Wyyyyyummmbe? Aka what’s up in Bafia language.
Cap’n Megoo here reporting from the Peace Corps training center in Bafia. How’s everyone doing these days? I haven’t had contact with the outside world for the past two weeks so I’m super excited to be able to post something on my bloggo.
I think I’ve gone through every possible emotion you can think of during staging so far. It’s been incredibly awesome, lonely, rando as can be, telescopic, really really fun, grueling, and absolutely hilarious.
As you may be aware I’ve been living in a village with no internet, electricity, or water for the past two weeks. It’s so crazy to look up at the stars at night and think I’m really here in AFRICA. It’s all still very surreal, but I’m starting to adjust quite nicely.
My host family has been so great and Papa Boe and I continue to talk about the meaning of life over fou fou and tapioca into the wee hours of the night (aka 8:45 when I’m usually too exhausted to function). My host sister Margurite and I are also getting really close; she helps me a lot with my cultural immersion homework and I help her with English…or at least try. Anyone know what the present perfect tense is because I’m not sure if I actually do. HA, go English major.
I’m finding good ways to stay sane though. For example, yesterday I taught a Bodypump class for the other health volunteers in my village. Just imagine a bunch of sweaty dirty Americans lifting water bottles and French dictionaries over their heads overlooked by an entire African village. Hilarity certainly ensued at this moment. It felt SO GOOD, though, to work out since I’ve been kind of sheltered and unable to work out outside my mosquito net for some time.
This past weekend was also a cultural adventure. I went into Bafia with my host sister and Aunt who is the same age as my sister? (who knows the families here are a million plus) to get some sweet fabric to make some sweet African clothes. After meandering through the market for some time a massive squall rolled through, which left us trapped in a boulangerie with a bunch of other randos for a couple hours. We finally got a taxi, which was a crappy little compact car, and somehow managed to fit 10 people in it. What an impressive African feat. The entire right side of my body fell asleep after being smashed up against a huge dude in a boubou, so I thought I got bitten by some crazy bug or something, but after I tumbled out of the car I was fine. Anyway, the whole excursion was a success because I a) have some trendy African clothes on the way and b) I got to experience some pretty sweet culture.
Alright, rabid Peace Corps volunteers are drooling over my fast (and by fast I mean my blog page has materialized on the screen), so I better get going lest I be eaten.
Miss you guys and ooooouhhhouhhhh (which means bye bye in Bafia…sp’s all over the place with that one.
Meg
