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!