11.26 Happy Thanksgiving (a few days late)!! Our fete was great...after a morning of classes we started cooking at 3:00-ok some people had been cooking since noon, but the rest of us joined in at 3. We finished fairly quickly and the house smelled great! It was almost like being in the states...Ipods playing, cooking, English...I made fruit salad with my friend Lindsey with papaya, watermelon, banana, and pineapple (pretty tropical, suiting I think, and amazing)! All of the PCTs and a few volunteers were there to eat. There was enough food to feed a few of our teachers and for all of us to be physically uncomfortable for 2 or 3 hours afterwards. We played the "I'm thankful for..." game too, had we had some NFL and colder weather it would have been just like any other Thanksgiving! It was great to be with all of my friends and celebrate our first big American holiday in Cameroon. I found myself not skipping "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" yesterday telling myself "it's after Thanksgiving and in the states it's the busiest shopping day of the year...Rock on to your Christmas carols"...and I did!

Things are going well here. Nothing new except that I spend WAY too much time at the internet café! It is going to be pretty tough to go to post now that I check my email and the news online everyday. Oh well, it's not reason enough to stop coming on a daily basis :) Today is some fete in Bandjoun (sidenote: fete=party) and there are tons of huge buses full of people here roaming the streets and being as obnoxious as you can imagine to the blancs walking down the street. It is great, we just took refuge in the cyber café, naturally.

The next few weeks of stage are pretty much language and projects. Hopefully we'll be able to do an afternoon mini-camp with the girls group at the mission. There are so many things we could do but we only have an afternoon and don't want to bore/talk at them. So I anticipate this week will be planning a lot and working on our individual projects about culture (I'm doing football which sould be pretty easy in a country completely obsessed)!! It's just like finals...

So the picture I was finally able to attach is of the health group. There we are...those are the people I spend about 8 hours a day with, pretty fun, eh? I am just psyched to have been able to attach one at all! I am going to try and put up others but there is also talk of starting an online photo account for all of us...I will let you know because that would probably be the most logical option for all of us. Ok, well I am off to catch up in my football scores, world news and movie reviews. Hope that you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving and safe travels wherever you were. Thinking of you often :)

11.22 Hi Everyone! The greatest news awaited us when we returned from site visit...an internet cafe in Bandjoun!! It is amazing how much easier it is having internet in town! Right now there are 7 of us PCTs of the 10 people in the cafe :) Things are going well. It is hard to come back and train, language, tech and culture. But I am glad to be back because it means I can hang out with my friends! Half way through my week in Ndu I realized that we are really together for only 3 more weeks and then we head off in different directions! Hopefully we will be able to make the most of our time together, between passing two languages, three projects, and the other daily activities. Thanksgiving should be fun...we have class all morning but from 3:00 on we will be frantically cooking: potatoes, salad, fruit, bread, guac (because we can), plantain chips, some chicken, pies, cobbler, and wine. It should be fun if we finish cooking by 8! I think we are going to have some women in town make the chickens and cook the pies before hand, so it should not be too difficult...I say this now!

Funny story: In Kumbo last week (which is one hour from Ndu, with internet, a supermarche, and restaurants with "american food") I went to the internet cafe with the PCV there. She showed me the bathroom in the back of the building and told me to take my phone because the light did not work. I tried to shut the door but it was not going, so I forced it shut. Bad idea...when I tried to open it, you know to get out, the door would not budge! The hadle would not move. I took a minute and thought "Yep, you are stuck and NOBODY can hear you..." Thankfully I had my phone and called the PCV who was able to get some people and a carpenter to come bust me out. They had to break the door. Cool Ally. Thus is life I suppose!

Anyhow, there is a little cockroach crawling all over my foot so I am gonna go. Enjoy all your turkey this week and the snow :) I will be thinking of you all this week, especially on Thursday. Go Buffs!!!

11.17 I found real Diet Coke!

11.15
I left Saturday morning to ride a bush taxi with the other PCTs going to the Northwest and our counterparts. We had a coke in Bamenda and planned to create a “Northwest Peace Corps” group (that will hopefully have a cleverer name soon. From there my counterpart and I left for Ndu. I had been for warned about the conditions of the road, but I was not prepared! To make the experience that much more enjoyable I got the worst seat in the bus—Front and middle, between the driver and passenger and over the gear shift. The road for one hour wasn’t too petrifying—flying down mountain roads (think Berthoud Pass with no guard rails) while the driver pumped the brakes and passed other vehicles. Then the road turned to dirt—not United States dirt, Cameroonian dirt roads…HUGE potholes, uneven one-lane with bush on either side. There were times when I just closed my eyes and prepared to flip as the car swayed at 45 degree angle and the tires spun over dirt and rocks. Somehow, 3 and a half hours later we arrived in Ndu, alive. Granted I couldn’t feel my lower extremities for 4 hours, but I was alive! Ndu is a little town in the mountains with no paved roads. There are ~17000 people spread out through a bunch of small communities. It’s Anglophone but that, by no means, equals English! Most people speak Wimwumb (I think) and Pidgin—so much for all of my French studying. There are SO many things that happened these past few days that it would be impossible to write them all, plus none of you really want to read about every detail! I thought I would just write the highlights.
-The road through Ndu keeps going North towards Nigeria, but apparently cars break down before they get there so you have to hike the rest of the road...that can give you an idea of the condiditions! I am going to pass on that road I think!
-While doing protocol, I met with the administration of the town—during those meetings I was told: that they thought the US forgot about Cameroon, that I could be an assistant chief after 2 years, compared to the Israelites being liberated, and my hand so violently shaken that I had to brace myself on the chair.
-During our trip to one of the schools we pulled up in our car and had the entire school chasing after us. They’d stare and stare and if I smiled or waved they’d run away laughing an d return a few seconds later. When we left they sprinted after the car waving.
-I was given eggs (in a plastic bag) as a gift and then had to hold them as we “drove” (ie bushwhacked through paths up mountains and got stuck twice…it’s hard to really explain, again, use your imagination, it’s probably not far off).
-A woman’s group (mostly guardians of orphans) wrote and presented me with a letter expressing their gratitude and excitement of my being here. I am excited to work with them because I think they are very willing to work.
-I was hugged and danced with by two women at a clinic when I told them I was living here. I usually get the “you’ve got to be kidding me, why would you do that? But welcome!!” look in response to my line: “I’ll be living here for 2 years.”
-I was able to order a bed, chairs and table, and a couch for my new house and I am very excited to be able to decorate it…I decided that I will become domestic and sew some curtains and cushions for the chairs (stop laughing, I’m serious and they will be great!).
-There is a lot of work to do here. Hopefully I will spend the first 3 months working small projects and learning about the community. I would like to work in one of the local schools to start a club of some sort while also doing a lot of work with Serve the Orphans Foundation—which is my primary job. They have 2 Nursery schools outside of town and a clinic, as well as some small community based organizations that I hope to work with.

I can’t believe that I will be here for 2 years. I go through a very drastic emotional roller coater everyday—extreme highs (where I can’t wait to be here, work, integrate and make friends) to lows (where I think about how easy it would be to pack up and come home). After being here for a few days, I know that my work will be plenty and appreciated. I am exciting about working here and hope that I am able to accomplish some of the goals I’ve set for myself and help the organization and the community. I wish I could actually describe the conditions, landscape , etc. I’ll have to work on my descriptions (unfortunately my English is lacking in part due to trying to understand/speak 4 different languages…now I can’t even write in English well!).
Tomorrow I am off to Kumbo to visit with another volunteer and then back to Bandjoun for 3 weeks! It’s gone fast but we have many projects to complete and work to do before December 14th when we swear in. We will hopefully have Thanksgiving off so we can throw together some mixture of Cameronian food in an attempt to make a traditional Thanksgiving dinner…I’ve already offered my rooster as the main meal, but I don’t think my family would be very happy!! J Thanks for you emails and letters, hope to talk to you all soon.

11.12 Hi everyone! I have a lot to write and not a lot of time, so I will try to do an update this week and post it soon. For now I wanted to let everyone know about my post! We found out our posts on Wednesday, it was exciting and a little nerve wracking, but I am pretty sure that everyone is happy with their posts. I am headed to Ndu (said `nndoo`) in the Northwest province. It is a little town of approx. 5,000 I think and is in the mountains where it is (apparently) beautiful, `cold`, and not far from Nigeria (!!). There is a large tea plantation there also. I will be working for the Serve the Orphans Foundation, a local NGO, focused on income generating projects, education, foster homes, social/spiritual/emotional support and education, and child labor issues for orphans in Ndu and the surrounding communities!! I am very excited about it. We are headed to site visit tomorrow and will be there a week and afterwards I will know much more!

My friends are headed all over the country; South province, East Province, Adamoua and the Northwest. Two of them are actually at the end of the road...it does not go beyond their village! I cannot wait to go visit and see the rainforest, the end of the road, and numerous wild African animals that they will be encountering daily!! We are already planning trips around the country for holidays and short day trips to the Congo, the C.A.R., hiking into Nigeria, etc!! Everyone is very excited about their potential jobs and it is nice to have an idea (finally) of where we will be for two years!

A quick story before I post this and get off the internet because it is apporximately 98 degrees in the cyber cafe and I am slightly uncomfortable in my business-casual attire from the day! My family bought our third goat recently. It seems that they get a bit anxious in the barn/storage shed where they live. The other morning, at about 6 AM I heard them baaing and whining for a while. Then, as I was brushing my teeth outside, they busted through the wooded door and started sprinting around the yard dragging their gross ropes and chasing after the rooster. Then they were leaping off the the cement slab we call a porch and making goat sounds and moves that reminded me A LOT of Goat-boy from SNL...use your imagination, it is probably a pretty accurate picture!! Fun times with goats, and roosters :)

OK, I miss you all and will start a long update on my life here soon. Until then, keep the emails coming (and mail too, thanks!!). I miss and love you all!!!

Oh, PS. Would you, if possible, send me a post card of where you are? I want to use them to decorate a wall in my house in Ndu...that way I can have a visual of the US (to think of you all) in my house!!

address:
Allyson Packer
Crops de la Paix
B.P. 215
Yaoundé, Cameroon

10.31
Happy Halloween! While all of you are celebrating Halloween (sending your kids off trick-or-treating, handing out candy, or celebrating ‘Boulder style’) I’m going to bed early so I can wake up and do my French homework! I am still struggling though French and am going to start getting tutored. Hopefully it will help because I just feel like for the amount of work and time I’ve put into it, I’m just not getting that much better. C’est la vie, right?? Yesterday we did have our party and successfully carved a pineapple! We are on own fifth week here and half way through training! Next week we find out about our posts—I am both nervous and very excited. Since nothing too eventful has happened since I last wrote, besides getting some candy from Yaounde in honor of the holiday, I thought I’d just write some random stuff about life in Cameroon!

We watch TV all the time at my house (which, for those of you who have lived with me, know is a great thing). But the variety of showed here is: Xena Warrior Princess (in French), Angel (yes the sequel to Buffy, in French), Cameroonian music videos, and my new favorite French show “La Vie Devant Nous” (which totally belongs on the WB).

I have realized during the past few nights, as I brush my teeth outside, how amazing the stars are here—especially the North Star. It really is a lot brighter than the others especially when there hasn’t been much of a moon recently.

Rats. First they’re sold roadside everywhere you go and generally killed by a sling shot. And last week, after the clinic visit, we were taken to the bar (at 10 AM with clinic funds) for a “Top.” In Cameroonian, that means any drink including beer or palm wine regardless of the time of day. But we were generously offered some cooked rat as we drank our Cokes and Fantas. I didn’t try it because I kept picturing the rats I’d pictured running through China (big as dogs I hear)…so I regretfully declined, apparently they’re quite gamey.

I guess “Ally” is kind of hard to say in French—my family calls me “Alex” or “Alex-son.” I think I may have officially become part of the family this weekend, though, because instead of coming to get me, they just scream “ALEX” until I come…which they do to each other and for some unknown reason it seems to take a few of them a good 5 minutes to realize their name is being yelled.

The shot count has reached 11. Last week it was tetanus/diphtheria and flu. I didn’t want the flu shot and the nurse told me that was fine, but no flu shot = back to the States. I guess with the avian flu the Peace Corps is pretty adamant about all volunteers and trainees receiving one. I think I’ll be pretty happy if one of those sick little birds decided to cross the Sahara and come here to get us…

Taxi rides. I’ll preface this by reminding you all that I’m a big fan of seatbelts, airbags and doors closing. If you can find a cab here with any upolstery, door handles and a trunk that shuts, you’re in good shape! Generally there are ~6 people smashed in, something of bulk size on the roof and the driver is speeding (blindly) past a semi to avoid a human-sized pothole but is forced to swerve onto the opposite shoulder to avoid a cab going in the other direction, where he misses a passing 6-year-old with a machete by 3 inches. It’s enough for me to completely disregard the road and stare quite hard at the 150 CFA I’m clinging to for dear life.

Tonight the power went out (as usual) but my headlamp light is dulling a bit so I took the opportunity to join my family in the traditional kitchen where they were making dinner. Instead of helping I watched the 5-year-old fan the fire and pick up burning sticks with his bare hands. Being a health volunteer there were probably 1 or 2 interventions I could have done at that time but instead I just watched him. I kept wondering how many glowing embers it would take for him to stop. I think Africa is making me a little insensitive.

To answer some of your questions:
-No, I do not live in a hut but Yes, I have seen a few.
-No snakes yet, just three eyed lizards.
-Machetes EVERYWHERE.
-I hear “La Blanche” (white) maybe 25 times a day and we’re still stared at all the time.
-And, I haven’t bought my drums, yet.

Thanks for all your comments and emails! Your support has been so wonderful and very necessary recently. I love and miss you all!!

10.29 Saturday night and I am watching the French version of the Weakest Link on TV. We just returned from visiting a Cheferie (the Chief of the Bamilake people). It was the coolest thing I’ve done since being here. We drove an hour on rough roads—feeling like we were going to flip in very uncomfortable vans/Land Rovers. As we drove into the palace compound there were 4 sets of traditional dance going on. They were really cool…a purification dance and a war dance among them. We went through the palace, which is huge and quite different from the palaces I was used to seeing (you know, like in Europe). The chief came in to talk to us and was very open about AIDS, agriculture, history, and told us all about his rein which included imprisonment by the French. The whole time he was between two of his ministers (interior and foreign affairs) who were in total traditional garb—i.e., robes and head ‘wraps’ with shells around the edges. He spoke for an hour or so and then gave us a tour of his museum and palace. We saw tons of masks, statues, and really old pictures of him with Popes and presidents and other important people. Afterwards we watched the dances for a while, took way too many pictures and stood in the middle at one point and pretend to dance along…we looked like fools I’m sure! As we drove off some of the purification dancers followed the cars shaking their witch statues at us—we thought it was pretty appropriate being so close to Halloween! The drive home played out somewhat different than the way there. We ended up on a random road (which was SO rough with massive potholes and mud) surrounded on all sides by tall grass. There were many jokes about seeing Lions jump out but I kept thinking of Jurassic Park. We realized after 2 hours that we were probably lost and I actually did get a bit concerned picturing us sleeping in the vans in the middle of the bush…about 4 minutes later we were on paved road. All in all, it was an awesome experience. The dancers were what you picture Africa to be like. There were huts and huge buildings with pointed roofs (the signature for nobles in this area) and tons of room for his 15 wives.
This past week was not different—French, child and maternal health, mosquito bites, me thinking I had Malaria at least twice, and a fun “American” chicken dinner! We were able to visit a health center and see vaccinations. It was pretty cool to see how the whole system works here. There were probably 30 women with their babies at the clinic but only 3 actually received the shots. The clinic was able to get all the women there by promising mosquito nets which weren’t actually given! But it was a great opportunity to see a venue that we may be working in. One thing that really stood out was that they poured alcohol on a tray and burned it to disinfect it…I am pretty sure that isn’t that sanitary...Tomorrow (it being almost Halloween) we’re going to make tortilla chips, guac, and salsa from scratch and watch an American movie! It will be fun and I really want to carve a pineapple!
Earlier tonight, I had my first “in room animal experience”—there was a lizard on my wall. I wouldn’t have normally cared too much but I’m sure it had three eyes! I decided that killing it maybe wasn’t the best option to I slid it into half of a plastic water bottle. It was only after I’d scraped him off my wall and into the bottle and plugged it with toilet paper that I realized that I’d been using that bottle for my toothpaste spit for a few days! The poor little guy drown in my toothpaste spit before I could dump it out outside.