November 15th, 2008

November 14, 2008

Hi everyone,

Well, I made it back from site visit (Banyo) last Sunday alive so that is a great feat in its self. I started off on Friday afternoon taking a bus for 4 hours to Tibati where I stopped for the evening. Got up the next morning and did the long haul from Tibati to Ngaoundere (7 hours). And then I stayed there for the night, recuperated a bit (ate some great french fries with a beef, mushroom, cream sauce), and then continued onwards the next morning for another 5 hours to Garoua where the group was reunited. That would be a 3 day journey !! I was/am really tired from the trip but glad that it was a whole lot easier than the way there. I won’t have to do that trip too many more times because I can take another route to Yaounde through the west in the future and can do my banking in a town about 6 hours away from me (Bafoussam) instead of the other direction where the road is really bad. Apparently right now (directly after rainy season) and during the rainy season is the worst time to travel that route so it should get better. We are getting, ¨this is as worst as it can gets, ¨all out of the way I hope !

The post-election atmosphere here is very exciting. Everywhere we go we get, ¨Obama, Obama !! ¨with outcrying of cheers ! Everyone is very anxious to see what will happen when he becomes President. I was not able to see or hear the news on election night but I guess many, many people here stayed up all night (6 hour time difference from the east coast) to get the results. We keep joking that it will only be a matter of time until we are seeing Obama Pagne here (colorful cloth with photos of Obama on it that are made into shirts and dresses). I don’t get too much news here so send news and magazine articles my way !

We have three more weeks here before we are officially sworn in as volunteers. I will miss living with my host family, especially since the little kids are finally warming up to me. So much, that I am pretty sure I have gotten cold number two from them today !! Oh well ! The other night one of the little girls (5 years old) tried to begin braiding part of my hair-no such luck but it was entertaining. At night I usually watch tv with them while eating dinner and all the kids sit there and point things out to me in Fulfulde (not making much progress in that langauge yet but will need to since most of my neighbors in Banyo only speak Fulfulde).

It is hard to beleive that everyone there is getting ready for Thanksgiving traveling and such. Know that I wish I was there with you all. We are preparing a small feast here and with the help of the stove and refridgerator in the office we might be able to pull it off. I will write hopefully again next weekend.

All my best. Love, Anna