Dear all,
Life has been ridiculously busy, but in a good way. I spent most of December frantically filling in report cards before In Service Training. (IST). Zach’s parents also came in from Nigeria to visit (they are working there) so that was pretty fun to get to meet them. It also made Zach and I realize how many people we do know in Mokolo. It is nice that I’m definitely starting to feel settled in here.
IST was a lot like Pre Service Training, only (if possible) less productive. It was really nice to see everyone again, though. And definitely great to hang out at the beach. The only real down side is that beaches are tourist ares, and tourist areas mean you’re basically certain to be robbed. I, fortunately, had food poisoning/some mysterious illness for most of IST, so I missed out on being robbed. (unlike many of my friends.) But everyone managed okay, and as good as it was to see everyone, I was definitely glad to head back to post.
On my way back I realized I will be spending at least TWO MONTHS of my 27 traveling between my post and Yaounde for offical Peace Corps business. I sometimes wish it wasn’t a 6 day round trip, but, also, I get to see all of Cameroon. It was pretty crazy going down to the South. I didn’t realize that I kinda live in a desert until I was blown away by the existence of green plants.
Right now pretty much everything is dead in Mokolo, but it’s actually pretty cold. I wore a hoodie sweatshirt until about noon today. (My Cameroonian friends are usually in scarves and stocking caps to boot.) I’ve seen a lot of great Cosby sweaters, but I think my favorite was an incredibly old woman working at the market wearing a Nirvana sweatshirt. I love going through our used clothes market, because there is no end to what you will find.
There is also a lot of dust right now and things are pretty dry. I’ve been getting random nose bleeds, but it’s better now. I also found the BEST chapstick in the entire world. It’s all the rage here. It’s so dusty that the mountains look like they’re covered in fog; it’s really quite pretty.
When I made it back to post after IST, my neighbors were generally happy to see me again, which made me feel really good. I also had a christmas card (with a picture of a pumpkin on it, but hey, close enough.) The day before Christmas, one of my good friends and the secretary at Lycee Classique opened up a brand new restaurant in Mokolo. It is called the “Forchette d’or” or “The Golden Fork.” It is definitely the classiest place we have now. The opening party was great. The food was delicious, and we even had champagne and classical music to celebrate. It’s a pretty ritzy place.
Christmas morning Zach and I made some Christmas cookies together. Then our friend Jacque came over and we hung out for a bit. About noon we decided it was time to hit the bar, so we hung out there for a while. Zach had other plans, so Jacques and I sat there for a couple of hours and ate poisson brasse, which is my favorite fish dish in the whole entire world. I could eat it every day for the rest of my life. It was great eating with Jacques too, because he ate the head and the tail and I got to eat all of the delicious parts.
After that, we went to the birthday party of one of my students/a Christmas party. Because it was 1/2 birthday 1/2 Christmas there were lots of muslims there to celebrate the fete also. (Mokolo is about 40% christian, 40% muslim, 20% I’m what ever religion has the next holiday coming up because I like to party– most of the Christians went back home to their villages for Christmas, so it wasn’t quite as big as the muslim holidays).
The party was a lot of fun. Everyone ate a lot and drank a lot and danced a lot. Charlotte, (the birthday girl) turned 22. (Which is weird to think that is my student.) Her oldest sister grew up in the US until she was 7 (their dad was a diplomat) so it was great to speak American English with her. Her other sister is living in France right now, but she came home for the holidays and brought her french boyfriend. (Which I love whenever there is someone else around who fits in less than I do).
Then on the 26th I celebrated Christmas at my neighbor Antoinette’s house with her family. (They even had Christmas lights up!) I think that may have been the most fun I’ve had in a while. Antoinette is a great party host and she certainly knows how to make people have a good time.
By the 27th, the party was starting to wind down, and these past few days I’ve been working on the start of my newest project. During IST Principal Vandi and I talked about getting a copy of the text books for each student and having them check them out at the beginning of the year and turn them back in at the end of the year (like we do in the states), and so my librarian friend, Moses, and I have been working on typing up our Action Plan/budget/etc,etc. We’ll see how this works out, but as for now, it seems like a fairly feasible (and completely necessary) idea.
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and will have a happy new year! I’ll be spending New Years in Maroua, and then heading down to Yaounde to go to Kenya for Angela Oguna’s wedding. (I CAN’T WAIT!) So, I will write again after all of those adventures.
Happy New Year!!
Emily
