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...