December 7 PCV

December 7, 2007

Today I made it to post, as a volunteer. Goodness gracious, goodbye to being a trainee. The Northwest gang boarded a bus headed for Bamenda. We made it safe and sound with aside from a breakdown along the way. Once we got into Bamenda Kim and I opened new bank accounts and hit the “white man store”, basically a place where you can get imported foods from Europe. We went out for a nice dinner and turned in early because it had been a long day. A contractor who works for the hospital, Mr.C picked me up this morning. Once I got into village I was welcomed with open arms and rushed into my new home. I spent all afternoon cleaning the kitchen. Mostly killing cockroaches and sweeping out mice poop. I have a message for the mice:

“Don’t come into my new house or prepare to die.”

Sure I’m a peace-loving gal but when it comes to those gosh darn rodents I can’t take it. One of the Sisters came over tonight to check on me. She reassured me the mice were gone; they caught 3 after Kate left. Fantastic, they’re gone. After Sister left I decide to do some more unpacking. Hangers, ok those go in the closest. I open it up only to find a mouse sitting on the rod starting at me. Good god. Not only do I have mice but acrobatic ones at that. First thing on my list tomorrow: Mouse poison that the nurses can mix up in the hospital. I’d much rather find a dead mouse than one eating my food.

I lucked out though; besides the mice my new home is wonderful. It is totally furnished and ready to be lived in. Most people in the group are opening new posts which means they’ll move into empty houses. Nura’s most recent text message pretty much sums it up:

“I’m currently in my house with no furniture and the power’s out. I’m lying on my thermarest which is on my bed frame. It’s actually pretty hilarious and actually blissfully wonderful.” Love it, Nura.

It’s quite strange being out of Bangante. I said goodbye to the host family and the rest of the volunteers. Getting used to being away from so many Americans will take awhile. Just adjusting to village life is going to be a task aside from starting work. I just have to be patient with things and how life is lived around here. Training isn’t really set up for smooth transitions: Say goodbye to everyone and everything in Oregon, Culture/language/etc shock plus a ton of Americans, say goodbye to things you’ve built in roughly 3 months/curfew and totally scheduled days, get wisked off to a village with no Americans and more freedom you’ve had since stateside, along with more time you’ve had in your entire life. EEK! Yeah eek is right.

Jumping right into work with the water project and getting things settled will get good for the first month or so. All I really want to do now is chat with people and figure out what is really going on here. Though Kate did her best to fill me in I have so much to learn, especially in terms of the water project. Other than that I plan on reading, running, and recruiting some kiddos for the health/Frisbee club. Life in Africa as a PCV is not what I expected, though I’m not entirely sure what I truly expected. Just know that I am fine and learning to live in my new world here.

**Side note. I have deleted my phone number and address on the blog. This is due to advice of the Peace Corps and my realization its quite silly to post such private info. If you’d like either just shoot me an email at: wrightk21@gmail.com

Also, another tip in sending packages. Use RED electrical or duct tape to seal the edges. Red and Africans don’t go well together so they’ll be less likely to look through my things.