Sorry about the hiatus everyone! A lot has happened in the 4ish months since I last posted; for example, we had IST (In-service training) during the majority of March (for the crew in the Adamawa who went to the Agriculture training it was about a full month away from site). We covered a lot of ground, and did several presentations during our time in the Southern region of Cameroon, in the city of Ebolowa. We learned how to raise brooding chicks, make organic insecticide, make chicken feed, and lots of other fun stuff.

As you can see in the photo above, we were all very engaged during this break between projects, me especially (far right).

We worked at the model farm of one of my fellow PCV’s counterpart, and made a crazy number of garden beds there.

During IST we also had the opportunity to meet the new Country Director of PC Cameroon, and I love her! Danielle is very nice, and actually visited my post last week.

IST wasn’t all fun and games. The very last day of training I started to feel kind of funny and left to go to my hotel room. I had a slight fever in the afternoon, and things went downhill from there pretty fast. By 2 AM I was in the hospital with a fever of 103.5, nausea, chills, shakes, and diarrhea. I’d taken the rapid malaria test and tested negative, but I still had all the signs so they got me on malaria medication (the lab wasn’t open for tests). I was taken to PCMO in the capital and went to the lab. My blood results came back negative for malaria, which was good news! The bad news was that they weren’t super sure what I had “maybe a bacterial infection or a mixed infection or the flu, or a combination of the three”. All I knew was that my skin hurt and it was the sickest I’ve ever been. The antibiotics they gave me were magical though, and I was able to eat and drink water again a few hours after I took it. I was so happy. I have to say, if you have to get that sick, it’s nice to do it around a lot of PC admin and near the capital.

My brother came to visit me in April, and brought a bag of goodies with him! We packed an insane amount of activities in the short few days he was at my post, and managed to hit all of the important places. James got to experience the market in Ngaoundere, and the cattle market near me. We also had a tour of the chefferie, and got to see the top tourist site near me, Tello Falls! It was a great time.

Shortly after James visited me, I had my latest hospital visit. While doing something really cool and not at all idiotic I cut my finger to the bone. Luckily I was going to the city the next morning, and applied first aid and was at the hospital the next day. The wonderful Dr. Max literally glued me back together and I went on my merry way. A month later and I’ve regained all feeling in the finger and it no longer aches at the end of the day. I also avoided infection, what caused my first visit to my hero Dr. Max. It could have been worse! I used to think I was careful with knives, but I guess I had to be taught a valuable lesson about care around sharp things.

These next photos are just a random collection of images from daily life in Cameroon, I figure I owe everyone lots of pictures after being off the radar for so long!

A week ago (the day before Danielle came to visit) a swarm of bees came into my roof and a few escaped into my house. This is why I keep my spiders!

A hobby I’ve picked up here is bird watching. I’ve done IDs on about a dozen birds so far!

The following photos are all of my house, I’ve made a lot of progress decorating and furnishing it in the past few months!

The last few photos are all of food here. It’s a big part of my life after all!

It might seem kind of odd to end the post with a photo of pizza, but I do seem to think about pizza a lot, so it’s kind of fitting! Sorry for the long wait, things are going well here, my first big training for my village is the 20th of this month, and I’m training about composting. I also want to do a film club in village for the English students, and a cultural exchange with the maternal school and the students at the elementary school where my mom works. Both involve a projector that my parents will be sending with a PCV that is visiting home in July. I should get it in time for the new school year to begin! I also have plans to make a garden near the health center focused on nutrition with the seeds we got from a recent nutrition training. So that’s it project wise for the next few weeks, I’m in Ngaoundere at the moment, but will be leaving tomorrow to return to village. It’s dinner time right now, and I just made chicken taco salad for everyone to eat during our Gossip Girl marathon. It’s a fun night!

Until next time, which will be far sooner than 4 months, I promise!