Moving to Post

Hi everyone,

I hope all is well in the States.  I want to thank everyone who contributed to my package!  Thank you for all the pictures, cards, and the card game SET, Grammy.  I think after 2 years I might even be able to beat Amy at Xmas 2013.

As for my life here, I stayed an extra week in Bafia (the town we trained in) for some extra language.  After a week I took another test and nailed it!  The extra week really helped out a lot for language and for learning how to be isolated from the other volunteers. 

Right now I am in Yaoundé hanging out at the Case (basically a hostel for volunteers) and tomorrow I will take the train up to Kaele.  Since I was the only one to have to stay back for language I have a different experience then the rest of my training class.  Sometimes it’s good because I have gotten to meet a lot of volunteers from every region in Cameroon, but I still really want to get to my post and start to meet the community. 

Besides meetings in Yaoundé, I usually go to the market and by some food, one day I hiked a mountain just outside the city which was a lot of fun. 

Some things I have to do when I get to post in Kaele are meet with a lot of authorities to let them know I will be working there, and meet whoever else I want to.  Since we have bikes, I want to explore the villages nearby as well and see what goes on there.

I don’t really know what projects I will be working on right away.  I hope to work with my bank, Credit du Sahel.  I also want to work with the hospital and prison in Kaele if they need some help.  One goal of mine in the next year is to also do another homestay in a village outside of Kaele.  Maybe for a week and just see how it is, work with the family on their farm, or hang out with the boys who are in charge of the cattle, who knows but I think it would be a lot of fun and both sides could learn a lot.

On a less serious note, we completed our first annual fantasy football draft here.  No computers, you printed out a couple of sheets and picked from the players on it.  With the 6^th overall pick I choose Michael Vick so I am sadly cheering for a decent Eagles season.

After a month in Kaele I will try to get another blog up, and right now I am going to try to load some pictures because that usually does more justice.

By the way I can now translate Minnesota’s state motto(it’s in French)

Love

Jack