Swearing In

Health volunteers and our tech trainer, Theo

My host Maman and I 

Maureen (Assistant Program Manager), Myself, and Sylvie (Health Program Manager)

View from the train this morning!

Life as a PCV Begins!

As of Wednesday, I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer!  We had a great, but long, ceremony at the new Peace Corps office in Yaounde.  Tuesday night we had the opportunity to stay with families from the embassy, which was amazing!  We got hot showers, slept on real mattresses, and ate American food for dinner (pizza and red wine)!  I was literally jumping around in the shower out of pure happiness.

We took the train last night up to Ngaoundere, which was a lot of fun.  We took the wagon lit, so it had beds.  It leaves at 6 pm and gets here around 9 am.  I woke up this morning and looked out the train car window to a completely different landscape with a bright pink sun rising.  The landscape is a lot drier, but it is so beautiful.The second we got off the train, we were all amazed by how different it is in the Adamawa.  It is a lot quieter, even at the train station, and a lot cleaner too.  We drove past a beautiful mosque on the way to the Peace Corps office and right now I can hear the call to prayer.  I already love this region and really can't wait to get to post now!  My post is about 8 hours from Ngaoundere so I plan to stay there for as long as possible to settle in.  We will probably leave sometime this weekend.

In other news in the past month:

• Several weeks ago, I got sick for the first time.  I'm sure it was dirty water or food, but let me tell ya it wasn't pretty.  Luckily, it only lasted about 2 days!
• I had a conversation with my host mom about why she hosts volunteers.  I am the fifth volunteer that she has hosted so far.  She explained that it's because taking care of each other is the right thing to do and that even though she's not really my mom, we are all family.  It sort of illustrates the Cameroonian value of welcoming everyone into your home.
• One day I left the training center to walk to the tailor and unwisely took a path that was swarming with probably around 100 kids. I walked through them, but somehow ended up with a train of them behind me.  So, I ended up walking through the middle of town with a pack of about 15 kids that I didn't know!
• I had to say goodbye to my host family on Tuesday, which was really tough.  I ended up crying at dinner while the girls both stared at me... Oh well!

I am so excited to finally be a PCV.  Although I was in a minor panic before I left the states, the more time I spend here, the more sure I am that this is exactly where I need to be right now!