Okay...two more baby pictures!

This is Tantine our host sister.
Here is a random baby.

Learning French and Slowly Navigating the North

Leah and I have been constantly involved with learning the culture, the language(s), etc. That's the best way to describe the last month, although it seems much longer in some ways. For any of you who would like to visit Cameroon, French will help you so much if you're coming up North, where we are.

Right now, for training, Leah and I live with a host family in the town of Pitoua. Our residence has been called by other volunteers the "Ritz Carleton", because compared to other homestays, we have running water, electricity and a TV! What's more is that our family is so modern for Cameroon. Our host father Jean-Claude helps considerably around the house with cleaning clothes, sweeping and occassionally assisting with food preparation. Our community is largely Muslim, but our host father jokingly subscribes to Nietzche. Yes we are mocked by other Peace Corps volunteers. Apparently some people are having very different experiences than we are.

As in most rural villages, there are plenty of animals. We used to be awoken by a rooster every morning. But we ate him last week... Other wonderful foods are crickets, which are fried and salted and taste like potato chips with soy sauce. Very tasty. Last weekend we had "veron", or monitor lizard. It tastes like fish and chicken together.

French is difficult, but Leah and I both are learning slowly. The other language that is even more commonly spoken in the north is Fulfulde. We'll most likely learn bits and pieces over the next 2 years.

The pictures are of (1) everyone in our group in Yaoundé the capital, (2) Leah with some of the local children.
More later...

In Yaounde

Leah and I are both jet-lagged still. We've been having constant trainings and activities. It's tough to get into more specifics than that however, partly because I'm a bit tired--again, the jet-lag. Additionally, there was a Sunday night wedding at the hotel we're staying at. The loud music kept many of the volunteers awake until the early morning.

We haven't been out of the hotel yet to walk the city of Yaounde, partly because of security concerns. It's understandable however. Yaounde is a complicated city. I have no idea where we go everyday in our Peace Corps convoy of Land Rovers. The other concern is that not all of us speak enough French. Some people are fluent, but some volunteers, like Leah and I, have not really studied it at all.

On Saturday, we'll be leaving beautiful Yaounde--the weather, although very humid is fairly cool as it is the rainy season. We'll be training around the City of Garoua in the North Province. The picture I recently posted with the volcanic spires in the background is where we will be. Leah and I will live together with a host family. Everyday I'll have to bike 7 km to join the Agroforestry volunteers. Leah and I will be living are the other Health volunteer, which is what Leah is. That's all for now.

A bientot