You know that you’re adjusting to life in the Peace Corps when you discover that your 60 pack of Eclipse gum has spilled in the bottom of your bag and you decide to eat the giant glob that has formed, despite the visible dirt, and put the rest of the pieces back into the container for later consumption. Hey, good gum is hard to come by over here and you’d want to kill all the bacteria in your mouth that you could if you were in this country too.
Tonight’s blog post will include responses to questions and texts that I have received so far. I plan on buying some air-o-grams, probably spelled wrong, but basically a little pre-stamped envelope that I can write on the inside and seal and send to the states before I leave Bafia. So leave a comment, e-mail, facebook message with your address if you think that you would enjoy reading my chicken scratch. I can’t promise that I will be able to accommodate everyone if I get a ton of requests, but I will do my best to get one out to you if funds will allow. If not now, then sometime during my service.
Aunt Kathi- You win the porcupine dinner if you ever find yourself in Cameroon for sending me three letters. It always makes me feel good to get a letter handed to me from home J. My French is improving, but I definitely still have a long way to go. I get frustrated a lot with my progress, but am trying to keep in perspective and think how much better I am then when I entered Cameroon. So glad that you joined Facebook and we have a way to keep in touch a little more quickly than snail mail. Speaking of which there are a lot of snails crawling around over here. I expected lions and elephants and giraffes, but didn’t think I’d encounter so many snails. It’s not as crazy hot and humid like my forecast says it is for Bucyrus, but it’s still pretty damn hot here. Humid, but not unbearable. Don’t worry about not getting the water purification kit, that was one of the things we got before coming to Bafia and it has been working fine so far. Should probably clean that bad lad pretty soon though the top level is getting kind of gross. Your 2nd letter pretty much predicted the beach house so maybe the big guy upstairs is still listening. In that case, keep the prayers and good vibes coming my way! Loved the doodles and the stories from the roadside rest. Some of the other workers warned me about Tammy when I first got back to working at Waycraft in March, but we got along great. I could tell she was a lady that I didn’t want to piss off and was glad to have her on my side. Tell Grandma that if she wants to write me that I would love to receive it. I am homesick and I don’t know if that will ever cease, but I think that it won’t be so strong over time here. Every time I get a letter it is bittersweet. It makes me miss home and the people that I love, but at the same time I love hearing from you guys and would much rather have that bittersweet feeling than no letters at all. I got kind of upset after I talked to her with Mom and Dad just because it was the first time I had gotten to talk to her since leaving and I realized how much I missed her. At the same time, it was so uplifting to be able to hear her voice and talk to her like I was only an hour away. She sounded really good and I definitely enjoyed being able to tell her about life in Cameroon even if it did tug on the heartstrings a bit. So keep on encouraging her to write me J. I was pretty happy to hear that you and Masa got to hang out for a bit, talk, and make sure the air was clear. He’s one of my very best friends and I’m really hoping things work out for him. If anybody deserves it, it’s him. I’m gonna feel helpless over here if something happens with his living situation before I return, but just trying to stay positive about the situation. Thanks for the kind words about the blog, I get it from my mama! Thank you again for keeping the communication up from back home. Don’t feel like you have to keep cranking out the letters if time or funds don’t allow. Just wanted you to know how much I appreciated it. Love and miss ya Aunt Kathi!
Aunt Lori- Hunter sounds like he has a pretty full schedule with basketball, tennis, swimming, and hanging out with his buds. The card made me chuckle. Wow, it really is hot there! I don’t think we’ve hit 118, but I know the heat gets a lot worse during dry season. The northern part of the country also is a lot hotter than the rest, but I’ve been told by multiple Volunteers that Edea gets pretty toasty too. Good thing I’m so close to the beach! I really enjoyed Hunter’s letter as well. To answer his questions: I am doing pretty well over here. It is quite the adjustment from America, but I am trying to take it all in and enjoy the moment. I can’t believe you are already going into the 3rd grade! I’ve got some pictures in my photo album from when you were a rugrat still. The joke made me laugh out loud and I will now share it so the rest of my blog can enjoy:
Why was Tigger’s head in the toilet? He was looking for Pooh! HAHAHA
Nicole, the Winnie Pooh lover of my fam, should definitely get a kick out of that. Thank you guys for writing me, I really enjoyed reading your letters. Tell Gary my golf game will be way worse when I get back so expect some long rounds. Love and miss you Morrows!
Aunt Patti- The story about Ellie reaching out for the other little boy swimmers was hilarious. These are the stories that I need to hear to keep a smile on my face over here when times are tough. Heard you sent out my care package this weekend so thank you very much for that! Wouldn’t be able to make it over here without my support system back home. Loved seeing the picture of Grandma and you guys with little Eve and the Moosketeers. Another trainee saw the first Moose picture and remarked how awesome it was that you guys did that. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’ll put my family up against anybody else’s. Teaching in a foreign language is extremely hard, but I’m trying to make the best of it. I don’t have a problem using simple sentences and tenses, but the vocabulary for teaching computers doesn’t really allow for that so that is what makes it so hard. Right now I’m attempting to teach binary, i.e. how a computer thinks in 1’s and 0’s, which I barely understand in English let alone French. Oh well, I try my best and that’s all I can do. It’s pretty hard to control my classes, but I remember what it was like to be a kid and I try not to get too frustrated. I only have two more weeks with them anyways so I can make that with my eyes closed. The last day is exam day too so it is actually less than two weeks. Yes, I’m counting the days J. Happy anniversary to you and Uncle Trev next weekend if I don’t get a chance to congratulate you before! Thank you again for sending me a care package. I’m sure I will be thrilled to receive all the goodies packed inside and thank you for the last minute sunglasses addition. Love and miss all of the Zaharas, Uhers, and Arnolds! (Reverse alphabetical as I’m sure you Zaharas are sick of having to wait til the end to hear your name called. Megan got a bump to the front of the line :p)
Bro- Yep, I’m moving to Edea sometime at the end of August. If I pass my language test next weekend I should be moving sometime right around the 17th, but if I don’t pass it will be more towards the end of the month. Hoping I don’t have to be stuck here while everyone else gets to swear in, but if I have to spend an extra two weeks of preparation in French it won’t be the end of the world. I could probably actually use the extra two weeks. French newspaper is a good idea, I’m just not sure where to find them here. Seems like they use newspaper more for wrapping baguettes than actually reading them. I have never seen any at the supermarket, but it might be easier to find French papers in a bigger city like Edea. I agree that seeing the words makes it easier to pronounce and comprehend than just hearing the world orally. I have told my language trainers that I am a visual learner and need to see the word in order to remember it. For your market question, I will refer you to the previous post. We didn’t spend too much time looking at each individual seller since we were on a very important chicken mission, but the whole scene was chaos. Somebody was making something that smelled just like funnel cakes/elephant ears though and I’m pretty sure I started drooling. I am going to try and take some pictures of the market when I get to Edea to show you all back home because me describing a day at the market won’t do it justice. Luckily, one of the main markets is right outside my school so I can grab some goodies before or after class. Some smaller village posts only have a weekly market, but I am fortunate enough to have a market every day. Don’t worry about sending any ps2 games, the PCV before me left me a ton, including NCAA 07 which I was pretty stoked to find, and I want to try and spend most of my down time trying to finally get the six-string under my belt. But I appreciate the offer nonetheless. I’m missing you and the fam and look forward to getting my own Internet at post so we can Skype from time to time. Love and miss ya bro, give the kids a kiss from Uncle Max and Brit a hug!
Grandpa Ron- Don’t worry about not writing me before, I have been very busy over here and will probably have to cut back on the blogging if I don’t make my language level next weekend to study my French even more. Loved reading about how you had to carry water in from the well outside. 50 years later our lives sound quite similar in that regard. Thank you for the prayers and for writing me. I tell a lot of people over here about how much fun I had working the farmer’s market with you the past summer. Sad that I won’t be able to help you for awhile, but hopefully when I get back I can finally come see the little farm up in Amish country. Love and miss ya Grandpa!
Don’t feel bad if you were planning on writing and haven’t yet. I have 25+ months yet so there is plenty of time for that! And I know that you all are just as busy back in the states as I am here. Yeseterday, the cylinder of my door lock came off in the morning, but it’s been fixed so I am safe and secure again. I’m also pretty sure that I ate a fish eyeball at lunch. I didn’t really see it until the fork was about to enter my mouth and something was staring at me. At least it didn’t wink.
I got to Skype with Mom and Dad yesterday for about 40 minutes so that was great. Today, they have the kiddos so hopefully I will get to see my beautiful nieces and handsome nephew if the Internet will allow. I’ve been reading some Peace Corps material and it basically said that the days will surely seem to go slow overseas, but the entire experience goes by quicker than you can imagine. Granted, this is also from the people that want Volunteers to complete their entire term of service, but the message makes sense. High school graduation was five years ago and it feels like yesterday. It seems like such a long time right now, but that is just because I’m so close to the starting line. I am trying to make a conscious effort to take everything in and experience as much as I can during this journey of cultural exchange and self-discovery. Besides, being negative never got anybody anywhere right? The next will come, so enjoy the now.
MMM
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