A Few Changes

I was able to add a few links and upload some photos for your enjoyment, as well as my own. They are good additions and there will be more as time passes.

We are all officially Peace Corps Volunteers as August 22, 2008! Two years to go, well actually, 21 months for Ed Volunteers. There was a large ceremony with ambassadors, mayors, country directors, village chiefs, and a hell of a lot more. Dinner with the host family after that. It was a good home stay all in all, but I am glad it's over and I can be on my own again. Ah freedom!

After swearing in on Friday, I was interviewed by a Cameroonian TV station and was probably broadcasted nationally. More importantly, my mustache was broadcasted nationally. However, to some peoples disappointed, and others relief, I am once again sans mustache. It's kind of sad, but there is good news! Anytime our stage reconvenes we will sport a mustache, and also anytime between the middle of July and the middle of August for the rest of life.

We have all headed to our posts and are either there or in transit to go there. I should arrive at mine in about 2 more days, maybe.

Le Mois de la Moustache

Sometime in the later part of July, we decided that it would be fun to stop shaving until the week of swearing in as an official volunteer.  It wasn't too bad during the first week or two, but once we hit the three week mark there were a lot of patchy beards around and mine was especially.  It came in strong as a goatee and on the neck, but not a lot on the cheek bones.  Luckily, it was decided that we could clean up the neck, you know, so we looked professional…well, as professional as you can look with patchiness.  On top of that, my hair had not been cut since before I left in May, so I was scruffy and shaggy; I pulled it off for awhile. 

This Saturday, I finally got to shave but I had to leave the moustache and it turns out I won the competition.  That's right; I have the best moustache of all for the 08' Ed/SED Stage and I don't know if I can be over taken by anyone from a previous stage or any stages forth coming.  It resembles seeing the full wing span of bald eagle sitting on my upper lip.  Now, this might not be the most glamorous award to win, matter of fact it's pretty useless, but what the hell it's mine.  I guess I'd like to thank my dad for this award; he has had a moustache ever since I can remember and I have never seen him without one.  Really, if you've met my dad then you don't need to see the picture of me, because it looks exactly the same. 

So it gets more ridiculous, I cut my hair with the help of some other stagaires and after the second attempt to get the top shorter, we decided to just buzz it…and now I look like the guy from Major Dad, someone from Super Troopers, or Reno 911.  I look especially like a cop with aviators on.  But, once the moustache comes off I think it won't be half bad. 

Well, I'm sure I've bored you enough those three paragraphs on facial hair, so maybe now I'll move on to something else (even though all of our conversations for the past month have been about moustaches). 

Training is coming to a close, model school is finished, all of us have reached our target level in French, and we are all pretty tired of the curfew.  It will be nice to regain a feeling of independence and be able to walk through a house you can call your own, and possibly not wake up to extremely loud singing, talking, or dishes clattering (yes Jon, just like Myrtle Beach; it was 6 in the bloody morning, why were you up?). 

I'm not sure how many more hoops I'll have to jump through or if it will ever stop.  A part of me just wants to say, "No, I'm not going to do that." and then asks if the school will be mad that they aren't going to get a teacher this year.  They have my transcripts, they know I have a degree, and I have experience, what more do you want?  Then the other part of me thinks that life is like this until the end, and as they say here, "on va faire comment?" in English it means "what is one going to do?"  Not a direct translation, but it's similar to the infamous "such is life" quote that has been spreading throughout the Midwest of the U.S.A. since the early 2000's. 

With things coming to an end here, I've realized that there are going to be new things to deal with.  There will not be 36 other Americans around to go and hang out with, or work side by side with.   I will have a post mate but only for a few months and I'm not sure if a replacement will be sent.  It's amazing how quickly everyone became friends; it began in Philadelphia during our first night.  Now, for the next two years, maybe life, we are each other's crutches and I'm thankful for that.  I couldn't imagine a better group of people to have done this with. 

The first 3 months will be over this Friday, and the next 3 should prove to be just as interesting. 

Pictures You've Been Anxiously Waiting For

Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure. This first one is of the school we have been teaching at, it looks abandoned but it is actually used everyday. This is a view of Yaounde from the hotel we stayed at when we first arrived.

How many people can you fit in a red mini bus? A few more actually.
These last two are pictures of the road outside my homestay house. I was on my to school, luckily it had stopped raining. The water can actually get higher than that. Thewater is fine, it's the mud I don't like.
I'll try to post more photos soon!