Greetings Friends and Family,So the last couple of months have been pretty quiet and laid back. Though I have guarded all of the pictures so now when you look at them they will be very exciting!

First you'll see a cultural festival that I went to where an Anglophone tribe celebrated at their local meeting. The guys in the blue smirf costumes are traditional dancers and they were getting pretty crazy, here you'll see one of them is hanging from a rafter! Which is saying something because the building did not inspire strength. You will also see me in my Women's day Pagne which is pretty much so girly I look like a coupie doll. I am also showing off the lovely latrine, don't ask me why, the answer would involved how many beers i drank.

You can also see the arrival of Rainy season, which is pretty awesome the clouds were magnificient. Adn finally in the you see me Siobhan and my counterpart Bertha. These people make Bertoua awesome! Love you all.

Greetings from Bertoua

I am back in town after going to Yaounde for the week because I had a meeting for Peer Support Network. It was a really good time. But now I'm back home for my birthday which I think I prefer. So far I have spent most of the day watching movies (Funny People) and rereading my book (Chig gave me it, its about a girl whose half vampire/half werewolf). I'm also currently listening to the new Nora Jones, its makes my feet tap. The ladies are cooking up some food for dinner and the crust to my cake is making the house smell good and kinda radiate with heat, but we'll forgive the oven this one time. I thought now might be a good time to shirk my work responsibilities and to type up an entry I wrote yesterday while waiting for the Bilingualism Day celebration to start. I not only impressed everyone with how much I could write but also how good my pen was (thanks mom). So here we go:

A couple of weeks ago I went with my counterpart, Bertha, to Giwi Yogamo to present our formation on teaching English with songs. It is a small village on the paved road North of Bertoua. We left very early at 5am and arrived at 7:30am. Many of our colleagues had chosen to stay the night at an Auberge- really about 9 rooms that look like closets. Since we arrived early we were ushered into the room of a colleague where we awkwardly sat on the bed ans starred at the wall while listening to the other inspector sing in while taking his bucket bath, which he was having in the shared bathhouse just next to us. Nothings too awkward for Africa

After this we were brought to the principal's house where we were served our choice of a beer or a coke. One of the inspectors took a large beer- note that he was presenting before us so everyone had to wait while he took 30 minutes to drink his beer and chat with me. He has very wiley eyes and essentially flirted with me all morning. Did I mention that he is about 5'6" and 50stomething with at least 1 wife and 7 kids? Nice. Then we are told to wait for an hour while he finishes his presentation and we can start. At this time the chief of the group sends in the only Anglophone in town. I'm not sure if she was meant to entertain us like a court jester, but she was a young teacher and seemed a little nervous. This was the time when, powered by all of that caffeine no doubt, my counterpart decides to give the poor girl an hour lecture about the problems between Anglophones nad Francophones. She continues to explain that Anglophones suffer in the East because n one has respect for them and resents them. Then she talks about the crap school system, the whole time the poor girl looks like she thinks she's being accused of something.

As this is going on, I am looking out the door which gives ma perfect rectangle's view of the women outside preparing for the coffee break and lunch for the conference. They are frying plantains and cleaning fish and its nice to watch their domesticity in full swing. However, as I'm watching one of their sons comes by holding a chicken and searching for a knife. I know what will happen next. I lived in village for a year. The goby grabs a dull knife and literally standing perfectly framed by the door, I watch as he saws at its neck. So the knives here are never sharp enough and the kid has to stop on the bird's wings and saw away. I get to watch the death of the chicken and then watch it run about as it's head is not all off and the boy accidentally freed its wings. As this is going on I decide to find the latrine where I can get away from the slaughter.

A nice woman points the way for me and I go into the small enclosure and get into position and then a parade of children begin to walk in on me. I am squatiing down in all my pagune and my aura of authority and one girl just comes into the latrine adn talkes to me while I'm peeing. I guess talking to the white women is anovelty anywhere- even the latrine. Finally, we go into the classroom and are greeted by about 70 teachers and proceed to give our workshops. Our presentations lasts until about 4. It goes very well, at this point Bertha and I work crazy well together.

We decide to take a taxi home instead of a bus because it'll be quicker seeing as how they drive faster and don't unload as much baggage. The y put me in the front seat because I am not used to being smooshed evidentially because I'm white. Now these cars are about as big as a Geo Metro, but my chauffeur fits 5 ppl in the backseat, then my counterpart sits next to me int eh front seat. Then he stopped again to pick up two more people. He puts one in the trunk where he sits on piles of manioc. The other gets into the driver's side and sits on the drivers seat, and the driver gets in and begins to drive. Now there are 4 ppl in the front, 5 ppl in the back, and one in the trunk. The driver then proceeds to drive at light speed on the windy road dodging animals and honking at children. The whole experience was sereal, but we did get to town in about 1 hr 45 minutes as opposed to 2h30 minutes, I was impressed.

Well anyway, that's all for me recapping stories I thought you'd enjoy. Please don't feel bad for me for being in Africa on my birthday, honestly I'm having a great time. In Yaounde I got to eat a hamburger, mac and cheese, ramen, a cheese sandwich and egg rolls, and chicken. I'm not complaining. Someone even bought champagne! I love you all and wish I could see you today! Big party in 5 months!

Cheers,

Elyse

Greetings Family and Friends!

So my project is finally on the Peace Corps website ready for donations!

Go to the Link below:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=694-157

or go to: www.peacecorps.gov

Then click donations

then put in my project number to find my project: 694-157

And you can read all about my project. Please send this link to everyone you know, even if you give 20 dollars it would be great, and you can write it off because tax season is coming up.

I love you all and miss you!

Elyse

So its totally worth it if you have some time to check out Siobhan's blog. Not only does she post more pictures, but she also tells you a little something about the regions we visited!

http://cameroonsiobhan.blogspot.com/

Blog continuation

Okay, so we got to Christmas. Alright, well after Christmas we went to Waza. Now getting up at 5 in the morning after celebrating the savior’s birth is never fun! Even if you are going to see animals. But we persevered. On our way to Waza, our car broke down which is a normal occurrence but we were all sad because we were in the middle of the desert and our driver didn’t seem to have any idea what to do, hence the picture of him fixing the car with rope and a prayer and the picture of us looking dejected on the side of the road. However, our car was finally fixed and we were underway. As we entered the park we saw a little family of warthogs which were super cute. Then we paid our guides and started into the park. It is not the season to see animals in Waza because the lions and the elephants have migrated to the Congo but we were still optimistic. After about 10 minutes in we had to stop again to fix our axel so we stood next to a watering hole and looked at Elephant tracks (the picture of the mud below), which is probably as close as I’ll ever get to dinosaur tracks. We also saw some cool birds’ nests and some deer things at the water hole. As we ventured on we were able to see some monkeys, vultures, and yes giraffes! The giraffes kinda made the day, there were tons of them and they were just chilling. We got to see some babies and got to watch them run around which was really surreal, they look so odd when they run like they are in slow motion.

After driving around for some time later, and yours truly taking a totally lame nap on the bus because I was so tired, we decided to head back to Maroua. (Don’t safari when you are tired- that is what I learned)

The next day we decided to go to Mokolo where our friend Fleurange lives and to head on to Rumsiki one of the biggest tourist attractions in Cameroon. Rumsiki has beautiful rock formations and to get there you can take a moto that goes through the hills and is about a 1 ½ ride. Honestly this was my favorite part of the trip. The moto drive was beautiful and really fun, we drove through little villages and drove alongside the donkeys and horses that pepper the landscape. Siobhan even got to touch one when a herd of cows passed and we were stopped.

When we arrived at Rumsiki we decided to splurge and stay at the nice hotel where we were told that we got a 2000Cfa discount and that we didn’t need an air conditioner because we were peace corps. However, because it was tourist time, they were all booked up so we lied and said there were only 2 of us when there were three and we had a very small room with one very tiny double bed. We fixed the sleeping arrangements Peace Corps style by taking the mattress off the bed and making the box spring into a bed. We also took down the curtains to use as extra sheets, as it was a bit chilly up in the mountains. Siobhan said that she would take one for the team and slept on the box spring and every time she moved we got to hear it, but honestly it was pretty comfy for everyone.

My favorite moment of the whole trip was when we decided to spend the next day and a half at the pool. The pool is crazy deep and really cold but it overlooks the valley and it’s quite beautiful. We all put on our bathing suits and bought an overpriced beer and lay out in the sun. I was very amused by their “chaise lounges”, because they must have seen a picture of them or something and tried to build them out of local supplies. As I recall they were small medal bars painted white and welded together and there were not enough bars so you were sorta really uncomfortable. We also did a bunch of pictures where we ran and jumped really high and took the picture in mid air. They’re pretty great, but not particularly flattering, maybe if you buy me a couple of beers I’ll show you.

We also were able to eat at a restaurant that all PCVs love called the “Vegetarian Carnivore” A local guy owns it and he speaks really good English and grows all of his own veggies. He loves PCVs and treated us really nicely. When we arrived he kept telling us, “You are welcome, you live here, and this is your home.” We asked if we could have some drinks and he actually took us into his hut that was used as a kitchen and had us open the fridge and pick what we wanted! It was pretty silly. He then brought out some bread and this roasted garlic sauce that was so amazing that when the bread was finished we started spooning it our mouths alone! He also brought us chocolate croissants. I decided to have to veggie pizza and it was really good. So good I kept saying I was going to stop eating it and I finished every last bite!

Our trip was really relaxing and after we did some hiking on the second day and I finished my girlie beach novel, we headed back on a very enjoyable moto ride to Fleurange’s house. She welcomed us with some homemade peanut curry veggy sauce and rice! It was delicious. Unfortunately you cannot hide long from Africa and I was working some major stomach funkiness that started that day and plagued me for the rest of the trip! It’ll be interesting to figure out what I have.

New Years

It is now necessary to discuss the most memorable part of the trip for me which was New Years. Number one, it is important to explain that this was a very serious event for many people. There was some intense party planning going on. Peace Corps volunteers have taken a page out of Cameroon’s book and we have learned how to celebrate! First off, we had some committees going. We had a beverage committee who produced three different flavors of awesomeness for everyone’s consumption. Next was the lighting committee. You don’t want to find yourself having a dance party with fluorescent office type lighting. The solution (after 2 previous attempts) was to rap the fluorescent bulbs with electrical tape! Booya, instant red lightly dance partiness! The 3rd committee was in charge of music. We made sure to have the best mix of rock and roll, sexy dance, and oldies. We spent the evening dancing up a storm, playing party games, and sitting under the stars. At midnight, which we used someone’s watch to count down on, we spent about 15 minutes just going around and hugging all our new and old friends! It was definitely a moment to remember, as I don’t recall having been hugged that many times in a long while. There was a spirit of brotherly love and hope for the coming year.

After New Years we headed back down to the East. The train proved to be easy compared with our first trip and we arrived in Bertoua just in time for me to wake up 4 hours later and go to class. Honestly, it was one of the best times I’ve had in Cameroon and I really dug the trip.

I think it’s also important to point out that Peace Corps volunteers are some of the best people to travel with I know. If they get hurt, sick, lost, confused…whatever, it’s all part of the experience. Everyone just let’s it roll off their back. There are no cry babies and everyone man’s up! Another thing I love is that we became very adept at traveling together. Siobhan, Lisa, and I became a well oiled machine. What we need to travel tomorrow? Okay- Elyse is in charge of tickets, Siobhan save’s seats on the bus, Lisa takes care of baggage! We remembered to get snacks, to hide money, to charge iPods. We all took care of each other in a totally organized fashion. I love it when a plan comes together! Maybe we got so good at this because we have to deal with so much inefficiency here in Cameroon that we like to control things as much as possible, either way, we should write a book.

I wanted to say that I hope everyone a happy new year and that you get everything you want this year. This year has to be good right?

My brother is getting married. I get a new sister. Tyler finally gets to drink legally! I get to have a quarter life crisis. Dad is looking more and more like Steve Martin (that’s a compliment!). I make my triumphant return to the states and then start a new adventure, only God knows where. Mom decides to join the hippie movement and sits down for a totally of 2 hours in a row! (who are we kidding, this won’t happen). Sounds like everyone will be doing well this year!

I love you all and miss you!

Elyse

Greetings all,

I know that you are all awaiting my sweet analysis of the vacation that I took and the way that I fell off the planet for the last three weeks. Well I am here on this Sunday to satify your curiosity, and maybe to make you a little jealous that you aren't in the Peace Corps and that you did not have the holidays I had...because you will be jealous!

So for the second week in December I found myself in Kribi for the second time in my Peace Corps service. I was invited back to teach the new stage of education volunteers all that I know and to introduce them to the work that I've been doing in Bertoua. However, what the week was really about (running sessions aside) was the beach! I spent about 5 days on the beach, waking up in the morning and taking a run through the intense humidity, then going to work, and then going back to the beach. As remembered, The Hotel Paradise (as it is translated), still has amazing food and nice accomodations, but I somehow am more impressed with the food the longer I am in Cameroon, the more aware I am of quality cuisine. During this week I even engaged in some pretty intense beach football matches. American football. I found myself bounding around and playing for keeps. Sure it was touch football, but the tide didn't seem to care we were playing so you had to dodge your opponents as well as the surf!

Another notable happening that I shoudl share about Kribi is the position I found myself in during the sessions. You see, all of the presenters have to do this big written report about IST after the5 day seminar. This report has always been a very big undertaking and has not been any of the trainers favorite thing to do. Well after reviewing this problem and seeing that a lot of the counterparts that were attending did not speak English well enough to actually benefit from a lot of the conference, I decided to use the projector and laptop to type what everyone was saying for all to see. Thus, the report was being done in tadum with the conference and people were able to read English which they are better at than listening. However, a small off shoot from this idea came when I found myself translating French into English in time with the person's comments. I was actually sitting infront of about 60 people translating French as they listened. There are a couple of comments I need to make here. 1. I totally was not good enough to be completely correct or to translate everything word for word. But I am good enough to listen and synthesize the points that the people were making. This did two things, it helped people understand and it showed the long winded talkers that what they said could have been summed up 10 minutes before. 2. Who in their right mind would have thought that a year and a half ago, I woudl be translating french! Crazy

THE NORTH

After Kribi I headed back to Yaounde, and found that my packages had not arrived! Sad! But that's not really what christmas is about and I know when I do finally get them it'll be awesome. Maybe it will just be a super crazy birthday this year!

The next leg of my trip was to take the train up North where I would meet Lisa and Siobhan and we would explore those upper reaches of the continent that resemble what you think of as Africa. Desert, heat, people speaking Fufulde, etc.

THE TRAIN

Every person that lives in the north has to take the train to get there, and they are all in agreement of one thing: The train sucks! First off, the train derails all the time and its always late. We were supposed to leave at 6pm and then we were told we would leave at 11pm and then finally we were told we would leave at 2 pm. Wow, not fun. So finally we are allowed to board the train and we are lucky enough to get a sleeper car. Imagine when James Bond is finished saving the world and gets into his train car and there are those pull down beds and then he has to throw jaws out the window. The sleeper cars are a little like that, except half the size and there are 2 bunk beds in the room. Its actually pretty comfortable. The ride is about 14-16 hours or so which sucks, but we actually got to see the countryside pass in the light of day which was quite nice. We arrived in the Adamoua at 6:30pm the next day and found ourselves starving and very tired. We fixed the starving part by going across the street from the case and eating some of the tastiest brochettes ever! Essentially this is like a kabab. Tasty meet on a stick that is painted with a spicy garlic sauce. They were crazy delicious, and so began our two week tour of eating any and all meat in the North. The food up there isnt very good because its desert and you can't grow a lot, so it was a lot like being back in Arizona. They grow cotton, millet (like corn), and they raise a bunch of cattle! It was really odd to see bruised black bananas for exuberant prices and to pay out the nose for any type of fruit. But the yogurt and cheese up there is great!

After the Adamowa we headed up to the extreme north (EN) in a coaster car for about 7 hours on paved roads. I am still amazed by paved roads and think they are the bees knees. We spent Christmas in Maroua where we foudn a slew of very happy and joyous volunteers. We were crazy impressed with the EN because of all the ex-pats that live there. There were white people everywhere! The roads were lined with trees and there were even medians in the roads! Everyone was insanely nice, and I didnt get bothered as much for being a white person which is refreshing!

For Christmas we made cookies and decorated them, the girls from the east made pancakes for everyone, and a big group of us made calzones for dinner which were delicious. A couple of the boys even went out and picked up a large piece of a tree and set it up in the living room hanging from the ceiling and we decorated it and danced around it. We listened to Christmas carols all day and drank a lot of beer. It was a very nice time and I very much enjoyed all of the Christmas movie watching and happy company.

Okay this blog is starting to get crazy long. I will be back later with the conclusion of what I was up to at the end of 2009

So here I am with some very happy Cameroonians who had obviously drunk too much, but Cameroon just won against Morocco so it was only right to celebrate!

Okay, here is Siobhan with our meal we had- mashed potatoes, gravy, candied carrots, stuffing, two turkeys, green bean casserole with mushrooms and home made onion rings on top, corn, creamed peas, cranberry sauce.

We also had appetizers- deviled eggs (you know you miss my signature dish), plantain chips (the closes thing we can get to actual chips, guacamole,and ranch with a veggie dish.

For dessert was: Pumpkin bread and pumkin pie. You can see the pie crust in the next picture, with our eggs we are boiling and our amazing stuffing. My favorite dish!

Here we have the girls of Thanksgiving. Laura came from the South west and Kate and Connie came across country for a collaboration project and stayed on for the food. As always we have lisa, siobhan and myself.

This is my counterpart for basic education. Her name is Bertha and she's such a fabulous lady. She's really motivated, English speaking, and I love seeing a woman in charge in such a chauvenist coultr

Okay here is the Halloween Crew

I was in charge of game, here's the apple bobbing!

Here we are hanging out at an sweet bar, with the nicest decor in town. You know that, because of this life sized picture of Averal Lavine

So here is when I locked myself out of my house and then proceeded to use every hanger and crow bar I coudl find. Thanks for the Help Siobhan

Here are Lisa and Evan for Christmas. Evan is dressed as an African Mamma.

Wow I guess its been a little long since I've written. Sorry about that, but I became super busy, which is good for Cameroon and for me, but not for my blogging. I'd like to catch you up so I'll try to summarized the last few months in an interesting way.

Work

Wow, I've been crazy busy. So I have created a CD of 59 songs to teach English and 10 tracks of pronunciation exercises. Then I have been selling them (not for profit but so I can get my money back from making them) to all of the francophone teachers of the East. The result is that the better part of the teachers of the East are listening to me sing "Bingo was his name o" and "I have a head...a head...on my head what can you see". Don't worry, if you want a cd I have plenty!

The other big project I have been working on is writing a book for these basic education teachers to help them better teach English. I finished the book a couple of weeks ago and I am in the process of editing it. I also wrote a grant to try and fund the printing of the book, but more to come with that!

The aformentioned things are all the office work stuff I've been up to, but I've also been out in the field as well. So far I have presented seminars at 6 different Journee Pedigogiques (essentially pedigogical conferences for teachers in the different regions of the east). I have been presenting information about how to use songs in lesson planning at the basic education conferences and this is where I give out my cd. At this point I have given the same presentation like 5 times and I've been solo a few times so its just me in a room full of teachers about twice my age, singing and doing some theatre exercises! Its been really fun but pretty demanding because we have had to travel a bit to get to all of the conferences. (more on this later) I have also presented at two conferences for the secondary education teachers. Here I was able to give a speech (in English don't overestimate me) to about 300 teachers and administrators. I was pretty proud of this because I was able to change the normal format of presenting papers, where the presenter just reads for liek 20-40 minutes and bores everyone to death. Instead I was talking about hte bilingualism game. Essentially its a new thing the ministry is trying to get everyone to do, where the last 5 minutes of their class they play a game related to their lesson in English. (since Cameroon is supposed to be bilingual). So of course, instead of just reading my boring paper I decided to play a game and give an example of the project. All the teachers loved it and came up to me after and seemed happy for the change from the normal procedures. I was also obliged to present during the English workshops where I discussed lesson planning and how to make lessons more student centered and interactive.

So as you can see my work is going really well, even if I'm a bit ready for the holidays. Coming up I have a girl's camp on Saturday where we will speak about health and making good choices and stuff. Then on the 1st of December I will be presenting at the national CAMELTA conference, this is essentially the English Teacher's Union. I've been asked to present two exposes on my own, so I've got a lot of work to do.

So enough with Work...where are your funny stories Elyse?

Well I definitely have a lot of those so I should put some here so you know its not all work and no play here.

1. I went to Abong Bong which is a village about 3 hours from Bertoua where we were going for a conference. The conference was for two days so I stayed at an Auberge with the other inspectors. I was given my own room. You have to understand that I'm the only woman that works at the higher level of inspectors and I'm a white chick so everyone treats me like I'm an idiot. I couldn't go to sleep because my colleagues kept tapping on my door and asking if I had soap, then toilet paper, then they came by to tell me to lock my door- as if I couldn't figure any of these things out. Then I try to go to sleep on the thinnest mattress in the world and you can feel every wood plank that is holding you up. So I decide to rearrange the wood planks so that they are in a less annoying spot. So I lift up the mattress and what do I find? About 40 used condoms on the floor under the bed! Ugg...well at least they were careful?

2. I was in NDiang a village about 1 hour from Bertoua, on Wednesday. Now when you go as an inspector everyone treats you to a meal and gets you drinks and are incredibly hospitable. I can't help wishing however, that their efforts resulted in me eating Famous Dave's Barbecue, or delicious sandwiches for lunch instead of what I get. So for our first break they give me a cold omelet that is 4 parts oil 1 part egg. And as I'm eating it I taste something slimy and can't figure it out, then I look down and realize there are sardines in my omelet. ugh! So for the next meal they open the lids to two pots with great gusto and I look in. First we have plantains mushed together in this sorta spongy side dish (I actually like this dish). Then there is obviously some type of meat in a tomato sauce. So I take a smaller helping to be polite and proceed to try and decide what the meat is. I finished my helping which is mostly fat, by stealthily feeding some to the cat by my feet. Then one of my colleagues asks what kind of meat it is to the lady of the house and she proceeds to say, "tu as goute quoi" "What did you taste?". Then we all laugh and say, no really what was it. And she says, you don't ask in village you just eat it. So obviously we ate some kind of bush meat, who knows what it was! I hope it wasn't dog!

3. So there is some phenomena right now where all of these praying mantises are decending on Bertoua, along with their friend Mr. Cricket. So my front yard is currently a corn field, because my landlord owns it and uses it for his field. So, having a corn field as a front yard sorta encourages these critters to gravitate to my house. I currently have a ridiculous number of them in my house, and its to the point where I'm killing so many I have to make a pile before sweeping them outside. Unfortunately, they are really big, so killing them makes quite a mess. Anyway, so I'm trying to sleep the other night and I keep hearing this crazy sound coming from my ceiling. Now, Siobhan has told about having mouse in her ceiling for a while and I really hope that isn't it. But after listening for a while because I can't sleep, I figure out that its one of those freaking mantises. There is a tile in my roof that has been removed because that's how you get up in the ceiling to rearrange the power lines. Well this piece of ceiling is right above my toilet. So after not being able to sleep I go into the bathroom to pee, and my friend in the ceiling decides to take this opportunity to dive bomb me. However, as he's coming down he decides to find somewhere to hide, and of course choices under my butt in the pot. SO I jump up because I've just been goosed by a huge green bug and I proceed to dance around my bathroom with my pants around my ankles, trying to kill him. Needless to say, I have recently swept out a large pile of these guys.

Well, I think that's probably enough for you to contemplate today. I miss you all and love you!

Weece

Greetings Family and Friends,

Sorry about not updating more in depth, we still don’t have the internet at the case in Bertoua so I have to come to the internet café, where the keyboards suck and it takes about 9 years just to log on to email. Boo. Hopefully the situation will change soon because I am buying a new phone which I can use to access the internet from my computer. So what has happened so far with me this month? Good question.

I’ve been extremely busy here in Bertoua with my new job and with school starting. I must confess I find that I like my health, my happiness, and my overall contribution to peace corps a lot better now that I’m in Bertoua. I’m extremely busy and I am actually doing work that I think might be helpful. While I’m sad to be away from village, the fact that the mayor and a few people in town are still giving me a hard time even when I moved away, reminds me that village was not all sugarplums and lollipops. What do I miss? First off, I miss the fact that I had so much time for reading. I also miss the quietness and the community of Ndelele. I miss the forest too, I don’t much feel like going out of my house to run because there isn’t the same type of serenity in town. I also miss my students and the fact that they had a better rapport with me than they do here, simply because I had more teaching hours and I lived right next to them. But, there are somethings I don’t miss, like the horrible travel to get there. The lack of electricity and water (though Bertoua has its share of problems with water), and also the fact that a lot of undeserving people are in power and they abuse that power. I also don’t miss the fact that I didn’t feel very useful there.

On the upside, here in Bertoua I have been having a great time. First off, I moved into my new house last weekend. I’m so proud of myself, I pretty much moved all of my stuff by myself and everyone in my cartier now thinks I’m very strong. The first thing I set up was my kitchen, because with all the awesome food I have gotten in packages it just seemed like the most necessary thing to do. Unfortunaetly, Bertoua has these horrible red ants that are so small you can barely see them or feel them. Anyway, when they bite you its like fire and its pretty much the most horrible feeling ever. Unfortunaetly, they have already decided to live on my countertop that comes to my waste. So I am currently covered in these horrible bites around my waste. I have however, taken new precautions with my food and I have bought RAMBO which is their ant killing spray here. I hope to be free of the problem soon, if only for my mental health. I keep having bad dreams where ants cover me and eat me- very Indiana Jones of me.

The other room I have set up is my bedroom, and its awesome. I have a new bed and a bedside table, and now with the power I’m actually able to plug in my reading lights and my radio so I don’t have to go through so many batteries. I have found a bit of a problem trying to post anything on my walls though. Cinderblock walls have never corporated with nails or screws! So my mirror and all of my posters are looking quite sad in a pile on my floor. The other things I have done is put up all of my curtains, because with out them the people that are still building the house next to mine and my fence, can look right into my room! Not cool.

So I am very much loving my house and when I finally arrive back there every afternoon I feel like I have a bit of a haven, I can’t wait to pick up my new furniture and actually create a living room. One thing I do have to say is that I’m really enjoying the power because Siobhan got me into these workout videos. I work out like an hour a day and I always feel tons better afterwards!

I do want to tell you alittle bit of the work I’m doing in Bertoua right now. First off I teach 8 hours at the Lycee Technique de Bertoua. I teach 9th grade and 10th grade and every time I have a new class I find that I am greeted by more and more students. At this point my 9th grade class has left me about a two foot walkway to maneuver by the board in the front of the class. The students are a bit rowdy, but the faculty is very nice and the school is so big that they have many discipline masters to assist me. I have really been enjoying teaching thus far simply because the kids seem to really respond to my activities and my enthusiasm. In my 10th grade class I had to teach the national anthem in English because they had to sing it and it was such a fun exercise because really the anthem is quite beautiful and the kids sing it really well. They got me dancing and I even had a student act like he was doing the cymbals and make the noise when the band would.

A part from my teaching I am also working for MINESEC which is the ministry for secondary education. I normally go into their office and work on my computer creating didactic materials, sample lesson plans, and things. This week I went to a seminar and gave a presentation on activities to motivate students. Next week I will travel to a village and observe some classes, (thankfully my counterpart has his own car). I am also working with the Ministry of Basic Education. This is where I am doing most of my work right now. I have decided to create an instructional book for all primary students on how to teach English. A lot of the teachers don’t really speak English so this will be a great manual. I am also creating a cd to go with the book of songs and pronunciation in English. This project is proving to be very fun and incredibly exciting. So far my manual is about 75 pages and I haven’t even added 3 chapters. I also found that I can record with my computer and my microphone so I visited some elementary school classes and recorded the students singing, which was about the cutest thing in the world. I’ll have to upload some of the files, it will make your day.

Overall, I’ve been very busy battling the hierarchy as well as trying to be at three places at once. Its been a really good couple of weeks though and honestly I can’t wait for Siobhan to get home so that we can discuss our days over a glass of wine. Can you tell by my long entry that I have a lot to discuss? Anyhow, I hope you are all well and I love you all so much! Big hug and kiss.

Elyse

Hello Everyone

Im working here in Bertoua and Ive been so busy I havent had time to write. Im also waiting for PC to put in free internet so I havent really been on. I have still yet to move into my new house but i think in about a weeks time ill be good. they did paint the interior walls a really fabulous shade or orange and then the guy told me i should like it because my skin matches. not sure what to do with that information

Last weekend I went to Batouri to do the camp with lisa that fell through a couple of weeks ago when we tried to do it. Thankfully this time we were able to coerce a bunch of students to come. I think the kids learned a lot and it was really successful. I think we planned really diverse excercises so that helped. I was also really happy to hang out with the Batouri clan, especially because Lisa made me her famous chili which is exceptional.

Any way I hope everyone is well and ill work on a more indepth blog later. love you

elyse

Greetings Everyone,

I hope that you enjoyed my little photo blog. My vacation was really something else. Thank you so much to my parents, Grandma Betty Jo, Grandma and Grandpa Peragine! You guys really helped out a poor volunteer to have an amazing vacation. Thank you to Dave for putting me up for a week, to Jaime, Chad, Dave, and the two humongous cats for spooning so expertly in a queen bed! Thanks to Billy Elliott for teaching Tyler to dance, even if it is in the subway after a few glaces of wine.

So I thought I would make some comments about the photos:

First off, we have a picture of us lazing around Dave's house after we walked the better part of muesums and Brooklyn!

Second is me laying in the grass at the historical cemetary in Brooklyn (all Jaime's idea)

Third is Jaime and our new friend Ivy at a bbq at Daves house (who knew a vegetarian could cook meat so well)

Fourth, this is Dave sleeping, he slept until 12:30 one day! He was very tired.

Fifth, Jaime at the BBQ looking down home and country.

Sixth, Shot of the church at the historical cemetary. I enjoyed this because it had nice bathrooms and was air conditioned.

Seventh, Chad Ramsey sporting his chest as we are leaving. Evidentaly in America showing some chest is okay.

Eight, These are my terribly attractive parents, Who doesn't love this photo?

Ninth, This would be an immigrant slapping my bum.

Tenth, TYler dancing in the subway.

Eleventh, Eating Giloto( sp?) in Little Italy.

Twelfth, Hanging out in the NBA store. One of these things is not like the other...

Thirteenth, tyler with crazy sideburns. This made me laugh a lot

Fourteenth, me in one of my favorite places, hanging out with pastries

Fifteenth, Ethan and ty in little italy

Sixteenth, Ethan eating mac adn cheese in a restaurant that only serves mac and cheese! Tyler's heaven.

Seventeenth, Dad and I in the disney store.

Eighteenth, Mom and tyler doing their Circ de soleil auditions.

Nineteenth, Wow America loves technology!

Twentieth, Me checking out a well sculpted statue!

So there are a lot of photo's there adn Chad and Jaime posted some great ones on facebook. The vacation was great and I think the memories will last me the next nine months. I have a tons of work to do this next year and I'm really excited to start. I'm not sure when I'll next get to blog but just know I'm working hard to help out some peopel in the east, because the lord knows I have been away from my peeps too long. I love you all and I will miss you, embracing the coming fall for me because that's my favorite time of year!

Love you

elyse

The family is all sleeping right now because they are on West coast time and I am on Africa time so I went to the gym and took a shower and now i'm posting this for all you lovely people. Enjoy the insanity!

In the Douala Airport, wow Africa! Doesnt it look like Adventure land in Disneyland!

Did someone order some New York with a side of Hot and Crusty. Here I am in NY next to a pizza place!

First Grapes in a year! I'm eating them in Time Square, is there a better place for Produce?

Here is a Tussey Family Gem!

I dont think tyler knew he was getting video. Don tworry all the ones of the family are coming soon, i thought i'd just show you some of my antics first!

Brussels: I am currently in Belgium and I have a couple of thoughts to share with you, obviously these observations will be solely of the people I have seen and met in the airport. First off, everyone is white here except the people that got off my plane from Africa and then conveniently disappeared. It’s really startling to leave Africa and see so many white people in one place. I know this sounds crazy but it is a really exciting development to not be a minority. Secondly, no one speaks English here, they all talk like the muppet’s scientist guy..not beeker he just beeped, but the Swiss guy. Anyway Dutch is the weirdest language ever and it cracks me up (its Dutch right, not Belgish). Also, everyone and their mom are still speaking French! What do they think they live next to France and they should just keep speaking that language! Lame! Anyway, I am only here for 3 hours before I fly again. The plan was to eat Pizza Hut Express (yes I know it is 7 am). Of course this was thwarted when they told me they don’t serve pizza yet, anyway It would be weird to be in Europe and not get some local foods. So I bought some chocolate bars- if you are nice I’ll share! I also bought one of those fabulous premade sandwiches in a triangle box. After about 10 minutes of deliberation I went with the Chicken and Bacon on 7 grain wheat. May I take a paragraph to write about not eating wheat bread for a year (hahah some boys just walked by speaking Dutch- they sound insane someone should lock them up!). Anyway, I love sandwiches, they are my favorite food. They are versatile. They can be hot, cold, dry, saucy. And, my, all of the choices of bread! Don’t get me started on how I was born in the wrong time and should have married the Earl of Sandwich. Anyway, this sandwich is currently amazing. The bread is all grainy with little nuts in it and the chicken is not scary at all, and I didn’t have to witness the death of the bird. Of course the bacon isn’t really crispy (Crazy Europeans someone should teach them right) It’s more like meaty ham, but it is still making my palate super happy. The only issue is that the food on the plane was also amazing! (yeah I said it). First off I had really bad free red wine (I was trying to sleep). Then I had “Bœuf” in some brown sauce which was delicious with mashed potatoes and oniony green beans. Then there was the side salad with chunks of fancy cheese and a hold your breath! 1 Pepperchini! Holy moley, I missed those little guys. Needless to say my stomach is already confused as to what I will be doing to it for the next two weeks. Hang in there buddy we’ve got some eating to do. I plan on arming myself with many medicaments when I get to the states, which is in T-minus 10 hours! Other updates include: I am the most annoying partner on a plane. I had to sit in the middle aisle in the middle seat where I proceeded to move every two minutes so the people next to me couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t like I timed it but I’ll tell you what, I figured out every position needed to alternately make your limbs fall asleep. I’ll write a manual: Yoga in your airplane seat: How to deny others the sleep you crave. Anyway, obviously you can see I’m super happy and ready to head out. I’ll be boarding in like an hour so now that my sandwich is done I think I’ll take a look at one of those chocolate bars (I also bought gummy bears and fancy Dutch gum). Hold on tight for the next update, it might be called something like “The Reunion of the Century” or “Frantic hugging turns into impormtu leg wrestling tournament”

3 days baby! count them 3! I'm getting impatient to hug my family!

Dear watchers of the West Wing,

This was written on the back of our West Wing DVD that is distributed by the Chinese. You can a whole season here for two dollars. I think you can agree that this might be a third translation.

Won the Nobel Prize in Economics successful candidate of the Democratic Party Butler entered the White House int eh election played an important role in a number of aides, in charge of the White House office.

President of the Oval Office while the Chief of the centre, but the day-to-day operation of the White House is entirely located in the west side of the White House Office of Administration busy. Rio grand chief of staff- drama, a former alcoholics, it is now the cornerstone of the entire West Wing office, but he ultimately jeopardize the hard work of marriage. Quian Jie is awesome spokesman for the White House every day and the media carried out clever deal, resolving or conceal a pile of press crisis, but never gained the upper hand with her character has made the pursuit of those between Danny relations become quite delicate. Talent full Toby director of Department of Public Information- Ziegler has a bad temper, the president's speech all speech can not be separated from his Miao T Health spent. Young Sam, deputy director of the Department of Public Informaion- Xibaen the capacity to deal with unexpected events class. some dirty, deputy director fo the staff from the public enterprises against political opponents, it is very smart and capable.

All important policies, the birth of the Bill, rejected or adopted, how to combat political opponents one by one, how the federal courts, the national emblem, the Senate expanded the influence of the White House, how for the next presidential elections that paved the way before, and how intervention impact on the other side of the world of international disputes, all of which the White House on this story on several major staff in the West Wing office started slowly big screen.

So, I guess I needed to be reminded how awesome this vacation is going to be because this morning was quite the harrowing experience. My friend forgot her computer cord in Yaounde so I went to send it to her by using the buses we take to get to Bertoua. These buses are a bit out of the city and it takes 30 minutes to get there. So I get up early and grab a bean sandwich and then head out to the routiere. The first car I get in already has 6 people in it and I'm smashed in the front with a very large man who evidently has restless leg syndrome. He keeps asking me to move my arm or my hip, though there's no where to really move them and he keeps giggling like a girl. Then after about 5 minutes of this fun ride my cab driver looks all panicky and pulls over. He tells me I have to get out, so I do, assuming he wants me to try and smooch in the back. So I get out of the car, almost falling down because I can't feel my leg that the large man was sitting on. And the driver yells, "take another cab the police are ahead." (in French). So they aren't supposed to have that many people in the car so I get the boot. Now I'm on a busy round a bout and have to walk a ways until I find another cab that's willing to take me. So I get in this cab and go with out incident for about 20 minutes and as we get near, as is my habit, I tell the driver that I want them to take me to Orient (the name of the bus service). He starts laughing and saying I should have told him earlier and that he was going toleave me at the round about at the start of the section of all of the routieres. He keeps telling me I'm going to have to faire le sport! Thanks dude. The thing is, I love walking and I don't mind having to get out and traverse the route, but this is one of the most annoyingly intense areas in Yaounde because all of the guys that work for the cars will literally grab you and drag you to their agency so you will take their car. (they get paid money by the drivers if they fill the car). Anyway, I argue with the guy a while but I end up having to get out. I have to walk for about 8 minutes but its hell. I've got guys calling me all sorts of names, I've got creepy dudes touching my arms and I"m ignoring them all because if you react they are like sharks smelling blood and they all come toward you and encircle you. So I finally get to Orient and thankfully the guys know me there so they protect me and fight off the creepy dudes that are trying to touch me. After sending my package I go back to the road to catch a taxi back into town. I again get accosted by the guys I don't know and then some of the baggage people at Orient start getting in a fight over me. I guess that's nice but I really can't take it at 7:30 in the morning. So then they grab me a cab and I get in. This is by far one of the funniest cabs ever. I get in and the dashboard looks like a carnival. The 'leather' seats are flaking off on my skin. The driver is playing Makosa music (traditional western Cameroonian music). His rear view mirror has a medallion of Marie and Jesus and a tassel is hanging off of it. Then he has little Chinese flags about three of them, tacked into the roof with little tassels hanging off of them. A fluffy Easter bunny about the size of a small baby is sitting on the passenger side dashboard and on the driver's side there is a blue towel with Winnie the Pooh on it. In the air conditioning vents (that don't work) there are heart shaped lollipops stuck in. As I am admiring his decor the other passengers alight and I am left in there with the driver.He asks me to come sit in the front (which I refuse) and then he switches the channel to 'My heart will go on" by Celine Dion (who they love here) and asks me if I will marry him. At this point I have been in his cab for about 3 minutes. Wow. We pick up some more passengers and a guy gets in and looks at me and says something very excitedly. After about 5 tries I realize he is just yelling "Kentucky Fried Chicken". To which I say what about it. And he says that he's been to American and he loves it. Wow!Anyway, it was quite an adventure and it would be a good time in Cameroon if someone hadn't have stolen my phone while I was walking to Orient. I looked in my bag and it wasn't there, and I knew it was because I had just checked my credit. So now I don't have a phone but I think I can still get the same number, so we'll see what we can do. At least I've had that phone for more than a year, which is a bit difficult in this country!Well it is now 4 day until I get to see the fam and though this mornign was a bit of a challenge, I"m super happy!

Not sure what happened here. I was thinking pirate hat, then all I had was green paper. Then I couldn't center my cross bones. But it is the most sturdy hat so there's that!

5 days kids!

My friend Gloria made me this Glorious hat! It's a Crown for day 6 of the countdown!

7 days till New York- My hat was inspired by Peter Pan!

So the first picture was a sign posted in a small van that I was traveling in, I thought it was good advice. Next is an adorable baby in the van who was sucking on a mango! Then I was in another car where there were ducks in the trunk and it was very odd making noise the whole trip, later the family ate him for dinner. The next picture was taken after I climbed a mountain in Koumbo in the North west. It's insanely beautiful there, very green! The picture in the house is with my friend Kate, look how pink her house is! She did not ask for this Cameroonians just wanted to paint her house pink I guess. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Greetings all!

I hope everyone is well and happy and not sweating too much with the summer hitting. Not to rub it in at all but it is amazing weather here and simply gorgeous where I currently am. I have just finished teaching in Bangangte and I am now touring the west because I have a week before I have to go back to Yaoundé for mid-service. Mid-service is the time in peace corps where you get to do all of your medical checkups- and let me tell you, pooping in a cup is not on my list of things I want to do.

Anyway, I wanted to talk about going back to Bangangte which was not only great but really eye opening. I arrived with my friends Jim and Mattie (Mattie is in my province in Batouri and Jim lives about 1h 30 min from Bangante in the west). When we arrived we were all hit with how odd it was to be back. It was like returning to your home town after you left as a young naïve teenager. Everything smelled the same, the mud was still atrocious and the rain was still persistant, but we were totally different people. Now I could understand French, and I was coming home as a trainer and not a trainee and I suddenly became an expert in all things Cameroon. We were the first volunteers to come to Bangangte and help the trainees settle in and they had so many questions I felt like I was on a game show for a week straight. I’m really glad I was there and could give encouragement and make people feel more comfortable, but mostly to assuage their fears. Some of the questions seemed really silly in retrospect because of how obvious the answers seem to me now, but the kids have only been in Cameroon for about 20 days so I had to give them a break. They seem like a really good group of volunteers and they are really serious and focused which is always good. We know that we are getting two new TEFL volunteers in the East and that they will both be girls (guess I’m not going to find my future husband in the PC). The girls we think are coming are really great and I’m super excited about so that’ll be fun come August.

However, the best part of being back in town was seeing my host family again. Not only was I prepared this time with a bag full of gifts but my family was crazy happy to see me. I arrived and hugged all 20 of them (remember how many people were living in that house with me?) and we talk until about 9 pm. I was able to understand them which was not only amazing but so rewarding to hear all they had to say. My mother also kept saying that I wasn’t the same person and asking who was I and what did I do with the shy girl that couldn’t speak French. It was crazy fun to share all of my stories and to hear what all the kids were up to. It’s amazing to me how quickly the kids grow up, little Piquita now looks so tall and skinny! Anyway, it was really great and I went back again last night and had delicious dinner with them and asked the mother her opinion about the problems I’m facing at post when dealing with trying to motivate women. I realized my mother is not only really committed to higher education, but also extremely developed in her belief about gender roles. She’s a strong woman who is an equal with her husband and she’s opinionated and not always in the kitchen, and it’s just amazing to see a woman here like that. I really wish they lived in my village, they are probably the best friends I have here and a lot closer to the American mentality than you will find in a village. I also realized while I was in Bangangte how developed it is and how nice I had it for stage. The city is almost all paved and they have a lot of restaurants, internet cafes, and night clubs. My house had running water, an American toilet, and was really clean compared to village standards. I can’t believe how much I complained when I was there and how much I changed my tune when I went back. One of the things they are always telling us in education is to make the learners reflect on their learning experience to see how they learn and recognize the process (metacognitive thinking). I feel like with the insane learning curve and all of the changes I’ve gone through in the last year, it’s pretty obvious the process I went through to be able to come home to Bangante and have such a different feeling.

Anyways, it is now 38 days until I will be back in America seeing my family and friends and I can’t wait. I love you all and hope things are going well.

Love you all,

Elyse`

This is from Peace Corps Prom: Post Apocolyptic Winter Wasteland. I made my outfit out of a swim suit and old fabric.

Below is a group of volunteers making family dinner

This is me after I rode my bike to the

hippo tower

This is one of my students preparing food for our end of the year party.

Below is a picture of my girls club meeting at my house.

June 14th (it should have been posted June 6th) I never got really into the New Year’s thing, with the resolutions and the reflecting and such. Maybe because it wasn’t really a stopping point since I was always in school and it was just a break. No real changes could be made because the bulk of my life would be the same after the New Year. Now, however, being a year in Africa I really feel I have something to reflect upon. How have I changed? What have I accomplished? Who have I met? What has happened? Do I look different? Am I wiser? I decided to ask myself some of these questions and make some good lists to reflect on my PC experience thus far. 1st Time Experiences I’ve had in the Last year 1. Seeing hippos up close in the wild 2. Living by a river/biking a lot 3. Being friends with a monkey 4. Petting a baby antelope 5. Eating tropical fruit daily 6. Mouse Capturing 7. Being away from family for 1 year 8. Cooking Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner without family 9. Having a student make me cry 10. Defending my choice not to have children without a husband 11. Pooing in a hole 12. Peeing in an alley, 2 feet from my boss, off a mountain side, with tons of spiders watching, while a man hit on me as he was peeing on my foot. 13. Walking in mud up to my knees 14. Having a 2 hour conversation in another language 15. Seeing a windshield fall off a car and then fixing it, windows falling off, doors closed with elastic bands, children riding on the bumper 16. Riding a moto, riding a moto on Christmas singing Christmas carols 17. Getting water from a well 18. Having no electricity for months 19. Seeing whole exotic animals dead for sale to eat. 20. Wearing pagne, matching outfits with a large group when not performing a dance 21. Dancing with a Sous-Prefet (higher than the mayor) 22. Sat on an engine for 8 hours Things I haven’t done in a year 1. Driven a car 2. Had really clean feet 3. Been without a sunburn or moderate white girl tan 4. Seen my family/friends back home 5. Seen the Daily Show and the Colbert Report 6. Been to a professional ball game 7. Eaten real pizza How have I changed? 1. I’m more patient with my time, I’m more prepared to deal with other people’s sense of time 2. I’m more ‘go with the flow’ 3. I can prepare an omelet 4. I eat onions on a regular basis (only if cooked) 5. I am more reflective about my moods- For instance, I know how much I can take when I am traveling and I make sure to make new playlists, bring snacks, or crosswords, or simply walk around if the car is broken down so that I don’t get restless or angry about the situation 6. I’m becoming an adult. I might actually be one very soon. 7. I’m a better cook 8. Not scared by new challenges or ways of doing things or new foods (though I have still yet to eat the grubs they fry here) 9. I do all the gross stuff myself-cleaning sinks, toilets, dead animals (I did all that in the states but it’s a lot grosser here) Things that got me through the year 1. Packages 2. Boxed Wine 3. Foster’s Clark 4. Having 2 watches 5. Parent’s phone calls 6. Text Messages 7. PCV family 8. PCV staff/trainers 9. Rains Down in Africa 10. Promise of a hot shower when I travel to Yaounde 11. Ipod 12. computer 13. Movies/Media 14. Holidays and Provincial meetings 15. Ben’s pool 16. Lisa’s Understanding- and amazing cooking 17. Writing and Reading 18. Contemplation 19. Running/Biking 20. The kindness of Strangers List of Wish I would haves… 1. Stuck more firmly to my exercise routine 2. Not eaten so much bread 3. Done more with the community and not just the schools 4. Not complained so much when I left Ndelele Plans for the Next Year of Service 1. Have my girls group become peer educators for the elementary school in town 2. Help Rachel with World AIDS day and make this a very big occasion 3. Create another dance that all of the girls will participate in for Women’s Day 4. Make the English Club work and have regular meetings 5. Do a weekly/biweekly Women’s self defense/exercise class 6. do a workshop on Village Savings in Loan or Saving money in general for the community 7. Lose 10 pounds Should you be proud of me? Most PCVs like to step back and ask themselves if they have actually made a difference. The easiest way to make a difference is to change someone’s perspective about Americans, Women, or even the developed world. The next would be to affect others with your friendship and work. Next would be if you affect the community like bettering their health or quality of life. This is just my way to measure things. Its very easy to feel like you haven’t done anything sustainable or developmental for your village so it’s easier to break up your work into different categories. So first of all I think I’ve changed peoples minds or enlightened them more about America and the strength of women. Just running every week, carrying my own things, and living alone are examples of things I do daily that can help villagers see the stronger side of women. Next would be my friendships and my work. I definitely have introduced new ways of learning in the classroom that are more visual and interactive and I think these helped my students. Now will they in the long run be able to speak passable English or go on to University? I have no idea, but maybe for a couple of classes they actually thought school could be fun and that learning wasn’t a waste of time. As for my friendships, these are slowly becoming dearer and more like my friendships at home. It is certainly easier to be a good friend when you understand the other person (yeah my French is getting better!). Also, I feel that by being a leader of my girls group I have been able to be a supportive and a positive motivator of change with at least the 8 girls in my group. We recently had our end of the year party and the girls were very confidant and happy and proud to be a part of the club. Now as far as the betterment of people’s lives? I am not sure how much impact my lessons about English and Health really were. I’m not sure if my students are actually using the condoms that I give them for free. I’m not sure if anyone’s quality of life has changed but if anything, I try not to miss an opportunity to help if someone asks me, or to simply listen if they have a problem. So is Elyse someone to be proud of? I think in subtle ways I am doing good here, but I don’t want you to think that I’m changing the world or that when I leave here I will have made a hefty contribution to change in Cameroon, I am doing what I can but I also spend a large about of time reading and cooking and doing menial teacher work that really isn’t that impressive or wondrous. So don’t think that I’m over here being all angelic- mostly I’m trying to be a good productive person, its just harder when you don’t have running water, power, or clean feet. I do want to say though, that I know how hard everyone works and how good and caring you all are and that you have made me the adult I am working to become and that your examples are really what should be celebrated. So its been one year since I’ve seen you all, and I love you and I miss you and I will be in New York in 49 days! So fly over and let’s fete! Love Elyse

So i'm sorry I haven't written in a bit but there is a lot to say.

1st I'm happy not to be in Village right now because it was a little tough before I left. We didnt have power (now for 4 months) and our phone service was going in and out. I also ran out of books which is not only inconvient but actually tragic when there is literally nothing else to do after about 6pm.

Some things I have been doing to stay sane and take advantage of Africa are the following.

1. Biking 12 K to the river and watching the hippos. There's a tower where you can sit and watch the river pass you by and the hippos swim around as well as the fisherman. I have learned though to wear pants when biking through the forest, otherwise you look like someone has taken a whip to your legs.

2. Hanging out with my neighbors. A couple of weeks ago I started taking my journal out into the courtyard and keeping my neighbor company when she cooks or washes clothing. She's a good companion that doesnt really bother me when I'm writing but shares bits of gossip. Her daughter does like to look over my shoulder and make comments like, "you write a lot" "you write fast"

"what are you writing" I am going to have to come up with better answers to these questions becaus I dont think I'm entertaining her.

3. I've been doing work for the conference that I am currently attending in Yaounde.

Now for my time in Yaounde! The Picture above is my friend Lisa and I at the observation deck of the Hilton hotel. We decided to get some mix drinks and hang out in a swanky joint. It costs a lot but its a alot of fun. If not just to ride the elevator

We also made Quiche and home fries and a salad. The market in Yaounde is amazing because you can buy all types of veggies and we found a beet! Here I am cutting the beet and looking like I'm bleeding.

We also recently got wireless internet so we are very happy and I can upload pictures!

But its not all fun and great food here in Yaounde, we also are working really hard on planning the training for tne new volunteers. Again no volunteer is from Arizona so I stand alone representing our state in Cameroon, but I am excited about helping out and meeting the new people. I just want everyone to know that I'm doing great and that I'll be here until the 27th or so, alors if you want to talk to me you can get on AIM or Gmail Chat and we can chat it up, its pretty funny because the Case looks just like my dorm lounge looked like in college. Everyone is sitting aroudn with a computer on their lap looking very focused and happy!

Anyway, love you all and miss you! -elyse

It’s like taking me to the top of a mountain and showing me the world and saying, “that’s what you can’t have Bennie you fat article” – Circle of Friends

So that quote really doesn’t apply to my recent experience of climbing Mount Cameroon but I found that any mention of a mountain, climbing, or overcoming an obstacle seemed to be fair game when on my 3 day climbing trip. Last Monday I arrived in Buea which is a city on the coast of Cameroon about 30 minutes away from Limbe which is the area with black sand beaches. Buea sits in the south west of the Anglophone provinces of Cameroon and it very developed with paved roads, an actual tourism office with standards, and billboards with advertisements. Taking the agency from Yaoundé I found myself incredibly surprised to here Cameroonians speaking English. For a second I felt like everyone had been holding out on me and actually could speak English but were just saving it up until they crossed the border to the Anglophone region. One minute someone was yelling at the driver “J’ai besoin pisser” and then the next it was “I need to ease myself”. It was incredibly hard for me to switch over from speaking French to Cameroonians to speaking English. I asked a boy who was selling eggs if they were 75CFA and he looked at me like I was crazy, only until I heard a woman ask in English did I realize my mistake. I was also amazed to see how developed this province is in comparison to the East province. We were riding in the car and I actually saw a woman use bottles and not her breast to feed her baby, she also had a baby carrier that she strapped on as opposed to using a piece of cloth on her back. Everyone had a music player or a fancy phone and I actually saw one man reading on the bus! It’s amazing what I see as signs of development, but maybe they are just signs of western influence- for good or bad.

Okay now I must devote myself to explaining my climbing experience. First off, Mount Cameroon is the second largest mountain in Africa standing at about 4, 095M high (13,435 feet). We started at 1000M above sea level and climbed up about 2095 meters the first day, putting us at about 1000M from the top. Arriving in Buea I saw how green and hilly the countryside was and when I looked up into the sky, trying to figure out which mountain I would be climbing, I became a bit daunted. It turns out that Mt. Cameroon is so high that you can’t actually see the peak from the foot because the clouds are always covering the peak. After asking a local to point out which mountain was Mt. Cameroon I started to stare at what would be my challenge for the next three days. For the excursion I was teaming up with my trusty Eastern partner- Lisa and my friend Fleurange and her friend Shawn from the states. So here is a little background on our climbing family. First Fleurange is one of the most well rounded people I have ever met. She’s from Louisiana but has lived all over the world. She’s super athletic, tall, speaks spectacular French and is constantly smiling and contented. Before Peace Corps she went to Clemson and then worked for a development agency in DC then she took a job in Haiti working in development in a very dangerous region where she couldn’t go out at night, now she’s working in Northern Cameroon and honestly this woman is just awesome. Her friend Shawn goes to Cambridge and has an equally impressive resume as well as quite the experience in climbing mountains and participating in hiking type activities. Before they met us the two had been on a 4 day bike ride around the villages of the Northwest! So, needless to say, I was happy to be attempting this climb with such qualified people, if not a bit intimidated by their physical prowess. Then there was my sister in crime, Lisa. I know I’ve talked about here before because she’s my closest family in the far East. She’s from Seattle and her father’s family is from the Philippines. She loves to bike ride and exercise so she was up the hike as well.

So our little group (who would become crazy close during our 3 day challenge) went to the tourism office and paid our park fees and picked up the rest of our mountain family. Our guide’s name was Samuel, he was Anglophone and very nice, incredibly patient, and he made his living by climbing the mountain about once a week and was a personal driver for a local agency. We decided on two porters- Nikolas and Joseph, who we really didn’t see that often because they were either behind us or in front of us carrying our heavy bags. We started our hike at 7:30am where we walked through local farm land to the base of the rain forest. We passed the local prison as well as some very smelly cows that are pasteurized on the side of the hill. Next we came to the rain forest and started our incredibly steep ascent. Carrying two water bottles and three-days’ supply of food on my back didn’t seem like that much of a challenge until I began literally climbing (we are not talking about the kind of hiking that is really just walking in nature) over tree trunks, over rocks. After about an hour of going straight up and watching the town become covered with clouds, I started to feel the burn in my calves. Thankfully Samuel seemed to know that we needed frequent stops and was often stopping to point out local flora and fauna, one time he showed us a Camilion and he gave us history about the area, honestly I was more focused on drinking water and catching my breath than what he was saying, but I did my best to look interested and unphased.

DAY 1: The first day was a 7 hour day of climbing. We should have been to the camp site or Hut 3 by 3:00pm or maybe 4pm if we had a long lunch, but it was not to be. After climbing through the rain forest for 4 hours and stopping at Hut one to eat some peanuts, very smashed bananas, and avocados, we continued even higher and started to enter the savannah. It’s pretty amazing to see the distinction between the different areas of the mountain as you go higher. There is literally a line where the rain forest stops and then you see scattered trees that seemed to be as stubborn as I was because they weren’t saying anything about maybe biting off more than they could chew. The savanna is made up of large rocks and angry shrubs. Honestly I thought that it looked like an evil stair case leading up to the summit. We entered the Savannah and were told we were about an hour and a ½ away from the next hut where we could rest. Unfortuanetly, those clouds continued to eat up Buea and then the wind changed and I was suddenly drenched. I was smart enough to rent a huge yellow rain coat from the Agency so I hurried to put that on over my clothes. Now we had to climb for 1 hour with no possible shelter, in very wet clothes and heavy winds. This proved to be very difficult for me. Not only were my legs starting to do that shake thing where they are really tired and cold, but my bag and cloths were sticking to me and it just seemed to get more steep. Finally I did make it, with a lot of stops and finally just giving in to the reality that I was going to be soaked so why hurry.

We stayed at Hut 2 for about 3 hours. Now the huts really just look like places Dexter (the Showtime series) would take his victims to kill them. They are little wooden lean-to type houses with a lot of peoples signatures in black paint on the walls. From the doorway of our lean-to we saw something totally amazing. First, the storm passed for about 20 minutes and we could see as far as Guinea and Limbe the beach town over. Then we were able to see the storm gather again with angry thunder and lightning and then it unleashed it fury. It rained hard and long! It was really beautiful, be we began to be worried that we wouldn’t make it to the next hut- about 2 hours away. Secretly I was happy about the long break because I was amazed at how tired my legs felt, so we spent our time asking each other interesting questions and I decided to do something I’d never done before. I peed off the side of a cliff in a crazy rain storm- wow was my butt cold (don’t worry mom I was holding on to the hut, but all you could see was clouds below me). I wish you guys could see the pictures of us on the side of the cliff with the clouds all around us, they are pretty beautiful- if I ever get enough patience and a good connection I’ll put them on here.

So at around 4pm our guide told us that we would be leaving and continuing our journey. The next two hours would not have been possible without some people and I must thank them now. Thank you Queen, The Killers, ABBA, Journey, and Jaime Richardson’s Mix CDs! Without the encouragement of my ipod singing me to the top I would have never made it. It began to rain again and now I was tired, hungry, wet, and the mountain seemed to get steeper and steeper. One thing I remember very well is that we kept asking our guide if the far away speck we saw past the clouds was the summit of the mountain and he kept laughing and saying, “You can’t see it yet”. I felt like I was in my own nightmare where you are climbing up an endless staircase and never reach your destination. Finally, after struggling for 2 and half hours and as the last slivers of light began to be eaten by the night, we arrived.

Hut 3 was relatively nice and after taking a second to sit down and change shoes, I realized we were all in danger of getting pneumonia if we didn’t change our clothes. I had read about people climbing the mountain before and I knew two things- 1 put on every piece of clothing you own so that you can sleep because it’s extremely cold and night and 2-there are mice in the huts and they are determined so hide your food. So first I put on 2 pairs of socks, 3 shirts, and a pair of pants and then I gathered all the food and put it in a backpack to hang up on one of the nails on the wall. Then it was time for the tired troops to make dinner. Using an old beat up pot that only fit half of our pasta, we made a spaghetti dinner that tasted a bit like campfire smoke. At around 9pm we finally headed to bed and almost everyone fell right to sleep, not me however because I realized that our mice were very determined and making a hell of a noise. I realized that they were rummaging through the other bags that weren’t on the wall so I got up and found places to hang all the bags. After showing away some big guys I spent the next 30 minutes trying to go to sleep while a confused mouse ran circuits around my sleeping compadres. First he would run between our heads and the wall and then he’d run over our feet. It’s amazing what you can get used to when you are exhausted.

DAY 2: On day 2 we woke up and reheated our pasta eating an even smokier breakfast. We were told that day 2 was the hardest day because it was 10 hours of hiking. Testing out my limbs I saw that I was still very sore but I thought that the most strenuous of the hiking was over. I was very very wrong! The morning of Day two was the hardest I think I’ve ever physically worked, sorry dad- those basketball practices at the Boys and Girls Club were tough, but nothing compared to this. Not only was the hike steeper, but the elevation became a real problem. I was amazed to see how long it took me to get my breath and how much one 5 minute exertion would take out of me. Thank goodness for Lisa, because we seemed to be hurting about the same amount and you always feel better if you are not suffering alone. Another problem was the fact that we were actually climbing through the clouds so it was constantly wet and making my contacts blurry. After about 4 hours I felt like I was totally done. We still couldn’t see the summit and my whole body hurt. I felt like Frodo in Lord of the Rings, but with less gumpshon. At one point I actually looked at Lisa and told her I was happy at the height that we were at and I didn’t need to keep climbing. I haven’t ever really seen the point of climbing mountains, mostly because it doesn’t really serve a purpose other than to puff up your ego and to fulfill some sort of personal quest. I kept thinking about how I didn’t feel like I needed to prove anything, and I had already seen amazing views from the heights that we had already climbed, what’s another 200M higher. However, I did get up and continue to climb because as much as I don’t get it, I’m not a quitter.

The last half hour was the worst and I honestly couldn’t see anything because of the mist and the wind and I could barely breath because of the elevation and I only made it to the top because Samuel came down and climbed beside me giving me in minutes how long I would take to get to the top. 5 minutes, 2 minutes, you can see it now, 1 minute. When I got to the top I only had enough energy to sit down and try not to cry. I don’t know why I had that emotional reaction, I think I was just at the end of my rope but I sat there in complete exhaustion in the miserable cold and suddenly realized, “We don’t have to go up anymore- now we get to go down.” This idea made a lot of sense to me, finally we had a destination I could embrace- warmth, good food, no mice, no more climbing. Just a day and ½ more and back to Yaounde with hot showers. So I stood up, took some incredibly unflattering photos and we started down the mountain. We were only at the top for about 10 minutes ( I was only there for about 7 minutes) and then it was time to climb down the next side.

Now Mount Cameroon is a series of mountains with a bunch of Volcanos within the range. In 1999 about 12 volcanoes erupted with the kind of lava that is really slow so that everyone could be evacuated. But the eruptions from the past left the mountain black at the top with black rocks everywhere. We descended the mountain in 5 hours and went from about 4095, to about 2000M. It was incredibly fast and so much more enjoyable than the previous days had been. For the rest of the trip I was first in line after our guide and I stuck to him like glue. I had a goal now and I was not wussing out (I also think my calf muscles suck and my thigh and butt muscles rule). For me this section was also the most beautiful. We surfed down the mountain once we reached the black sad sections because it was less stress on the body to just let yourself slide. Then we hit the savannah again and it looked like Ireland or Africa where the cheetahs and lions hunt their prey. I once again want to thank some people for keeping me company: Billy Joel, John Mayer, the Beatles, really bad R and B- Boys to Men and Ne-Yo, and many others who helped create the adventurous ambiance. After climbing up a few volcanoes and realizing the group was next to dying, I had to speak up as group leader and tell our guide that as fascinating as the volcanoes were, we didn’t need to see all 12 personally and we were ready to get to the last hut.

Side Note- Why did Elyse became the group leader? In Cameroon they immediately decide that the man is incharge of all situations and so they often give information or ask information from the guy if he is in a group of women. Well when Samuel first started to explain the hike on the first day, he looked right at Shaun and started to explain. Being the feminist I am, I spoke up and said, “He’s not the leader, I am and you can just tell all of us the information we’ll understand.” I don’t know why it makes me so mad, but I hate when people just assume men are in charge!

So the last hour of the day was pretty difficult because of all the ground we had covered and because of the skimpy food supplies we were eating (our avocados and banana’s got smooched and we were eating wheat biscuits, carrots, and smashed produce for lunch). So I told myself that when we finally arrived I would just lay down on the floor and reward myself with 5 minutes of uninterrupted movement. So I do just that! I put my bag aside and lay down next to the hut and after about 10 seconds I realize, I am laying in a red ant pile! I end up having to strip off all of my clothes and try and rip them off of my shirt and out of my hair- they bite down and they are impossible to remove with out actually grabbing them off like ticks. This was my least happy moment of the day. I still have bites on my scalp from when they crawled into my hair.

The second night we ate spaghetti again and then went to bed at 7pm in a grass hut. These are the types of huts you see all over Africa made from palm fronds and with tarps to catch the rain. I twas very cozy in there and I was so tired I was out in about 10 minutes. The next day was the last leg of the trip, about 7 hours through the rain forest and then arriving in Buea where a taxi picked us up and we took a 6 hour ride to Yaounde. (I had to get back to post for school on Monday). The third day is memorable because both my friend Lisa and I twisted our knees and were in a bit of pain as we came down the mountain. This is also the day that my ipod finally died! So the last hour was pretty crappy because I was hurting with new blisters and now a twisted knee, and I had no music. I ended up talking to the guide a lot and he was a really nice guy- its amazing how much funnier I am in English as opposed to French. We finally reached the town at about 1:00pm and Lisa and I parted for Yaounde.

Overall I would say that I was incredibly glad I did the hike and I would probably do something like that in the future, but now that I know what a challenge it is, I would be better prepared. I also think its very interesting that as soon as I got down off the mountain I wanted to talk to everyone I love and see how they are and just get back to something I knew. A lot of new experiences and challenges at once make me want to go home and have breakfast with my family and then watch X-men cartoons with my dad. Anyway, I love you all and hope you are doing well. Happy Easter!

Elyse

Take a trip with me to the Bertoua market…

So when I was in America and I had a day off or some time to go shopping I actually really enjoyed going out and getting groceries and odds and ends for the house. I liked heading down to the store and walking through the aisles and pondering something new for dinner or what fruit was in season. I think it was the feeling after you get home where you have big bags of accomplishment. It was like a tangible plan for meals all week with a little bit of spontaneity mixed in, in the form of fruit snacks or jalapeño poppers. Going to the market or super marche’ (white man grocery store) here in Cameroon is quite a different experiences so I thought I’d give you a glimpse of shopping in one the provincial capital of Cameroon.

Today I needed to go to the market to buy vegetables and ingredients for making calzones with some friends that are in town. I jumped on a moto with my market bag headed to the market. I’m slightly startled by the change when going from the Cos of the East or as I call it, “Little America” to the actual outside world that is so much busier than Ndelele. In Little America we watch American shows and do work on our computers (Right now I’m editing the Education Training Manual- it’s currently 138 pages!). We also read trashy magazines from two years ago and come together to eat things we have had sent from home. Recent meals have included Funfetti Cake, stove top stuffing, Wild Mediterranean Rice, and cheesy instant mash potatoes. So you can imagine that after wrapping yourself in the semi illusion of little America, stepping out into the real world is a fun surprise. You never really forget you are here- no water pressure, often no water, people yelling in French next door, all channels on the tv have Cameroonian soap opera’s, no air conditioning. But, it’s easy to be lulled in a sense of displacement from the everyday villageois lifestyle. Anyways, I go step outside with my market bag and my shopping list and head in.

Bertoua really only has one paved road and a lot of really crowded, poorly planned off shoots. We take the main road watching the hustle and bustle of people going about their spring break lives and signal to turn onto a dirt road heading to the market (the signal is my moto driver raising his hand and then choosing when he’d like to turn). We pass the street where they do wood working, making retro 70’s type couches with crazy fabrics. Then we pass the frippery- the Goodwill of the market with clothes that look like they were rejected by many countries before coming here. You can get a dress or a pair of pants or a crazy hat for less than a dollar on a good bartering day. Next we pass by about a half dozen stalls that just sell onions, garlic, and tomatoes. Then my driver stops me at the beginning of the vegetable market. 100CFA to my chauffeur and a remove of my helmet later and I am browsing looking for the best produce. Most people have a Mamma who takes care of them and who they go to religiously at the market. However, this isn’t my town and I feel like spreading my patronage. I buy 200CFA worth of beautiful green peppers (which every time I eat them I think of crappy cardboard pizza with everything on it from Peter Pipper, as a kid I guess the taste of green peppers was really prevalent on that that pizza). I buy lettuce from a woman walking down the street with a big bucket on her head. She gives me a cadeau or a gift of a smaller head of lettuce because I bought so much. When I am in Lele I dream about eating green vegetables so I make sure to eat as much as possible when I’m in the big city working. Next I go and buy garlic, basil, and limes. The basil is fresh and fragrant and the garlic is everywhere here and the limes a bit expensive but well worth it when we make gin and tonics later! As I walk around the market looking for avocados I begin to be deranged. People are yelling at me from all sides, “La Blanche” and “Nasara” and often I get “Cherie” or “My sweet”. I decide to take the “Diagon Alley Market ways” there are a maze of streets all intertwined together where you walk down narrow alleyways and all different types of wares are being sold. We choose a particularly shaded walk way and begin to make the trek back out of the market. We pass stores that sell only colanders and then a story that sells sweat bands, whiskey sachets, cheap gold jewelry, and thread. We are being yelled at to “Vien ICI” and “I have the good things” and we are being grabbed and steered into dark shops lit by backlights that make the proprietors teeth gleam white, creating an afternoon rave for one. We continue down the street and people are squeezing by with fruit on their heads and some women are sitting in the middle of the road cutting a green grass type food they call koki. I’m nto sure why you would be shopping for hoochie jeans, whiskey sachets, fruit and koki all at the same time- but multitasking is an art here. As I exit the market I am once again on the main street with motos whizzing past and the hustle and bustle again making my little village life seem very quiet and a little drole. I walk over to where the motos are waiting to whisk me home back to Little America but I decide to endulge myself and get an ice cream. A small cart sells soft serve ‘vanilla’ and ‘banana’ ice cream and though it really just tastes like “cold” and not a flavor, it is amazing and just the thing for a hot day. For 100CFA you can get a cone and for 300CFA you can get a big cup. I look around the city eating my ice cream and finishing my market trip, ready to go home and cook for the big group of people who will be eating tonight. Just another day doing errands in Africa.