Well, we did in fact make it to post all right. And we've been there for about a month now. Things are going well. We have continued to be very busy. This is mainly due to the fact that we happened to arrive at a time when there were several porjects been finished up by the NGO we work with. I should probably explain that our work is based around the projects of a local NGO called Sana Logne. It has a staff of about 10 Cameroonians in addition to several foreign development workers: there's us, a woman from the UK, a Dutch woman, and several italians who come and go alot. All of these foreigners work with other organizations sort of like the Peace Corps... it can be complicated. However what all this means for us is that there are many projects going on at Sana Logone, and it is easy for the two of us to find things to do.

The main things that we've started with are working with a traditional apiculture (beekeeping) group to build two hives and a project to start an environmental education center.

We're also busy geytting our house in order. This is relatively easy for us compared with other PCV's in Cameroon since we inheireted some furniture from the PCV's were replacing. IT is, however by no means simple, partly because we havez high hopes for our house and partly because it takes forever to find where to buy things and to transport them here. There is no Target, and while thi complicates things a bit the real trouble is that businesses here don't have any sort of names; So when we ask where to get a couch to someone we work with the conversation goes a bit like this:

-where can we by furniture?

-form the carpenter?

-Where's that?

-by the market;

-Where in the market?

-Across from the store that sells yogurt;

-Which store?

-... I'll just take you tomorrow;

This is a common conversation.

Anyway I gotta go.

Next time...

Hello everyone,

Things continue to go well here in Northern Cameroon. So far neither of us have been very sick (though we've both had minor stomach problems) and we haven't had any accidents or any other serious misfortunes.

I think that the major news now is that we are both starting to feel ready for training to be over, which it will be in less than three weeks. We are especially restless and excited to get to our post now that we have visited it. This excitement makes it difficult to concentrate onFrench and technincal classes for 7+ hours each day. I think the most challenging thing is that because we are living with a family we have somewhat less freedom than we would like when we do actually have free time.

Despite our restlessness, our host family continues to be welcoming and pleasant to live with. Yesterday I attemted to teach two of the chilrden to juggle, with very little success. Even though no one learned to juggle in a traditional sense, the kids did have a good time throwing rocks in the air and were very amused by my juggling. After 'juggling' got old, we balanced sticks on end on varoius body parts: palm, finger, nose, etc. They are very good at this despite the lack of coordintion displayed in juggling. As the various feats of skill escalated, it occured to me briefly that throwing rocks and running around with sticks are perhaps not the most prudent games to be ecouraging children to play in a country were there is certainly no ambulance service. However, concern with safety is decidely lax here compared with the US, and soft, plush toys are less readily available.

Well, as I said earlier, two and a half weeks of training to go. This coming week the trainees are leading practice presentations in French. Mine is on hillside farming and erosion control, and Susan's is on ways of preserving perishable foods. So tomorrow she will be making sun-dried tomatoes and various jellies, while I build makeshift surveying equipment. Fun, n'est pas?

That's all I have for now, perhaps there will be more next week.

--Stephen

So, it has been a while I know, but we have been very busy. there should be photos in this post. If so, let me say a bit about them. One is from our hotel in Yaounde; there were always good sunsets there (and everywhere else we've been so far here). In fact the susets here seem to be second only to sunsets qround the southwest US.

Four others are be pictures of us around our home stay, with our host brother and mother, respectively. These were taken on the last day of Ramadan. Our room is nice but very small and we are very excited to be moving to a much bigger place soon.

The final one is from the farm of our technical trainer Dr. Njiti, which is just outside Garoua.

The big excitement recently has been learning that we will be posted in Yagoua, in the extreme north. Yagoua is fairly big, with lots of amenities. We'll have water and electricity in our house. In a little while you can expect pictures of our new home. If everything goes to plan we should move there in the middle of December.

As for work we'll know more when we get there. But, already we know that we'll be working with an environmental education center.

That's all for now.

Well we've made it!! We're staying in a little village outside Garoua, in the North Province. The train ride went really well with only one unschedule stop...when one of the other cars caught on fire. Pas de problem (as our homestay brother says). It was pretty hot the first week here, but it's either cooling off or we're getting used to it, because now it doesn't seem so bad. We continue to sweat profusely none the less. We can now say we know what it's like to to sweat for 24 hours nonstop.

Our homestay family is amazing. They go out of their way to help us with things. We mostly interact with our host brother who is about our age and speaks the best French. The rest of the family speaks a little French, but they mainly talk to each other in Fulfude, a local tribal language that is fairly common in Northern Cameroon. Apparently at some point we will learn this language too, but that won't be for a long time.

Our host-mother is a really good cook. We eat a lot of rice and sauce. There are several kinds of sauce: peanut, okra, tomato, and local greens, all of which come with chunks of meat. She also makes the most wonderful beans, sans meat chunks. It is really pretty good. There is also this porridge-like stuff called bouillie, in French, which takes some getting used to.

Transportation in Cameroon has proven to be interesting. Most people, PC volunteers and locals alike, get around either in very crowded bush taxis or on motorcycle taxis (motos). Neither of which would pass inspection in the states. People here do drive on the right, but this is only a tendency not a hard and fast rule. We haven't been in or witnessed any accidents so far but we have been issued moto-helmets, which we are required to use. The fortunate thing is that it is not possible to drive very fast because of the condition of the roads and the other traffic.

Monday or Tuesday is the end of Ramadan, and there is a huge party in our village. Our family has helped us get special clothes for the occasion, and Susan has put henna on her hands and feet in local tradition. They're orange.

We're constantly busy with classes. Everyday we have formal French instruction and several sessions on agroforestry. We have to start tree nurseries at our homes and work on demonstration gardens. Tomorrow is a big deal, because the trainees can now only talk to each in French. As our teacher says, Anglais est mort.

Please excuse any grammatical or other such problems with this post; we're using a French keyboard, and are very hungry. We'll try to have pictures next post. We hope that everyone is doing well, and hope to hear from you soon.

-Susan and Stephen

PS. We're really starting to get used to this way of life...dare we say...we like it?

This Saturday, we'll be heading to our homestay families in the North. It's a 30 hour train ride and a 5 hour car drive to get to out places, but then we get to stay for a good 10 weeks. In that time, we'll be working on French and for those who are advanced (not us!) Fulfulde. I'm just hoping to get through the first one!!

For those who have heard about Stephen's stomach problems: he's getting better, not to his best yet, but better. They take could care of us, Mom and Dad, don't worry!

The trip has been fun; hopefully we'll write more once we have something to tell.

Love you,

Susan

We're here in Yaounde. It was a very long couple of flights, of course. So far we've mostly been at the hotel. Today we started medical training and did intake interviews. Yesterday we went on a tour of the city, which was very nice, and we went to a party at the country director's house, also very nice. Aside for upset stomachs we've been fine.

I'm sure I'll write more later but for now I'm going back to the hotel.

bye for now. Pictures to come in a while.

Stephen

Ahoy maties,

We're here in Oklahoma waiting to leave. Today we packed most of our stuff. There is shockingly little of it considering that every other time we have moved we managed to fill large vehicles. It amazes me to see how much of our lives have revolved around stuff for the past couple days. We've spent a huge percentage of our time worring about which books, which clothes, which games, and on and on. At this point so many decisions have been made that I, for one, am past worring about whether we have adequate stuff. From now until Monday night at least, I have adopted a 'I'm-going-to-Africa-with-what-I've-already-packed-and-damn-the-consequences-if-I-forgot-any-underwear' aproach to my further preperations. That is, I have adopted this attitude until ten-o'clock Monday night when I panic and start to cram everthing I can find into the interstices of my already crammed luggage... but for now my confidence feels good.

Anyhow, we leave for Philadelphia on Tuesday, training starts on Wednesday, and then we get on a plane for Cameroon on Friday. Yes, it's getting close, and to all those who wish to know if we are nervous or excited, I have this to say: Duh.

But seriously folks, the awareness that something very different, over which we have little control and for which we have only the most scanty of preperations, is happening soon takes up a bigger and bigger part of our thoughts each day. So, yes we are excited and nervous.

Cheers to all,

Stephen

P.S. Our address in Cameroon for the first several months will be:

Stephen & Susan Vorkoper, Peace Corps Trainees

Corps de la Paix

B.P. 215

Yaounde, Cameroon

I'm sure that we will always be happy to recieve mail.

Okay, so maybe a month and a half in Oklahoma was a little ambitious. Turns out that there isn't much to do here; in fact, after exhausting the activities I know and some that we made up, Stephen and I found ourselves with some extra time. Some might have taken this to start a hobby, like quilting, or learn an increasingly useful language, like FRENCH. But after assigning hobbies to various family members (Dad= drag racing, Aunt= weaving, Grandmother= feeling better, Mom= finding a new job), I was bored. Here is the fun and exciting things that have come out of that boredom.

The pranks I've played on my mother:

1) Put "Can't Steer Without My Beer" license plate holder on her Volvo

2) Changed her home page to the Edmond Masonic Lodge webpage (includes old man talking...seriously, google it)

3) Put random events on her event calendar for the rest of the year (this is how we found the Masonic webpage)...includes the Bad Girls Halloween Horse Back Ride (will she go?)

4) Stephen and I have been moving one of her couches by small increments every day. It's getting close to the middle of the room, but she hasn't noticed yet

5) With an amazing amount of Fiesta Ware (dishes, bowls, etc), she won't notice the ones that I've been taking and hiding around the house. Which color should I take next?

The crap I've bought and returned:

1) An electric outlet converter (three times!!!)

2) bar of soap

3) scissors

The cds I discovered I had in OKC and sold at Half Price Book Store in Dallas

1) The Rembrandts (they did that song for Friends)

2) Rednecks (that awful song "Cotton Eyed Joe"...this one was Stephen's)

3) horrible, but true...'NSYNC (I think it was given as a gift, that's right, I remember it now)

4) let's not continue this

So if you've been questioning whether I've missed you, let the above be an answer. With a few days left to go, it's going to be tough to say goodbye.

'til the next time, post a comment.

-Susan

PS. Mom, the dishes aren't so far away. I feel confident in your ability to find them. And please, don't question, "Why me?"...you know why.

From the desk of Susan:

With a week and half left, Stephen and I are wisely having a garage sale in Dallas with stuff from Salt Lake that was stored in Oklahoma for a few weeks. Oh, the adventures we create for ourselves! Whatever happens, we're making a little money and wasting a lot of time.

Cameroon is just around the corner and we're getting excited/nervous (circling one at any given moment). Our French work is coming along slowly, like snails, which the French eat (coincidence?).

Perhaps my next post will come to you from Africa, assuming, of course, that I don't die a horrible, horrible death in some plane crash or from all the shots.

Wow, only 12 more days until we leave the city of Fry Sauce, Mormons, and Year-Round Pumpkin Baked Goods. This means packing, cleaning an apartment that wasn't too clean to begin with, and saying goodbye to some good friends. I hate sorting through all our stuff, but worse yet is figuring out what on earth we're supposed to bring with us to this lovely African nation. Oh yes, the Peace Corps gives us a packing list with helpful suggestions like "shirts" and "dress clothes"...what does all that mean? How many? Good quality? Help! Then, of course, there is the electricity/ internet fun...will we have it ever? all the time? never? Someone knows and isn't telling us.

Stephen is headed to DC with the 13 SOAR II kids, leaving me with a weekend full of cleaning fun. It's like he knows just what I want and when I want it. A truly lovely man. Seriously, he is going to have a great time, and I only begrudge him slightly for it.

For the fun of it, that is a picture of us in Arches.

Well after months and months and months of waiting, we've finally gotten the news: Stephen and I will be headed to Cameroon at the end of September. For reasons unknown to either of us, we're both assinged to agriculture. I guess we'll see what a girl from the 'burbs and a boy from the city can do (with a little training I hope).

So in two years we will return speaking French and perhaps an indigious language, begging for air conditioning, and ready for indoor plumbing. Please follow us along on our journey and make comments about whatever tickels you (it doesn't have to be about us; we know what we're doing).