So we all left the hotel and arrived in Ebolowa, where we will be for 9 weeks. We'll be taking a ton of language classes and we'll be getting training for our assignments. People in education will be learning how to approach classroom management, lesson planning, etc. We're also spending a lot of time going over safety & security as well as health. I think half the group has already gotten sick. Mostly it's just stomach viruses, colds and flu's. We've been getting tons of vaccinations so we're not too susceptible to anything extremely life threatening. Pit latrines have been quite the learning experience. But with most things, once you understand the dynamics of it and get used to it, it's not so bad. I'm bathing twice a day here, mostly because I'm paranoid about all the diseases we can get so proper sanitation is key. Bucket bathing isn't bad at all. Sure there are spiders and cockroaches all around me, but that adds to the experience. Splashing cold water on my body is a refreshing, and it reminds me of jumping in the pacific ocean. Miss ya San Diego, but don't miss the traffic at all. On that note though, I'm definitely going to request to be placed near Limbe, which is apparently a surf town around here. It sounds like they may actually sell surfboards which would be unreal, but I don't want to get my hopes up just yet.
Le Coupe de Monde starts in a few days, woooo! Interested to see how the 'ole U S of A does. I'm working on having the same blind optimism I have as a redskins fan. But hey, anything can happen in just one game, so I'm excited. The Cameroonian squad is supposed to be decent as well. It will definitely be fun to watch them play. I'm not sure if I want to watch it at a bar, or just stay at home and watch it with my host family. Oh yea, my host family has a 42" flat screen tv, much nicer than any tv I've ever owned. They also gave me pizza on my first night and there home is 50 yards from the training site. Other people in our groups have been served fish bones for every meal, have no electricity, and have host families that speak no English. So I got really lucky, my host family helps me with my French, but also speaks English to me when they need to tell me something important. There are two parents, two 18 year old twins (brother and sister) and a 15 year old brother.
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A few more things from this first week. I walked around my village the other day, pretty interesting place. I tossed around my rugby ball with some local kids. They are really interested in anything new or different. I do wish I had a few younger kids in my house because they're really cute and fun to play with. But my family is great too and we enjoy our time together. American hip hop is huge here so we watch a lot of music videos together.
I also set up a make shift volley ball court here yesterday. We were able to get a few good games in which was cool. We also found out there's a local basketball court so we're gonna challenge the locals later this week. I also need to cook my family a "typical"America dinner so if anyone has any suggestions for something simple leave a comment.
Cheers!
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