October 5th, 2008

Two other girls from Peace Corps and I -Aubrey and Jessie at the local establishment!
Town of Pitoa
View of Youande during rain storm.

Hello everyone! Well, after almost two weeks in country we finally got a chance to get to an internet café this morning. I wanted to give everyone a brief overview of what has been happening since I left the US a few weeks ago. In short, WOW!

We arrived in Cameroon after a thankful noneventful flight from NY to Brussels and then to Douala in Cameroon. The first thing I noticed from the plane was the red dirt and lush green. We spent the night at a hotel in Douala before taking off the next morning in a tour bus for Yaounde. Imagine 30+ people with at least one big pack and a medium suitcase and you will be able to get a grasp of the logistics needed to get us from point A to B! Pretty impressive! We stayed at a nice hotel in Yaounde for about four days while we completed official business at Peace Corps headquarters. We didn’t get to see much of the city but was able to at least see the soccer stadium and few of the neighborhoods while there. Most of us will be posted in the northern provinces of Cameroon so that is where our three months of training is being held. To get up north we had to take an overnight train (14 hours plus!) and then take another two tour buses for another five hours to get to our final destination which is two small towns near the bigger town of Garoua (you can find it on most maps). And then at the end of it we were wisked away with our host families. Holy cow-what a trip!

I am living with a small family. The parents are young (I believe I am almost 8 years older than the mom and possibly the same age as the father) and they have three children. They only had two before I came! Yes, that is right the third was born at 10 am the day I arrived in town! I kept asking on my walk to the house how many children the father had and he kept laughing saying something like, “Well, today I have three.” I didn’t pick up on that until they handed me a newborn baby boy when I entered the house! There are also two girls who I believe are sisters and cousins of the parents (one is young and the other is 15 and the one I talk with the most and who also makes all my meals for me). And then occasionally other relatives are there as well but I think I have figured out the core base for now! It is hard to describe the house structure but you enter a bigger courtyard area with brick and motar walls and then enter a smaller courtyard where my host family lives. There is a room for cooking, a latrine area in the back, my room, a sheltered open air area, and then the main structure with a living room with a television and carpet to sit on, and a bedroom.

Our training is very long and everything is pretty challenging right now for us but all of us are in this together so we will get through. I just need it to cool down!!! I did get a fan the other day and that has made my life much better!

Sorry that this has to be short. While writing this blog last night I started smelling a burning smell. Possibly could be my computer so I will have to investigate that! Three of us went into the bigger city this morning and walked around about an hour until we found a hotel that has one very slow internet connection-we are so happy!!

Any one that would like to call or text me or send a letter or package I would be indebted to you for life. Any sort of food supplements, gum, granola bars, vitamins, etc as I basically am eating some rice with tomato paste and beans every day with some coca cola thrown in there! Ohhh what a time! Any news from home is always welcome! To call from the US you dial 011 237 74199809. I miss you all and hope I can at least get to the internet one a week on the weekends to be able to write you all. Much love, Anna xoxox