So I just returned to post after spending a weekend in Maroua. It was really nice to be reunited with the rest of the extreme north crew as we were all a little shell shocked/malnourished from the first couple of days at post. I was so hungry I ate sphagetti Bolognese, brochettes, a cream filled donut and ice cream upon arrival and I still wasn’t even full.

Food wise, things are much better now because I got a frying pan, eating utencils, plates, bowls, glasses to actually be able to cook with. Then today was the market day here in town. I went with Madame Denise to buy some fabric for curtains. She is my proviseur’s wife and she said that they raise the prices too much when they see a white person. It wasn’t so much picking out a curtain fabric as it was finding something that they had enough of to make several curtains out of. And fortunately its pretty cute. I’ve pretty much gotten over the idea of things matching here since pretty much anything goes in terms of household and outfit combinations. I’m just happy that soon I will have something to cover up the windows with so my little neighbors won’t be peering in at me all day long.

Liz rode her bike in for the market so then the two of us walked around a lot. As far as buying food stuff goes, the prices are pretty much set and if it sounds expensive, you can just say “c’est trop cher!” and then they smile and give you a lower price. When I visited the market when I first came it had been pretty overwhelming. But this time, I knew where all the different sections were and I found macaroni, rice, tomatoes, onions, coconut, dates, eggs, bread, salt, garlic, potatoes and cucumbers. I had brought some lettuce back from Maroua so Liz and I made salads for lunch which was delicious. It took her a lot longer to ride here then she thought so she took the bush taxi back to her post afterwards. I can’t wait to get started riding my bike but it got a flat tire during transport here. I have the book and the tools to fix it but I have to find them and its pretty difficult cause I’m basically still living out of my suitcases since there is nothing for me to put anything in.

Returning from Maroua Sunday night was a bit more of an adventure than I had planned. The car didn’t leave until almost five, and then stopped en route for the evening prayer since its Ramadan. So it was pretty dark by the time we finally got back au village and there had been a lot of rain over the weekend so we were taking a different route then the one I knew. So then we went over a big bump and the trunk flies open and all my stuff goes flying out the back since I had about 8 bags of all the stuff I bought for my house. So we stopped and the guys got out and helped me pick up my stuff and I spent the rest of the ride hoping that my laptop didn’t die since it was in my backpack in the trunk. Then we got back to town and they loaded me onto a moto with a ton of stuff and they put the rest of it onto another moto. So, I’m wearing my backpack, one big market bag is in front of the driver, the two giant (empty) water bidons are sort of on my lap and I’m holding this 3yd long curtain rod in my hand, seriously looked like I was going into a jousting match and had anyone been in the street I think they would have been lanced. The big white moto helmet already makes me look like Darth Vader but this was just out of control. Anyways the road in front of my house is really uneven so the moto driver took a different way to go around it and then I got really confused about where we were and where my house was and the other moto with the rest of my stuff was nowhere to be seen. But then those two girls who had been helping me so much when I first came, all of a sudden come running out into the street screaming Claire, Claire. And I was like, “Ou est ma maison?” And they picked up my stuff and turned me around and we all went back to my house. And then my proviseur kept calling me during this asking when I was coming back and then he arrived at my house and said you’re having dinner with us tonight because you’ve just returned from your trip. So, I was a little frazzled to say the least but was definitely happy for some good food & it was super nice to feel like people in the village were expecting me and taking good care of me.

There are 3 bedrooms in my house but they are all about the size of this bed. So I chose the one in the back corner because it has 2 windows instead of just one and the lightbulb works.
This is the view when you walk in the front door. Two girls came over the other day and they fixed the curtains in my bedroom that I had done a pretty shotty job on. Then they washed the really dirty curtains that were hanging in the kitchen when I arrived and some of my clothes. Then they washed the floor with the rain water and the dirty curtains and then washed the curtains and hung everything on the clothes line we made out of dental floss. I was pretty impressed.
This is the my kitchen and my front door. The lock is pretty tricky but so far I haven't gotten too stuck. The yellow container is called a bidon, it gets filled from water from the forage which I then put into my fliter. Except my filter has been leaking when I fill it more than halfway up so that might be a project for later today.
This is my bathroom before I cleaned it, pretty scary.
Its pretty much a combination of mud and dirt that is all over the walls so its mostly come off after I've scrubbed it with a bucket full of ajax. Definitely missing moving into a new place with mom and dad and a bucket full of environmentally cleaning supplies and a toolbox. But this has definitely been a job for bleach. I had to stop cleaning the bathroom halfway through because none of the water was draining out of the shower drain. I told my proviseur that it was clogged and he came over to help, turns out, there was just a lid covering it up which he was able to remove and then all the water went down. I was feeling pretty silly after that so I decided to show him my mosquito net which I had hung up myself, but when we walked in it had collapsed :-( I fixed it with the ducktape I brought. I also collected all the nails that were just nailed into random walls in my house and put them all in a line on the wall in my bedroom. Then I covered their rustiness with ducktape and hung all my clothes on them, voila a closet!

The shower is pretty much a big joke anyways because the water does not work. There is a huge tank/hole in the ground next to my house that apparently I can get a water truck to come fill up. Then I can wind a pump and then I could potentially have running water. But, the guy will only come do this during the dry season which is next month. I'm pretty skeptical about all of the logistics involved in this one.

A goat wandered up my driveway and was eating some leaves in my front yard

Liz got a kitten to bring to post. Pets are supposed to be good for keeping away bugs but so far Oreo has just peed all over her room.
The Claires matching again
Our arrondisement from training
The Extreme North Crew

I really liked Timothy's host family's coffee set, it was just like a tea party!
The model school closing ceremony only began about 2 hours after we thought it was going to so we went over to Timothy's for some coffee first. Cameroon is supposed to be known for coffee beans but everyone here drinks nescaf all the time. Timothy brought a grinder with him and it was nice to have some real coffee!
Giving out prizes at the model school closing ceremony.

The last week of training was pretty much a whirlwind. We had the closing ceremony of model school where we gave prizes out to the students. The internet broke at the training building which is why I sort of dropped off the map for a while. But it was nice because everyone just spent a lot of time together before going our separate ways in Cameroon. The graduation ceremony was really nice, everyone got a big kick out of our matching outfits which was fun. Then we had a luncheon with our host families. And all us brand new volunteers spent the night together at a hotel in town and left early the next morning (last Thursday) for post. It was pretty sad to say goodbye to the other volunteers, my host family and the trainers. My host family printed out some pictures they had taken of me with the family & Pascaline made me a cake which was really sweet.

After lots of travelling we made it to Maroua where we spent the weekend at the Peace Corps House. We did lots of shopping for our houses but I didn’t manage to buy anything practical whatsoever. That’s because on site visit there was this one locked bedroom in my house. We peered in the window and saw lots of boxes but no one could tell me what it was. Some helpful friends suggested that it was probably dead bodies or the beginnings of Mummy III. But, I was holding out hope that it might be some useful items left by the former volunteers. We planned to film the breaking down of the door when I got to post. So I was disappointed to get into my house and find the door unlocked and completely empty, still a mystery.

The household items that I did buy in Maroua were a marmite (big pot), some tye dyed buckets and a matching set of ceramic dishes straight out of the 1950s, these are everywhere, … all of which turned out to be available at the market here in village. I was able to buy some tye dye bowls that match my buckets. Unfortunately I was left without utensils or glasses, details like that.

Someone from Peace Corps’ brother came and picked up Rose, Liz and I and all our stuff to take us to our posts. We were very impressed to be riding in a CRV with air conditioning… and were just referring to ourselves as “Posh Corps” when the fasten seatbelt buzzer came on and persisted beeping for the entire trip. Then we were reminded that we were actually in Africa.

I was the last one to get dropped off, which I’m pretty sure makes me the last volunteer to actually arrive at post. My proviseur (principal) is also my community host. He came right over with my keys to let me into my house. I had been a little nervous at first when I found out that my proviseur was going to be my community host since we had learned in training that Cameroonian society is very hierarchical and male dominated, especially in the north. So I was pretty worried about how our interactions would go. But he has been more welcoming than I could have possibly imagined. First thing he did was change the lock on my front door and then he started installing new lightbulbs all over the house. He took me home with him to have dinner with his family the first two nights and keeps telling me that I’m his daughter. The first night we had macaroni and the second we had couscous and gumbo (neither are anything like what you are probably thinking) which we ate with our hands which was pretty fun.

At post!

I made it to post in one piece!First I have some pictures from the final ceremony from model school (pink dress) and then I have the graduation pictures (matching brown ensembles) and then I'll write about getting to post, it has certainly been an adventure so far... I can not believe that I just ate dinner out of a measuring cup and now I am somehow connected to wireless internet, this is totally nuts.

Post today!

I'm going to my village today!!!!

The Extreme North

I made it up to Maroua, the regional capital of the extreme north. We took an overnight train and then a 9 hour bus ride to get here. But, since we had so much stuff, the 12 volunteers coming up depoed a whole car to take us up. This was so much nicer because we could spread out instead of being squished together like they usually pack you in. Unfortunatly our driver played the same tape on repeat the entire time, so I now have "Can't touch this" stuck in my head after listening to it about 5 times. I'm trying to buy some items for my house and then going out to post Monday morning!

Officially a volunteer!

We all got sworn in as volunteers on Wednesday, so now I'm official! It was a really nice ceremony and I have some great pictures of all of us in our matching outfits that I can hopefully post soon. Right now I'm in Yaounde, the capital, I just had a hamburger and french fries and I'm getting on the train tonight for the North. I'm spending the weekend at the peace corps house in the extreme north since we won't be able to go to the bank until Monday. Then we're trying to figure out what is the best way to actually get our stuff to post. I have a gigantic hiker backpack, a regular backpack, a rolly duffle, a trunk and a bike... so I think that we might try to take each other to the posts so help carry all this gear. So hopefully I will be at my post early next week, I'm very excited!

The Run for Fun

Saturday afternoon the Running Club put on a 5k race for the kids called "Run for Fun." I was on bike patrol which involved yelling "doucement" at the motos who like to drive really fast. I also put lots of clumps of grass in the middle of the road which is some sort of warning for drivers to slow down, surprisingly effective. This is a picture of me in one of the new tye-dye shirts! (The orange thing around my neck is my rape whistle, its so handy).

Matching Panges!

In front of the SED Training house in our matching panges!

Claire Pange!



These pictures are from Desiree's Bar where we like to hang out after training. The plastic tablecloths are covered in bizarre inspirational quotes in French...

There are officially just 10 days left of training! On Aug. 18th we will have a big Swearing in Ceremony that the Ambassador & the Country Director & all our host families will be coming too. Perhaps more exciting, all 43 of us trainees will be wearing the same matching panges. I'm not exactly wild about the design but I think it'll be an interesting effect. My host mom took me and my Friend Lindsey to her tailor to get this one made so I think its going to be really good. I also asked her to make a tunic style dress similar to an outfit my host mom has so it'll be African style. (The Claire Pange was made with a photo from Anthroplogie and my other two dresses had jcrew models I think.) My host mom also had me measured for a two piece ensemble which I think will definitely be more African in style as well.

We're finally off for our bike ride this afternoon!

ps- In case anyone was wondering, matching is definitely a cool thing to do here.

Tye Dye

Last Sunday morning we tye-dyed! Emily's mom specializes in "la teinture" and she showed us how it is done. She is dying a pange (piece of cloth that you can get made into something) for each of us. I also brought over all these white t-shirts I had that were getting increasingly dirtier everytime I do my laundry in the well water. So hopefully they will become beautiful and tye-dyed and spice up my wardrobe a little bit.

In other news, I got my first package! Lots of bike gear from my mom. I successfully attached it all to my bike using my swiss army knife so I was officially ready for this big bike ride we were going to go on. But then they ended up rescheduling a canceled session for right smack in the middle of Saturday afternoon, ruining the biking excursion. However, we're going to try and go tomorrow. Hoping to see some hippos!

My mom also sent Dr. Bronner's peppermint wash, this stuff is amazing! You can use it for shampoo, toothpaste, laundry detergent or tons of other uses as well. It creates some suds in my hair, unlike the crazy African shampoo product I found at the supermarche that I had to buy a half gallon of. The Dr. Bronner's sort of makes you smell like peppermint though. I figure this is okay since it reminds me of when Cady gave Regina the peppermint footwash to use as facewash in Mean Girls. Bucket baths are also way more fun since I bought a "gant de toilette." This is a washcloth that is shaped like a large mitten...we've spent countless hours discussing their superiority to American washcloths in every French class I've ever taken.

Martial Arts

We had a martial arts specialist come teach the girls club some self defense. (Apparently karate is pretty big here.) Anyways, Lindsay had met the instructor at the bar so given that piece of information plus “Cameroon time” I wasn’t expecting him to come. However, he showed up (on time) and taught this great class. He was super good with the girls and I thought I learned a lot of sweet moves as well. I really wish I had taken a class before coming here but maybe I’ll be able to find one here.