Off on a new adventure

The last few months have been a whirlwind: getting the option to move to Cameroon and then all the stuff that was needed to get us here, in addition to the holiday season.  The day we left Germany, I told Christophe that I thought it hadn't hit me yet that I was leaving.  I was running on fumes trying to get everything done and never really had a moment to reflect and process what I was doing.

10 years ago I was in this exact same situation, finishing my PhD and heading off to Germany.  I ended up staying way longer than I expected - the longest I have ever lived somewhere in my life.  I went for a job, but stayed because I found lots of new friends and I loved getting a chance to visit so many places in Europe. (Including the newly renovated Notre Dame de Paris right when it reopened).

Last week we arrived in Cameroon to start our new life in Yaoundé.  We are serving as volunteers on the VSI program run by the French government and sent by the DCC.    We arrived and immediately started meeting the Frères de Saint-Jean, who invited us here.  They have been trying to single-handedly improve the education system and have developed a number of the best schools in the country.  We are working at their university.

Our arrival was a bit of a shock to our system.  Moving from winter in Europe to Cameroon weather, flying overnight and then immediately plunging into a completely different culture was definitely difficult and the first few days we were so tired we kept falling asleep whenever we sat down.  Fortunately, we have adjusted a bit to the heat and are feeling a lot better now.

There have been so many new experiences already just in the first week, it is impossible to cover them all.  

Probably the worst part was arriving to our new apartment in the middle of an electric blackout. Even before the sun set, we started searching for our headlamps.  This continued for hours.  Apparently we packed with the one and only goal of making our headlamps impossible to find.  Eventually we did find them hours later.  Sitting there in the dark trying to feel through our luggage was definitely our first low point of this adventure and made us wonder what we have gotten ourselves into. 

But it has gone up from there.  We have been facing many challenges, but we seem to be dealing with them and adapting.  In the last week, we have managed to feed ourselves and get to work, which is already a huge success as far as I am concerned!  We have even gotten a chance to interact with the local wildlife.

 

One of our biggest successes has been finding 8 cent popsicles right across the street from our apartment.  We were terribly excited by this, but we very quickly learned that the popsicles are for kids.  All the adults sat around drinking beers, giving us confused looks.  Why are "les blancs" eating popsicles?  We have been invited a few times to switch to beers (or other alcohol), but these popsicles are really nice in the heat (And it isn't so bad to hang out with the kids)! 

 

We also really appreciate our apartment (which the friars did a great job setting up so that we feel at home).  Whenever we get stressed, we make sure to do "balcony time" and we get to end the day with this beautiful sunset.