Perspective

So, I'm in France.

I have had the wonderful fortune to be able to come back to Montpellier (my favorite city on earth and where I studied abroad) to visit my sister for almost TWO WEEKS!  Over the three days that I have been here already, I have devoured all of the cheese, bread, wine, and vegetables I can get my hands on.  Being back in a place that I have spent an obscene number of hours day dreaming about has been wonderful, but it has also given me a new appreciation for my current country of residence, Cameroon.

To be honest, I expected to step off the airplane and spend the next two weeks dreading going back to Cameroon.  Don't get me wrong, I've had a wonderful experience there so far and I love my village, but COME ON it's the south of France!  Happily, I've found myself appreciating both countries in equal parts.  Yes, the food and beautiful architecture of France is a dream come true, but I also miss the crazy chaos of Cameroonian life.

On my way out of country, I had to go through Douala, the economic capital of Cameroon.  Because it is a huge city and tends to be an ideal place to get robbed, volunteers are not supposed to spend time there.  I had permission to fly out of Douala, but the idea was that I would go straight to the airport.  Well, at the bus stop where I was supposed to catch a cab, I got off the bus and before I realized what was happening it pulled away with my luggage.  I talked to the other woman who got off at that stop who rushed me onto a moto to follow the bus to the bus station.  Before we pulled away, she gave the driver a serious look and said, "Be honest," which I couldn't decide was comforting or unsettling.  Of course, taking a moto straight into Douala was not exactly in my travel plans.  Well, long story short, after a good thirty minutes or so of riding a moto through the crazy traffic of Douala I got my luggage back at the bus station.  The same driver then took me out to the airport with hours and hours to spare before my flight.  Upon dropping me off, of course I got taken for a ride regarding price, but it involved a lot of joking and no hard feelings.  At the airport I spent some time looking at the gift shops and made friends with one of the owners who was from the north by showing off my excellent Fulfulde HAHA.  (A greeting was enough to convince him that I was his "sister" and he should give me a good price.)

My last afternoon in Cameroon was spent in a typically chaotic manner, but it also showed me how far I've come.  I realized how much I've learned about negotiating my way through the less formal, but equally efficient systems here.  The craziness of the market used to be really scary to me, but now it is just exciting.  I will definitely be enjoying my time here in France and all of the perks that go along with the "developed" world, but I also can't wait to get back to Cameroon to see what the next two years will bring.

March: In Service Training, Medical appointments, & France

Well, this month has been pretty strange.  Started out the month with everyone from my stage at IST (In Service Training) in Bamenda.  It was wonderful to see everyone and hear about everyone else's posts.  Then, back to post for me.  I was supposed to be there for 10 days, but this past Friday had a weird allergic reaction to something (hives ALL OVER).  Many guesses about what caused it (palm wine, mangoes, or peanuts are the current top guesses), but still unknown.  Long story short, it wasn't dangerous but I had to come down to Yaounde early to get it taken care of.  Fingers crossed that it doesn't come back!  Tomorrow, I'm unbelievably lucky and excited to be headed out to my favorite city on earth, Montpellier, to see my whole family.  Being pulled down to Yaounde early also gave me the chance to change my flight and leave two days early!!  This gives me almost a full two weeks in France with my family!  So, this month I have only spent 7 days in Danfili, but a couple pretty awesome things happened while I was there:

-Ate a snake egg!  To be more specific, a boa constrictor egg.  Apparently boas are pretty rare, but they are HUGE (I saw a cross section of the snake who laid the eggs, which they also killed).  The eggs were similar to chicken eggs, but softer and with a different flavor.

-Found out that the reason I have not been charged for water is because I am there to serve the community.  The men who run the water pump explained to me that anytime there are people who are working to make the community better, they give them free water to try to help out a bit with their costs.  Generally, this means teachers and health care workers in the community.  Although I have always felt welcome in Danfili, it was really great to hear the affirmation that they value the work I am there to do as well.

-Although there were many ups and downs during IST over our long days of session, it was a really cool experience with my counter part.  She is motivated on her own to improve the health and education in Danfili.  Although she is passionate, she is not connected to any community or government organizations.  Most of her time in village is spent working on her farm and taking care of her family.  It was really cool to see how being involved in a Peace Corps conference was really empowering for her.  It seemed like she felt very validated in the work she had been doing in Danfili.  

My counterpart, Astadico, and I at IST

Living the high life at Hilton happy hour

Living the high life at Hilton happy hour

Two of my kid friends, Hawa and Halmata, who hang out at my house and color. I can't really communicate with either one as Hawa speaks Baya and Halmata speaks Fulfulde, but we make it work!

View of Yaounde from the top of the Hilton

The beautiful Adamawa region from the train