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.