My Post

Thursday, November 8, 2012 – My Post

I got my post today – I will be going to Guider, in the North Region.  It is midway between the capital of the Extreme-North, Maroua, and the capital of the North, Garoua.  Basically, it is as far north in the North region as you can get before going to the Far North.  I’m not the type of person to get really excited about something, and I wasn’t about this, but out of the options available for Youth Development that I could go to, it sounded like about as good as I could get.  While a lot of people from different sectors got some places a bit more ideal for me, Guider doesn’t sound bad.  It has 50,000-75,000 people, which is pretty big for Cameroon; and I wanted a big city. 

The information that I have about it isn’t exactly detailed.  The other PCV there has only been there for a few months, so he doesn’t know everything about the community.  Plus the information I got says I don’t have a house yet – while Guider has running water and electricity, mine may not.  Other people got to know what their places look like: how many rooms, mattresses, if there is a stove, if there is a refrigerator, if they have a latrine or a toilet, if they have running water and electricity, and so on.  I’m really curious to know what my place will look like.  Hopefully next week I will have some more details.  Luckily I do know that there are a couple of other PCVs that will be placed fairly close to me, so I won’t be isolated. 

Guider is in a place where the landscape is called Sahel, which basically means on the edge of the Sahara Desert.  Not exactly desert, but not exactly savannah.  Since it is larger city, most things like food and supplies will be fairly available most of the year, though prices will fluctuate depending on the season.  It’s about 60% Muslim, and a pretty conservative area, but you don’t go into the Peace Corps because it’s going to be easy.  While it is a French-speaking area, I will probably need to learn both French and the language of the Grand North, Fulfulde.  It’s going to make things difficult, but it will be nice to have three languages on my résumé. 

Speaking of my résumé, Grant just sent me the draft paper for our trip to Timor-Leste.  I took a quick skim through it, and it looks really legitimate.  The people who put it all together did a really good job.  It was also nice to see my name under the list of authors – I can’t wait until it is published.  I’m hoping that I will be able to get my research paper that I have to write for DU published as well – it would be great to have three publications by the time I leave here. 

Today is my 20-minute French presentation on the food of each region of Cameroon.  I’m pretty nervous, but also oddly prepared, so here we go!  

Go Indomitable Lions! 

Singing a little Taylor Swift in the bar, luckily using headphones. 

A... ping pong statue?  

That hairy man is making a Wookie sound.