Sorry about that! I had thought that after writing my last post on the 7th that I had actually pushed the "Publish" button. Apparently not. But, it was still there, so I've published it unedited for your reading pleasure.

The past couple of weeks have been quite busy in a mostly good way. I have begun to settle into my new home in Edea. I have to say though that I had quite a rough patch over the anniversary of September 11th. It provided a serious mental check to confirm why I'm really here and where I have come from, and all of the wonderful people in my life who have helped me along the way. In some sense it made me sad that I don't see or talk to my friends and family as often as I would like. On the other hand, it helped me understand that being here is a wonderful opportunity to do something to improve the lives of people without any access to knowledge of how to make a bank run or how to create a successful enterprise. This country is in many ways like the wild west, with people doing whatever they can think to do to make a life for them and their families. When someone has a good idea and executes it well, he can be very successful. And when someone here is successful, often he shares it with not only his extended family, but friends and people in the community.

The days after the 11th were much better, and life has continued to get better here since then. I met a really nice guy who is the manager of a supermarche here, named Gabriel. Gabriel is single and he thinks that the woman he is involved with/living with is cheating on him. I have yet to meet her since she has been in Yaounde for the last several weeks, but from the stories he tells, its not good. Gabriel speaks French, English and German, so I'm not only improving my french when we hang out, I'm also getting a little German bonus. He actually lived in Germany for several years, near Hamburg.

My friend Cathy came to visit down from Kumba that weekend. She has yet to work at her bank, since the people who run it are corrupt to the point where a couple of weeks ago their suppliers repossessed their computers, office furniture and files. Its kinda funny in a really not funny way. She is planning on finding another bank in town to work with as well as helping the large women's group that's there. We took a nice trip up to Douala to get lots of fun groceries, like pasta with cream sauce in a bag- just add water! I also found HoneyNut Cheerios, which I have been savoring. Sadly, the ants have figured out that I have them too, so I've learned to keep everything in a ziplock container. Cathy and I also made it down to Kribi for a day at the beach and hanging out with our friend and fellow volunteer Zal, who lives there.

The weekend after Cathy left, I went back to Kribi and Grand Batanga for a regional meeting which featured a grilled seafood dinner in swimsuits on the ocean. We had shrimp, fish and stingray- all caught that morning. You know, sometimes being a volunteer has its benefits.

Last weekend, I met a really nice French guy who works with Alucam, the large aluminum factory in town. He's a friend of Gabriel, and made a fantastic shrimp and pork dinner for me, french style, with some nice bordeaux wine. Sunday, Gabriel and I went to visit Lake Osso, which isn't far from Edea, and is a beautiful virtually untouched lake in a valley. I took some photos...

Ok, my time is up for now. I'm helping the bank buy their first computer, so I hope to have time to prewrite these in the next few weeks!