I have not spent the quality time necessary to fix my computer, although someone suggested it could be power surges that are creating bad areas on my hard drive... is this a real possibility? someone who knows laptops, let me know!

This week has been going by quite quickly, and I am going to the English speaking city of Bamenda this weekend!! They reportedly have burgers and fries there!! How exciting is that??? They also have pancakes and waffles at another place! Can you tell that "real" food is of great excitement around here?

I was able to speak to our program director about my post, and he reitereated that there were lots of opportunities there, and I could make it to be anything I wanted it to be! I am pretty encouraged by that, and am looking forward to being on my own and reclaiming my independence in just four short weeks! I cannot believe I have been here almost 2 months!

more soon...

Now here is a pretty state of things... I went to go write my latest addition to the Blog and my laptop was not working... I tried a Scandisk and it kept coming up with Bad Sectors, not a good thing... I am going to write a little here, but save some for next week when I will hopefully have it all fixed!

First of all, great news from the homefront! Mom called me the other night to let me know that Matt is going to UVA to the Darden School for his MBA this fall!!! I am so happy and proud of him!

Second, the trip to visit my site was successful, and after processing it for a week, I think its going to be a great place to live! There are no other volunteers in my town, but the ones who are the closest both live at the beach, and are super nice folks! I will fill in more details when I have a few more minutes...

Well, I didn't have time to write this out before I got here, since I didn't expect to gt to an internet cafe this week, but heck, since I'm here...

I am writing this from an internet cafe in Kribi, the beach town closest to my new post. The guy who lives here now is showing me around and I'll have a chance to hang out at the beach later today and tomorrow before leaving to meet up with some friends in Douala.

My post in Edea seems fine. The bank is REALLY small, which I'm a little confused about frankly, and I didn't get to see my house, which I've heard is nice and big... it'll have to wait until I get back with all my stuff, I guess. The town is fairly compact but has just about everything I will want including 3 bakeries and ice cream!!!
My counterpart there is quite nice, so I think we'll be able to make good things happen!

I'm off to the beach now! And maybe shrimp for dinner! gotta love it!

Saturday, July 5, 2003

I'm going to Edea!! I finally found out where I'm going to spend the next two years of my life, and I'm excited! I will be working with a bank called CAMCCULL, which is, I think, the largest (in terms of assets) micro-bank in Cameroon. It is also one of the fastest growing. My Director also told me that he is not allowed to post people in Douala, since Peace Corps focuses on more rural development, but he wants me to work in Douala regularly with the executive team of CAMCCULL! Edea is a decent-sized city near the largest city of Douala, and not far from the captal of Yaounde. There are a lot of great things going for it. First of all, its about 45 minutes from Douala, so I'll be able to get just about anything I want very easily (I can get my exotic imported groceries there!). Its also about an hour and a half from one of the best beaches in Africa, Kribi! I can't even tell you how psyched I am about that. I've also heard that there is more food-diversity there than anywhere else in the country with fresh fish, shrimp, broccolli and tropical fruits available virtually year-round. It is further south than Bandjoun and much lower elevation, so the climate is tropical- and being 2.something degrees north of the equator, it'll be like that year-round. I'll have to find the local Tommy Bahama!!

I'm leaving tomorrow to visit my new home. The house/apartment apparently already exists, so we'll see what the last folks left behind for me in terms of furniture, etc. I'll be there almost a week, which will give me time to get a good lay of the land, meet the folks I'll be working with, get a PO Box (so mail can come more directly to me), and a few other things. I may even have a day or so to check out the beach for myself! In case you can't tell, I'm quite excited.

There are links in very early posts where you can probably learn quite a bit about the city...

The past few days, since my last post, have been really terrific... Firstly, I got a great post (certainly one of the top 3, if not THE best- at least in my opinion)! Second, I helped plan a very successful 4th of July party yesterday. I think everyone came to the party and many prepared "American" food to share. I worked with my Papa to procure 5 kilos of ground beef to make good ole-fashioned hamburgers. Mike, a retired computer engineer with American Greetings in Cleveland, told me they were the best he's ever had (of course, its been over a month since any of us have had "American" food, so that could be a contributing factor). In order to get ground beef in Bandjoun, you have to visit the cow butcher (conveniently located next to the pork butcher- my Papa) the day before to pay and let him know what you want. I told him I'd be back at noon the next day to pick it up. Not to overly offend the sensitive (read: vegetarians), let's just say that that I had the opportunity to look the donor in the eyes when I picked it up the next day- it signifies freshness. My friend Kelly who went along with me to pick it up couldn't handle it and waited around the corner for me. I should say though, that it was some of the tastiest, leanest and freshest burgers I've ever had- and we ate all 5 kilos (about 11 pounds).

Yesterday morning, I also had my mid-term French exam. We have to hit a level of Intermidiate High by the end of training in order to be considered proficient enough to be useful in our bank jobs. In just four weeks, I was able to jump up to Intermediate Mid. I'm very happy, and feel that by the end of training, I should be well beyond the required level!

Today, Saturday, we took a field trip to visit the Chief of a neighboring village. We were encouraged to bring cameras, so you'd better believe I did just that. It was one of the most unique experiences of my life. The Chef du Village is a traditional post which is handed down to the oldest son in the family. He welcomed us into his compound and had us sit with him for a rather lengthy program. First, everyone made a short speech. Our trainers introduced us and thanked him for his invitation and we elected two fluent speakers among us to make short statements on our behalf. When one speaks to the Chief, you must bow down at the waist, clap quickly twice and then immediately put your right fist to your mouth (as if you were going to blow into your hand) before you may speak. The Chief spoke last and said that if we wanted to ask questions, we could. We were told that this was a very rare occurance, so I, along with a couple of others, decided to ask him a question. I did my bow, clapped and did the fist and then asked about what he saw as the greatest areas of opportunity for the future of his village. The strangest part was that it came out in French! I wasn't really thinking about asking it in French, since the trainers had offered to translate for us. He was very gracious, answered the question by talking about the need for better medical care and education. He also let me take 2 pictures with him! I can't wait to send back some photos for all to see. After the speaches, we watched 3 tradional groups: an all womens group who wore mostly yellow dresses and head-dresses and who sang, a drum and dance group who wore nothing but various animal skins on their bodies and heads (and carried stuffed animals that looked like prarie dogs) and the third was a special presentation of the local secret society dance, which meant that their bodies were entirely covered with large masks, made of wood, fabric, some kind of hair, and cowrie shells. Absolutely amazing! After that was over, he took us down to his house, sat us all in his living room (over 70 of us, with trainers), made another short speech and then fed us all. We had 3 kinds of fish- all fried, chicken, goat, plantains and boiled bananas to choose from. I had some of the fish and chicken, which were both quite good- and a beer! You've got to love a Chief who feeds you and gives you beer! Before leaving, I took another photo with him, just the two of us, and he asked me how tall I was. I told him 2 meters, and he burst out laughing. It was really a great day.

Enough for now- I'm going with Cathy to church in the morning, just to see what that's like, and then to Baffoussam for a little shopping and internet-action.

Oh, before I forget, I got a cell phone! The number is 237 (country code)-731-6923 (there aren't enough phones in this country for area codes, yet...). Incoming calls are free, so call me (its obscenely expensive for me to call the US)!!

Wednesday, July 2, 2003

Tomorrow is the big day- the day we find out where we're to be posted for the next two years. They have completed their "mid-term" evaluations and have made the assignments based on language ability, cultural integration and technical proficiency (in my case, business). I was given a stellar review on all sides and am very hopeful for an exciting post. But, in the spirit of mystery, you'll have to tune in next time to find out! All of us are quite anxious to hear where we'll be and who will be near us. It'll be the people posted near us who will likely become our primary support network here, and maybe our best friends.

I had a conversation with the SED (Small Enterprise Development) Director the other day and told him that I would like to be posted where I can help develop the country's tourism infrastructure. He then asked me if I would be interested in helping to develop a new program for the Peace Corps- Eco-tourism. I said, "Absolutely!" We talked about it a bit more and it seems as though I will be able to spend quite a bit of my time here developing that Peace Corps program. I'm quite excited about it. Not only will I be doing something beneficial to the country, but I'll be able to travel to all of the potential tourist destinations to meet with community and business leaders to assess their eagerness and capabilities.

This past weekend, I went with three of my new friends- Isabelle, Kelly (homme- we also have a Kelly femme), and Cathy to Foumbot to visit a current volunteer, Vijay. We didn't make it all the way to Foumban to visit the king/Faun- maybe next time. Foumbot is a great little city with a fantastic market. Its bigger than Bandjoun, but smaller than Baffoussam. It took us about an hour to get there by private taxi. We figured we'd ride in style for once and enjoy only five people to a Corolla (including the driver). Vijay lives in a two bedroom apartment next to a gas station on the main road through town. Its not bad, although with a little interior decorating and concentrated cleaning efforts, it would be great. But, he's a bachelor in Cameroon, so who's he trying to impress, right? Anyway, Vijay took us all around town on Saturday, showing us his bank and meeting some of the local business people. We stopped in one of the town's new bars which was quite nice with TVs, leather couches and a live band! They weren't bad either. For dinner, we had the most amazing chicken I think I've ever had. Let me put it this way- we had to stop by the restaurant on the way to the bar to let them know we'd want two chickens at 7:30pm. The chickens had their last supper around 6pm. They were grilled and served with fresh cut french fries and a large Fanta. It was truly fantastic.

The next day, we met up with some other current volunteers, made pancakes and cut some fresh fruit for breakfast. We then went hiking up to a crater lake just outside of town. It was about an hour hike up from where the car we hired for the afternoon dropped us off (he ripped us off at $18 for about 3 hours and about 5 miles over bumpy unpaved roads for the five of us that went). Along the way up the mountain to the lake (it was a dormant volcano) we picked up nine little kids who were really curious about us and what we were doing. They came in quite handy when we got to a herd of cattle blocking our path. The kids took sticks and beat a path for us to walk (these cattle were longhorns and could've impaled us if we weren't careful). They had no fear- and some of them had no shoes... No matter, they climbed right along with us. When we finally made it to the top and looked down into the crater at the lake below, it was like a scene from Myst (for computer geeks) or maybe Jurassic Park. It was a completely untouched green landscape. The sides of the crater were so steep that you would have to repel down to the lake well over 1000 feet. As such, its unlikely that any human has ever been down there. Vijay said he had seen baboons around the rim, but there were none to be seen when we were there. We sat on the edge of the crater and took it in for a while. Just amazing. I'm sure the pictures won't do it justice. On the walk down, we came across a note written in the dirt with a stick by one of the kids which said, in French, "The whites have gone up to the lake". We got a kick out of that- we truly are rock stars here. When we got back down, we retired to a bar for a respite and then to Bandjoun after a much needed shower (yes, a real shower- quite a treat, and something to look forward to when I get to post).

This week has gone by quite fast with more French classes, business in Cameroon and today and tomorrow, AIDS workshops. We're supposed to be educated on AIDS prevention strategies to be advocates in our new communities. According to the statistics given today, at least 12% of the people of Cameroon have AIDS- with greater percentages in the cities- up to 17%, officially. Its truly awful. There are number of contributing factors, and in recent years, the Peace Corps and other organizations from around the world are making progress. Things are slowly changing.

Oh, one last thing... I was handed the leadership of the SED group yesterday. The program administrators picked me to be the group leader for the remainder of training. I didn't campaign for it, but its nice to be recognized.