As soon as we all got the medical a-ok from the mid-service check-up, we decided to go spend the weekend at the beach in Limbe. Turned out to be a 10 hour travel ordeal just to arrive in the middle of rainy season. There were a few minor hang-ups when the bus company lost (but then found) Claire’s bag… and Liz’s faulty dismount from the bush taxi resulting in a sprained foot. But we eventually got there and had a good time. We visited the monkeys at the wildlife preserve, where they also had delicious food. And went to the beach a bit too.

We returned from the beach to attend a big party at the embassy to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Peace Corps in Cameroon. It was quite the event. First of all, the embassy is this giant fortress of a building overlooking a golf course with a pool, etc. which was definitely a lotttt bigger than I was expecting. Everybody was dressed up and the food was delicious. A lot of volunteers even ended up staying over with people from the embassy where they were incredibly well taken care of and I was super jealous.

… Then came the flash mob. The embassy workers had been working on this dance for a while but they just taught it to us volunteers an hour before the party started. Basically when “Born in the USA” came on, we all came running down the lawn to join into this choreographed dance. Of course, running down the lawn was difficult enough in the heels that Rose and I had bought plus Liz with her injured foot but nobody fell and I definitely think the Cameroonians were surprised. Thankfully camera were not allowed in, otherwise I’m sure we’d be replaying video footage all week.