Beginning of an End

After the successful distribution of books, I headed to Yaoundé for Close-of-Service (COS) conference with my fellow '08-'10 SED/ED volunteers. To celebrate having endured Cameroon for nearly two years, Peace Corps put us up in a nice hotel in Yaoundé. While one of the nicest hotels in Cameroon, in comparison to the US standard, Mont Fébé is nothing but a high-end Holiday Inn. However, for us luxury-starved volunteers, any lodging equipped with hot shower, air-conditioning, swimming pool and food that includes chicken is five-star rating!

Our first night, we were invited to the Country Director's house for dinner. LaHoma is our newly-arrived country director who is incredibly smart and full of energy. I can already tell that Peace Corps Cameroon will go places under her leadership. The first night after we arrived to Cameroon as a group, we also were invited to the previous Country Director's house for dinner. That was back in June, 2008. Two years later, we are so much more comfortable with each other and it felt like a big family dinner. Also, as a group, this might have been the most clean we have all been. The girls all took the occasion to put on nice dresses, did our make up and hair. Boys were looking sharp, some even put on a suit! The whole process felt a bit like prom!

The week was filled with paperwork and explanation of the process to end our service. I received the COS date of July 23rd. It's later than I had hoped, but so many people were trying to Early COS that I simply didn't want to hassle to fight for an earlier date. Besides, I am not sure if I am really ready to leave any earlier. I have moved around the world a great deal, but this is the first time that I am truly sad about leaving a place. Likely because the chance of me ever returning is slim.

One of the events for the week included a trip to the US Embassy. Now, I worked at the US Embassy in London, and the Embassy in Yaoundé totally kicks London's butt. It is HUGE. I suppose land in Yaoundé is slightly cheaper than that of London. I was also extremely impressed with the selection of American food. We all gorged ourselves on burgers, chicken salad sandwich, tostata, meatball, philly cheese steak, etc. After the delicious meal, we had several talks from RPCVs about career option. One of them talked a great deal about a career in the Foreign Service, which piqued my interest a bit. Something I'll think about, but I'm not jumping up and down about that career just yet.

Oh, funny side note. The toilets in the Embassy had automatic flush, and it scared the crap out of me - not literally though. But seriously, I was amazed that there was even a clean toilet, and now one that flushes by itself?! Also, people pointed out those fancy shades on the big windows. Two kind of shades that you pull on depending on how much light you want in. WHAT? Most of us just have fabric nailed over our windows for curtains. If you are really lazy like me, you just let the sun shine as it pleases.

Anyway, the week was wonderful and it was so good to be with all of my PC friends who have become my family here over the past two years. Siobhan once described the relationship between Peace Corps volunteers as second cousins. We may not all know each other, but if we are traveling and need somewhere to stay, it's safe to say that there is another PCV who will lodge us and feed us. PCVs are second cousins to one another, but those who are in the same stage (training group) have status of first cousin or even immediate family. As I sat during the conference and looked at the faces around me, I was comforted to know that after this experience, I am just one video chat or a phone call away from one of my loves to reminiscent on details of life here.

PS - Lady Gaga's Bad Romance somehow turned into the theme song for our COS week. Also, we watched Trace TV around the clock and now I am playing Trace's top 15 on repeat! I am already having severe nostalgia over the week.

Ah, Yaoundé.

Following my birthday, I traveled to Yaoundé with Jerome since he was returning to France. I used this occasion and arranged a few meetings for my projects. I had contacted someone at the US Embassy and was hoping to meet on late Friday afternoon since she wouldn't be available on Monday. Newsflash, the Embassy closes at 12:30pm on Friday?! So not only do they get ALL US & Cameroonian holidays off, they also get half day Fridays?! really? And while we are on the subject of government holidays. I passed through the Peace Corps office on Monday hoping to get my mail, fill some medication and also see my APCD. And what do you know? The office was closed? WHY? I still have no idea.

Besides the bizarre office closure, I witnessed another classic Cameroon happening. A football game took place Sunday afternoon at the Omnisport stadium in Yaoundé. This was the last game for the Cameroon club league. No, I did not go watch the game, but what I did witness was how the entire city was more or less on a standstill for this football game. Reason? The president, Paul Biya, was going to be at the game.

The Peace Corps compound is right next to Omnisport, and the French passage house where I was staying is in Bastos, apparently where Biya lives. What does this mean? All the roads between both places I wanted to be were closed. Not for say, an hour, but ALL DAY. In the afternoon, I had lunch with two friends and after were walking back to the Peace Corps compound. We needed to cross the street, but were yelled at by the angry police. So we waited, and two minutes later a parade of motor bikes, limos, big SUVs drove by - the President has arrived.

A few hours later, I attempted to go back to the French passage house and had to walk the entire way because all the roads were closed. As I walked, I observed the empty streets, and the police/army with machine guns on standby. At a few crossroads, I kid you not, there were military tanks. If you were not warned, you would have had every reason to think a war is about to happen. But no, it was just that the President is out to see a football game. This is the same president that has been ruling the country since 1982 and recently went on a $40,000 per night vacation in France. Meanwhile, I am begging for $11,500 to build 30 libraries for his country. Like many things in this country - it doesn't make any sense. And as most Cameroonians would say: On va faire comment?

Monday afternoon, I had arranged a meeting with someone at the British Council to discuss possible collaboration with the Books For Cameroon project. For some reason, I thought it would follow typical UK standards and the meeting would began on time. I arrived at 16h, and by the time the meeting began, it was 16h30. However, this guy was very apologetic and explained that he was meeting with the Education minister, and was that was running late, then the traffic was terrible. As soon as he said the world minister, I forgave him. We had a good discussion about the project and I am crossing my fingers hoping he will be able to find money in this fiscal year's budget to fund our project! We shall see.

Out of the US and into... Cameroon?!

For most of us, the first time out of the US is usually somewhere nearby - Canada, Mexico - or somewhere popular in Europe - France, England, etc. On my first day of teaching the business seminar with RELUFA, I met two girls from the US. One of them is still in high school, and it was her first trip out of the US! I was amazed! Apparently Patience (the girl's name) had wanted to go somewhere that spoke French, and her dad knew the person running the church mission here in Cameroon so there she was for 2 and a half weeks.

The poor girl was stuck in Yaoundé the whole time. I can only imagine the culture shock she was experiencing. So during the week, I took her to lunch, showed her the Peace Corps compound, and experienced a bit of Cameroon that she wouldn't have experienced. On the last day, she was brave enough to try poisson braisé (grilled fish)! Bless her heart, it was her first time "eating fish that looks like a fish". I suppose that means with the fish head and all.

Beside the "wild" adventures, Patience asked me plenty of questions about life as a Peace Corps volunteer and life in village. I was more than happy to answer her questions. The questions ranged anywhere from "what made you decide to join the Peace Corps?" to "how long did it take you to learn how to cross the street?" Through answering them, I realized how much I've grown through this experience thus far. Explaining to someone from the US about my life here reinforced my decision to challenge myself and have wild stories to tell. I hope I didn't scare the girl too much with my ridiculous stories and maybe someday she'll become a Peace Corps volunteer herself! Goal 3 of the Peace Corps - checked.

A Long Post

Hi Friends! Sorry I have been MIA for a while. These past week and a half has been a crazy whirlwind, and certainly been the best time since I arrived in country. I will do my best to recap and also section off this long entry for easy reading!

Yaounde

View of Yaounde from the top of Hilton

Right before all 36 of us go through the swearing-in ceremony to become real volunteers, we had to make a trip to Yaounde, the capital city, for some administrative businesses. After living in Bangante for months, going to Yaounde was a real treat! I for one, brought every single piece of clothing with me to throw in the one washer and dryer that exists in the volunteer house. The CASE(kaahze), volunteer transit house where we stayed is frat house meets summer camp! It's the first time we could all hang out 24 hours a day without having to go home for curfew. Other than washer and dryer, the CASE has other fabulous amenities such as hot shower, a ridiculous collection of DVDs and books. Yaounde, the capital city offers things like Sneakers/Twix bars, delicious Chinese food, milkshake, hamburgers, gigantic supermarkets and the like.

Girls just want to have fun!

One of my favorite days in Yaounde went like this: We got paid in the morning - three months salary + moving in allowance! Afterwards, David, Ehab and I went to a recommended Chinese restaurant and gorged ourselves in some insane amounts of food, including two desserts for me. The highlight of the meal was after I said, "omg, I really overdid this with two desserts, I can't eat anymore." and then I took another bite. Delicious food aside, the three of us had great conversations about everything. It's rare to hang out in small groups of three and I quite miss it. After the meal, we walked around town and found an Espresso House. We walked in and this place was more or less America, with posh seating and flat screen TVs. We had milkshakes (yes, after two desserts) and watched the Brazil-Argentina Olympic football match. The fabulous day continues when we got to this huge supermarket where I found an isle of Chinese food including Taiwanese ramen, soy sauce, sesame oil and the like!

Another day, a group of us went to the Hilton hotel for its two-for-one happy hour. We all had a bit of culture shock riding the posh elevator and using the bathroom that's completed with toilet paper, soap and paper towel! The boys rocked out there mustache and sunglasses look, and the girls indulge in martinis (not as good, but good enough!). There was a piano there, and after one martini, I was rocking out on the piano with Trevor. I play much better with a little alcohol in my system! It was a lot of fun, and I quite miss the piano!

Siobhan getting very excited about the posh elevator!

How we miss those martinis!

The three days in Yaounde was really good time and a last hurrah for us to all be together before parting our separate ways. For the past week and a half, I've more or less spent all day everyday with people, yet I am not craving alone time. I think all the alone time that is ahead of me makes me cherish time with others as much as possible!

Swearing-in Ceremony

Just two days after we got back from Yaounde, the ceremony took place where we became "real" volunteers! It's a tradition that everyone buys the same pagne and get outfits made out of them. We were all quite happy with the choice of pagne and I got a little Chinese dress made out of it! It looked great on me and is definitely my "skinny dress". I can hardly breathe in that thing, especially after I eat! We all look cute/kind of funny in matching outfits! The ceremony itself was kind of anticlimatic. The actual "swearing-in" part took 5 minutes, and the rest 3 hours and 55 minutes were people speaking and other traditional things. The event went very well overall, except when the power went out and the mic stopped working. The rain also started to fall half way through the ceremony - typical Bangangte in rainy season.

Matching Match!

Me being Chinese

We had a big lunch with our host families after the ceremony and that was the last of it. The rest of the afternoon, we hung out at the SED house per usual. Later in the evening, us free-no-curfew volunteers went into town for dinner and then stopped at a "dance club" in a hotel. That was really pretty hilarious and a good release for us all before we part the next day. That night, a group of us had a slumber party at the SED house. *sigh* good times.

Slumber Party!

Leaving for Post

After the slumber party, we woke up to the harsh reality that we all must part. I am staying here in the West province, so I was the last to go. It was quite emotional saying goodbye to all the wonderful friends I've made over these past few months. I am quite lucky since my good friend Kate is near me, but even then, it was hard to say goodbye to the others.

The journey to post started with the people heading to the West plus Lee, who is heading up North, but must come through Bafoussam. Kate's house isn't ready, so she stayed with me for a few days. Lee was going to stay in a hotel, so I told him to also come along. I am so glad those two were with me during our first few nights. I got to my house and it was a disaster. The walls were getting painted, and it was no where near done. Paint was everywhere and my house was an utter mess. Later in the afternoon, around 5pm, two guys showed up at my house to paint. But the electricity was out and it go dark relatively soon. Of course it would have made way too much sense for them to come earlier in the day to paint. Anyhow, it was the two of them painting under the candle light while the three of us sitting awkwardly in the chaotic living room!

This was the state of my living room

The good thing that came out of that day was that I called the Chinese guy I had met a month ago, Mr. Zhang. He was so excited to hear from me and invited us over for lunch the next day. I must say, that lunch was one of the best meals I've had in quite some time. We got to his place and hung out in his big living room. He invited over another Chinee couple who were closer to our age. I did some mad translating that day between the three Chinese people and two Americans. The lunch was phenomenal - Mr. Zhang had hand made these delicious dumplings. He's from the North of China, where that dish originates! In addition, there were ducks, soup, vegetables. I dare say that meal was far better than the Chinese restaurant where I gorged myself in Yaounde!

Mr. Zhang and the Chinese couple are extremely hospitable and excited to have me around. There are only 8 Chinese people in Bafoussam, so I am adding new blood into the mix! Already, I feel like an adopted daughter into this community. Mr. Zhang has been here for 9 years and knows all kinds of people. In these past few days, he's introduced me to some big shot in my village, got two gas stoves delivered from Yaounde for Kate and Lee, making plans to come inspect me and Kate's house and making more delicious food for us! I am very excited about this new suppor network, and already, this is making my life so much easier! (As we speak, I am using the couple's faster Internet to make this post!)

Other things about first week at post - I haven't been alone yet. Kate's house still isn't ready (no water and electricity), so she is staying with me until further notice. Our first three months at post are intended for us to become integrated into the community and setting up our house. I didn't understand how it's possible to take three months to set up our house and the like until yesterday, when it took us three hours to open a bank account. Yes, three hours. Everything here takes forever. It's near impossible to budget your time and expect to get things done in certain time frames. This should be an interesting next few months!