Hey Everyone!

So I've been in country for about 3 weeks now and everything is great! I live in this tennie-tiny little village in the western province of Cameroon called Bamena. I'm pretty sure you won't find it on a map. I think the closest mapable place is Bagante, which is where all the agro volunteers in my staging class live.

So there's so much i want to say, but i have to be quick, so i think the best way to explain my situation is to give you a day in the life of me.

I wake up at 5:30 every morning to the sound of my host father and host mother yelling at my host sister and host brother. Not in a bad way more in a "i just want to be extra sure you hear me kind of way" After that i go to the fire to warm up some water, wait pour it in a bucket and then head off to take a bucket bath. Side note, i brush my teeth in the backyard and when I look out i can see the entire valley below us. It's so beautiful, some days i can't even believe i'm really here.

After i get dressed and cleaned up i head up to the restraunt my family owns (the only one in the town) and grab a quick bite to eat. I make a little small talk in french ( literally a little) and then I go to school. I think the walk to school is one of my favorite parts of living in Bamena. Everybody says hello to each other and people actually stop to ask how you are and where you're going and how your family is. It's refreshing to meet busy people, who aren't to busy to say hello :)

Once I get to school, i spend from 7:30 till 4:30 going back and forth between french classes and technical classes. All my teacher's are awesome. Theo, the tecnical health trainer is great. He really knows his stuff and he's always up beat, and he has the best laugh ever. It's one of those laughs that makes you laugh even if you don't know what we're laughing about. My french teacher is equally awesome. Her name is Djanabo, and she's got to be one of most patient Camerounains i've met so far, which is good beacsue ome days my french is pretty rough but she is always encouraging and that is certainly making things easier.

After school is over all the trainees go to one of the local bars to hang out and unwind from the day. Normally we hangout playing cards until about 6 and then we disperse for home. When i get home I help my mom with dinner and then we all eat together on the front porch. I do have to say thought that I always eat dinner with my fork in one hand, my plate on my lap and my french dictionary in my other hand. It makes for pretty entertaing table talk ;)

After dinner I do home work for a little while, sometimes i write a letter (keep an eye out for them) and then go to sleep. It's a pretty simple life, but I love it :)

Peace,
Kate

Salut !!!

I can now officially call myself a world traveler! In the last three days I have flown alone for the first time, traveled into Europe for the first time (even though it was only 1 sort of stressful hour) and landed in Cameroon. There are 32 people in my group, and they're all awesome! We landed in the airport and it was a little chaotic but we all got through customs and made it to the hotel in Younde. I'm sharing a room for the next 5 days with a really nice girl named Liz and then from there we all head about 1/2 hour out of town to where our PST (pre-service training) will be. I'm sorry this is such a short message but my time on the computer is very limited, but all is well and i am confident that this will be an adventure of a life time :)

Peace,

Kate

Packing My Life Up

Step 1: lay everything out on the living room floor in a giant pile

Step 2: repackage everything in zip lock baggies, and yes I mean everything ;)

Step 3: cram it all into a duffel, a travel pack, and a back pack

Now the test will be tomorrow when I take it all to get weighed... something tells me a few things aren't going to make the cut

It's Crunch Time

So as of today I have 9 days until I depart for Peace Corps. I'm feeling really excited because I've been waiting so long for this to actually happen, but I'm also starting to get some of the pre-departure jitters. I'm thinking that this is normal and I mean who wouldn't feel a least a tiny bit anxious about leaving the country for 2 years. Lucky for me the excitement is heavily out weighing the nerves :)

Today I went shopping with my parents to get a few last min. items. I picked up some skirts and shirts and a planner. The whole leaving at the end of summer has actually worked out really well because everything is marked way down on the sale racks. I like to think of it as the silver lining to the previous trip being cancelled.

I other news I AM THE WORLDS WORST PROCRASTINATOR. I mean I've known this for a long time but every time i do it i just think, "why do I do this to myself?" I have 14 hours of French left to do and I'm trying to have it all done by Friday. I just keep telling myself I work better under a little bit of pressure.

Lastly tomorrow and Thursday are my last days at the Potter's House. I'm so glad that I decided to work there this summer, and I'm definitely going to miss all my new friends!

Bug Net

So I bought a free standing mosquito net a while back because it was one of the things that was on the packing list for Mauritania, and I just figured it would probably be a good thing to take to Cameroon too. Today I busted it out and set it up in the living room made sure everything was in order and then. about an hour later I read a post on Facebook from a current PCV in Cameroon saying not to bother with bringing things like bug nets. Now I'm not sure if I'm going to try and sell it or just go ahead and bring it with me. hmmmm.... any suggestions ???

The Man At The Bike Shop Sized Me Up

Ok so this really isn't that exciting but I got sized for a bike today. I got an email from Peace Corps Cameroon at the beginning of the week and one of the things I needed to do was go find out what size bike i ride. I called a couple places this morning and the first one wanted to charge me $30 bucks for one measurement. The second place wanted $95. Finally I found a place who said that they didn't really do bike measurements but once I told him what I needed it for he said to come on in and they would help me out free of charge. They were great. I'm not gonna lie though the guy asked me to get on a bike and ride it. I looked at him for a second and was like... where? He was like, oh just around the store. It was kind of awkward. I just took the bike around the store for a few laps while other costumers were shopping and checking out at the front. Didn't seem to phase anyone but me.

Flights booked !!!

I'm leaving September 16th out of Norfolk at 9:13 am and getting to Philly around 10:45 am for staging. I have a full day of basic orientation stuff and then on the 17th we go to get all our shots, and when all that's over we leave the States around 5:30 pm!

I'm so excited, starting to get a little pre-service jitters, but very confident that I am ready to go (except maybe I should practice my french a bit more ;)

More news to come

Peace,

Kate