PICTURES!!!!!!!

Hey all, people have been asking me for pics of my life here. I don't have a TON cuz i try not to take out my camera much, but here are a few...

 

Cool band we went to see in Yaounde in our second night in Cameroon. Aerie, the guy in white was the drummer I was telling you about.

Waterbottle! I promised Aerie that I’d take a bunch of pics doing cool things with my waterbottle. This is my first day of school, wearing a traditional dress that my host mother gave me. It’s beautiful, but INCREDIBLY hot. 

On My Way to school

 

Cooking for my mom’s birthday! Mmmmm Fried Plantains. All the cooking at my house is done on the back step and with a cooking fire. They have a gas stove inside, but they only use it to reheat stuff. It’s cheaper to cook on the fire, even if it takes a LONG time. It’s kind of nice tho. The other night all the work was done and we were just waiting for the meal to finish cooking on the fire. The power had gone out throughout the town, so we just sat on the back step, watching the fire and the fireflies and the lightning rolling in, and listening to the thunder. It was like camping and was really serene and pleasant.

 Mmmmm, Plantains!!!!

My mom and Arnold. He helps me with my English.

 

The two neighbor kids that come around for treats. The first time I took a picture of the boy and showed him the pic on my camera, his eyes totally bugged out like he had just seen someone fly. It was hilarious.

Me at the Birthday Party...

My sister Adele. I adore Adele. She is so kind and helpful and LOVES to sing. She sings all the time. She is 20, does all the house chores and cooking and goes to school full time and is still always cheerful. She likes doing sports and loves designing clothes. She is all around awesome.

My  host-sister’s friend Yolanda with the Birthday cake. I LOVE Yolanda. She’s super nice and a REALLY hard worker. She greeted me on my first day here cuz my mom and sister were both at school and work so she let me in the house and showed me my room. Then she asked me about Obama. He and Michelle are SUPER popular here. It was funny.

Danny, my neighbor. She speaks really good English and helps me with my French. I really like her :)

My Mom! She's awesome. She is a youth worker as well.

Lunch!

I'm totally a bike Mechanic Don't Ya Know?!

There are lots of pretty bugs here, like this bad-ass grasshopper. Also gorgeous birds and flowers. And totally kickass lizards that are big and VERY colorful but they are too quick and too shy to get a good pick of them.

 

 View from my back porch

 View from the back of the school

The classroom where I have my French Lessons (I have to speak exclusively in French at the center and at my home. I can only speak English during 2 classes (Youth Development or Health) and when I’m at the bar. Otherwise it is ALL French ALL the time. It’s a bitch but I’m getting pretty good!) The place where we have training is a half-finished building with not doors. It’s been wired for electricity but the wiring isn’t finished so there are tubes and wires coming out of the floor and ceiling. And we have to flush the toilets by dumping a bucket of water into the bowl. NBD. I LOVE it though cuz everything is open and it really helps keep it cool.

Classrooms where I have my technical training. The brown room has a birds nest being built right above where the instructor speaks. Often the bird will come in and chatter and work on the nest while we are having class. It’s pretty great. (sorry the white room is sideways. It took me 3.5 hrs to upload these photos so I'm not gonna re-upload >_<)

Aaaaaaaand the training center where I spend all day every day. Hoooray!!!!!