I am among my people.

What's crack-a-lackin America?

Since we last spoke, I have ventured from the dirty-dirty to Philly to NYC to Brussels to Yaounde and finally to Bafia. So we have quite a lot to catch up on...

My last 24 hours in the ATL was, in short, my own personal hell. In true form as a master in the art of procrastination, I left all my packing to the last minute. I spent the grand majority of those 24 hours sitting in the middle of a sea of clothes, kitchen supplies, electronics, etc. vacillating between being completely overwhelmed trying to figure out the logistics of bringing everything I would need for the next two years with me- worried that I wouldn't be able to bring enough, and disgust of how much of the first world I was even considering bringing along- wanting instead to take nothing at all. Luckily, I have a mother who is well-versed in the practicalities of packing, who was able to walk me through filling two checked bags with only the necessities, and then to quell all my first world/ third world anxieties. Thank the Lord Almighty for Lisa T.


So off to Philly I went. I met up with three other PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) at the Atlanta airport for the flight to Philadelphia, which was clutch because when our flight was late and our shuttle from the airport to the hotel ended up being a complete fiasco, I didn't have to go it alone. The chaotic shuttle ride wasn't all bad, since I had the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia theme song stuck in my head as we navigated the streets of PA. Once we finally arrived at the hotel, we waded through piles of paperwork, and then officially commenced staging. Staging is basically Peace Corps orientation, so while it had great potential to be super lame and hokey, what with all the ice breakers and group activities, it surprisingly wasn't all that bad. Everyone was there for the same reason, and so nobody was acting like they were too cool for school. I realized then that I am among my people. They told us at staging, "This is the first time since you applied for the Peace Corps that you don't have to explain to anyone why you're here." True dat. I am obsessed with all my new peeps. I'm finding more and more each day what an amazingly qualified group of people we are. I am so wildly impressed with my peers here, and am so proud to be a part of this badass group. But I digress.

For our final dinner stateside, we nommed on burgers at the Hard Rock Cafe. After dinner, Kelliandra Christine White graced me with her presence at my hotel, and gave me fancy Sephora undereye cream for the sleep depravity that was already marring my beautiful face by the end of staging. It was a wonderful final send-off. In the morning, the crew boarded our buses to get to NYC for our departure to Brussels, and then finally to CAMEROOOOOOOON.


International flights are what's up! It's all nap time and chow time when flying overseas, and what could be better than that? Nothing, that's what. So I read, and then I slept (harrrd), waking only to nosh. Waking up to a stewardess waving an ice cream cone in my face- FTW. Also, I feel like airplane food gets a bad rap, and I would just like to take a moment to express my deep and sincere appreciation of the food we were served between Brussels and Yaounde. President Brie and crackers? Cous cous and curried halibut? Ice cream? Um HOLLER. So I deboarded the plane in Yaounde and greeted Africa with creases and drool decorating my face, and sweating like the delicate little flower I am. Just for the record, the extreme perspiration has yet to cease. Seriously, though. Sweat-staches and pit stains are NOT THE LOOK, and I'm rockin em all day errday. Can't stop my shine (literally).


In Yaounde, we were confined to our hotel for three days, leaving only for Peace Corps sponsored field trips. That's not to say those three days weren't ridiculously epic, though. We dined at the country director's house with the US Ambassador to Cameroon and his lovely wife, and danced with an internationally-touring group of traditional Cameroonian dancers after they performed for us, among other awesomeness. NBD. Actually those were the most awesome things that happened. Other than that it was all paperwork and vaccines and interviews and lectures. Woo. So we didn't get to see much of the capital, but we did get our first taste of Cameroonian cuisine, which if I had to describe in one word, would be "starchy." We eat a lot of white baguettes, white rice, plantains, potatoes, couscous, pasta and manioc. Oftentimes these carbohydrates are served together, like white rice, beans, plantains and potatoes, with a side of pasta. So for all of you who were so convinced that I was going to drop some serious lbs during my two years in Africa, think again! And a special shout-out to all of you who encouraged my month-long binge eating before departure, constantly reminding me of how skinny I was going to become no matter what/ how much I consumed before leaving (I'm looking at you, Aunt Linda with your cheese party, and Charlie with your man-eating habits that I mirrored for two weeks).

And now here I am posted up in Bafia, a medium sized village in the southwest of Cameroon. I live with my maman, Marie Claire, my two sisters, Judith and Diane, and my little 8 month old nephew, Jeremy, Judith's son. I am beyond obsessed with my homestay fam. On the first day of training after spending our first night with our new families, we were asked to describe our first impressions in one word, and my word was "ya-ya" because I feel like I have joined this amazing sisterhood of smart and beautiful women. As a youth development volunteer, I feel so lucky to have such encouraging surroundings and to be able to have these three months of experience that I can go on to share with the girls I am working with at my post. I love practicing my French with them, and just spending time with them. My house is super nice- way nicer than I was expecting. We have electricity and a real toilet! I have found that I am rather fond of bucket bathing- it's super refreshing to dump a bucket of cold water on myself after a full day of can't-stop-won't-stop sweating. Cameroonian women tend to bathe twice a day, though, and I just cannot keep up with all that. I'm more of a once every two days kinda gal, and was hoping to become more of a once every three to four days kinda gal, but it looks like I'm going to have to postpone that project. Every night before dinner, my fam and I watch this awesome telenovela La Fille de Jardinier, then we watch the news after dinner. They feed me super well- but never fail to make fun of my "small" portion sizes. Cameroonians eat like food is going out of style. I fear that my portion sizes are slowly but surely going native (already). I just need to keep reminding myself to keep the carb intake at bay as much as possible. Every morning, they serve me a dank omlette with tomatoes, onions, garlic, and peppers. Omnomnom. At first I felt a little awkward, since they eat only bread for breakfast, but insisted that they were more than happy to serve me omlettes every morning. And you all know I didn't put up that much of a fight...

This bad boy is getting rather lengthy, so let me just give you a few other highlights:

-Best meal so far: guacamole, baguette, and hot chocolate for breakfast on Sunday. Say what? Yeah, that's right. SMART.
-Mom, you'll be happy to hear that by pure coincidence, I have had red beans and rice every Monday night since being here. (For those of you who don't know, we eat red beans and rice every Monday night at home, as per our New Orleans heritage.)
-I did laundry on Sunday for the first time, and freakin wore myself out! I couldn't even make it to our afternoon wiffle ball game. My sister helped me every step of the way, but all that pulling water out of the well business and scrubbing every inch of soiled clothing was WORK. Cleanliness is overrated anyways, right? Over it.
-A fellow YD (Youth Development) trainee, Charla, is a Zumba instructor! She conducted a couple of classes for us in Yaounde, and we had high hopes of continuing our workout regiment in Bafia, but thus far have yet to do so thanks to the equatorial sun/ heat. I love love love Zumba, though.
-Cameroonians are not big coffee drinkers, or at least not at my homestay. I told them I was a big fan of my cafe in the mornings, so the first morning they offered me a selection of Nescafe packets, which was cool. Then the next morning, there was just one original flavor Nescafe packet, which was totally cool too. However, I haven't seen a single Nescafe product since that morning. I don't understand what happened. One morning they were all "Oh Sarah, you take sugar with your coffee, right?" and then the next morning it was all, "Here's the Ovaltine and powdered milk, Sarah- drink up." This morning, actually, there wasn't even any powdered milk. Just straight Ovaltine. I don't understand what's going on, but my caffeine levels are at an all-time low. I'm dealing.

Okay that's all for now, comrades. Well except for one shameless plea for you all to send me emails and letters (please please pleaseeeee)!! Peace out girl scouts! Love you all to the moon and back xoxo