And the placement hat says…

October 15, 2014

My stage has both health volunteers and agribusiness volunteers. We occasionally share trainings but for the most part our trainings are in separate sites on different topics. Our site announcements were also going to be separate. However the AG trainees decided to have a “posting hat” (like the sorting hat from Harry Potter) and we health volunteers just had to be involved. The different regions were even posted around the room so you could go there and join others from your region after your post was announced. Somebody even wrote up a fantastic sorting hat song.

I am pleased to announce (if you haven’t seen it already) that I will be posted in Nyambaka, Adamoua/Adamawa. This is the same site I visited, which is not typical. I’m pretty sure I am the only volunteer from my stage to be posted at the same site they visited. To say I am thrilled would be an understatement. I would have been happy with any region of Cameroon but I honestly feel my personality will work very well with the culture in Nyambaka plus I’m so excited to learn Fulfulde among many other things that I think will suit me well in the area. Knowing where I will be living and what my house will look like makes the next two years seem even more real and exciting. I also know that I have some super awesome people who will be living in my region, both from my stage and earlier stages.

Still no Ebola in Cameroon fyi. (Yes, that does mean there have been more cases of Ebola in the US than in Cameroon.) My personal health has been good overall. I am currently fighting a cold. As a result I did have an episode yesterday and one today. But I’m going to try and not make it three days in a row tomorrow. I bid you all good night!

Three thoughts:

1.       I know my post!!!!!

2.       Nyambaka!!!!!

3.       I would much rather sleep than do my homework. 

Half-way there!

October 14, 2014

I’m more or less at the half-way point in my training (only one month and 5 days until I officially become a PCV!). That means this past week I completed one of the milestones of PST, site visits. Site visits are when trainees visit current volunteers as we practice navigating public transportation and get to experience what daily life is like. I left with 10 other trainees Tuesday afternoon as we took a train from Yaounde to Ngaoundere, Adamawa. The train left Yaounde at 7:15 pm (scheduled to leave at 6:30) and was supposed to arrive in Ngaoundere late Wednesday morning. In reality we arrived almost 23 hours after leaving Yaounde because of mechanical issues with the train. The train provided us with bread, water, and sardines for lunch on Wednesday and it was a chance to spend time with the other trainees, watch movies, and nap.

My first moto ride (wearing the PC mandated helmet of course) was also an experience because the moto driver took myself and another PCT to the wrong hotel (the PC center is right next to a hotel so that is used as a landmark). He brought us to a similarly named hotel farther away. But one of the current volunteers retrieved us and our luggage and we finally made it to the right place. Although moto helmets are a pain to deal with, especially with glasses, I must admit they are kinda fun.

My site visit was in Nyambaka, a village about an hourish away from Ngaoundere. We did a malnutrition screen with our host by measuring children’s arms (not the most efficient way to do a screen but when you are in the field it is more practical than carrying a scale and measure large enough to gauge children’s heights). We also observed a presentation on malaria, although it was difficult to understand because it was in Fulfulde. Saturday morning we went to the market and stopped at a soy restaurant on the way back to Ngaoundere. It is run by women in the community and was facilitated by a current volunteer. The tofu and soy milk were both incredible! I absolutely loved my site visit and have started visualizing myself as a volunteer for the next two years.

The next time I post I will be telling you about what my site will be. We find out Wednesday afternoon. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to post that on Facebook before leaving the center but if not you will find out in my next blog post. For now though I need to sleep as I’m fighting a cold and had my first episode since Brussels airport.

Three thoughts:

1.       I am already wondering what I’m going to do being separated from my stagemates in a month and a half. I’m know I’m going to miss them like crazy!

2.       Internet detox is going well so far, although I absolutely shamelessly take advantage of it when I do have it.

3.       Emergen-C or Airborne are an absolute must! I took some last night and am pretty sure I wouldn’t have made it through today without it. 

Starting to feel real

September 28, 2014

Today (Sunday) was my first time leaving my homestay village and going somewhere other than the training center in Ebolowa. Eleven other PCTs and I decided to go to the market in Ebolowa. It is a much larger village than Mengong and feels like going to a big city. They have a boulangerie, gas stations, and a much larger market than ours here in Mengong. It was a good chance to work on navigating through public transportation in Cameroon which turned out to not be quite as intimidating as I was expecting (this time). I’m still nervous about navigating my way to my site visit next week and getting to post.

We spent several hours around the market then another PCT and I worked our way back to the depot where we picked up a taxi for the 30 minute ride back to Mengong. In this taxi there was only the other PCT, two women and a baby. Pretty decent compared to the trip going to Ebolowa. Going to Ebolowa there were 12 people in the 7 passenger van. Several other PCTs also had 12 people in their vehicle on their way to Ebolowa, though they were in a car instead of a van. Overall it was a fun day that included me buying my first piece of fabric. I may have paid too much, but it is so pretty I don’t mind. 

Peace Corps life means you realize that you kinda sorta need to go to the bathroom but it is POURING! I am fully convinced that my bladder knows when it is raining the hardest and chooses that time to need to go. (This observation might make a little more sense if I remind you that I use a latrine in a building separate from my house). I now embrace going when I have the chance and it is not raining because very soon it will be a deafening downpour.

I’m sitting here writing this blog on Sunday afternoon thought it won’t be posted until Wednesday or Thursday. I miss you all and have so much I want to tell you in personal conversations. Know that I think of you often. I don’t want to push the next two years any faster than they will already go, but I do look forward to the day when I get hugs from you all again.

Three thoughts:

1.       I miss cheese and definitely should have brought some mac n cheese with me. I can’t wait for my Hannaford white cheddar mac n cheese to arrive in my care package.

2.       2.5 gallon ziplock bags are one of the greatest inventions

3.       I can’t imagine being anywhere else in the world at this very moment (although I do really miss indoor plumbing.)

Two Weeks in and then some

September 26, 2014

Tomorrow will mark the end of week two of training. Coming in I didn’t know exactly what to expect so two weeks in feels like a pretty significant accomplishment. Training takes place six days a week. 8 am – 4:30 M-F and 8-12 on Saturdays. We spend a lot of time studying language both in formal small group sessions with instructors, independent study time, and of course at home with our families. I find myself thinking more and more in French. Not everybody’s host family speaks exclusively French to them but my family does and I am appreciate that.

In a couple of weeks after our second language proficiency interview, we will have the opportunity to start on a second language, Pidgin (a type of English) or Fulfulde. As I’m hoping to be placed in the Adamawa region, I hope my French is high enough to place into a Fulfulde class. For those who are unaware, Cameroon is divided into 10 regions. Peace Corps is currently placing volunteers in 8 of those 10 regions. The other two, the most northern ones, are prohibited for travel for Americans at the moment because of Boko Haram activity. Adamawa is as far north as we are able to go.

Other sessions include information on wellness, security, and go into more depth about Peace Corps’ expectations. A diversity panel last week talked about how to express our identities and embrace our personal beliefs while still integrating into our communities. There is a significant emphasis placed on integration and how to do that both successfully and safely.

In case you were wondering I would be thrilled to eat a hamburger or some cheese pizza right now. How American of me, right? The southern region of Cameroon where I am for the moment has a lot of fish. I try, I really do, but I just cannot make myself be excited or even content with fish. Don’t get me wrong. There are lots of good foods here (beignets anybody?), it just requires fussy eaters such as myself to find the grownup deep inside who can eat anything. The diet here is quite high in starch (cassava, plantains, rice, and potatoes).

In my final weeks at home, many of you asked me about Ebola. Just a quick update: To date there has been no Ebola found in Cameroon. We had a session last week with somebody from the CDC who believes there is less than a 50% chance of it coming to Cameroon. If it does make its way here, she was quite confident that it would be a few isolated cases and would be easily kept under control by Cameroonian health officials. So, nothing to worry about here!

Until next time.

Three thoughts:

1. A hard glasses case is an absolute must. After you are under your mosquito net, you will not want to get back out to set your glasses in a safe place.

2. Enough wash clothes to wash both yourself and the filter Peace Corps provides us with. I highly suggest a microfiber washcloth/towel.

3. A book and a few magazines. I brought my Nook which decided to stop working as I sat in JFK. Once I’m back in the states with a strong wi-fi connection, it will work again but until then, life won’t be nearly as interesting.