Off to Work?

I was talking to my dad recently when he mentioned that a lot of people have been asking him when I'm going to start my "real work" as a PCV. It's possible that no one has asked him this and that was his subtle attempt to remind me why I'm here and encourage me to get my work projects going. But in case any of you are wondering and have been asking him, it's true that as of late, my days (or weeks) recently haven't really been spent working, at least in the traditional sense. In my defense, it's been the holiday season and it seems like much of professional Cameroon essentially shuts down for the last (and first) few weeks of the year. And that's not even taking into account personal leave, which many of my potential work partners have been taking in conjunction with official holiday leave. So I have used the past few weeks to get myself settled into my community and (more) comfortable with life in Bamenda. I've never really lived in a big city before, and having one at my doorstep (or 10 minute moto ride) is a new experience for me. And it's not like Bamenda is anything like any city I've ever visited before. I wish I knew of a better way to explain how this city is like, but all I have for this post is to say that the holiday season (or just Christmastime here) in Bamenda is even more stressful and chaotic than it is in New York. And I didn't even think that was possible.

But I have been (fairly) busy these past few weeks. I found my way to the other side of the city and learned that in order to get to Bali, it's necessary to take a "bush taxi" (basically paid hitchhiking) with five other passengers (I had the misfortune to find one with an obese woman occupying one of the four places in the backseat with me). A friend and I made some pretty delicious zucchini chocolate chip coconut muffins with the zucchini that we bought at the NW Agricultural Expo. And I spent Christmas trekking across my village and back to fulfill my social engagements (and was served rice on four separate occasions). I've had my 1000 CFA notes ($2) refused because they weren't in good enough condition (the moto driver didn't want to hear how unacceptable that would be in the US), and finally found the orphanage that (turns out) is less than 500 feet away from my door. I finally had a sofa made (an adventure in it of itself-it was delivered sticking out of the trunk of a taxi!) and started to make my apartment feel a little more like home. I started making social calls with a friend and her family and visited my first Cameroonian hospital (An experience that is worthy of its own post, but I'm sure my Health PCV friends have some better insights in their blogs). And maybe the most important (and dreaded) milestone of all-I finally succumbed to my first major sickness in Cameroon. I'm doing much better now, but being sick alone in a foreign country is no fun at all.

I'm still very much thinking about time passing on a seasonal trajectory, and the lack of "real" seasons continues to frustrate me. It's been hard to miss the weather updates coming from the Midwest recently (my mom went as far as to forward me the Carleton parents email chain about the brutal temperatures this week-someone's having a hard time letting that period of my life go…) and my brother just moved to Wisconsin this past week, so I've been wishing him luck from afar (this is a boy who chose his college based on which schools he could wear shorts at year-round). But here the weather patterns are as different from there as could be and we only have two seasons-wet and dry. Right now we're solidly in the middle of dry season and I've never seen so much dust in my life. The afternoons are hot, and the evenings cool (but not cold, as all my neighbors seem to think). A bunch of PCVs got together to celebrate New Years Eve with a barbecue at the Bamenda office for some grilling and lawn games. It was much more reminiscent of 4th of July than NYE, but a great way to close off the year with friends that I haven't seen since stage.

As the New Year begins I'm hopefully going to be getting my "official work projects" going and starting back up with Heifer. As new PCVs we're also required to submit a Community Study/Assessment during our first three months at post, and the deadline is coming up more quickly that I would like. So the new few weeks will be spent gathering data and trying to piece something useful together to present to my stagemates at In-Service Training in February. So it's seeming like the time for playtime is going to have to be on hold (of sorts) for the immediate future, as I try to figure out which projects are worth investing time in over the two years. Stay tuned for news on the work front (I promise that it'll come!), but rest assured that my time here isn't being wasted. And if you're in the US (at least the East Coast and Midwest), enjoy the snow for me. We're severely lacking in it over here.

TL,DR: Any work projects have kind of stalled these past few weeks as Christmas and New Years hit in a big way. I managed to fill my time in other ways and had my own series of small adventures. And I'm writing this from my new custom-made sofa in my own living room (of course, I don't have internet at home yet, but that's a challenge for another day…)!