* This one goes out to my number 1 fan…Miss Jessica “Haricot Vert” Tharrington.
(Also, what follows will be schizophrenic. I apologize. But its this or nothing.)
Many, many things have happened in the last couple of weeks. I dressed up like a California Raisin.
I spent a week looking at things like this:
I had my fortune told by a man and his crab:
I watched Obama win:
I saw my new house, and it has a hot water heater. Hot water! Water that has been heated! Whenever I want it! People, I was just hoping for a toilet.
I went for a site visit to my new post. (It’s official! I’m moving from The Kong to The Dong in January!) I met my new co-workers, saw my new house, ate jama jama 87.4 times, and generally reveled in the fact that I was speaking English. (Jama jama is this leafy green veggie business you eat with fufu corn…I’m not sure that makes in any clearer…I’ll make T-Bone photograph it and tell you about it. It’s delicious.) I’ll be working with an NGO (rather than a government run health center) who’s mission is to improve the lives of families in the area. They do everything from marriage counseling to HIV trainings au village, but really the point is that they DO WORK. They are all incredibly motivated and made me feel very very welcome.
After site visit I said good-bye to Fundong until January and headed down to PCV Seth’s village (Mr. Sech to his villagers) for his Cultural Festival. I wish I could convey to you how hard this kid worked, and what an amazing event he pulled off. Actually, I can’t really. So here’s a bunch of photos…
Me with the Fon (a very high-up traditional leader in the NW province):
I drank palm wine at a death celebration with Andy and Megan:
I danced with my homies, right after a goat was slaughtered:
The whole idea of the festival was to exchange our cultures. The Americans generally made asses of themselves, while the Cameroonians looked on in…awe?
I have to run out and teach a group of American Boy Scouts about nutrition at my country directors house. I’m not sure why, exactly, but we’ve been promised rewards, so I’m all in.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!