hey!  I am in an internet cafe in centre ville (downtown Bafia).  Oh my God, what a weekend. Some of the students organized a big party at a local hotel and we were allowed to stay out till 10 pm at which time the PC vans came and picked some of us up to take us home....me among them.  It was one wild party....I do not want to tell some of you what your kids are doing at parties.....well, I joined right in and well, now I am desperately popular.  I will post just one picture of it just to give you an idea.  There were some who spent the night at the hotel and so did not leave at ten. I'm glad I got out of there before the "pants off, dance off".....  need I say more? School is intense. Because I am the highest proficiency french student, I have to teach a class in french to the local business people.  This ought to be interesting....They are afraid I will get bored otherwise (you gotta be kidden me!!!)  Oh well.  I have been way out of my comfort zone the whole time I've been here....I guess I can do this too.  We took a field trip to Yaounde yesterday to visit UNICEF and ADAF which are two possible organizations we could be working with at post.  Then we went to a bakery where I found pizza and toasted cheese sandwiches which we stuffed in our mouths like starving little pigs.....oh, it was so good!!!!  Now back in Bafia with the foo foo.  I think I am losing weight.

I am already sick of my clothes and wish I would have brought more.  The advice to pack light was not good advice at all.  Not only do I realize I will need a lot more clothes, but they have burdened us with a bicycle, a huge moto helmut, a bicycle helmut, a large water purifier, a large lockable trunk and a heavy bread box sized surge protector along with a ton (i kid you not) of books.   We will be dropped off with all this stuff at the regional capital of our posting and then have to make it on our own to whatever village we are assigned to....with all this stuff, after telling us to pack lite!!!!! I don't know how I will manage, but people have done it before me, so I guess I will too.

My stomach has been a little upset lately....a little nausea.  I hope the "alien" does not come bursting out of my stomach.  Here is the picture i promised you.....I hope

This is Simon and the kids in front of our house.

Wow.  It's been a long time!.  The wi-fi has been in and out here due to storms and delestage (when they purposefully cut the electricity for who knows what reason).  I tried to blog last weekend and spent a couple hours uploading pictures and small videos and just as I was about to post, the wi-fi went out and I lost it all!  It takes forever to upload videos so will write blog first and then try to upload later if I have the time.  Anyway,  my family was out of town for a funeral, so I had a "baby-sitter" for a while (a 20 yr old girl named Dorothy) (its true) who stayed in the house and cooked and there was also Simon (22) who is like the family slave....works like a dog for the family with no pay for the distant promise that they will send him to trade school one day (its been 4 years so far). So Dorothy, Simon and I have been chillin together....they are really fun.  It's like a vacation for all of us. We trainees are not allowed to be out after dark by the way.... ....  I feel like a kid again...

They eat basically the same food over and over here, day after day.....a little bit of chicken or fish with  a large serving of starch (foo foo, rice pasta, bread)...sweets are almost never served.)  So that's a hint to send treats (cookies?, tootsi pops?, in and out burger (NO!)....use your imaginations).  If you are worried that we have to pay to get our packages, don't, everyone does it with pleasure to get a goody box.  Send everything to the Yaounde address I gave you for now. (I could use some had sanitizer...)  I usually get an omelet for breakfast which I love and is my main source of protein for the day.  Yesterday, however I had pasta with rice for breakfast.

School is intense,  The Cameroonians are a friendly people.  It's fun to go to the local markets.  There are piles of burned things that I finally realized were fried (super fried) monkeys for instance....it's a jumpin place tho and very fun. (Just threw that in for shock value but its true).  

Now closing window.  My "brother" told me there are peeping toms in our neighborhood, (it's apparently not in the good section of town) and that it is dangerous to leave window open at night.  That convinced me.  But, I did find the Chinese lady and now have a powerful little fan that I take right under the mosquito net and into bed with me.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  Soon I will be going to town to buy pagne which is African Fabric and I will have an outfit made (when I get more money which should be pretty soon).  Oops, gotta go to class.....

It's HOT!!!!  My family has told me I must close my window at night with varying explanations of why this must be, so my hot room has become an oven.....have thrown caution to the wind and have begun leaving my window open...cannot stand it otherwise and it is still misery.  Today I will go into centre ville to try to buy a small ventilateur (electiric fan) from a Chinese lady I hear about....(actually she is no lady!) It costs 30 bucks I heard which will break the bank till next pay day but I don't care.  People are dropping like flies with intestinal/fever/nausea problems but I have excaped this so far....this aging body has evidently gained some resistance to the various bacteria, amoebas and other creatures that go bump in the night....and the bugs are turning up there noses at me too....heh heh. Love my mosquito net!!!! Sleep stark naked.  My family is nice but "forget" to feed me some nights.....I finally spoke up by walking into the main room and saying "I'm hungry!"  That did the trick.  Yesterday for lunch we had manioc foo foo, which is a white paste like glob with no taste.  It was served with a sauce for dipping that has the consistancy of....there's only one way to say this....snot.  So when I complained of being hungry that night, they served me left over paste with snot.........still hungry.....   Actually, this would be a good weight loss program in US.  Perhaps I will use my new found entrepreneurial skills for that when return home...Still loving my classmates.  Two have dropped out so far so we are down to 34.  Will post pix when I can.

Have arrived in Bafia (pop. 25000) and am living with a nice Cameroonian family (mom dad and 3 adorable kids who think I am ultimate fun).  I have learned to take bucket baths (no running water) and to purify my own drinking water (boil and treat) and will be washing sweaty clothes (many)  in self same bucket.  Training is intense and it is good to know I will be going out for a beer with my young party minded classmates after class today.......time to start language class....I am in the most advanced level....yeah!  Later, Pameroon

Oh my God.  I can't believe I'm on.  Have been trying desperately to get online for 3 days with no success.  I am in Yaounde......huge city of impoverished.  We are at a hotel Peace Corps has put us in for 5 days to prep us (and allow us to get over jet lag) for training in Bafia. It is a good hotel by Cameroon Standards and pretty awful by ours, but we have electricity and running water! It is not too hot here due to altitude...but am told Bafia will be HOT with a multitude of Mosquitos.  We will each be met as our bus arrives in B. by our respective host families and will begin intense training the next day.  I love my classmates who are all early 20's except 2....so feel a little odd....but what's new.  This is one bright group of people....Peace Corps is taking such good care of us making sure we are safe and fully prepared.  We got Typhoid shots today and have begun taking anti malarial meds that take a few days to kick in....that's another reason they are holding us here before sending us to B.  We met the PC Country Director, the PC Director of all of Africa (very wonderful) and the American Ambassador to Cameroon last night.  We are only 36 people in total so can have lots of access to these people.  We all had dinner together.  I am told internet access is better in Bafia.  Hope so!!!  Will let you know what my host family is like etc.