celebrating my bday

There was ALOT of food!

The homemade guac and tortilla chips were the biggest hit.

We ate........

And ate....

Aaaaaand ate....

And ate......

and ate some more.... (This is Preston.  It is rare to see Preston without bread in his hand - he is unashamed....)

Saturday night, we had the party for all the July birthdays.  There were three of us.  It took place at what we call the SED House, which is the abandoned, unfinished  mansion where the SED volunteers have all our language classes and training sessions.  We all brought food, and I ate way too much!  We had so much fun, but unfortunately we had to be cut it short at 8:30 pm because a couple people WHO SHALL REMAIN NAMELESS decided to break our 11:00 curfew at the last party.  We still had plenty of time to accomplish the missions of the party :)!

A big group of trainees picking teams for stick ball at the july birthday party (those who know me best will be surprised to learn that i did not participate).

Christian and Christine watching the game

Our Cameroonian director of training, David (Daveeeed), successfully hitting the ball.
I did not bother to post the 5 pictures before this one of unsuccessful attempts.

David walking off with a bit of swagger after his success.
Of course, he knew what he was doing the whole time... haha

A random Cameroonian child showing out for us during our party!

This is Kim.  She is originally from Texas, but went to college in Kansas.
Her post is only about 15-20 min from mine.
If all works as planned, she will be my best friend here, haha.

Me with some of my best friends during training.
Kim, Eric, and Sean

Everyone singing happy birthday to me at the July birthday party.  

I got a cake with lollipops instead of candles - everyone know I have a major sweet tooth.

Also, they couldn't find candles :)

As many of you know, I had a birthday Wednesday.  Unfortunately, it was pretty much a normal day of training, with 4 hours of language classes and some tech sessions too.  After training, I went to a bar that’s a bit of a walk from the SED House, but actually had a good turnout for “feter”  (celebrating – pronounced FE-TAY) my birthday.  There were probably about 35 or so volunteers, and I was happily surprised!  We had a good time, but I missed my family and friends very much on my special day.  I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit lonely, but I know I’m here for a reason and I’m proud of myself for having the strength and dedication to come follow my dreams. 

At the bar celebrating

Eric had peanut shell in his eye... he looks possessed and i don't look very sympathetic.

He's an awesome Kansas city boy.  

3 Americans and a Cameroonian

These hut things at the bar are pretty cool.... but not quite as cool as they look in pictures

I think people enjoyed my birthday! 

mid-training site visit

 I got back from site visit not too long ago, where I got to see my post.  It is called Bandjoun, and it is in the West region of Cameroon, where the climate is mild and there aren’t very many bugs!!! My town feels small, but I was surprised to find out that it has a population of about 120,000.  This number seems a bit deceiving, as most of the rural area surrounding the main village is also considered Bandjoun, and the people out there are counted in the town’s numbers.  The area is very beautiful, with many hills and lots of cornfields.  I am lucky because there is a wide variety of produce available at my post, which is not always the case for other volunteers.  I loved my site and got to spend time with my predecessor who was very nice and gave me some great insight.  I wanted to post pictures of my apartment, but I decided to wait until her stuff was out so we could have a realistic view of what I start off with.  One of the insights my predecessor left me was that I can, starting at my house, take pretty much any road and end up in “town,” or “centre-ville,” which is actually more of a single road with vendors and small stores and bars on one side.  Anyone who knows me well knows that this convenient layout suits my sense of direction very well!

The view from my favorite walk home from centre-ville at my post, Bandjoun

I have been assigned to work with two companies in Bandjoun.  One is a microfinance institution called BATOCCUL and the other is a community development organization called RIDDEV that focuses on women, youth, and IT issues.  I got to meet my “counterpart,” the person who is my go to for questions about projects, resources, and groups in Bandjoun.  Her name is Helen Rose, and she works at BATOCCUL.  She is a sweet lady, but our relationship and especially our ability to communicate with one another (Helen only speaks French, and I only speak English and bad French) have A LOT of room for growth. 

One of my main assignments while I was on site visit was to open a bank account, which has to be set up now so that when I get to post I can receive my allowance and have money to live on.  Thus, it was necessary for Helen Rose and I to set up a time to go to Bafoussam, which is the nearest big city to Bandjoun.  This is another great convenience of my post, because Bafoussam is only about 15-20 minutes away and has almost anything I could want (well, except what’s on my earlier mentioned wish list, of course).  This was my first real lesson in what kind of patience is required in order to survive in Cameroon… 

First, let me say that this entire correspondence was in French.  The bank insisted that I needed a copy of my passport in order to open a bank account.  I, on the other hand, insisted that the peace corps had told me I only needed my local Cameroonian ID card and my official letter from the peace corps in order to open the account.  After arguing politely, and after Helen telling me that I was very “negligent” for having “forgotten” the passport copy (I still don't know if she was kidding or serious or some combination of the two), I was forced to call my trainee leader, who luckily was in Yaoundé at the time.  We waited for him to get to the headquarters, find my passport in the vault, make a photocopy, and fax it to the bank branch.  When it arrived, it was so illegible that you couldn’t even tell the picture was of me!   After much pleading and explaining that I could not live in Cameroon without having this bank account opened THAT DAY.  They said they would start my account, but the next day when I got back to Bafia, I would have to photocopy my passport (I wasn’t sure there would be electricity), find a travel agency (I don’t know where the travel agencies are or how they work), and send by mail the photocopy in a way that it would get to the bank branch within 2 days (ummm….. hahahahahaha).  Anyways, 3 or 4 hours after I started this process, the bank lady asks a coworker if I needed a copy of my passport and he said, if she is peace corps, nope!   I was given a cheap writing pen with the bank name on it, and I smiled appreciatively and thanked her, saying I was happy.  

My predecessor introduced me to a PAINTER in Bafoussam.  He was very nice and very good!  Can you see Barack and Michelle? (Enjoy this picture - it took a good ten minutes of French for me to convince him to let me take it!)

Sending stuff

If sending packages, please don’t send anything valuable, any money, breakable things, or things that might explode in the air, and be careful with things that melt because it is hot as hell here.  You will have more luck in actually getting the package to me by writing in red marker on the box, and putting religious symbols and phrases all over the box.  Also, you should list the items inside the box on the outside of the box. 

For now, use this address: 

Natalie Markham

United States Peace Corps Volunteer

B.P. 215

Yaoundé

Cameroon

Africa

THINGS YOU SHOULD FEEL FREE TO SEND OR BRING ME IF THE SPIRIT SO STRIKES YOU!!

(I will periodically add to or take away from this wish list.  However, do not feel obligated to send anything, as it can be expensive.  However, however, if you come to see me, you better have at least ONE of these things in your dadgum suitcase!)

-       Cheese of any kind (yes, Velveeta counts, kinda, and parmesan does too!).  Double bag it though, because it might melt quite a bit by the time it gets to me

-       Olive oil (They cook everything with palm oil, which is very heavy and very bad for you! Plastic bottles only though.)

-       CANDY – starburst, skittles, sour straws, etc.

-       Drink mixes for bottle water, i.e. Crystal Lite

-       Spices (cinnamon, pepper, Cajun spices, dried parsley, thyme, cilantro, basil, etc.)

-       Packaged snack foods (i.e. Cheese or peanut butter crackers, Nutrigrain bars, peanut bars, fruit snacks, RAISINS, etc.)

-       Vanilla extract

-       Peanut Butter

-       Pancake syrup

-       Cereal  - cinnamon toast crunch, honey nut cheerios, raisin bran, etc.

-       Face moisturizer

-       No7 Quick Thinking 4 in 1 face wipes

-       Small sewing kit

-       Fashion mags – vogue, nylon, etc.

-       Small NIV BIBLE – I forgot mine and its killin’ me!  (Ill eventually buy one on my kindle, but I’m not sure it’ll suffice)

-       Letters – there’s just something better about getting something in the mail here

My life in Bafia

Yvannah and Louismichel dancing

The surname of the family with whom I live is MBAH NGAH.  My Cameroonian father, Francois, is a German teacher at a local school.  My Cameroonian mother, Pascaline is trained in the field of social work, but functions at the moment as a stay-at-home mom for Yvanna, who is 4.5 years old, and Louismichel, who is 3.  She stays very busy and has another one on the way, due around September!  The family is kind to me and patient with me as I try to learn French.  Also, they are very Catholic!

Louismichel's 3rd Birthday Party!  I contributed the juice and soda.

Bafia

On an excursion 

I have learned quite a bit, including how to take a bucket shower and how to flush with a bucket (the water in Bafia is a problem –in quantity and cleanliness - some houses have toilets and shower systems, but they do not actually function).  I am lucky to have a well right outside my house to get water for these activities.  However, my drinking water thus far has been brought home by Francois, as the forage, which is the source for water suitable to be put in my enormous water filter, is apparently pretty far away, and I apparently don’t get up early enough to make that trip so that I can find out where the dang thing is.  I dread my showers because the water is so cold and I dread my walks because the days are so hot!

Procrastinating doing my laundry is a much bigger deal here.  I have to do it all by hand in two buckets, one w detergent and the other with clean water.  Every time the water gets too dirty, I have to go fetch another bucket from the well.

The African sun ain't no joke!  I've got sandal tattoos!!

  

My first post!

At my mom's house in Dallas, about to leave for the airport.

I look a bit worried in my pile of accidentally matching green luggage.  I hope you guys can tell I'm excited!

Whelp, I’ve been in Cameroon now for (I think) 42 days…  I spent a few days in Yaoundé, the political capitol, and then we rode a bus to Bafia, where we will have 10 weeks and 3 days of training before we are posted at various places across the country.  There are SED Volunteer trainees and ED Volunteer Trainees.  I am SED (Small Enterprise Development.)  The ED (Education) group members will be science, computer technology, or English teachers.  I am very excited about my future work as a SED volunteer, but before I can be sworn in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer, I must first live these next few months with a Cameroonian family, go through a total of 138 hours of language training and 91 hours of technical training , and at the end off all that pass my proficiency tests.    Everyone together now: BON CHANCE NATALIE!!!!!!!!!!

Many of the volunteers in Yaoundé.  We had just received our water filters and one of many vaccinations!

Americans require ALOT of stuff!