Merry Christmas

Dec. 28, 2007 - I hope everyone had a good Christmas and will have a good new years. We made a fantastic dinner, chicken, mashed potatoes (cheesy garlic), stuffing (real stove top), gravy and apple pie for dessert. I made the apple pie myself, and I have to say it was delicious. I tried to kill the chicken, the kid who was helping kept saying cut until it was bleeding all over and the head was limp and he said it was dead, but when i let go it sprang to life and started squaking, so he swung it around a little and eventually cut the head better....ill get it next time. I have been on vacation forever, we just got back from training in Kribi (beach town) and it was almost the 2 week xmas break. Ill write about Kribi, but for now heres a picture of me enjoying the only waterfall to fall directly into the ocean (or thats what the guys who had the boat said). Ok email me if you want the picture its not working. Merry Xmas.

Brad

Merry Christmas Everyone

December 20, 2007 - As usual I have updates I have written and the wont load onto the computer. Maybe sometime in the next week. Anyway Ive been getting seriously homesick for the first time, both with it being Christmas time and with the death of my grandfather (Grandpa, my dads dad to those who knew him). To my family, I wish I could have come back for the wake and funeral, but it would have been too difficult. I had people here to talk about it with, but I still think it doesnt feel real yet, not sure when it will hit me. I heard the cerimony was nice. Even though its sunny and warm everyday and I was at the beach all week, I miss the cold (or maybe the shelter from the cold) and the whole Christmas time. Im not sure what Im doing yet for Christmas, was thinking of travelling but kinduv miss my post. Ill try and get another update up soon, I promise no more than a week.

Brad

3 Months at Post

December 1, 2007 - Wow I didnt realize it was December until I looked at it on the computer. Time is going fast and slow at the same time, its a strange thing. I have a bunch of updates to put up but as usual my usb isnt getting along with the computer. I found out I can bring my laptop to the center and hook it up so Ill do that assuming theres lights and internet. I didnt have electricity for the past 2 days or so it was rough, read a lot but was very happy to get music back. I went to a crusade last night which is a traveling preacher who comes and they have a band, singers, and the preachers and singers lead the group in song and prayer, it was cool to see everyone together, and of course everyone was glad to see me there. Besides Thanksgiving I've just been hanging at post still getting used to teaching and life out there. Thanksgiving was amazing I went to a beach town and it was so close to an American Thanksgiving it was amazing...but I have already written about that so youll have to wait. Hope the US is still well and gas isnt 5 dollars/gallon. Ill post again soon.
brad

The Most Vulnerable I've Ever Been

November 13, 2007 - Things are going well...but a couple of nights ago I had the worst experience of my trip so far. The day started out well I went on a hike/run to the top of a mountain that overlooks my town, didnt make it to where I wanted to go but Im going to have a guide next time. Got back to town, bought a big pot at the market for baking, and made a really good dinner and chocolate cake for dessert. Went to bed happy. A few hours later (no idea what time because when I tried to look at my phone it was finally fully broken, wouldnt even turn on) I started feeling crappy in my dream and my pillow was made of chocolate cake so I was turning so I couldnt smell it, etc. but eventually I woke up and couldnt go back to sleep because my stomach felt so bad. The next 5 hours consisted of me going to the bathroom every 15 mins and having terrible diahrea, forcing water down after even though I usually puked it up soon after. I didnt fall asleep, just laid in bed listening to what I knew couldnt be mice because I hadnt had them in my house before (but no, Id left my door, with the key in it, wide open). Laying sick in Africa with no phone and my door wide open will be hard to beat in terms of vulnerability (dont worry I always lock my door especially now...and my town is very friendly...not that people wouldnt steal). I got one mouse out a few days ago but I know theres another because it broke into my pasta last night. O yea for those of you who know about "the club" or might be able to guess what it is I joined it that night. Twice. The laundrys still soaking. I have other updates but my it wont let me use my usb. Ill figure it out soonish or come back and update.

Aaand Im back, sorry

August 28, 2007
I’ve arrived in my village. It is small, and now that I’ve finished Harry Potter this morning, Im not sure what Im gonna do for the next few weeks. I got my class schedule finished, Ill be teaching Forms I-III (the smaller kids, the most work) but it shouldn’t be too bad. Ill also be giving some staff computer classes and looks like I might be the head of sports. The good news is I made my own schedule so I don’t teach Fridays, and I don’t teach Mondays until 1030 so I can travel on the weekends. Its been interesting having the community get used to me, but word travels FAST here. The first day I was hear I got a lot of "Hello white man" and strange looks, but after about 4 days people are already ignoring me (or not openly staring and gaping). I am not the only white man in my village, theres a woman finishing her masters from Oxford (American from the Midwest). When I was running by she yelled "WHITE MAN" and I thought it was just another call so I didn’t stop, when I ran by her a second time she was taking a picture of me. I stopped and said hello, it was nice to talk American English. By the way I said my English would suffer living in Francophone, its only going to get worse here in Anglophone. They speak their local language as their first language, and it comes through in the English. I have to find a Pidgin and French tutor, which shouldn’t be hard here because everyone the local language, Pidgin, French, and English almost fluently.
After finishing making the schedule today my VP took us our for a drink (1pm). I was a little skeptical but all the teachers were going I wasn’t sure if they meant a beer, and Id been up for 6 hrs, why not. I wish the others had ordered first because after the VP ordered a beer I did, and then everyone else got juice, guess drinking at 1 isnt very culturally acceptable here either. When I came back to my house my landlady came to say hi to me, we talked about rent, she has 3 daughters away at school, howd shed been to the US once, and then after she said goodbye she turned and said "are you married". I was flustered so responded no…I wish Id said yes or at least that I have a girlfriend, not that that means much to them. Hm so my house, its 1 living room, 1 bedroom, and a bathroom. The kitchen is basically half in the living room half in the hallway. The light in the bedroom doesn’t work, the toilet is broken, I don’t have a sink, and I find about a cockroach per day, but Im really happy with it. The last volunteer left all her stuff so I came with a stove, tables, chairs, bed, and most awesomely all her class notes and books. Cooking has been interesting. I think she had someone cook for her and Im starting to see why. There is absolutely nothing that you can buy in the market or grocery store that you don’t have to cook besides fried dough, cookies and chocolate. Ive been eating a lot of those but it cant be a meal (at least not all the time). Thank god for parmesan cheese. A lot of pasta, eggs, beans, and potato fries have gotten me through. Im gonna have to start branching out though because that’s about all I know how to make. Oh the prunes here which aren’t really prunes are good too. Funny thought from yesterday when I opened a can(with a hammer and a knife). Never did I ever think I would open up a can of what I thought was just tomato sauce and be glad that there were sardine chunks in it. It was delicious. Also popcorn with Maggi ™ and parm cheese is very good.
September 19, 2007 – It has been a looooong time since Ive updated, and I’m sorry. There is no internet in my town and my usb has been acting up, and the internet is so slow I only have time to type a few emails and see how the red sox are doing and I have to go…those are all my excuses, I’m lazy too. It’s been almost a month at post now. Time is going to fly. Here’s what life is like most of the time. I wake up, brush my teeth, make some coffee with ovaltine, and either just relax or plan lessons. I go to school whenever I have class, some days I can come home for lunch sometimes I eat there (made the mistake of drinking the spring water they have there, payed for that for a few days). On Tuesdays and Thursdays I play soccer, and on Wednesday afternoons they "do sport" after school. Today we played volleyball I think its soccer next week. Volleyball was fun, it was students vs. teachers. The teachers take a little bit of an advantage but its all in good fun, they just don’t want to lose. Other then that I read, cook, do laundry, dishes, clean my house, study French, plan lessons, watch the 6 arrested developments I have on my computer for the nth time, and visit with neighbors. I teach forms I, II, IV and lower VI, roughly equivalent to 7-8th grade, sophomores, and seniors. It is in no way like a school in the US. Lets start with the ways its better. My school is at the bottom of a valley, in every direction there are mountains and it’s without exaggerating its one of the prettiest place I’ve been and definitely the prettiest place I’ve lived (sorry Hamilton). Also teachers are always right and you can make your students kneel on the ground if they derange(gonna try and stay away from that). The classrooms are in individual buildings, with no glass windows…its not uncommon for birds to fly in and somewhat more rarely a chicken will wander in. The classes are big, anywhere from 60 to 80 students in each class. Makes it difficult to teach when they talk, but I’m lucky because they all want to learn from me so they are pretty good most of the time. School starts a little differently too, most of the teachers don’t show up until the 2nd week and some haven’t come yet, it’s the middle of the 3rd week. I teach 16 hours a week which might not sound like a lot but it is tough, especially because it’s mostly concentrated Tue-Thu. I have Fridays off which is nice for traveling. On my days off, I try to get things done like laundry, stocking up on water, cooking good meals, running, going to the tailor whatever random things come up. Every 4 days is market day so I buy my rice and veggies there. The food here is pretty good they have a lot of variety, I’ve had fun experimenting, although I’ve bought ginger by accident and haven’t figured out how to use it yet. Oh about the jogging there are amazing trails. Unfortunately there aren’t 2 roads to many places, so you usually have to just turn around and come back at some point. The only down side is it makes for a lot of laundry. I think I’m going to get some help with laundry and keeping the house clean. Hm I cant think of anything else, I’m enjoying it here, still miss everyone. Send me some emails.
NB: I wrote the second entry without remembering what I wrote in the first one, so you can see how I changed a little.
October 5, 2007- I am exhausted from grading, I accidentally assigned homework at the same time I had to give a test so now I have 2 papers from each of my 500+ students. Im through about half of it and its tiring, but its good to be busy. I don’t have any great stories at the moment…but pictures are coming! Im going to mail a memory card to Simon (Simon if I forgot to tell you this sorry but you offered to do something like it so I’m taking you up). So anyway the pics should be online somewhere in 3-6 weeks plus however long it takes Simon to get it together. I’ve been learning how to cook, slowly expanding my "things I can cook" list (theres actually a list on my wall so I remember things if I feel like changing it up). Think Im gonna make some fried vegetables and couscous when Im done typing this. I have 1.5 months down now and am really looking forward to the 3 month mark when PC will let us travel again. There are plans in the works to climb a mountain on thanksgiving and come back and feast. It might not be too late to fit in a package with some good food…After Thanksgiving we have IST (in service training) where all the people from my training get together and have some more training sessions and hang out in Limbe(really nice beaches). It’ll be good to see everyone as Ive barely seen any of them since August 23rd.

Almost a Volunteer

August 21, 2007 - After 2.5 months of language technical and cultural training I get offcially sworn in tomorrow as a volunteer. It is very much time to leave, Im going stir crazy here and ready to start workin g at my post. Im excited that i have a have almost a fully stocked house, I need to get a matress but that just means I have to stay a night in a bigger city with some voluneers to buy it. Sorry I cant update you guys more but after about a week of settling in I imagine Im going to have a lot of time to write emails.

They call me Mr. Bradford

My students that is. I cant go by Mr. Melius yet. Their exam is Friday and I know half of them will fail because thats the way its supposed to be here, and failing is 10/20. Im liking the teaching its getting easier every day. I also like my club, I played basketball in the rain today...stopping in the middle of the game to explain how he would be percieved in the US if he cherrypicked like he was doing. Tonight theres a soiree im invited to, I think its kinduv a big deal should be fun being one of two white people there. Hopefully better then the last party where they sat in a circle deciding whether I or another Cameroonian was fatter. On that subject I think Ive lost about 15 lbs, Ive heard most people gain it back when they get to post and can eat what they want again (sort of). Sorry about the lack of pictures, it just takes way too long. Ill be sure to get one of me infront of my house up when I get to post because its beautiful. To all those in Cheshire my condolances, I cant imagine what its like there.

Old Posts:

July 5, 2007

Ive never appreciated the fourth of July as much as I did yesterday. It was our first holiday in country and the only one we have during stage, and it we made the most of it. In the morning me and another volunteer volunteered to buy the food for the party so we went to the market. Buying meat works a little differently here than in the states. It arrived at 8 very fresh (parts were still pulsating) and we walked through a hall of carcasses looking for good meat at a good price. After we had to wait for it to be ground which took forever and we were very late for class. We payed the "le blanc" price but it wasnt that expensive especially for the amount of enjoyment it would bring. We had several swinging meat and blood spirting incidents and had to occasionally escape the smell by going to hang out by the eye socket outside. It definitaly made me appreciate what happens before I go to the supermarket and pick up a nicely wrapped pound of ground meat. We bought potatoes for fries and avacados for goacamole (if you havent realized yet my ability to write coherent sentences and spell in english is falling drastically, lets hope its getting replaced by some french). We spent the afternoon slicing potatoes and making burgers, and I let some others cook while I stepped out to the bar. I came back to a mountain of burgers and fries which were all delicious. It was rough going back to white rice and fish again today but as they say here: On va faire comment? (Whadya gonna do?) There was some dancing but generally just hanging and talking about how lucky we were to be in Africa eating cheeseburgers with Uncle Sam picking up the tab. Thanks taxpayers.

I picked up my first African clothes today, 2 shirts and a pair of pants. The pants look kind of rediculous but I think I can pull them off here. Tomorrow I find out my post, which will decide which volunteers I am going to see frequently for the next two years so its exciting. Im not making it to the cafe tomorrow, so you dont have to wait. Im going to....

July 6, 2007

I honestly cant remember the town right now. Since Ill know tomorrow Ill put it in here ___actually i decided to leave it out__. I dont really know anything about it buts its a smallish town about 1 hr from the big city. That 1 hour is only about 10 miles and I think it would be a good goal to be able to run it in a few months, well see. Apparently its in the mountains and its cold there (not sure what that means because only Cameroonians have told me this and its pretty hot as a rule here, and they dont have words (at least that I know of) besides cold and hot. Im near some people and not others, its weird knowing that some people youve gotten to know you probably will only see a handful of times since theyre on the other side of the country. Ill let you know more about my post when I visit Tuesday. Its been a month officially since I got on the plane at Bradley, its weird. I feel as into it as ever, every day it gets easier. I have my 2nd language test tomorrow which Im ready for because I know Ill do better then novice low. Im tired (its 930) Im going to bed.

July 8, 2007

First baddish day in a while...but it wasnt all bad. I slept for 10 or so hours but not well, I could hear a cockroach or a mouse scurrying around all night and there was a rooster right outside this morning. I played basketball which was fun, PC vs. Cameroonians. We destroyed them the first game and the second and third games were very frustrating. We have rule issues. We ended up winning the first two and losing the third and overall a lot of fun, looking forward to next week were going to wake up early and make popsicles in someones freezer Im already excited. After basketball I came back to the house and washed my shoes and did some ironing, then went to the bar. When I came back a combination of a little buzz, language frustration and loneliness hit me, but a half an hour later Anne made the kids dance to music on TV and all was right again. We watched The Parent Trap in french and here I am, writing now. Tomorrow Im meeting my counterpart and were having a workshop, after Im hoping to make it to the internet cafe. Thisll be my last update for a wile since Im going to check out my post for a few days.

July 18, 2007

So its been a long time since Ive updated...sorry about that. Turns out its going to be hard to update at post too so after training itll be probably every 2 weeks or so. Since I got back from site visit its been lonely around here with half the other trainees on their site visits. Were starting "model school" where we teach for four weeks, have exams, give out certificates, etc...basically summer school. Im psyched to start teaching my first class is Friday. Ill be teaching physics to 10-14 year olds...not gonna be too interesting but its good ill start out slow. Got my first mail a few days ago, that person should be getting a response in 4-5 weeks...remember the address is below and the first 8 ppl to send me a care package get an AWESOME thank you note. Im running out of things to say Im so used to whats going on here it doesnt seem interesting anymore. Anyone have questions?

July 20, 2007

First class was just okay, I have to learn to speak slower especially to the younger kids, I dont know how much they understood me. Im planning on improving quickly and I think itll be fun eventually, right now its just stressful. We played soccer today, I scored my first goal (second lifetime). It happened that the 12 yr old goalie had a hand on the ball and I kicked it out from under his hand but it was acceptable with the Cameroonians so its acceptable for me, gotta adapt to the culture. I had a talk with my Cameroonian mom about polygamy(happy Im able to talk/understand enough for that to happen), turns out her dad had 2 wives and she thinks its a bad thing. Straight from the horses mouth, dont let Big Love fool you. Tomorrow after language were playing basketball, then hopefully a fete. Sorry my posts have been short, but like I said its getting less strange to me and harder to write about without specific questions etc. I could write a novel about today alone but I dont know where to start, help me out.

Mr. Bradford

The Misty Mountains

July 15, 2007 - I visited my town for the first time Tuesday. Its a beautiful little town in the southwest province of the country. Its in a valley surrounded by mountains, the only problem is there are no decent roads one can take to get to it. I met my principal and my counterpart (collegue I can rely on for help) and they both seem pretty cool. They took us out for couscous and bushmeat, it was pretty good I didnt end up regretting it. The way back we took motos which was more expensive but awesome. Im in Bafusam now headed back to town tomorrow. I have updates from the 4th of july etc but my usb isnt working right now. Im hangin in there...talk to yall soon.

Nearly a Month

July 2nd, 2007
I realized yesterday that it had been almost 4 weeks since id seen anyone I hadnt met in the last 4 weeks, kinduv blew my mind because I already know some people very well. Im already frustrated with the keyboard so well just go with what Ive already typed. Hope everyones well.

June 30th, 2007
After walking with Anne (mere) to pick up some tomatoes (we had a good laugh when a rooster had explosive diahrea right next to us), I made some omlettes and ran to play basketball. Ive never been such a force on a court full of black guys in my life. Theyre not bad but it was nice to be able to take a little pride back after the beating we get in soccer every Thursday. Because it was cloudy and threatening rain I didnt think about the sun, but apparently you can get a pretty bad sunburn on a cloudy day because I did. After showering and a little nap I went to the bar to study and stayed there for a while (we seriously studied for half of it). Some family friends came over and we had a good talk, I can get some ideas across finally which is nice. They thought the picture of me with long hair was hilarious because I look like a girl, but it was even more hilarious how fat I was. The must have said "Tu manges beaucoup no" a dozen times, but its not an insult here like it is in the states.

June 29, 2007
Man what a day. It started well right off the bat. I went running in the morning, we took some random roads and saw a bunch of the town. When I got back to eat breakfast there was an omlette waiting for me and ma mere (yes I call her that dont get jealous mom) told me to get all my laundry together and her and my sisters would do it, sheets and all. While changing for school I saw some dead spiders and thought, sweet Ill have a picture of some huge spiders for my blog. Not shown, Im workin on it.
For our language class we went to the market to try to bargain. I wanted shampoo and after being offered 650 and 500 I got it down to 400 francs which was probably too much because the guy seemed to happy but whatever I didnt pay full price. I bought a pagne (fabric to get made into clothes) at the marche, tried to bargain down and there was a fiasco where wed agreed on a price and he went back on it, but the girl I was with really wanted hers so we rolled with it. When we got back for our cross culture class we had some real cross culture experience when a drunk woman came into the building and started saying that she wanted to learn english and called one of the voluteers mon cheri and said she would cook him liver. After that I grabbed a bread with egg and avocado at the small shop across the street and went home.
Ma mere wanted to go to Bafusan so we took a cab. Let me tell you that this was not a normal cab, but I can paint you a picture. Imagine my car (some know it as the Ferdrod) plus 5 years and 100000 miles, with 8 people in the car, 4 in front 4 in back. The other guy sitting in the drivers seat is known as the "petite chauffer". Did I mention it was a stick shift? Despite how it sounds I actually felt pretty safe, the petite chauffer kept the stick available and the driver was used to it. I can say that I was very happy to arrive in Bafusan. When we got there we went around the market, looked at pagnes (I got another one, gonna go to the tailor in the next couple days), and the supermarche. I saw some other volunteers quite randomly (Its a pretty huge town) first at the boutiques and then at the supermarche. They bought cheese and ketchup for the burgers on the 4th of July which Im really excited for. I bought shaving cream, the food was really expensive and the only American thing was Pringles. Anyway me and Anne got into another cab for the ride home (10 total this time, 2 babies on laps) and arrived back in Bagante just before dark. We went to get a beer, and who do we run into at the bar but the volunteers I saw in Bafusan and the drunk woman who was hitting on the volunteer earlier that day. She talked quickly and I could understand almost nothing of what she said but it made everyone uncomfortable. Eventually she left and we left and went back to the house, where I had a good meal, watched Heroes in French, and talked with the fam.

June 26, 2007
I had a pretty good weekend, nothing crazy but relaxing. Washing clothes here is hard. First you have to pound a few soapy pieces into the ground for a while, then scrub the important parts of whatever youre washing (particularly smelly or dirty parts). Rinse twice and hang up, and then you have to iron everything because 1) its important to have ironed clothes here and 2) if you dont you can get mango fly eggs in your skin which will turn into a pimple that a fly comes out of. When I get to post I can pay someone to do it for me but til then Im on my own (ish my family helps out a little).
On Sunday another trainee and I made dinner for our families. It was supposed to be speghetti and meatballs but it turned into speghetti with tomato soup and chunks of meat (we couldnt get it ground). The garlic bread was a big hit, the pasta wasnt very good. I had a debacle when after slicing up one of these small extremely spicy peppers they have here (pienot maybe) I rubbed my eye. Ive never been pepper sprayed but it must have been close I couldnt open my eye for a half and hour. That want the end of the pain, let just say I wish I washed my hands before I went to the bathroom. The actual dinner started off a little badly because we didnt have it ready when they arrived which is apparently bad because they left to come back later. Once some wine got drunk it got better, and I would say it was an overall success. Sidenote my friend got some cheese from the market in Bafusan it was delicious, first real cheese Id had in almost 3 weeks.
I gave a 25 minute presentation on momentum on Monday, it went swimmingly. In 3 weeks we start model school and I have to actually teach so it was good practice. For those who dont know come September Ill be a Physics teacher with 100 students in each lecture. Yay. I know that Ill be in an Anglophone province teaching in English so at least I wont have that obstacle. My new language class is good but tres dificil, its all in French. Im struggling but I think itll be good in the end. I've lost a little motivation knowing I wont need to speak French at post, but I get to learn Pidgen whichll be fun. Were in the midst of planning a 4th of July bbq with cheeseburgers and fries, I'm excited. Next time youre eating a burger think of the fact that if I were there and you werent going to give me your burger, I would probably punch you in the face, take your sandwich, run, and not feel sorry.

I Make 6 Figures a Month

I was going to go to the internet cafe yesterday but a friend had the ingenious idea to type my blog first on my computer and just transfer it onto the net, saving money and sanity from trying to type on a french keyboard. After recovering from a minor illness (thank you immodium) I've been doing really well. A lot has happened and I cant possibly recount it all but here are the highlights:
I met my host family for the first time Thursday night (I actually had to think if it had been 4 days or 11 here in Begante. They are great, they cook for me and help me clean my clothes and shoes (clean shoes are very important here). Thanks to them and my teacher Arlette my French has gotten a million times better. The family is huge, which I didnt realize until Sunday when 3 more girls came back to the house from staying with relatives, bringing the sibling numbers to 5 girls and 2 boys. A few of the girls think its fun to watch me do things like wash my clothes which I'm not good at and help prepare dinner which is usually something only women do, but when I want to relax I can always go in my room (like now).
Some of you probably are wondering what the worst part of being in Africa is. No, its not missing your family and friends, its the bugs. Huge. Cockroaches. Everywhere. Even if you dont see one for a day you spend the day thinking there will be one under the box you pick up or that one is going to fly into you while your on your way to the bathroom. Last night I thought I saw one on my chest and freaked out and went into the living room to be laughed at by my family only to later realize it was mostly likely a Larium hallucination. I suppose its better then getting Malaria.
To let you in on my daily routine: I wake up around 6 (tomorrow Im planning on going for a run, and I must have because otherwise I would have deleted this parentheses before I uploaded it) and study French, eat breakfast (omlette, pain avec chocolat et pain) and go to school around 8. Schools been mostly language with some education classes and meetings thrown in. I have rice and beans for lunch at the SED house (where we all meet), hang out or study, and then go back to school until 420. At 420 I take what I can get and go get a beer with the other volunteers (1 22ozer max) and go home for dinner. After dinner I watch some French tv with the fam and go into my room around 9, I read or study for a little bit and go to sleep.
Our only day off is Sunday, and last Sunday I went to church which was really interesting but almost 2 hrs long and then met with the Peace Corps Director for all of Peace Corps, the Director for Africa, and the Director for Cameroon which was a good time but not restful. I'm looking forward to next Sunday. I'm also looking forward to the Peace Corps soccer game on Thursday, ready to break out the sambas and obviously the skills. Im just glad we play each other and not Cameroonians, theyre as good as you think they would be.
I know theres stuff I'm leaving out I'll try and keep better track of my stories and update again soon, especially since I don't have to type it all out on the French keyboard. A bientot.

I wrote that on Monday night, a lot has happened since then. I had a great day on Thursday. After class I worked out some stuff with my teacher and Ill be switching classes on Monday. We played soccer after class and it turned out we play with the Cameroonian trainers who are very good but arent always team players (not that I blame them). The best parts were when I would get really into the game and then suddenly realize where I was and how rediculous it was. After the game I broke out the light up frisbee and my little host siblings couldnt get enough of it.
Last night was another adventure. Since Ive been going to bed by 10 every night and I had class at 8 today I was only a little excited to go to end of semester (my host fathers a teacher) soiree that started at 8. I was less excited when we didnt leave til 930 and we were some of the first people there. I was relieved to see some fellow trainees there which made it more enjoyable since I couldnt understand the comedians or anyone else who talked. The food was worth waiting for (I drank Castal in the meantime). Chili, spegetti, and a really good roll were the highlights. The DJ played Imagine by John Lennon in french and some Tracy Chapman and Celin Dion (both big here) during dinner. After dinner (at this point 2am) we danced for a couple songs which was really fun but we had to head home. I woke up at 745 for my class.
Our class today consisted of me and another trainee going to the market and bargaining down for 3 things we needed. After our alloted half hour, all we managed was some overpriced garlic. Heres how it played out. We went up to the table and said How much for the garlic? She responded cinqante (50) francs; but we heard cinq cent (500), so my friend immediately said Thats too expensive, 100 francs. She said No, 50 (to us 500) francs. I didnt need the whole bunch so I then offered 200 francs for about half the bunch, looking for a deal. We ended up leaving with half the bunch for 50. Hopefully I can do better next time.

Im having trouble uploading pictures so it might be a while before that happens but Ill try again next time.

Last Night In the Hotel

Yaounde, Cameroon - The last couple days have been mostly medical and cultural training, with good meals and beers in the evening. My language test went okay, my watched stopped before it so I told him it was 515 when it was 730 but he didnt correct me, part of the reason I'm novice-low (or novel's as were dubbed). We have to get to intermediate-mid in the next 8 weeks. The medication I'm taking is messing with my sleep but other then that cant complain. I have a cell phone now, the number is 94187793, which means you call 011-237-94187793. (I can also get texts(Also remember Im 5 hrs ahead)). Incoming calls are free for me so dont worry about it. Tomorrow were going to Buhhsomething where our training and host familys are. I dont have much time again because theres 3 computers for 39 of us but Sunday hopefully Ill find an internet cafe. Oh it was exciting I saw a white civic hatchback yesterday on the street, it had a sunroof but otherwise identical to the ferdrod. Anyway hopefully Ill have a picture of my host family and other things soon. Au revoir, Brad

They have 2 ply in Cameroon

Yaonde, Cameroon - I have arrived and everything is going well. In 4 days we are going to another city and meeting our host family. Until then were doing various safety training, etc. Thisll be it because Im running out of time and theres not much to tell, but Im here and safe.

Pre-Training Training

Philadelphia, PA - I arrived here yesterday. After a few weeks of tough goodbyes, I was ready to start training. Its okay, its mostly about safety and conduct when we get to Cameroon as well as filling out forms and having our questions answered. There are a couple rules involving blogs I didnt know. 1) I cant disclose where I am or where any of me or fellow PCVs (peace corps volunteers) are or will be. That one makes sense because I could imagine someone sending my mom an email saying "mom im stranded in so-in-so and you need to send money". No doubt they would have twice the amount they asked for in a few minutes. The second part is that I need to be culturally sensitive which shouldn't be a problem but I need to find out if my reactions (in my head, Ill try to keep it together in front of whoever I'm with) to certain customs could be considered insensitive.

Anyway the training is boring but rest assured Ill be as safe as possible (they send you home for things like not wearing your bike helmet) and Ill move onto my packing list. I'm allowed 80 lbs., and when I weighed them at home I was at 76 but at the airport it came out to 87. Not sure what I'm doing about that yet. Anyway heres what I have:

Clothes:
5 button down shirts (1 flanel...the big red one...couldnt give it up for 2 years)
1 sweater
2 prs dress pants
1 pr cargo pants
1 pr jeans
2 prs mesh shorts
1 pr boots
1 pr running shoes
1 pr sambas
2 prs sandals (1 flipflop, 1 walking)
1 rain jacket (moving right into the rainy season in Cameroon)
8 prs boxers
2 prs tighty whities (who knows)
7 t shirts
14 prs socks (white, dress, wool)
1 bathing suit
2 ties
2 bandanas

Electronics:
digital camera, 8gB in memory cards
usb adapter for memory cards
1 surge protector
plug adapters
ipod accesories
short-wave radio (apparently invaluable)
computer (im giving it 6 months)

Others:
2 camelback bladders
pens (blue only, Cameroonians dont like any other colors)
bottle opener
Lebowski poster
swiss army knife
cooking knife
various toiletries (no sunscreen...I hope they werent lying about providing us with it)
chess board/pieces
Teenage mutant ninja turtles door hang
solar/handcrank lantern
headlamp
small lightup frisbee
shammy towel
cheap watch
cheap sunglasses
hacky sack
cards
travel wallet
cigars (apparently Cameroon makes nice ones though)

Books:
Cats Cradle
On Bullshit
Cosmos
Head and Heart (My professors book)
Perfect Symmetry (physics book)
Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming
The Dharma Bums
Civil Disobedience

Theres probably some things I missed but thats most of it, I'm not sure whats not gonna go. Anyway I have to get back to training. Tomorrow is shots, pills, and then the flight (about 20 hours total). My next entry will be from Cameroon!

Farewell Tour a Success

Hello All,

Im back in the Shire after a great couple weeks. A summary of the stops:

Louisville, KY - Visited Uncle Tim, Aunt Sue, Joe, Erin, Gordo, and Abby. First, the highlight of the trip, Grammy after a few cocktails:

That is my Colgate hat, and I almost lost it twice later down the road, but that'll come later. Basically my days in Louisville consisted of drinking most of the day while occasionally betting on horses with good names and mixing in some soccer games against little kids (I blame the mint julip for making me say "ass" to a five year old girl and having to make a pact with my team not to tell their parents I swore). Also got to see Joe and Erin play soccer games, all around a good time.

New Bern, NC - Went to visit Nana and Grandpa. The flight in was terrifying, it was a small plane and there was a rediculous wind storm. My hat blew off my head and over the plane immediately upon exiting and some airline guy had to run down the runway to get it. I think the only reason they landed was because it was a historic flight and there were a bunch of Delta investors or something out to watch the landing and have food afterwords (none for us). This stop on my trip consisted of sleeping for 12 hrs a night and having 3 great meals a day, a vital recoop from Louisville and good preperation the life draining week I was to have Hilton Head/Graduation. The highlight from that visit, meeing my new cousin Ian:

Washington, D.C. - Nana drove me to the Wilson, NC train station and after an hour and half delay before I got on and another hour and a half of waiting on the tracks for trains that were on time to pass, I arrived in DC around 7 (a couple Sam Adams from the beverage car made it bearable). That night I went with Jen, Kevin, and Keriann to see Ben Gibbard, the lead singer of Deathcab for Cutie and the Postal Service, at the 9:30 Club. It was a lot of fun, at one point Jim from The Office came on stage and they did a little bit, it wasn't great but it was cool to see him. The next day we hung around Jen's house, Keriann found out she'd been accepted to work in a Master's program in NYC where she'd teach in a high needs school so we celebrated a little after a great barbeque with a chocolate cake (the caffeine was supposed to keep us up) and at around 8ish pm we left for Hilton Head.

Hilton Head, NC. - After a little traffic it was smooth sailing, a dirty text message war with another car kept our wits about us. (I'm not trying to keep this blog PG but I don't think an example would be appropriate for anyone to read). It started to get hard to stay awake around 3 but finally around 5 we made it to our house (Keriann drove the entire 9 hrs, it was pretty impressive). We pull into our driveway and theres another car there. No big deal, the owner left a car there or something, we'd just have to get it moved in the morning because we have too many cars already. We enter the doorcode, and I notice a bag sitting on the couch. Weird. I say "Hello" and people respond "We think you're in the wrong house". Disaster. Turns out we didn't get the house until technically 4pm, but the people left at 10 and the cleaning people were out by 11 or so. We were close to the beach so we went and layed down and watched the sunset, played frisbee. The whole thing seemed hilarious, mostly because we were so tired and in such nice weather. Me, Kevin and Keriann went out to breakfast when the other cars showed up while Jen stayed back (the landlord recieved a complaint from the people in the house that there was a car outside with someone sleeping in it...but what were we supposed to do?). The rest of the week was great, consisted of going to the beach in the "morning" the pool in the afternoon, and out on the town at night. The ride home was going great, no traffic or anything, when we got pulled over 20 miles outside Hamilton. Luckily Keriann made it 3/3 lifetime in getting out of tickets and we made it home and passed out.

Hamilton, NY - This years graduation was a lot like last years... good food and lots of family (playing beruit too which is always fun). Saturday night I got peed on a little by some drunk guy out a window, luckily I had two shirts on it wasnt that big a deal. Jen and her friends at torchlight, my favorite part of graduation:

Boston, MA - After a lot of packing and shoving and a lot of goodbyes, me and Jen headed to Boston for a Damien Rice concert. We stayed at MIT in her friends apt. which turned out to be very convenient, we walked to the venue through the Boston Commons, it was great. The concert was amazing too, I snapped this picture which I find equally amazing:

I dont how those shadows worked out to make it seem like there was a gun pointed at him, but it did and its cool. I left my hat under my seat, we had to turn around and go back half way home but luckily we got it back. Its the third time I've almost lost it, it got taken briefly in a night club in Peru (thanks to Carly for finding it). I'm sure there will be more hat lost stories, hopefully with me finding it in the end. Anyway, the day after the concert we were on our way to....

New York, NY - Yankees vs. Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately we lost the game (still, for all you Yankee fans, we're up 14.5 games right now). Also unfortunate was the ***hole sitting behind us. After getting peanuts thrown at us whenever we cheered and Kevin getting beer poured on his back, eventually we had to move for the 7th and 8th inning, leaving early to beat the traffic. It was fun, good to see Kaplan again before I left at the very least. I finally made it home, exausted, and that was the end of the tour.

To quote an overquoted but fitting phrase, what a long strange trip it was. 1 more post before I leave, to put my packing list up and other things to help future volunteers.

brad

First Post

Well I havent left the country yet, but I decided I should figure out how to get this going now while I have time. It took about 5 minutes but here I am. I guess I'll start with what I (inspired by someone who I dont remember) have cleverly dubbed the Farewell Tour:

May 4- 7 Louisville, KY Hanging with Uncle and Fam for KY Derby
May 7-10 New Bern, NC Visiting Grandparents
May 10-11 Washington, DC Ben Gibbard (Deathcab for Cutie guy) concert
May 11-18 Hilton Head, NC uh...pretending Im about to graduate
May 18-22 Hamilton, NY Colgate for graduation
May 22 Boston, MA Damien Rice concert
May 23 New York, NY Red Sox/Yankees game

I'm looking forward to it, Ill post again right before I leave (June 6th) to update on how the trip went and how terrified I am. Finally, lets see how easy it is to ad pictures.


Hm not bad at all. Took me longer to pick out than to post.
Note: This is not me, its a slightly inebriated college student named Kevin Rondeau.