Wednesday, September 22

Wednesday, September 22
I feel like there is already so much for me to share, its crazy to think that a week ago I woke up in my own bed, said good bye to Juno (and Mom and Dad!) and went off to Philly. After a lot of traveling and delays we finally made it to Douala, which is a large city near the ocean. We spent the night in a hotel there then drove about 4.5 hours to Yaoundé; it was a beautiful drive and a great intro to Cameroon! Orientation took place in Yaounde, it was very busy as we had lost a day and a half from the delays, but it was cool to see the capital and the Peace Corps house there is right by the stadium for the Indomitable Lions. Monday afternoon we drove 2 hours northwest to Bafia, which is considered to be a ‘semi-urban city.’ At our training site there we met up with our host families. This year PC has actually altered the home stays, so I’ll spend the first 5 weeks with a family in a rural setting, then a week to go visit my post and the final 5 weeks of training with a family in Bafia (instead of 11 weeks with one family). The great thing about that is that I will be able to experience two different sorts of Cameroonian life; the bummer is that I’m loving my family and don’t want to move! Haha it’s a great problem to have!
Its funny because its only been a couple of days here but I feel much more comfortable than I had expected. My family has been extremely gracious, welcoming and patient- plus theres a lot of laughter! So I live in the first house in Nyamsong (you can google maps it!) with 8 people. Theres my mama, her papa and his wife (my grandmere). I’m fuzzy on the relationships between the other members (there really isn’t a distinction here between immediate family and cousins etc), but I’ll call them my brothers and sisters. Theres my older sister Sofie who is 25, and her 2 year old daughter Blanche. Then theres Marianne who is 16 and two boys, Olivier 12 and Junior 6. I have spent the most time talking with my mama and Sofie, I think because they have the best French (well Marianne and the boys speak well but they’ve been a little shy). They all also speak Bafia, my grandmere keeps telling me the names for things in Bafia which is just too much for me to remember.
I sort of feel like a baby here because everything thing needs to be shown and explained to me. My mama or sisters tell me when I should bathe (via a bucket bath), when to put on pants (to ward off mosquitoes), how to get water etc. It really doesn’t bother me though, I just keep putting myself out there and learn tons of new things everyday. Yesterday I learned how to get water from the forage (a bore hole with a wheel to pump up the water), then I promptly learned how weak I am when I could barely push the wheelbarrow full of bottles of water home! Tonight I learned how to make manioc, which is ground corn flour that is made into a paste then wrapped in leaves and boiled. Everyone thought it was hilarious to watch me attempt to wrap them, but they seemed genuinely excited about my small accomplishment and have been planning future cooking lessons for me. Sofie asked if I have a camera and insisted on taking a picture of me with my baton of manioc. Tomorrow I believe I’ll be meeting the chef of Lable, the town next to mine. And Sunday I’m going to church and to visit the river--big things coming up! Love and miss you all!