Finally
Yikes, so i finally have been able to get some confidence and get myself to the internet cafe on my own. Pat on back.
Anyways, yes, I'm still here in Cameroon. I'm up in the Northern Province in a village outside of the provicial capital, Garoua. I've been living with my homestay family for three weeks now, and I'm slowly but surely getting used to things here. Life is hard here. Everything takes a little bit more effort than at home, but I guess thats what I signed up for... and its totally worth it because it's the ¨good¨ kind of hard. It's really warm. Like, REALLY warm, over 100 degrees most days, but surprisingly I have gotten used to that, however much that is possible when there's no air conditioning to run to. I lose like 5 pounds in water weight sweating in bed every night, so take from that what you will.
Otherwise my host family has been very nice and hospitable. My 18 year old and 13 year old host brothers both speak French, but everyone else in the family speaks Fufulde. There's also another host brother, two parents, and another boy who lives there of unknown origin (hint: they're all about the extended family here, so there's always all sorts of neighbors and family wandering around all the time. it took me about 2 weeks to figure out who ACTUALLY lived in my house. but I straightened that out.) I'm slowly learning Fufulde, so hopefully I'll have gotten somewhere by the end of the training.
We're here until the beginning of December, when we head to our postes (a.k.a. homes) for the next two years, but I'm in no rush. Now that I've gotten my bearings to get to the internet in Garoua, perhaps I'll be in better touch. Also, I got myself a cell phone, which works in this area, so if you feel like saving up and giving me a call, send me an email and I'll give you my number (I don't want to post it here...) I'll make sure to have it turned on during weekends, so that's your best bet. And I'm pretty sure we can send text messages for pretty cheap. Fun!
A few other fun things to give you a taste of what my life is like lately:
-My ¨toilet¨ is a hole in the cement ground the size of my hand... no more complaints about public restrooms.
-I took my first motorcycle ride today! They're basically the way taxis work here; it was kinda scary, and mostly fun. Yes, I was wearing a helmet.
-Yesterday we were driving on the road, and a bus crammed full of people drove past us. There was a goat tied to the roof.
-I go to bed around 9 or 9:30 and wake up between 5:30 and 6... there's not much to do at night, and it's much cooler in the morning.
-There were two bats flying around my room the other night while I was sleeping. When I woke up I hid under the covers for a half hour until I couldn't hide anymore, and ran outside to wait for them to leave.
There are others, but I'm out of internet time. This blog is just going to be general stories of what my life is like, but if you send me an email it would be great to catch up individually with people. I miss everyone and stay in touch!
Anyways, yes, I'm still here in Cameroon. I'm up in the Northern Province in a village outside of the provicial capital, Garoua. I've been living with my homestay family for three weeks now, and I'm slowly but surely getting used to things here. Life is hard here. Everything takes a little bit more effort than at home, but I guess thats what I signed up for... and its totally worth it because it's the ¨good¨ kind of hard. It's really warm. Like, REALLY warm, over 100 degrees most days, but surprisingly I have gotten used to that, however much that is possible when there's no air conditioning to run to. I lose like 5 pounds in water weight sweating in bed every night, so take from that what you will.
Otherwise my host family has been very nice and hospitable. My 18 year old and 13 year old host brothers both speak French, but everyone else in the family speaks Fufulde. There's also another host brother, two parents, and another boy who lives there of unknown origin (hint: they're all about the extended family here, so there's always all sorts of neighbors and family wandering around all the time. it took me about 2 weeks to figure out who ACTUALLY lived in my house. but I straightened that out.) I'm slowly learning Fufulde, so hopefully I'll have gotten somewhere by the end of the training.
We're here until the beginning of December, when we head to our postes (a.k.a. homes) for the next two years, but I'm in no rush. Now that I've gotten my bearings to get to the internet in Garoua, perhaps I'll be in better touch. Also, I got myself a cell phone, which works in this area, so if you feel like saving up and giving me a call, send me an email and I'll give you my number (I don't want to post it here...) I'll make sure to have it turned on during weekends, so that's your best bet. And I'm pretty sure we can send text messages for pretty cheap. Fun!
A few other fun things to give you a taste of what my life is like lately:
-My ¨toilet¨ is a hole in the cement ground the size of my hand... no more complaints about public restrooms.
-I took my first motorcycle ride today! They're basically the way taxis work here; it was kinda scary, and mostly fun. Yes, I was wearing a helmet.
-Yesterday we were driving on the road, and a bus crammed full of people drove past us. There was a goat tied to the roof.
-I go to bed around 9 or 9:30 and wake up between 5:30 and 6... there's not much to do at night, and it's much cooler in the morning.
-There were two bats flying around my room the other night while I was sleeping. When I woke up I hid under the covers for a half hour until I couldn't hide anymore, and ran outside to wait for them to leave.
There are others, but I'm out of internet time. This blog is just going to be general stories of what my life is like, but if you send me an email it would be great to catch up individually with people. I miss everyone and stay in touch!
posted by Ryan @ 7:16 AM
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