The End of Week of 5!

Time is really going by quickly now that we have training 6 days a week. The end of week 5 marks the half way point of training. So what have we done so far you may ask...

Well last weekend we had mountain bike training so now I have my very own mountain bike that I can ride around on. The only problem is that there are either 'highways' (paved roads) or really muddy and rocky roads. It is definitely an adventure getting around on this terrain. Actually on our first group ride two girls went to the hospital after falling. Don't worry they are ok and doing fine. I really love having my bike, though, because it is one more degree of freedom. I am able to bike over to the other training town and visit the other trainees. It is a really good work out too because there are hills everywhere.

We visited a Chefferie, which is basically a chiefdom. That was a very interesting cultural experience. He has over 30 wives and over 120 children. When we went to visit him we were wearing our very best and most traditional Cameroonian dress. In return he was wearing symbolically American things - a shirt with the US presidential seal, adidas pants, and a puma jacket. How is that for a cultural exchange. He was very knowledgeable and accepting of other cultures, even making a comment about how polygamous relationships are not acceptable in our culture.

We were also able to see another volunteer in action at his post. We were able to attend some community group meetings in Bandrefam, a small village near by. When we arrived, we were welcomed to a women's group meeting and they starting singing a song for us. One realization that I came to during this visit was how much communication is going to be a barrier in any post. Thus far I have been worried about getting my french down. But now I realize french is just the base, in order to communicate with everyone in the community I will need the local language. In most cases this means having a person who can translate french to the local language and be your point person. So I need to first get french down and then start on my new language...wish me luck.

This upcoming week we find out our post assignments. And then the following week we have site visit with our counterpart!! I will be in touch soon with my site assignment.