A few tips for the future....hard candies melt, unfortunately—I think it's the humidity. Jelly Bellies on the other hand made it through quite well. The tootsie pops were a huge hit with the other PCV's and staff (couldn't make them fit in my return luggage, so we ate most of them in Kribi). Photos and letters really brighten my day! (Thanks Gram Helen for the Birthday card!). Ask Amanda where she found organic peanut butter in packets, and send me more of that! I am now thoroughly well stocked on: Baby wipes, bar soap (Thanks Molly!), sponges, kleenex, toilet paper (yes, we have that here, but thanks anyway Cousin Cathy!), Jane Austen movies produced by the BBC (thanks Gigi!), pencils and pens (thanks everyone!), and candles (Amelia, Gigi, Gram). I am still continuing to want Clif bars, snack food, drink mix, books, CONDITIONER (the quest continues!), and other personal hygiene items. And candy :).

Ok, and as this will likely be my last blog of 2009, here's a review of my year in pictures (where I've been to where I am now!) Enjoy! Here's to a fabulous 2010!

I rang in the new year in style...

Went to camp....

Danced a bit...

Went to Disneyland!

Hung out with the Family

Took a leap of faith and joined the Peace Corps!

Said goodbye to some friends

Cried a bit...

And then I left....

And was sad and happy at the same time....(like a rainbow...poetic?)

Gained some younger siblings...

Had some adventures....

Taught some kids some stuff....

Gave a speech at graduation!

Moved into a new house...

Got a dog

Made some (very serious) friends...

And learned to fly...

And feel at peace. Happy New Year! May 2010 be EVEN BETTER than 2009!

Happy belated Turkey Day! Special wishes to all those in Texas and Louisiana—I missed you guys this year, as well as the Dickey's BBQ, deep-fried turkey, and football. Ok, maybe I didn't miss the football, you caught me! But really, people look at you funny here when you try to explain American football—all the padding, all the stopping and starting....anyway.... I'll back up by a week, and take you back to last weekend, which was the celebration of Catholic Education Week. This was a bit of wild and wacky event held at another boarding school a few villages over. It required a lot of surrender and trust on my part, because little was explained about the program to me beforehand, so I wound up Friday afternoon driving off to this village with no real plan of where to sleep, and didn't really have a travel plan either. Fortunately, in Africa, people take care of you, so everything worked out fine. The event ran rather late into Friday night, but elementary school kids doing traditional dancing are super-cute even at midnight, so that was ok as well. Saturday morning saw a 6:30 am Mass, and a discussion of the theme of the week “The Fear of God is the Beginning of Wisdom.” Followed by a late breakfast, a thrilling game of girls handball (we were up 6-0, but wound up losing 7-12!), and the highlight of the day, staff vs. students football (soccer) match! Fortunately, no one was silly enough to ask me to play! But it was a good match, that the teachers fought hard for and lost. Late afternoon lunch, and then managed to score myself a seat in a car going home! My puppy survived the night alone, though managed to break out of the shower room that I shut her into (oops). All in all, an ok weekend, though I was very tired by the end of it—I can't handle late nights very well. Oh, and yes, I typed that right, my puppy is in fact a she. Oops. Veterinary confirmed this as fact. Yes, I do have a degree in biology. I studied reptiles, not mammals!!! In any case, she is still named Moki, and has now been thoroughly vaccinated and de-bugged. I also found out this week that Moki actually does have a meaning in the local dialect. It means “Many Small Tigers.” I think that is just about the most awesome unintended consequence I've ever had! She is eating well, and putting on weight quickly, so quickly in fact that I think I need to take down her feeding a bit! She continues to be all things adorable, and now that she is debugged, I've let her sleep in my bed. Yeah, she is that cute. And over Christmas break, I'm going to acquire faster internet such that I can post pictures to prove it! This blog's bug story would be better with a picture, though I think Amanda might want to skip down to the next paragraph. So you know the overflow hole on the back of a sink? Where the water escapes if you have the sink too full? So I had a tarantula living in mine for about a day. I never saw the whole thing, just the front legs and eyes sticking out a little bit, waiting for something to come by and attack! I have a really cool picture that clarifies this a bit, again, patience! Anyway, on to Thanksgiving! We (the 4 volunteers in the greater Mamfe region) celebrated on Saturday. Menu: grilled chicken (one guy has a BBQ—Cameroonian style, an upended oil drum with a metal grate on top and firewood underneath), mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, gravy, spaghetti and meatballs (special for Lauren, who is going away this week!), and angel food cake for dessert! Yes, you can make all of those things in Africa! Now, some of them are of course a bit more complicated....chicken involves killing, plucking, gutting, and then moving on to the more traditional preparations. Stuffing involves seeking out the elusive french bread (only seen rarely in Mamfe, though very common in the west region), toasting it to dry it, then assembling that and all the other ingredients—no stove-top here! Baking a cake—fill a pot 1/3 with sand, put it on the stove, and watch the cake carefully—no temperature control. All in all, everything was delicious, and it was a day to be thankful for. Coming up next—I've decided that the best thing I can do with myself next week is administer practical computer tests to well over half the school. Yes I am a masochist and a glutton for punishment. But unfortunately, with the upper forms where I've essentially ONLY taught practicals, there isn't much else I can do to assess them! So, if you need me, you'll find me hiding in the computer lab all week long. And yes, since I'm testing, that does mean that the term is almost finished! We are supposed to have all of our testing done by next Monday, so that we can be ready to fill in report cards by the end of next week. After that, I'm off to Kribi for in-service training. School goes on here for a few more days, but they'll just have to make do without me. I am looking forward to seeing all of my training friends again, and to spend some good time on the beach. Oh yeah, and to learn more about development, teaching skills, and funding sources, right! Weather has finally began to dry out here—nights have been cool and lovely, mornings stay cool for some time as well, the days get quite hot, but I'm handling it pretty well I think. In any case, I do miss my sweaters and jeans a bit, but not too much. On the package front, I have gotten notice of a few more in, but none have made it to me—my associate director attempted a trip up here a couple weeks ago, but had to turn back and get towed due to the state of the roads! So I'll probably get my stuff in Kribi. THANK YOU! One thing to emphasize on my current wish list—conditioner! The stuff available in the one American store here is not cutting it, and my hair is kind of out of control. So anyone wanting to throw some quality conditioner into future packages would be greatly appreciated! Love to you all, please keep the notes and wall posts coming, I appreciate everything and all your support!

Ok, the big news of last week is that I have taken a puppy! His name is Moki (Mo means small in one of the dialects, and ki just kind of sounded right), he's a few months old, all black except for a patch on his throat, and is adorable in spite of a slightly rodent-like look. He's very energetic, and appears to not have rabies, though is a bit mangy, a visit to the vet this week should clear that up quickly though. So please feel free to include assorted chew toys in your future packages! At the moment, he likes to play with toilet paper rolls, sticks, and a big hunk of foam from where I had to cut my mattress down to size. He eats dried fish and rice, which means that my house now smells like fish. So far, that's the only downside! He's very sweet, loves to play, and is doing quite well in house-training. I have been informed that he's too small, (I think about the same size, maybe a bit smaller, than Amanda's cats) and would be better to eat than to keep (!), but I choose to have selective hearing around that subject. He is on the small side, most likely has worms due to being raised in a village, and once de-wormed, should put on weight and grow quite well. Yes, people do eat dogs and cats here, and I've heard that “Dog Pepe Soup” sells out as fast as the Mami's can dish it out. My dog will not be eaten, if avoidable. My intention is to give it to another volunteer when I leave—by then, there should be at least 5 in the general area.

Last week was one of the more challenging weeks I've had, mainly due to over-scheduling. I was “on duty” at school last week, meaning that in addition to teaching my regular classes, I was also supervising student's study hours in the afternoon and evening and on the weekend. Tuesday was when the puppy arrived, which of course added a new level of activity, and Friday was a send-off party for Lauren, one of the nearby volunteers who is leaving in December (sad!). So, there was a lot to do, and not much time to do it in. Plus, the girls evening study hours run until 10pm! My usual bedtime is somewhere around 9, even 8:30, so I was tired on top of everything else. In any case, I survived, the send-off was very fun, and touching to see how much of an impact Lauren has had. She will be very sorely missed!

Let's see...light has been off again for the last week, though we did have it on today, thank goodness. The rains continue to fall. Climate change! According to everyone here, rains used to finish by mid-october. A quick check of the calendar would notice that it's a month past that!!!! Please, turn off the lights in your house, drive your car less, use recycled shopping bags, etc. Stop the rains, please! Mostly, I'm looking ahead to December, when I have to travel again, and I'm SOOO not looking forward to the trip if the roads are as bad as they were last time! I don't want to take a motorcycle all the way to Kumba! Ugh. In any case, you can truly see the affects of climate change happening here, right now, so send Al Gore some money on my behalf, and tell your science-doubting Republican friends to come visit Mamfe if they don't believe in global warming.

Lauren's send-off was centered around a pig roast. There is something truly amazing about shoving a metal rod through a pigs mouth and out it's anus. Yes, I have pictures. No, I can't post them, because my internet is too slow. But rest assured, you will see them someday. Other highlights of the evening—my new puppy sniffing everything in sight, and eating so many pig part scraps that it looked like his stomach was going to BURST. Lauren and Melissa crying during the part where everyone said something nice/advice for Lauren, and then all the Cameroonians not understanding why they were crying (not much crying in Cameroon, as it turns out). Children roasting peeps (courtesy of Melissa's mom) over the pig roasting fire. EGG ROLLS, courtesy of George, master of food for the evening. And generally delicious food and wonderful company. I hope and pray that I can look back on my service with the same satisfaction that Lauren does.

Computers continue with difficulty, but progress is being made. Your's truly reset the BIOS on some of the computers, being talked through the procedure by the wonderful Alec Dhuse (google his blog). I can't really explain what it means to reset the BIOS, but it was fun to play around with the insides of the computer. And I didn't even electrocute myself! Unfortunately, it didn't solve the problem. So, hopefully, Alec himself will brave the roads to Mamfe at some point in the near future, and act as computer technician to the stars....I mean me. Maybe then I can teach the young ones how to turn on the computer by themselves. At the moment, so many of them have error messages that pop up on start up, that it is WAY more trouble than it's worth to have the students turn on the machines. In other teaching news, the oldest girls are now upset with me, because I will actually be giving them a grade for computers, not just letting them mess around for their one period a week. No one is going to take standardized tests this year, thank goodness, and I am planning to teach myself how to upgrade the RAM, in order to create computers that may possibly, someday, be able to handle the internet.

In one of the more fun moments I've had, I opted to join the girls on Sunday when they were “making sport”, and discovered that the hand clapping games that we know in the US are just the same, just different words over here. And I'm JUST as bad at them here as I was there. But the girls were patient with me, and I'm making progress. Earned some props too for being able to do a backbend. Yeah, I've still got skills. And of course, the talk of choice is Miss's new puppy, who has not yet made his debut amongst the general student population (want him to get shots first). My new nickname (which I'm desperately trying to suppress) is “Miss Gloria-dog-dog.” Catchy, huh?

Bug stories of the blog: the kids have taken to chasing me around with what are called “Rhinoceros Beetles.” Wikipedia that for a picture. To sum up, it's like a good 3-4 inches long, with a 2 inch long horn on the head. And tall. And like, big. So, no I don't want to hold one. Kids here are used to playing with them, they certainly appear to be harmless, but I'm not going to take one as a pet. Contrast this, however, with the Giant African Millipedes. Yes, Explorit folks, I HAVE seen them in the wild now! The kids brought me one of those (Class Diplopoda), carrying it on a shoe. I picked it up, having handled this particular arthropod hundreds of time at Explorit, and all the kids FREAKED out! Cultural differences in arthropod handling. Good times.

Other than that, life continues to continue here. It's not always easy (haven't had a running water shower in over a week) (note that I now have no real craving for a hot shower, but running water would be really nice), but it's good (I have a cute puppy!). No more packages have made it to me :(. But I have hope for the future! I intend to purchase faster internet by mid-december, because I am really getting tired of not being able to do what I want to do. So look for a bunch of pictures to make their way up around then! Have a Happy Thanksgiving as well, I'll let you know how my own goes! Sending love, as always.

Light has come back! Hooray! Of course, it's a flighty thing, so goes off during my computer classes....which is a bit unfortunate. But in good news, I have cannibalized and rewired my way into setting up 4 of 7 new computers in the computer lab! And the other 3 don't work, boo! Anybody know the password to get onto a computer once used by the West Ottawa school District? No? Ok, thanks anyway. If you happen to run into someone who does, let them know that I have their “Linspire” CD, which I think contains a Linux OS, but I can't find a file that will boot anything up. In other fun news with electricity, I did discover EXACTLY how many computers you can run through one power regulator before it starts to smoke. Thanks to Upper 6th girls for making sure that I don't burn the school to the ground. Background to that: the power here has a tendency to fluctuate—the voltage is not steady the way it is in the US. It goes up and down and all around. So, they sell these things called regulators to “smooth out” the current, making your electronic devices much happier than they would be otherwise. Of course, in theory these should be installed at a 1:1 ratio of computer to regulator. In reality, we're running a 10:1 ratio. Of course, the whole thing should have a battery back-up system in place to stop from frying all of the hard drives every time the power goes out, but that's beside the point. In other computer news, the new computers, while in some way a step up from the others (all run Windows 2000 Pro), are really at about the same level. 64 MB RAM. Just to put that number into perspective for the non-techies out there, my computer runs 64 times that speed. And if you're connected to the internet in America right now, your's probably is probably AT LEAST 8 times as fast. Yeah. Oh and another note. If you ever feel compelled to donate a computer to any place that is sending them to Africa, please consider sending a laptop. I mean, seriously, think about the poor development worker that is out there having to lug these things around to set them up! A note about Computer Literacy training here. Yeah, we don't have that. Case in point: Upper 6th girls. This is the equivalent of 12th grade. In theory, they have taken computer classes from Form 1 (6th grade) on. And I still had to show more than one of them how to save a document. My probing around this area has shown what has happened. Basically, none of the people that have been teaching computer science here have been actual trained computer teachers, myself included. However, it appears that my predecessors, especially the Cameroonian teachers, have been afraid of taking students to the lab. Every class, from the bottom to the top, when I asked them about what they did last year, said that they hardly went to the lab. Case in point: Form 5, who in theory was supposed to take the GCE O-level, the first major standardized test, has learned about binary, and the ASCII code. They probably know more about code than I do. As well as processor speed, and I'm sure that nearly any student in the school could draw me a motherboard and label the parts, while I have fear struck into my heart at the idea of opening the system case. But half of Form 5 didn't know how to open Microsoft Word, and about a quarter of them still did not know how to double click properly, or type capital letters using the shift key. I think this is a HUGE disservice to these students—in the real world, no one is going to care if they can use binary or not, but you have to be able to use a mouse and a keyboard! Fortunately this is something that I feel like I can deal with effectively. I have every intention of taking students to the lab every time that it is possible. The more experience that they get with the ACTUAL computer, the better served they are. Plus, lecturing about computer science is PAINFULLY boring to both me and them. I'm already at a loss with what to do in the lower grades—this week, when power was off, we had to cover Command Prompt because I'm running out of things on the syllabus that I can cover in the classroom. Raise your hand if you've used Command Prompt in the last 10 years. Now put your hand down if you are a professional computer programmer. No one? Shocking! And I finally got to take the youngest girls to the computer lab! They had SOOO much fun. Remember back to the first time that you moved a mouse and saw the arrow move on the screen? Yeah, I can't remember that either, but they were SOOO excited. I'm very happy to be working with them. There's one girl in the class who, it turns out, has a computer in her house, so I'm thinking that she's going to start in on learning how to type while the rest of us figure out how to open and close programs. Way cool. In other fun news, we're getting two new volunteers here in December, yay for new people! They came in and visited on Thursday, had all the fun of the bad roads, and even better, brought packages! Thanks to Maria, Dad, and Gram! I've also gotten word from admin that packages from Mom and Cathy have arrived. We'll see when they make it to me! THANK YOU! Back to the newbies—two very nice girls, one is even a Davis grad! Hello to her parents, who apparently read my blog! Of course, the region is a bit bummed to not have gotten a guy volunteer—we have 2 out of 10! But we'll just have to make up for it by being super-buff chicks. I think that's all for now! Love to everyone, miss you all, keep me updated on your life! Oh, and on that note—I'm back to email being the better way to contact me. Thanks Dad for the tip about yahoo mobile! But facebook works also. And to be honest, either of those is better than leaving a blog comment, those take quite a while to process. But do what works best! Love you!

Or: My first Cameroonian Hangover. Oh stop it, like you've never had one.

Well, it has been a whirlwind week here! Last Monday, the 5th, is International Teacher's Day. So if you're a teacher, Happy Belated Teacher's Day! Everyone here was surprised to hear that it's not celebrated in the US...Maybe that will be a goal when I return! So, the day is celebrated by feasting, drinking, and marching. This year, I was recruited to help the women prepare the meal. Now, my inner feminist of course cries a bit at the idea that the women all get together to prepare food for all the men. But, at the same time, there is something special about a group of women working together, so I was glad to be included. Highlights of the morning included carrying a live chicken, watching that same chicken become no longer living, and later eating same chicken. Yes, it does taste better when it died that morning. No, I don't think I will be killing any chickens of my own.

So, then we went into town, where we met up with the men. Now, because I was helping with the food preparation, I didn't get to see the marching festivities—I'll make sure I make it there next year! My understanding is that all the schools march past the grandstand, where there are assorted VIP's. And according to another PCV in the area, marching is very serious, and more difficult to do than it looks! So it'll probably be good to take the next year to practice my marching!

Other fun fact: major holidays in Cameroon are usually marked with the production of a special fabric, that everyone purchases, and then wears all on the same day. So I now have a very cute dress made of the Teacher's Day fabric. Cute dress, fabric is a bit silly looking. There are pictures of teachers teaching, and a lot of little graduation caps. Pictures, someday.

Anyway, the school had reserved a nice bar, where we ate and then the drinking began. A note on beers here: they are big. .65 liters each. I don't know what that is in US measurement, but it is probably at least a beer and a half by US standards. Moral of the story: I had a bit too much. However, it made learning to dance Cameroonian style a bit easier and probably more fun! Also, discovered that my Pidgin English improves rapidly on drinking! In any case, the evening was fun, I made it home perfectly safe, and I don't think I did any permanent damage to my reputation—probably quite the opposite, as drinking is a major part of the culture here. I've not confirmed this myself, but I've had several Cameroonians tell me that Cameroon is only behind Germany in beer consumption!

Ok, so we lost a day of classes on Monday, then Friday marked the beginning of the feast of the Queen of the Rosary (That's Mary for the non-Catholic readers). (Mary is the mother of Jesus, for the non-Christian readers). (Jesus is a pretty important guy in Christianity, for the readers who live under a rock). So classes were cut to a half day, so that the school could dress itself up a bit—flags, a grandstand was constructed, and then the girls got together to practice figure marching—pretty awesome to watch actually! Friday night was the Inter-house quiz, and a social. Backtrack—the school is a boarding school, so the girls are divided into Houses, that they live in. Yes, like Harry Potter. But no magic! So, throughout the whole weekend of feasting, there were a number of competitions between the different houses—football, handball, races, marching, singing, dancing, the quiz, and a beauty pageant (I'll get there). The quiz was fun to watch—the girls are all very enthusiastic for their houses! Then the social—basically a dance. Which kicked off with a number of pairs of teachers leading into the dancing. Including me. Warning? No. Fortunately I had practiced dancing on Teacher's Day! And fortunately it was short lived. And the students are very kind. Anyway, it is a bit funny to watch a dance taking place with NO boys—a few male teachers notwithstanding. But the girls all really enjoyed themselves.

Saturday was athletic festivities, including the finals for marching, which I judged. Criteria included uniforms, spacing, and arm swinging. No, I am not making this up. Then there were a variety of picnic-type games—sack race, wheelbarrow, egg and spoon, etc. Handball finals followed—for those that haven't seen it, it's a bit like Ultimate Frisbee—lots of passing, and you can't really move with the ball. Saturday evening was marked by a “Mic Fight”, which I thought was going to be a rap face-off, but turns out to be a speech competition. Girls chose from some topics, without knowing what they would be speaking on in advance, and had to give a five minute talk. Topics were female education, AIDS, youth dressing (clothes), and personal hygiene. Very amusing! Then, there was the “Miss QRC” competition. A beauty pageant, in two sections—Western clothes, and African clothes. No, no swimsuit or talent. Interesting cultural notes—I was expecting something similar to Miss America—confident striding around, fast moving, and smiling. This is NOT what took place—the movement was sllooooowww, and emphasis was on subtle gestures. I'm sure a socio- or anthropologist could offer some treatise on the definition of beauty. I was a bit too busy trying to wrap my head around my role as a development worker judging a beauty pageant, something I'm mildly opposed to in the US. Another moment where my inner feminist cried a little bit. But what to do? It's a long-standing tradition here, and I'm sure it's not actually damaging anything. *Le sigh*

Sunday—mass given by the bishop, choral singing competition, traditional dance competition, football finals, and common lunch. Got to meet a bishop! That's another first! I really enjoyed seeing some of my “lower” students REALLY shining during the singing and dancing competitions. And the football match was played to a draw resulting in a thrilling shoot-out! So, a good morning of activity. Followed by the teachers joining the students in the refectory (cafeteria). Of course, once again the women teachers had spent all morning preparing all of this food (25 chickens!), though this time they judged it best that I go and participate in the festivities. Realistically, I'm sure I would have been more in the way than helpful in preparing that scale of a feast! After the lunch, several other teachers went out for drinks, and it was declared that I've now been officially “welcomed” to the village. And yes, there was dancing. And fewer drinks than the previous Monday. Resulting in better dancing, I think? Or so I'm told. And worse Pidgin. C'est la vie. Haha, better French!

And that brings us to Monday, today, where classes have been canceled for recovering from feasting weekend, much to the joy of students and teachers alike.

So, to summarize:

Firsts: Carrying a chicken, watching death of chicken, wearing the same fabric as everyone else, judging a beauty pageant, meeting a Bishop, Cameroonian dancing, drinking too much (oh wait, that's not really a first, is it?)

Assessment: While I have certainly enjoyed myself a great deal over the last week, I do get a bit concerned about losing so much teaching time! Especially since I'm also going to lose Friday and the upcoming Monday to attend a regional Peace Corps meeting! And I've heard that the number and frequency of holidays is even greater in the second 2 terms of school....so it's a bit distressing to know that interruptions of classes will be increasing. Difficult to get through all the material I'm supposed to get through! So, all remains to be seen.

But, I'm feeling more and more settled in and “integrated” with the other teachers here! And that's good—I'm starting to enjoy myself more. Yay!

I think that's a long enough blog for now. Hoping all is well in your own corners of the world! Sending love!

In light of several requests to give a wish/birthday/Christmas list...here we go. *Feels slightly uncomfortable begging for stuff, and would be just as happy if not more so with receiving letters, text messages, emails, or prayers*

Wish List

Card/Small games—Uno, Pass the Pigs, Mille Bornes, or similar. (I still have “Set”)

Scented candles/Incense

Movies (Maybe a memory stick full of movies I “should” see *cough GREG cough cough*)

Photos—of friends, fam, etc...what you've been up to since I left

Stationery—especially if you'd like to get a letter. Prefer paper and envelopes to cards.

Body Spray/Perfume—I like Bath and Body works light florals

Dr. Bronners magic soap (Baby/unscented)--it really is magical

Tresseme moisturizing conditioner (the one with the orange writing)

Suave curl cream (in a teal tube)

Tea—Good Earth Original or Jasmine Green, Tazo Black and Green Chai, Celestial seasonings Bengal Spice, Mandarin Chamomile, or Mint

Clif Bars—Easy fiber and protein

Dried Fruit—peaches, apricots, cherries, berries, apples, etc...

Pilot G2 Pens—In fun colors to buck the system

Loofah/Body Pouf—Exfoliating is important

Aveeno Body Lotion—the kind for itchy skin, blue writing, think it contains menthol?

Aveeno Face lotion—Positively radiant, SPF 30

Aveeno Sunscreen—Babies, SPF 50, or Active spray-on, SPF 70(C'mon, I live 4 degrees from the equator!)

Kashi Go Lean Crunch Cereal—if you're feeling generous

Resistance Bands—exercise-type

Spiritually uplifting stuff—books, music, cards, decorations, etc

A lot of people have asked about donating equipment for the school, or what the needs are there. I need to hold off on projects like that for now, until I have a better understanding of the needs of the school, and the requirements for projects of that nature. Remember, everything I do is supposed to be sustainable, and have community buy-in and participation. So having my friends and family upgrade the computer or science lab doesn't qualify at the outset. But, please feel free to check out the Peace Corps website for donation opportunities, even in Cameroon—there's a section where people who have created said sustainable/bought in projects can list their needs, monetary and otherwise.

Sending love from Africa! Look for a post soon documenting the celebration of teacher's day! Includes silly looking fabric turning into a rather nice dress.

Wow, so I've been officially at post for a whole month! I am in my own house, after 2 days in the convent turned into 2 weeks, but the renovations are completely worth the inconvenience. A brief description of my house—2 bedroom, parlor (living room), kitchen, shower room, toilet/sink room. It was mostly furnished when I arrived, very pleased about that! I had a few more things made, and I'd say it's quite comfortable now. I have a porch, and usually leave the front door open for visitors, most of which consist of the children of the teachers and staff that live on the compound. Speaking of which, I gave away most of my card games to the kids in my homestay family....so card games would be appreciated to give the kids something to do other than try to ride my bike! I've been teaching for just over 2 weeks. I'm teaching Forms 2 and 3, the rough equivalent of 7th and 8th grade, in Chemistry, Biology, and Computers. A bit of information about the way a Cameroonian school works: Forms 1 and 2 are the junior forms, just out of grammar school. Forms 3, 4, and 5 are working towards taking the O-level GCE standardized tests. Then there is Lower 6th and Upper 6th, the “high school”, who are working towards their A-level GCE tests. Tests are EXTREMELY important here, having the impact of allowing you to move to the next grade or not, and are looked at seriously in job placement and university entrance. And they are EXTREMELY difficult, in my opinion. I can guarantee that I would not pass A-level biology at this point! Anyway, I only have Form 3 for computers, so I'm spending most of my time with the Form 2 kids, and they are a bit of a handful, but I think I'm managing ok. Computers—my dad and brother have both giggled at the specs of the computer lab here—64 meg of ram, 2-4 gig hard drives, most are running Windows 98. Blast from the past! But it's ok—they are configured well, so they are mostly functional. When there is power. Which has been erratic at best, and mostly absent. As is water. Fortunately, here on the school compound, we have a generator that they turn on every evening, so we can keep things charged up! Unfortunately, that doesn't help with running a computer lab during the day. The other teachers are very nice, and have been helpful in easing me into the situation here. I don't have much responsibility at this point outside of teaching, so I have a bit of time on my hands to get used to being here and just living! I'm hoping to take on some more projects during the next terms, but I'm grateful for now to not feel much pressure or stress. Most of the other teachers have asked what I've been doing for food....I can actually cook, a bit! Spaghetti, veggies, rice and beans....I made a sweet curried beans and rice last week that I'm going to attempt to reproduce tonight (thanks Amanda! I can get curry powder here, but the stuff you sent is WAY better! It smells stronger through the ziploc bag than the other stuff does when I stick my nose in the jar!) I spend some time in Mamfe proper....but I try not to go too much, in an effort to integrate into the community here. RANT: Note-taking systems. I ranted to my dad a bit about this, and he found it interesting. There is a culture here of perfectionism/conformity, or don't bother doing it. Case in point: Note-taking and pen use. In Cameroon, titles are in red pen, body is in blue, and drawings are done in pencil but labeled in pen. And if you do not have the correct writing instrument for a particular task, you DO NOT DO IT. Even if that means you do not take the notes, and do not get the information. Wow. And then throw in the fact that the pens available here are very poor quality and are constantly going out...and you have a recipe for a system that makes learning more challenging than it needed to be! In any case, I think I might start writing everything in purple, just to emphasize that the INFORMATION is more important than the format! The teachers work to emphasize the system even—I was working on my lecture notes in the staff room, and had left my blue pen back in my house (oops!), and another teacher commented on the fact that I was writing in (gasp!) red ink! This might sound like a relatively minor issue, but it speaks to a deeper problem—lack of independent/creative/critical thinking. Examples: I gave an assignment in chemistry to write a procedure for how to prepare a saturated solution of sugar. Of the 5 students that did it, 3 copied a similar procedure (but not the correct one) directly from the textbook. In biology, I took them out onto the field one day, and gave them the assignment to find an arthropod, and make 5 observations. About 75% of the class wrote that their arthropod had compound eyes. We hadn't covered that in class yet, so they had just read in the book what facts are true about insects, and regurgitated. So, my intention is to try to do as many assignments as possible that are open-ended, creative, and thinking-based, instead of just having them say back to me what I have said to them. Ok, that's all for now....sorry to anyone who has been hoping to skype—my internet is so slow here that I can't do that anymore. But I can still get texts! And would love to! Check the facebook for the number, or my parents, or amanda....sending love and light back towards the US, hope all is well, send ME an update on your life! Or a letter...it might get here faster than I can load an email some days!

So much has happened since the last post...I keep thinking that “oh, after this next event, things will get

more regular and I can blog more easily.” Not accurate. Ok, so to update:

1) Finish of training

2) Swearing in

3) Traveling to post

4) Where in the world is Gloria?

1) Training. After site visit, everyone was kind of “over” training, so it was a bit rough going. But we all made it through model school, and that was good experience to get under my belt. Yes, you can teach science with nothing but a chalkboard. The other fun bit about training was getting to start “talk Pidgin.” Pidgin is a language that is a mix of English and native languages, that developed out of the need for those people being colonized to communicate with their colonizers. So, it's a mix of english words, “poor” grammar, and words and constructions from native languages. Pidgin is spoken in many different places, but it varies from country to country. Some fun phrases:

How you dey (day)? = How are you?

A (ah) di shidon for Mamfe = I am living in Mamfe.

A di shidon for chair = I am sitting in a chair. (same verb!)

A wan go get some small pussy. = I want to get a kitten. (get your mind out of the gutter)

I was apparently the cream of the pidgin crop this year, so I actually gave a speech in Pidgin during our swearing in! There is a video of this event....which may someday be posted. I caught a lot of flak from my fellow volunteers for not throwing in a line about “pussy”...but really, do I want to be that person that said “pussy” in front of the US Ambassador? No, I think not....anyway, that brings me to....

2) Swearing-in. Ok, so we get to all get dressed up in matching fabric, which is blue, and covered with this yellow pattern that kind of looks like bananas. But I liked what I made with it! Then we sat around for some time while various important people made speeches of varying lengths. We swore in! This means that we are all actually official volunteers now!!!! And even better, everyone from our training group made it through training, which I think is a bit of a rarity. We went out to this hotel with a club afterwards, but they wouldn't open the club to us unless we paid a ridiculously exorbitant amount of money, so we just hung in the bar, for varying amounts of time. Good times, plenty of drinks, and lots of laughs were had by all!

3) Travel to post. Oh lord, this really is like the freaking odyssey! Ok, so Peace Corps hired a car to take us and our stuff from Bangangte to Bamenda, the capital of the Northwest province. “We” being myself, Stanson, a Small Enterprise Development volunteer in Mamfe, and several people headed to the Northwest province. We stayed a few days at the Case there (transit house), did some shopping. Bought a giant jar of Jif. SO excited. Couple people got robbed, unfortunately, which extended our stay a bit—no one was hurt, nothing too serious was taken, all is well, and I wasn't even there.

Moving on, we left Bamenda Sunday morning, about 9:30am. Had to pay through the nose for all of our extra luggage (3 bags, a trunk, a big water filter, and a bicycle each!), but it was ok. We reached Widikum, a halfway or so point by about 12:30 or so. Seems like things are going ok.....then the rain started. And the road got worse. And worse. I didn't take any pictures, too busy pushing/pulling the car. Seriously. So the story on this road: it would connect a major city in the Southwest province (Mamfe), with the capital of the Northwest. It's been supposedly going to get paved for a LONG time, but the funding always seems to disappear. Lame. But now, there is some Chinese construction company that is supposed to be really actually paving it. We'll see. In any case, during the rainy season especially, it becomes nearly impassable. So, we reached the halfway mark at 12:30 or so. Following a flat tire, a drop off of a woman in the wrong village (she'd never been there before), a problem with the axle, and COUNTLESS times pushing, pulling, shoving the van into and out of the mud, it finally met it's demise when a bearing went out, and the driver (shockingly!) couldn't fix it with a beanie baby. But oh did he

try. Seriously—I don't know enough about cars to explain it, but he was going to use the stuffing from this little key chain critter to fix the CAR. Ok, so 2:30 am, we can't go any more because of the bearing. So, we take the opportunity to get some sleep. In the car. All 11 of us. Yeah, that's just about as comfortable as it sounds.

For the record: there are plenty of people that would pay exorbitant amounts of money to spend a whole day 4-wheeling in the rainforest and spending the night there.

Light came in the morning, and a few people set off on foot towards town, hoping to find a motorcycle they could catch. We stayed with the car for a while, the driver was able to get the car moving again....until it got stuck in the mud. Now, throughout all these times we got stuck in the mud, everyone kept saying “oh, this is the last bad patch before the paved road” (the road is paved to within about 15 miles of mamfe). Not true. It just kept getting worse! So, on the advice of the other passengers, we got motos to the paved road, taking just our carry on items. Caught a private car going all the way to Mamfe, met up with Melissa, another volunteer in Mamfe in the following state:

--exhausted

--starving (had a couple of clif bars and 4 beignets in a 24 hour period)

--Filthy (funny how standing behind a van stuck in the mud can spray mud ALL over you)

--No clothes

--No shoes

--No toothbrush

Melissa, fortunately, is a saint, and lent us some clothes and some flip flops, so that we could shower and change, walk into town and get some food, buy some new flip flops (at 60 cents american, they're a pretty good deal), and wait to hear about our van and stuff.

The van didn't arrive until 5:30!!! That poor driver—stuck in the mud for over 30 hours!

Lessons learned:

--Don't travel the Bamenda road during the rainy season. Just don't. Or at least make sure you get in a 4 wheel drive vehicle instead of the vans.

--Pack a change of clothes and a toothbrush in your carry on.

--Carry extra food and water. A LOT.

--Trust the other passengers—they know what they're doing.

4) What now? So, my house is currently being renovated. Of course, I found that fun fact out less than a week before I was supposed to move in. Then, 2 days before I left, I was told that the repairs were still going on, but they were done enough that I could move in, and they would finish with me there. Then, 6:30 last night, I show up with my luggage, and, oops, no not finished, can't move in there. So, at the moment, I am in a room at the convent on campus. At the moment, there are no nuns living here, so it's a little creepy—but I'll reassess tomorrow what I want to do. And see how long it looks like it is actually going to take to fix up my house. The original date I was given was september 5th.....I really hope that it doesn't take that long! So, plan of action right now is to stay here for a few days, do some shopping in Mamfe, and then move into the house. We'll see how it all plays out—I hope to be able to talk to some of the workers first hand tomorrow and get a clearer idea of how long I'll be in the convent.

Wish list: I had an awesome list made up, but here's what I can remember from it....moving sucks....

Scented candles

Photographs (of you! I miss your face!)

Dried fruit and clif bars

Loofah (those puffy scrubby things)

Hand sanitizer! Continual need.....

Books/DVD's (you could even send me my own, just ask the parents...)

Tea (Good earth tea, or tazo chai, or celestial seasonings herbals....)

Stationery (fun stuff is hard to come by)

Good pens, especially blue and red (Pentel G2 are my favorites, and I'm sure mine are going to run out faster than I think)

Hard candy

We've been advised to continue to send packages to the Yaounde address—it's safer and usually

cheaper on this end, and typically faster as well. Yay. If you want to send me letters.....let me know, and I'll see if I can have things shipped to the school's address.

Ok, I think this blog has been long enough, huh? Love to all, till next time......

Ok, so it's been wayyyyy too long....topics to be covered:

1) Site visit (old news)

2) Model School (news)

3) FAQ's/Rants

1) Site--I've been posted to a "college" (middle school through high school equivalent) in a small village just outside of Mamfe in the Southwest province. I visited there a few weeks ago, and am very excited, and becoming more so about how things will go there. There is an apparently decently equipped science lab, and a computer lab, though both of those will require further investigation for functionality. Everyone that I met was very welcoming and nice, and there are 2 volunteers within 15 minutes of me, and another an hour away, so it will be nice to have some friends close by!

Downsides: it's in an Anglophone (read: English speaking) province, which means my (currently "Advanced Low") level of French will likely deteriorate. This is typical for science volunteers, though, as they are all placed in places where they will be teaching in English. Why? Well, can you explain osmosis? Yes? No? How about in French? No, didn't think so. Me neither.

It's also pretty remote. It's only 150km from Bamenda, a fairly major city, but ALL the roads leading to Mamfe are horrid, especially during the rainy season. In theory, they are working on the Bamenda road at the moment, but it took one volunteer 7.5 hours to make it going that way. Lame.

I took a different road, from Kumba, a southern route. It looked like this:

So I did this:

I know, classic american move. I'm the whiteman in the middle. That's a semi that's stuck in the mud behind me. What you can't see are the teeny tiny flies that were biting the crap out of me at the time. Don't worry, I'm pretty sure I don't have filaria. Or schistosomiasis.

Yes, whiteman--it's a non-gender specific term.

Ok, so that's my post. I took pictures of my house, but don't want to post them yet because I intend to make it much nicer after I get there, so look for a before and after post in the future. One more fun fact--it's an all girls Catholic boarding school. So look for some fun cross-cultural religous moments in the future. The priest that is in charge of the church there (not the school), is apparently Dutch, but gives his sermons in Pidgin. Looking forward to Mass just for that alone!

2) Model school. Peace Corps sets up a "Holiday School" in Bangangte for all the trainees to test themselves out. The kids are real, the subject material is real, the lack of resources is VERY real. Right now, the main textbook I'm using for my 9th/10th grade equivalent Biology class was published in 1985, and classifies bacteria and fungi as plants. Oh lordy lord, what will I do.

I'm also teaching 6th grade chemistry. The syllabus requires that we cover lab safety and equipment. Of course, we have no lab, or lab equipment. So that means drawing a Bunsen burner on the board and describing it. Fail. Most touching moment so far: a boy comes up to me after chemistry class and says, "Madam, do you think that maybe some times when we are learning about chemistry, you could bring some things from chemistry into the class? I am very interested in learning more about chemistry." 1, 2, 3, "awwwwwwww".....ugh, tragic. Looking forward to actually having a beaker to pass around the room. Note to PC: you can put a computer lab in, any chance the science team could get a test tube? Just one?

And, I'm also teaching the 9th/10th graders computers, IT as it is known here. First practical lesson was on opening an email account. "Click on the address bar and type mail.yahoo.com". Not hard? Yes, hard. After an hour, I think about 3 students managed to open an account, and I'm not sure if all of them were able to remember their user name and password. So we'll go back to that again this week and try again. And then I'll be teaching a theory lesson on excel. What is a theory lesson you might ask? Well, in Cameroon, all students are required to learn about computers. Regardless of whether or not there are actual computers available. So, we draw a picture of the window, and explain what each part is, where you would click, and what would happen. Of course, this is the reason WHY the instruction "click on the address bar and type mail.yahoo.com" is difficult.

But, overall, teaching is going alright. I'm learning a lot, and I think I'm figuring out what works for now, and what will work differently when I get to post.

3) "Autre Chose". French keyboards. My dad told me to post my rant, so here goes:

a) You have to shift to type a period. The same key is used for the explanation point. Why on earth would you think you would use the exclamation point more often than the period!!!!!!!

b) Numbers--you have to shift to enter a number. Insanity, I tell you!

c) Too much crap on each key: On a french keyboard, there is a shift, a control, an alt, and an "Alt Gr", so you have even more options for what to press to get the character you want. For example, to get the @, you "Alt Gr" and then press 8 (I think). No wonder it's difficult to type anything in the address bar!!!

Mice and roaches: 6 mice down, who knows how many more to go. Anyone from 4th R here? Remember showing up monday mornings to the smell of death from the mice that died over the weekend? Yeah, that was under my bed.

Explorit: Yes, madagascar hissing cockroaches that live in a fishtank are fine, unknown cockroach species that live in my bedroom AND HAVE WINGS, are not.

Food: Everyone wants to know what I eat:

Breakfast--varies between eggs and bread (my fav), bread and "bouille(?)", a thin cream of wheat type porridge that's corn based (tasty, not so filling), and today we had bread and margarine. Nescafe to top it off, mmmmm.

Morning snack: Used to be cake and coffee, has shifted to spaghetti-bean-sauce-piment (spicy stuf) sandwich. Yummy protein. Especially important on Bouille/margarine days.

Lunch: There's a lady next door to the PC office building that makes lunch. Usually spaghetti with carrots and green beans (btw Amanda--I have officially gotten over my undying hatred of green beans, due to their abundance and lack of other green non-gross veggie options), beans, plantains, and something else. Today was boiled potatoes with carrots and green beans also. Very tasty, though sometimes I go across the street for a spaghetti-omelette sandwich for variety.

NB: Yes, I have said twice now that spaghetti goes in a sandwich. And spaghetti goes in an omelette. And an omelette goes in a sandwich. Moral of the story: Anything in bread is good.

Dinner: With the host family, highly variable. We'll do a top 3 and a bottom 3 for comparative purposes.

Top 3:

1)Koki--crushed beans and oil, boiled inside a banana leaf. I think of it as Cameroonian tofu, and Is definitely my fav.

2) Ndole and cous-cous: Cous cous is not what you think. Here, it's kind of a paste, that you eat with your hands, dipping it in sauce. Ndole is a green leaf that has to be prepared carefully in order to not be very bitter, haven't tried my hand at this yet. Cous-cous can be served with many other things, and most of them are pretty ok. This is usually served with a meat of some sort in a red sauce. So you grab a blob of couscous, dip it in the sauce, grab some ndole and some meat, and eat. Yum.

3) Poisson Braisse--Grilled fish. Yes, it's a whole fish, with skin and bones and other assorted parts, but it is SOOOO good. Usually taken with baton du manioc, which are rope like things made of manioc flour. Kind of pasty and flavorless, but good for dipping in spicy sauce that comes with the fish. Dig.

Bottom 3:

1) Gombo. Not Gumbo. Not even close. Texture is exactly that of a snail slime trail, except slimier. Eaten with couscous, I still haven't mastered the art of getting a wad of it up, as it sticks together constantly. Will probably actually refuse to eat this if it's offered a third time.

2) Dried fish in sauce. Dry, bones are impossible to find, flavor is fishier than fishy. Downgrade.

3) Assorted cow parts: So far have done stomach, intestine, skin, and I think heart has been thrown in without my knowledge. I have every intention of going back to vegetarianism (except for the fish!) once I get to post. Don't like having to play "guess the organ" at dinner.

Note: Si ma famille le lit, s'il vous plait ne prend pas d'offence. La plus part de la nourriture que vous m'avez offre etaient TRES bien, mais mes amis et ma famille veulent savoir que je mange, et je veux dit la verite de la nourriture Camerounaise!

I think that will do for now! Love to you all, hope all is well with you and yours, and now that I have my own internet (oh yeah, I did that too), I am hopefully going to be a more faithful blogger. Oh, and--I've also made it a goal (that I've actually stuck with better than blogging), that I write one actual physical letter per week. Please let me know if you'd like to get one, and feel free to send one my way. Mail is super exciting, and your good thoughts and wishes are even more important to me than clif bars, baby wipes, trail mix, hand sanitizer, College science textbook cd's, and crest toothpaste. Although any of those things would also be handy :) A la prochaine fois. Next time: I go talk fine Pidgin for ma blog.

Lycee Technique, Bangangte

I've got parasites....but that's not as bad as it sounds. Just happy that this time I have a diagnosis after doing actual tests. Makes me feel less bad about taking antibiotics that are crazy strong--one is listed for use in treatment of septicemia. Whoa.

I'm intending to have a longer post forthcoming about traveling to and from my site, but haven't gotten up the initiative to write about it yet....plus want to post that with pictures. So, I'll post some pics that I took here in Bangangte, and actually Yaounde also, whoa, way back! Enjoy!

The bathroom, everyone wants to know

My Room. Yes, sleeping under a mosquito net is very sexy

View from the hotel in Yaounde

Assorted members of the homestay family.

That's all for now, love to all! I've got slightly better email access at the moment, since they set up a computer lab at Model School, so send me a note about life in the states!

Well, I have an awesome blog written about what normal is becoming to me here, but it seems that I cant copy and paste from a pdf. Suck.

In any case, things are getting better, my digestive tract included. And I still am getting used to the idea that I live in Africa.

Fun facts include:

Im getting better at soccer

Food was awesome last night

I was told that I should marry a cameroonian so that he can come back to the states with me and get a job.

and I would love to get a text: Amanda says its 50 cents to send, and it would totally make my day!

Current care package requests continue to include clif bars, hand sanitizer, baby wipes, and Ill add dried fruit for fun. And science textbooks. Cause the ones I have here leave something to be desired. Love to all! Maybe someday Ill find the blog I meant to write here!

I am in Bangangte and alive! I won't disgust you with the details of my gastrointestinal maladies, but know that it's getting better! And prayers for health and well-being are ALWAYS appreciated!

Ok, so to catch everyone up here. We traveled from Yaounde to Bangangte on Thursday, and met our homestay families. There are 9 people that live in my house! The dad is an agronomy research scientist, working on corn. Mom is a German teacher at the lycee. There are 4 kids--6, 4, 2.5, and 6 mos. There is a much younger sister of my father, and one of his nieces and one of his nephews that live in the house also. All are very nice, though they make fun of me for not eating much. But really, when the menu is tripe? Hmmm....Oh, and I think I'm pretty much the first white person the little kids have met, so they are pretty much terrified of me. But it's cute.

Training is pretty intense--classes all day during the week, plus half day on Saturday. Plus having to speak French CONSTANTLY! So yeah, I'm pretty done by about 8:30!

Highlights:

--finally getting to do my laundry. Handwashing not as bad as it sounds, but gotta figure out how to get more of the soap out.

--walking around! We were pretty captive in Yaounde, so it's nice to get out and about and actually interact with "real" people

--getting to go see my dad's farm--corn, pigs, cows, etc.

--cheap food! A lady across the street from the training building made lunch for everyone (pasta, beans, plantains, potatoes, etc), for 350 CFA, less than a dollar!

--Mango season. Awesome.

Ok, I also have a phone! Check my facebook or one of my parents or Amanda for the number, but all incoming texts and calls are free for me (but not for you!) I finish class at 12:30 on Saturdays, or Sundays should be good too.

Not much else to say right now. Please shoot me emails about what is going on with you and yours, and keep sending the love! Oh, and Malawi folks--I'm waving up! Don't forget to wave down!

I have arrived! The tale of the arrival is remarkably unremarkable--flight from NYC to Brussels, to Yaounde, Cameroon. Highlight was that some of the players from the Cameroonian National Football team were on our plane!

Everyone is still wonderful, though we're all getting a bit of cabin fever. Saturday we went on a brief walk around the area of the hotel, but my group didn't get very far. Mostly, we hung out and played card games-little boring, but it's ok.

Yesterday we had another free (re: boring) morning, but the afternoon we had our first official training session, on safety and security. We learned about how women having their breasts grabbed is pretty common--but NOT ok! And watched pretty much the scariest video on rape I've ever seen! But it's all good--just never be alone, ever. Ever! Dad, don't worry, it's ok, really!

Today, we had another session on health, and finally got out health kits--lots of drugs, etc. Also had interviews with the medical staff (got to explain for the 47th time that my "asthma" is NOT a big deal. And, had language inteviews--my grammar was pretty much atrocious, BUT, I felt pretty good about getting my point across, so I think I did pretty well.

The plan for the upcoming time: we're in the hotel until Thursday, then we move to our training town, north of here, and move into a homestay family. I'm a little anxious about meeting the family, I hope they have kids!

Internet has been few and far between and will probably be worse in Bangangte, so we'll see how this blogging thing goes! I should have a phone in a few days, and will disseminate that as soon as I can! Love to all. Oh! And care package wishes: clif bars, some sort of drink flavor packet (crystal light, gatorade, or similar. Preferably not too much sugar!), and that's all I've got for now! Love everyone!

Whew! It's been a bit of a whirlwind of 24 hours or so, but nothing compared to what's coming next!

Flight left Sacramento at 6:20 am--HUGE props to Amanda and Jarad for getting me there at 5am, and Jarad for getting Amanda home safe!

After a fun hour of sitting on the tarmac in Atlanta...(Fail!)....arrived in Philly, managed to figure out the shuttle system, got to the hotel, wandered around for a bit, then settled in for the night. Met my roommate (shh, don't tell Amanda, she'll get jealous!), Hailey, from Seattle, English teacher, very cool!

Today was a morning once again wandering the Historic district. Saw a lot of buildings, didn't know what any of them were, but they were all pretty! Saw the Liberty Bell from the outside, but the line looked hella long so didn't go in, though heard later that people were just able to walk right in? So who knows. Will have to come back to Philly someday and figure that out!

Then the real excitement started around 1, when people started to really arrive--just wandering around the lobby looking for blue-folder carrying folks. Lots of introductions, lots of names, lots of home towns--it's a very diverse group, but there is another UCD Grad here too! Who would've thought?

Spend the entire afternoon going over what our expectations, aspirations, hopes, and fears about service are, getting to know each other, and learning more about what service is about. Also some short info on general health and safety--important! Like Georgia said, DON'T GET MALARIA! Also don't get mugged, or dress inappropriately, or...well, I don't want to freak my Dad out too much.

Went out to dinner, got to chill with people for a bit, get to know them a bit better, start hearing everyone's stories. It's really interesting to watch the situation from a group dynamics kind of perspective--who plays what role, how do people interact with each other. I think my goal for tomorrow will be to do less observing and more participating though. *Is shy sometimes!*

Oh yes, and as of tomorrow, my phone will be shipping itself back across the country, so, I'll try to post and/or email and/or facebook as soon as I can! Until then, prayers, good thoughts, and love are much appreciated and accepted! Love to you all!

Mail Few countries in the world offer the quality of postal service that we consider normal in the U.S. Volunteers, family and friends who expect U.S. standards for mail service will be disappointed. Mail takes a minimum of three weeks to arrive in Cameroon and may take several months. Some mail may not arrive at all (this is not a frequent occurrence, but it does happen). Some letters may arrive with clipped edges because postal workers have tried to see if any money was inside (again, this is rare, but it does happen). We do not want to sound discouraging, but when we are thousands of miles from our families and friends, communication becomes a very sensitive issue. We would prefer you be forewarned of the reality of mail service in the developing world.

Despite delays, we strongly encourage Volunteers to write to their families regularly. Family members will typically become worried when they do not hear from their Volunteer, so parents, friends, and relatives should be advised that mail is sporadic and that they shouldn't worry if they don't receive their Volunteer's letters regularly.

In the past we have noticed a common Volunteer letter writing pattern that particularly disturbs families and friends. During training and their first three to six months at post, Volunteers write home frequently. They are adapting to a totally new environment (which can be very difficult), and writing helps them process the new sights and sounds. However, once Volunteers feel at home with their surroundings and their work starts to take off, many simply forget to write home for long periods of time. Please don't be overly concerned if there is a break in correspondence three to six months after your Volunteer arrives at post!

However, if a family member or friends does not receive mail from a Volunteer for over three months, then that person may contact the Office of Special Services (OSS) at Peace Corps Washington (1-800-424-8580, extension 1470). OSS will then send a "health and welfare” inquiry to the Peace Corps Country Director in Yaoundé and ask him to check up on the PCV.

Typically, Volunteers are in regular contact with the Peace Corps/Cameroon office in Yaounde. However, as necessary, to respond to a “health and welfare” inquiry, the office in Yaounde will contact a Volunteer at his or her site by making a series of phone calls, radio contacts, or even sending a staff member to the site (which means several days travel in some cases). The PCV will then be asked to write home and the Country Director will inform OSS with information to pass on to family members. As you can see, this is a time-consuming process that affects quite a few people. Peace Corps asks Volunteers and their families to try to avoid both heartache and headaches by maintaining a regular pattern of writing to loved ones.

Most packages sent to Cameroon arrive (sometimes a few months late). Nevertheless DO NOT send things that have important sentimental or monetary value. Don't send expensive items, such as the Volunteer's favorite pair of one-carat diamond earrings. Items such as Walkman speakers, food, and clothing have usually arrived with no problem, but it's expensive for the sender and receiver. If sending packages, "bubble envelopes" work best. If sending any food items, put them inside a ziploc bag. This will reduce chances that bugs or rodents will devour them.

For the first 3 months after your Volunteer’s arrival in Cameroon, mail should be sent to the following address: Name, Peace Corps Volunteer Corps de la Paix B.P. 215 Yaoundé, Cameroon

Once Volunteers complete training and are at their posts, the quickest way to send mail is to send letters and packages directly to your Volunteer's address at post. Remind your Volunteer to relay their mailing address at post as soon as they know what it will be. If you do not know your Volunteer's address at post, mail can be sent to the Yaoundé address above the entire time the Volunteer is in Cameroon. Please realize that mail sent to this address will be held in Yaoundé until sent out on a bi-weekly basis to Volunteer posts (thereby delaying delivery for up to several weeks).

The following suggestions and postal regulations may be useful:

1. Mail should be sent directly to the Yaoundé address, OR directly to your Volunteer's post address once training is finished.

2. Both Volunteers and family members should number letters sent so that the receiver can determine whether any letters do not arrive.

3. Packages should be sent via air, not surface mail (surface mail has been known to take longer than two years to arrive.)

4. Sending packages to your Volunteer in Cameroon is a risky proposition. Theft of packages is not only a problem in the Cameroonian postal system, it also occurs on the U.S. side. Although occasionally a package arrives quickly and without problems, it may take months or it may get "lost" along the way. Therefore, it is not advisable to send valuables this way.

5. If you do send packages, bubble envelopes seem to work better than large boxes. They are less tempting to would-be thieves. The sender should clearly and honestly mark the contents on the outside of the package, but a general description of the contents is sufficient: "clothing and candy" rather than "Nike high top sneakers and 2 lbs. Godiva chocolate."

6. Express mail is an expensive option that may take just as long to get to Cameroon. Perhaps a more secure option than regular airmail for documents, checks, etc., it is subject to more scrutiny by Cameroonian customs than regular mail. For items other than documents, Peace Corps staff has to submit import licenses to customs, and clearance can take up to 10 days. Thus, you may not necessarily save any time by using Express mail. DHL and UPS operate in Cameroon for those important documents. Note that current prices for these services run around $100.00 for one pound or less.

7. There is a tax which Volunteers will have to pay on all packages received before they can retrieve them from the post office. This tax varies according to the size of the package. It might be a nice gesture from friends or family to send a six-pack of Mountain Dew, but it may cost a Volunteer up to $10.00 to get it out of the post office.

8. Packages sent to the Yaoundé office are sent regularly to Volunteer posts. This may delay delivery to the Volunteer by up to several weeks.

9. If Volunteers wish to send a package from Yaoundé to the States, Cameroon postal rates are high and insurance is not available. For this reason, many Volunteers wait to send packages with returning PCVs (whom they ask first, in country) or wait until their Completion of Service (COS) date to send home gifts and souvenirs. Letters going to the States through the Cameroon post have been quite dependable.

10. US postage-stamped letters can be put in the "next traveler" box at the Peace Corps office in Yaoundé, to be hand carried by the next person going Stateside. Note that this is a courtesy, not an obligation, and Volunteers shouldn't expect any traveler to carry more than letter mail, unless special arrangements are made with the individual. Air travelers may be required to open letters and packages and/or submit them to X-rays, especially when they don't belong to the traveler.

11. The Cameroon Desk in Peace Corps Headquarters, Washington, is available to answer Volunteer & families' questions about mail. Due to staff and budget constraints, they cannot, however, facilitate the sending of personal mail for Trainees and Volunteers.

Yup, I fly to Philly 2 weeks from today! And yet it still hasn't fully sunk in yet!

Had an AMAZING experience last weekend at Advisor Retreat--there are SO many amazing people there, and I was fortunate enough to even make some NEW connections just before leaving, which is both wonderful and sad at the same time. Also came to the realization just how much everything is connected and in shift at the moment--Patricia summed it up best as "When you come back YOU'LL be very different, AND THIS will be very different!"

I think the teen program will be the hardest thing for me to leave--I know that my family and friends will still be around and will be mostly the same people when I come back, but my teens? Growing by leaps and bounds, and then throw in the fact that the camp experience will have shifted, grown, and changed also....crazy!!!

I think the best of the weekend though was the last minute trip back out to the potholes, thanks to all that were there for that! And thanks Michelle especially for the awesome treatment work whilst jumping off a rock! Talk about a metaphor for a leap of Faith, I'm SO grateful for that experience!

And then came home and came to the realization that I actually need to get together all my stuff that is being stored at my parent's house within the week, as I'm going up there for the last time on Saturday!!! ACK! But put a big dent in it yesterday, and am sure I will be ready by Saturday morning.

Schedule for the rest of my time here:

Wed-Friday this week: Finish working, last day is Friday, PACK STORAGE STUFF

Saturday 23- Wednesday 27: In Redding. Lindsay gets married on Saturday! (WAY scarier than moving to Africa, IMO), otherwise hanging with family and other Redding-ites one last time!

Wednesday 27: Drive back to Davis in Greg's car, haircut, last Teen Group meeting :(

Thursday 28-Friday 29: Pack everything that Greg is taking, finish any more storage packing for Amanda's garage

Saturday 30: Farmer's Market, then PARTY!!!

Sunday 31: Recuperate from PARTY!!! PACK BAGS

Monday 1: PACK BAGS. Store stuff that doesn't fit. Go to REI/Target for last minute purchases/returns

Tuesday, June 2nd, 5am: Get to the airport. Cry profusely. Get on plane. BYE!

June 3rd: Meet training group, get orientated.

June 4th: Get shots, GET ON PLANE.

June 5th: ARRIVE IN YAOUNDE, CAMEROON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

June 6th: Leap of Faith.

If you wanted to let me know you're reading, (Thanks Sidnaya!), that'd be super!!! Love!!

So, all I really wanted to do was change the email address this blog was associated with....harder than it sounds. And so, you'll see the address has changed, along with it.

See, had to set up a gmail account for PC-so they can send official stuff to it and whatnot. So, didn't make sense to have a second gmail account that I don't use for anything but blogging about PC, when now I have to have a PC email!

But, alas, in blogger's attempt to help you to not fail (read: delete your blog and not get it back), it lets you export your blog and delete it, but then holds onto the address for 90 days. So, export the blog, import it to the new email, but then have to rename. BOO!

Not that anyone is reading this anyway.

Wahoo! It's all actually happening! So, after a hiccup last week that involved lost visa forms, a midday dash to kinko's, and overnight fedexing forms to DC, all appears to be well and good!

Got my staging info in the email this morning, talked to the travel agent shortly after, booked plane tickets to staging in Philadelphia! Huzzah! Here's what that's going to look like:

June 2nd--I leave from Sac at 6:30 am. Sorry Amanda! Arrive in Philly via Atlanta at 5:30ish. Spend the night, probably hook up with other early arrivers for dinner and such.

June 3rd--Free morning, apparently the hotel is right next to the Liberty Bell and other such Americana, so plan to do that. At 1:30l, it begins! We spend all afternoon through the evening getting forms filled out, getting to know each other, talking about safety, and getting ready to GO!

June 4th--Shots in the morning, bus to JFK in NYC to leave. NY to Brussels, then it's

June 5th--Brussels to Yaounde. Yeah, that's in Cameroon!

So I have just 4 weeks left in Davis, and just over a month in the US. Yes, this is actually happening!

PS: No strep here! Or swine flu....silliness, really.

Wow, time is flying by! We skipped the trip to Yosemite last weekend--Amanda and I were both stressed and run down for different reasons, but wound up going to REI to start finishing off all the buying things necessary! Don't want to talk about money right now, argh!

And yes, it is looking like 5 weeks from today, Tuesday. That's cause, as I've worked it out, there's just no way for me to make it to Philly (which is where someone on FB said it's going to be), on Wednesday by whatever time I need to be there if I fly that day. East Coast=3 hours in the future, plus it's like a 5 hour flight, IF it's direct. So that's 8 hours right there. Add in time to get to and from the airport, and the likelihood that it won't be a direct flight....and I'm PRAYING I get to leave Tuesday, just so I'm not a zombie!

So, right now, I'm accepting treatment/prayer/happy thoughts on my throat no longer acting up. Tomorrow will be a result of a strep culture, which the doc thinks will be negative. You may remember another time recently when I had a nasty sore throat and a negative strep test. Anybody with opinions on what psychologically/emotionally/spiritually I might be creating sore throats from, I'm happy to hear your ideas! In any case, this time, I'm nipping it in the bud, and will be taking 2 days off work to heal. More if necessary. (Will not be necessary).

If you're reading, wanna leave me a comment to make me feel important? Oh, and if you haven't RSVPed to my party, please do that too! Facebook, email, or leave a comment. And if you're a maybe on FB, please be decisive. It will help my stress level. Thanks, and loves!

I have a gift registry on REI. Go here: http://www.rei.com/giftregistry , enter my name, and there I am.

Warning: I registered for underwear. Weird? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely.

I hate feeling like I'm begging, and know that I'm not. ZERO obligation to buy me something--really, seriously. But, if you're so inclined, who am I to stand in your way!

And actually, if you made me a mix cd, or a mix thumb drive of songs I can have (and then give back your thumb drive), that would be totally awesome too!

On Wednesday the 22nd, it'll be six weeks and counting!

Ok, so I love everyone. Seriously. But I'm starting to feel like I need to have some things tattooed on my forehead, cause my voice is wearing out from saying the same things all the time. So here are the answers to your questions.

Where/When/How long are you going?

Cameroon--that's just under the horn of Africa. I'll leaving on June 3rd. It's a little over 2 years, June 2009-July 2011.

But wait, that's crazy!

Yeah, I know! And awesome!

What will you be doing there?

I'll be teaching middle/high school level science.

What language do they speak?

80% of the country is French, 20% is English. I'm working on my French with Rosetta Stone, plus I did 4 years in High School. I'm hoping this will work out!

What/where is the training?

On June 3rd, I'll fly to most likely Philadelphia, where I'll meet my training group, get the basics of health and safety, and my shots. We leave from there on June 6th for Cameroon! Then, I'll spend my first 10 weeks in Bangangte, in the Southwest, doing intensive foreign language training, cultural and technical training. I'll be living with a Cameroonian Family for that time.

Where will you be eventually placed?

They don't tell you that until about halfway through training--they want to see how you do first, especially in language.

What's the weather like?

Variable across the country--it's desert in the northeast, mountains and cooler in the northwest, beach on the west, tropical in the south, grassland in the middle. Cameroon is sometimes called "Africa in miniature"--it has all of the biomes in Africa present in the country.

What about food?

Well, I won't be holding fast to my vegetarianism--to make things easier on me there. They have a variety of grains, lots of couscous, and lots of fish apparently. And some interesting bushmeat--armadillo, porcupine, monkey....I probably won't eat monkey.

Please ask me any other questions, I'm actually happy to answer! And I'll probably add to this post as things come up, so check back!

Seems like all the cool kids in Peace Corps post the timeline of how things worked. And I'm all about bandwagons.

Juneish: Riding my bike home from work, decided to join the Peace Corps, started filling out application. No, seriously.

Julyish: Distracted by moving, don't like writing essays, application languishes.

Early August: Created and did a workshop at Summer Seminar that got me over the hump. Submitted app!

Late August: Interview in Oakland. Nominated the next day! Huzzah. Nomination is the recruiter's recommendation that you go forward. Mine was to Science Teaching in Africa, departing June 2009.

September-October: Doctor/Dentist appts. out the wazoo. No seriously, there was gynecology involved. Submitted all medical paperwork at the end of October.

December 24th: Medically cleared for service! Best Christmas present this year! Ok Mom, maybe the pig was a little bit better.

January 15th: Phone conversation with my placement officer--the person IN CHARGE of where, when, and if I go! Basically a recap and update on things covered in the interview--how does your family feel (my dad hates africa, but loves me anyway), how's your relationship (non-existent), how will you cope (fudgeansweridunnobutiwill).

January16-February 7th: Obsessive compulsive mail-checking for invitation.

February 7th: Online status updates to "Invited." I squee, Amanda cries, Lou and Megan love and hate me at the same time.

February 7th-February 12th: Obsessive compulsive mail checking accelerates, and includes Amanda texting me the status from home when I'm not home to check it as soon as it arrives. Mailman is lucky I never actually saw her coming up the driveway, as I'd likely have tackled her.

February 12th: Cell phone battery dies at work, meaning that Amanda's text message of "Cameroon, June 3rd" doesn't get to me. Hahahahaha.

February 13th: Accepted invitation as "Science Teacher", leaving for staging June 3rd, 2009.

February-June: Insane preparation

June 3rd: Surrender.

June 3rd-6th: Staging in Philly or DC (seems like the last several groups of trainees for Cameroon have gone via Philly, but who knows?)

June 6th 2009-July 1st 2011: Residing in Cameroon!

So there we have it. Just under a year from the first inspiration to the departure. Holy crap, this is actually happening.

*Not an extensive list*

Things I have acquired:

Duffel bag

Backpack

Laptop and assorted accessories

3 Skirts

1 pair of pants

3 Shirts

Rain jacket

Sleeping bag

timbuk2 bag (love!)

Teva running shoes

Merrell sandals (dressy)

Merrell flats (dressy)

Things I already owned:

Daypack

Merrell hiking boots (theme?)

Keens

Tevas (theme?)

North Face flip flops

Camera

Assorted clothing

Things I still need:

Leatherman tool

sleeping pad/thermarest type thing

camping towel

assorted other clothing (more nice shirts, nice capris, another pair of pants?, assorted high-tech underwear?)

no more shoes!

Electricity converters/adapters

Printed out photos of people I LOVE a lot (which is probably you, by the looks of things)

Prescription sunglasses and a repair kit

luggage locks/security thingies

a crap-ton of passport photos

a watch

fun stuff--travel games, posters, etc

assorted kitchen stuff

umbrella

And who knows what else???

Ok, so I'm about three months out, and the insanity has officially begun. Here's my schedule until I leave:

March 6-8: Redding--Snowboarding, family time

March 14-18: Road trip with Dad and Bro

March 20-21: Girl Scout Camp-in (work)

March 26-28: SF trip with Amanda, Georgia, and assorted other family

April 3-5: Redding--Lindsay's shower, assorted family, church?

April 12: Amanda's birthday!

April 18: Picnic Day!

April 24-26: Yosemite Camping Trip

May 1-3: Free weekend! Plus Kent coming to Visit. :)

May 8-10: WEF, plus Mother's day, and people visiting Davis

May 15-17: Advisor Training

May 22-26ish: Redding--Lindsay's wedding, last family visit, old High School visit

May 30th: GOING AWAY BLOW-OUT PARTY CRAZY!

June 3rd: Leave for staging in Philly or DC (TBD).

SO--if you want to see me before I go....make sure to work around this! And I want to see you before I go! Especially at my party!