This weekend we had a bbq that did not involve personally killing the cow, and I liked this much better. Martin actually got the meat and got it ground etc. the rest of it just ate it. Way better. It was super delicious, I definitely am not becoming a vegetarian anytime soon. It was actually a pretty American day, because after the bbq we watched a basketball game. American Peace Corps vs. the Camerounians. We had some Camerounians on the Peace Corps team which is probably why we only lost by a little and not an embarrassingly large amount. I was content to film and lead U-S-A chants from the sidelines... and not use my CYO basketball skills.

We’ve started having a Sunday evening yoga class which is the best thing ever. One of the volunteers, Christina, is a yoga teacher and she brought her yoga mat and music and everything so we’ve been having these legit classes here. Since we’re the first Peace Corps group to come to this village for training, they’ve literally been constructing the building around us. The room we've been having the yoga class in is totally open to the outside, so you do your downward dog and look up behind you and it’s just a casual African sunset, so beautiful. It’s also really hot so sort of like built in Bikram yoga?

In other news, I made my first hard-boiled egg Tuesday morning. This basically revolutionized my life, because I hit capacity of palm-oil-fried-egg-breakfasts. I have really gotten used to the “nido” though… this is powdered milk that you mix with water. I started drinking this because I heard that if you didn’t make an effort to have dairy you would become lactose intolerant here. I have no intention of returning to the U.S. unable to eat cheese, ice-cream etc. Nurse Ann says this is not true but I will leave this question to my med school friends? Anyways, the Nido is actually really good for you, it’s enriched with lots of vitamins. So hopefully that counteracts the fact that I’m essentially drinking whole milk … with sugar cubes in it. I don’t really have an excuse for the sugar cubes… it just makes it taste much more delicious. And everyone here puts sugar cubes in everrrrrything. My favorite is when they mix it into this green leafy vegetable. I wouldn't know if that is good because my host mom thinks that and the peanut sauce will make me sick which is really unfortunate because the peanut sauce is awesome. Anyways I crave sugar here all the time and I think it helps you stay hydrated when you have sugar in what you’re drinking so I'm going to continue putting it in my milk.

Yesterday we were supposed to have some local dancers come give a performance at our training house. I invited my host family but somehow it worked out to just be me and three of my host siblings. Lots of trainees ended up bringing their family's kids too and they were all getting pretty antsy waiting for the dancers to arrive. So, we started a game of duck, duck, goose with them. Except nobody knew the word for goose in French so we called it canard, canard, poulet (chicken). Anyways the dancers never ended up showing up! They just call it "African Time" when people are late but this was pretty ridiculous because they didn't show up for two hours... all of which I spent chasing around these little critters... just like back in NJ. The first video is my friend Julia filming the chaos of the training house as all the trainees and their host famalies were waiting for the dancers. In the end, our trainers ended up doing a little impromptu song/dance, the second video.

Girls Club

Today I refereed the girls' club football game (soccer) with the rape whistle from my medkit... (I really wish I had a photo I could put in here, I'll try for next week.)

Model school ends early on Wednesday afternoon and we have clubs. We've got forty girls in our club, "The Girls' Club," which makes for a pretty exciting afternoon. We also played volleyball and made acrostic poems with positive words describing ourselves. The girls are mostly francophone here in Bafia so we speak mostly French in the clubs. This is different than our English classes where we're just supposed to speak English. So its a nice change of pace for the day to try and communicate with the students more informally. There's actually going to be a new Peace Corps program in Cameroon next year that is just focused on youth and female empowerment which I'm really excited to find out more about.

Chicken for Dinner

Saturday afternoon we saw how chicken gets prepared a la Cameroun. Andrew’s host mommy, Patricia, raises chickens so she showed us how it is done. First we caught the chickens… by chasing them around the yard. Then they got their heads cut off. This was pretty awful because their muscles kept spasming after their heads were cut off so it seemed like they were still alive. Then they were dunked in hot water and we plucked out the feathers. I think they were cleaned off again after this. Then they got sliced up. So, when Patricia was cutting the thigh and the wing pieces it looked like an American chicken. But then she pulled out the intestines and all the inner organs. Apparently the pancreas? Is the best part of the chicken and only men in Cameroun are allowed to eat it.

I’m using the term “we” pretty loosely here, all I was able to help with was pulling out a couple of feathers. I feel like since I eat chicken I should have been able to kill one. Especially considering that these Camerounian chickens lived a pretty good life compared to typical American chickens. They are free range, (literally there are chickens walking around all over the place I don’t understand how anyone keeps track of them) and unhormonized . But, I definitely do not see myself killing and cooking a chicken. Maybe I need to become a vegetarian? Unfortunately the North is not the place to become one. Two volunteers who are assigned up there were vegetarians before site visit and not anymore. Apparently during some times of the year, meat is practically the only thing available. I am just refusing to believe that right now. There are so many delicious things available in the center of the country, it doesn’t make any sense that none of these products would find their way up to the north. On a more positive note, guava season has begun and they are delicious.

Training

This week was the start of model school. Over 600 children in the town have registered to take classes with us during their summer vacation. They set up the school just like it will be at our sites, there is a principal, vice principal and discipline master. We have a salle de professerurs and staff meetings. We have a flag raising ceremony every Monday morning. (At the opening ceremony of model school they had us education trainees sing the American National Anthem... it was pretty painful.) When students are late or they derange in class, we send them to the discipline master who usually makes them do manual labor as punishment. So, if you look out the window there's all these kids cutting the grass with machetes. (Manual labor is allowed, while corporal punishment is not.)

I'm definitely happy to get a chance to practice teaching here before getting to my post. But, this first week has been very difficult. I'm teaching the premiere class (advanced) and the sixiemes (lowest level) so its a good sampling of the differences. The classes are quite large, 40+ students here in model school although probably much larger at site. And the ages and levels of the students varies extraordinarily within each class as well.

Jamna! (that means hello) I tested into the French level that I needed to attain. This means I have begun taking Fulfulde classes, the local language of the extreme north. The Fulfulde classes are being taught in French which sort of makes my head spin. Even though I tested into the French level, I'm still taking French lessons b/c I don't really feel as confident as I would like.

Additional confusion arises because I usually don't even register when people are talking to me. The Cameroonians are very confused that I have two first names. Sometimes they call you by your last name anyways as a sign of respect. So I get a lot of "Kelly" and have no clue they're talking to me. I told my students to call me Ms. Kelly, but they usually just say "madame." Additionally, there is another Claire in the training group, so half the time I think I hear my name, its not even for me! Or people simply refer to us as "the Claires," especially since we're both heading to the extreme north.

Saturday we had mountain bike training which was a nice break. They showed us how to detach the bike wheel and take out the air tube to patch it. I also learned how to replace the break pads. Then I got on my bike to ride home and promptly fell off, scratching & bruising up my entire leg. In my defense I had a bag on one of my handlebars and these dirt roads are anything but even. So, since I ended up walking the bike the rest of the way home with a bleeding leg my host family thinks I have no idea how to ride a bike (which can just be added to the other things that I couldn't figure out... lighting the kerosene lamp, assembling the water filter) . I have yet to get back on the bike since the fall, but I'm pretty excited to go on some rides and it will definitely be very helpful at post. There will be a number of volunteers within biking distance of me and hopefully I'll stay in shape!

I'm off to faire les sports for our Thursday afternoon activity and then there will be beaucoup de lesson planning this evening. I hope I'm reclaiming my followers back from other Claire's blog. She did do a much better job blogging in the beginning, I admit. Both of our dads were the ones to suggest the title CameroonClaire for our blogs, what a coincidence!

To the far left is out my window from the hotel in Yaounde. Right next to me is Jenny and Julia at training. Jenny was the first to show up with braided hair and Cameroonian outfit.





These three pictures are from the welcome dinner at the US Ambassador's house in Yaounde. (She is a gtown alumni!) I think Sharon, Rosie and mom may recognize the skirt situation I have going on. The reason why we could not figure it out is because....surprise, its really a dress which we figured out later in the evening. Unfortunatly does not cover my knees in this variety. To the left are Lindsay and Krystina who get credit for the discovery. To the above right are Emily and Jeneca and just above are Claire, Rose and Julia. Claire, Rose and Emily are all joining me in the extreme north for posting!

After spending the first weekend in Yaounde, we took a bus to our training site. That is the village where we will do our technical and language training while living with Cameroon host families. Right now we're about halfway through the 12 week training.

I live with a very lovely host family. First there were two parents, Aunt Mary, 11year old cousin Louise, 4 year old Yvanna and 2 year old Louis-Michel. But then Louise left for the vacation and 3 different cousins arrived, Brian (6), Pauline (4) and Lorraina (2). So, good thing I got lots of experience with little kids this past year! Also, Aunt Mary got replaced by Aunt Crystal. So, there is a lot of coming and going among the family. Their dynamic is totally different because they don't really distinguish between the nuclear and extended family at all. But they have been super nice and welcoming. I spend most of my time at training but I eat dinner with my host family and I've been going to church with them as well.

Food here at training has been very good. This town is particularly well known for pineapples so we usually have those with dinner every night. For lunch, some local mommies come & sell us food. Usually rice, beans, avocado salad, fish, more pineapple, and sometimes cake. Breakfast is a deep fried egg (how bad is palm oil for you?) and delicious baguettes with "vache qui rit" aka laughing cow cheese! Real cheese doesn't really exist here which is sort of a bummer.

Training is very extensive, from 8:30am to 4:30pm. There is specific information about teaching TEFL, French lessons, medical sessions and cross cultural adaptation.... uh oh its 6pm and we're getting kicked out of the training house I will write more tomorrow or the next day!! miss you everyone & thanks for following my blog!

Yaounde

This is the view from our hotel in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon. Its a pretty big city with a nice view in the background. You can also see the nightclub that was attached to our hotel which made catching up on the jetlag a little difficult. The patio & bar below is where we all hung out for most of our first weekend in country!