Two Americans, dog in tow, move from Washington DC to Nice, France and then to the Netherlands. Stories about the trials and tribulations of being Americans abroad, musings about the things we learn and see, and of course chronicling any adventures we go on!
I have a post mate. Her name is Erin and she's kinda awesome. The best thing about her is that she and I approach the Peace Corps in much the same way. Everyone here thinks the world of us and that we will revolutionize their lives. Then they laugh at us when we propose the idea that maybe they should let women outside their compounds and effectively double their workforce. "Haha, things are just different here". Yes, yes they are. We spend a lot of time talking about what exactly we can do or change and how exactly we can do it. Then we realize that everything is incredibly daunting, nothing we do will really stop poverty or make an oasis in the desert, and we begin to question what the hell we are doing here in the first place. After that we laugh, make lemonade, and go climb a tree. When it comes down to it, we are just along for the ride and we are damn well going to enjoy it. I kind of won the Peace Corps lottery....
Bogo, Cameroon. My post. My soon to be home. My life for the next two years. I know almost nothing about it. I'll be the first health volunteer there though they have had an agricultural volunteer before. It's a fairly large town compared with a lot of other posts. I won't have water. I should have electricity. Might have internet. It will be hotter than the blazes of hell, as in a high of 130 degrees Fahrenheit. In the shade apparently. It's really close to the capital of the region--the Extreme North--called Maroua. You might actually be able to find information about that place. Feel free to clue me in via email. I won't actually see anything till I move there in two weeks. I'ma have to learn another language on top of French called Fulfulde. That should be fun. And... yea. Basically, from everything I can tell, all systems are go. The plan is coming along nicely. ...
There I am in the middle of ten or fifteen guys; it started as just a couple, but very quickly grew. They are all yelling at each other in Fulfulde or various other local languages. Right now they are just arguing and it isn't unusually physical: just some grabbing of the shoulders and like. The disconcerting thing is all the pointing and glances my way. Clearly whatever is going on is about me. Part of being a foreigner in a strange land is knowing when to sneak toward the door. A couple of months ago I was sitting on the porch of the chief's house talking to him when someone came up, started yelling, threw his shoes at the chief, and started trying to fight the old man. Quickly a group of people were surrounding the situation and I'm standing in the middle. My cue to quietly leave. I didn't know what the fight was about, but being in the middle of it was not going to help me any. Now I found this argument, that was about me, fun...
It looks like you're being chased by a magical purple laser!!
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