Greasy Fast Lightning Speed; Check. Here I Come Apollo Creed!

If you've seen Rocky 2 then you can probably guess what this post is about from the title, I caught a chicken!!! Ha! I was washing dishes in my backyard the other day and I kept hearing a chicken and it sounded super close, so I turned around and behold, a small chicken. It had entered into my enclosed backyard through a hole at the bottom of the wall. Now, this has happened once before, but the last time it was smaller and I just told my neighbors to come and get their chicken. This time, there was no one to be found. I figured what the hell, and started after it; we played a little game of chase around my papaya tree when it took a bold move into my kitchen. Not long after this, the chase came to an abrupt end and I returned the chicken home. I will probably see it back there again another day....well, until it gets big enough and can't fit through the hole or they eat it.

In other animal news, mice have found their way into my house too. I saw one scurry across my living room floor one night only to disappear. Then the next afternoon I kept hearing a noise in a box in my kitchen. Turned out Mickey found his way in but couldn't get out. So, I set up an appointment for him with me and a broken broomstick. It didn't end well for him. Then, one night I was sitting on my bed and I saw something shoot under my bathroom door. At first, I thought I was seeing things, but upon opening the bathroom door I spooked the tiny rodent and I heard it run into a bucket. Confused from his run in with the bucket, he ran into the corner and then tried to hide under some toiletries. I drove him out of hiding with the squeejee and in one quick movement I had him pinned against the wall. He is now with his buddy eating a from a giant piece of cheese, at least that's what I like to think.

I had thought about getting a cat before the second mouse came, but after my efficiency with killing the mice and catching the chicken, I'm thinking maybe I don't need any animals to do the killing.

Once again, it has been uneventful goings on here. I think I am starting to do some good things in the library at the lycee. I'm going to start training a Terminale student to work in there and a few other teachers beginning next week. Trust is a big issue here, everyday I hear the phrase, "We are together", and yet the admin at the lycee is worried that students and teachers will steal all the books in the library. Truly, if "we are together" then we shouldn't have to worry about theft. Let's hope that all goes well. Also, I'm going to be sending as many letters to organizations for book donations. Wish me luck.

Has It Really Been That Long?

Where do I begin? All of you are obviously aware that I haven't taken the time to write on this blog for the better part of 2 months. Why?? I've thought about it and I can't really say, I think that sometimes when living in a new culture you just need some time to process your surroundings. So during that time I had no idea what to write about because I had no clue as to what the hell was going on (probably not that much different from my life back home...but hey). Anyways, after awhile things aren't so bad here, meaning that I've started to adapt to living here....a little.....I think....

Time away from post was amazing. There was an in service training that everyone in the group I came in with had to go to. We were lucky enough to get to go to Kribi, one of Cameroons biggest tourist attractions. It's located in the Southern Region on the coast. Now, I've been to the beach before, some beautiful ones at that, but never in my life was I so happy to go swimming in the Atlantic. When I've been on vacations before, I've never really felt any relief or relaxation. So it was a really the first vacation that I truly did, even though I still had to attend IST sessions during the day.

So after that, I went and celebrated Christmas and New Years with some other volunteers. I saw some exotic animals running wild during this time, such as a pulchritude of peacocks and a baboon. Exciting right?

Believe it or not, but that pretty much sums up the last few months. Short and simple. I don't really have any funny stories from what is going on here. The travel here has gotten to be more and more dreadful every time I get on a bush taxi. At least on the train I can sleep through the delays. However, I did see someone throw a banana peel out of car and someone stepped on it as it landed, but they did not slip and fall comically as one would expect, so that was a disappointment.

I hope to write more frequently and not go so long between posts. If that's the case then you know my life isn't exciting enough to write about it. Apres.