Model School, Chicken Killings, and Weddings!

So it has been a while since my last post. On my return from site visit Model School started, which is basically summer school for Cameroonian kids and a chance for us ED volunteers to practice teaching. And let me tell you these schools are a lot different than any other school I have taught at. First off there are at least 40 kids in a classroom (and that is after they split them in half, so the class sizes are around 90 - 100 13 year olds). So getting them to pay attention is a bit of challenge but I think that I am getting the hang of it little by little. So model school is tough, but at least it gets me out of the boring tech sessions. And when we aren't teaching we are supposed to go to our language classes, but since I tested out of French, it is optional for me. But I decided to take Fulfulde which is the dialect of the Fulani people up North and I love the language. It has gotten increasing harder. For some odd reason there are two sets of numbers, one for counting and telling time and a whole new set of numbers for money. Why, I have no idea... But it is really interesting learning a new language, but I like that it was my choice to take the classes, so I don't have to go if I don't want to go. So overall training is going well, but I am excited for it to be over, only 2.5 weeks left until I become a Volunteer and not a Trainee, which means no more curfew! But that also means saying goodbye to everyone that I met here, but I will see them all in December for In-Service Training, so that'll be good.

In other news, a couple weeks ago my family killed the rooster that would always wake me up and knock over my freshly washed shoes (yes that is right, I have to wash my shoes at least every week, because if your shoes are dirty, then you are dirty...I don't really understand this because the second you leave the house they just get dirty again...) So I was excited for the rooster to die because he was mean and he also tried to eat my snickerdoodles! I watched my sisters kill the chicken and man was it gross, I don't know if I can ever look at chicken again the same way after watching that. And to top it off, later that day I was at the bar we normally hang out at and the 14 year old bartender led a 25 minute chase for a chicken, there was about 20 Americans running out trying to kill the chicken, Simone (the bartender) had to climb on the roof. Eventually it was caught, by a Cameroonian kid who had showed up 2 minutes before. And then Simone killed the chicken.... It was very sad. So unfortunately I got to see two chickens killed in one day.

And last but not least, last weekend I went to two different weddings and it was a study in contrast. The first wedding I went to was really nice, like nice for even an American wedding. It was in the gym of a high school, but the decoration was really nice. The food was even better (they had spring rolls!) But unfortunately, the wedding was supposed to start at 7 PM, we showed up at 8:30 and we were the first guests to show up and we all had to wait for the bride who didn't show up until 11:30, so we didn't eat until midnight and I was hungry! ahaha. After we ate, we were rude and left, we missed the opening of the presents and other traditions, but we had another wedding to go to! (In fact, there were three weddings that night in Bafia!) The other wedding was a lot smaller and less fancy, it was in the backyard of their house, but the decorations were pretty awesome. It was fun because everyone was dancing and even though I wasn't invited, the bride was really happy that we were there. Overall it was a fun Saturday night in Bafia.

Still Alive!

Hey everyone!

Sorry for the long break between posts, but as you know I am in Cameroon and they are NO known for their Internet. I am alive and loving it! But I have left the training site in Bafia and am en route to Dimako in the East, which is where I will be for the next 2 years, starting in August. But this week I will be checking out what is there and I even get to see my HOUSE! Which apparently is on someone's compound Even cooler is that there is a village of pygmies near there!

So far I love it here, despite the little medical hiccup earlier on the trip. But I love my host family, Marie-Claire, the single mother who works in a MFI, her daughter Dianne, 18 (AKA my savior) and her son Borris, 17.

I say Dianne is my savior because she helps me out with everything! Apparently I don't know how to do anything, which isn't true but I don't know how to do it in the African way. She also says to me "Tu n'as pas la force," or you aren't strong enough. So that's fun! She always laughs at me when I do my laundry and yes I do my laundry by hand.

I'll update more later but I hope everyone back home is doing well! I have like a bazillion bug bites or maybe just 20, but it feels like a bazillion!

As ready as I will ever be...

I am currently sitting in my hotel room in Philadelphia, even though I should be sleeping because we have to leave at 7 AM to get our yellow fever shots (without this we will not be allowed into Cameroon). And then it's off to JFK for our 6 PM flight.

Today was staging, or orientation, where we met the other trainees and learned what to expect from the Peace Corps and what the Peace Corps expects from us. So far everyone seems nice and funny and just really eager to get going. We also had to talk about what worried us and everyone shares the sames fears, which is nice as well.

I just don't think it's going to become reality until we actually touch down in Yaounde.

PS Philadelphia is a really cool city. Although I wasn't here for very long, I definitely would like to come back (and not just because of Parking Wars) !

Introduction

First to introduce myself. My name is Michelle And I am joining the Peace Corps, leaving home May 31st to go teach English in Cameroon. I first applied to the Peace Corps way back in September 2009 (the application was a really long process for me), but I decided to defer in order to teach English in France for the 2010 - 2011 school year. Before France I went to Seattle University where I majored in Political Science, focusing on Internal and Comparative politics and minoring in French. 

What first drew me to the Peace Corps, way back in high school was the opportunity to help others. I've always loved volunteering, travelling, and experiencing new cultures, so I thought it would be a great idea to do it all at once! I am even more thrilled to utilize my French skills and even learn another language (not yet determined, Cameroon has over 200 African dialects).