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.
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| My counterpart, Astadico, and I at IST |
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| Living the high life at Hilton happy hour |
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| Living the high life at Hilton happy hour |
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| 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! |
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| View of Yaounde from the top of the Hilton |
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| The beautiful Adamawa region from the train |
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