It's Christmas morning!

(Disclaimer: I wrote out this entry about 10 days ago, but apparently there had been a nation-wide internet cut?! … and I was not able to put this up until now)

It felt like Christmas morning two Thursdays ago, the day we finally received our post assignments! I woke up with that child-like excitement, anticipation, and joy that for me was unparalleled by Santa’s arrival. I remember racing in to wake up my parents; Allison, Sarah and I wondering what was inside the packages that lined the family room, wondering if the reindeer ate the carrots we set out for them the night before.

Years later, wide-eyed at 5:45 am, looking through my mosquito net at the dawn’s light peeking in, worlds away from my family and friends, I rediscovered that childhood memory here in Cameroon.

My post is Toumi, a small rural cartier of Bamendjou in the West Province! It’s only about two hours north west of Bangangte. I will be working in a health center that is staffed by one nurse. I have a post-mate: Nura, an agro-forestry volunteer who’s in stage with me now. She’s wonderful, and I think we will make a great team. Supposedly I have electricity, but no running water. My goal is to be able to carry a bucket of water on my head, Cameroonian style, before the two years are up.

Bamendjou is only about forty minutes outside of Baffoussam. I know you might be thinking, sure, Baffoussam, sure. But what that really means is internet, “white man grocery stores,” and banking can all be within a day’s work. Excellent! Not to mention that our Health Technical Trainer lives in Baffoussam, which will be a great resource and support system, and, according to him, dinner and drinks chez lui plus a ride back to post…I’m not complaining!

Other news from the week: one of my fellow trainees took one for the team and let us know firsthand what malaria feels like, and another person “ET phone homed,” decided Peace Corps wasn’t for her. On Friday before site visit, I gave a presentation in French on STI’s and another one in English on breastfeeding. Apparently the emotional build-up of post announcements and the exhaustion of an assignment-packed week altered my judgment enough to say, mid-breastfeeding presentation, “my personal motto is: suckle, suckle, suckle!” Yeah, slightly embarrassing. But I did make the top-ten list in the trainee-run weekly newspaper this week!

I got caught in the pouring rain one afternoon this week. The drops were pelting me in sheets, immediately transforming the dry brick-red earth into putty. I looked over the green hills behind town and saw the most expressive clouds I’ve ever seen. Massive, billowing grey and white reminders of this great challenge and adventure that lies ahead. Great expectations, great fears, and great lessons to be learned. As I wiped the water from my face and tried to pick up my feet, which were suctioned to the mud, I was reminded of how grateful and fortunate I am to have begun this adventure.