2 weeks at post! (written dec 17)

                It’s been two weeks since my arrival at post and I’m happy to say that I actually have things to report! Tuesday of this week (14 Dec) I began protocol, which is kind of a formal/structured way to meet the area’s officials and basically let them know that I’m here. Some of the meetings were more of a formality (police chief, other security personnel, mayor) where I just give said official the document provided by the Peace Corps that lists all of the new PCVs in the region and each of our program/host institution. Other meetings, which hopefully will be the first of many, were with people who I plan on working with in the future and can connect me to relevant community groups (Ministry of Forestry and Fauna – MINFOF, Ministry of Environmental Protection – MINEP, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development – MINADER).

 I lucked out that by chance there was a meeting at the MINFOF office in the national park I will be working with, so I was able to tag along. I say I lucked out because it sounds like trips from Poli into the park aren’t necessarily a rarity, but definitely don’t happen too often. The park is just over an hour’s drive west of the town—about 60km which I’ve been challenged to bike if/when I start working out there on my own, since there isn’t a regular form of transport on that road. En route to the park I finally saw what everyone at home’s been waiting for… WILDLIFE! As much as I wish I could say we had to stop the car for a herd of elephants, really it was just a group of monkeys hanging out… not even swinging from trees or anything, just hanging out and munching on whatever plant-matter they found of the ground. Sadly, I just caught a glimpse of them while we drove by, so no picture (yet!). The MINFOF office is just at the entrance to the park, so I didn’t actually go it, but I was told that when work commences after New Year’s, we can take a trip in and get a grand tour of everything.

The other day while reading in the “public space” (a shady spot with benches), I was befriended by two high school girls, both are seniors at the Lycée Classique (there are two high schools in town, Lycée Technique, which is more vocational-focused, and Lycée Classique, the general high school). I happened to run into them while we were both on the way to their school—I, to meet with the principal and possibly find someone to tutor me in Fulfuldé, and they, to pick up their report cards (as I found out en route, vacation commences today… “winter break,” if you will). When we got there, all of the students were standing outside for an assembly (no bleachers, but luckily plenty of trees for shade), while teachers and various school administrators read out class rankings and then proceeded to give out report cards to the top two students of every class. One 7^th grade boy was not only the top of his class, but had the best marks in the whole school and was not only praised by teachers and administrators, but also given some money as a congratulatory gift, I suppose. Even though this practice is totally foreign to anything I ever experienced at an American school, it was nice to see top students publicly acknowledged (yay, education!).

So that’s it for now. I don’t expect things to really “pick up” until January since it’s “the holidays” and well, people are on vacation and what-not. For the time being I’ll stick to what I’ve been doing—reading, getting to know people/the area at post, faire-ing le sport (see below) , motivating myself to study Fulfuldé and hopefully continuing to get my house together. 

Photos!!!

 <--train leaving Yaounde for the Grand North (last stop is Ngaoundéré, capital of the Adamaoua). En route to the north (during this particular trip), this train will stop about 3 hours away from or final destination for a total delay of about 6 hours. Why? The last 5 wagons or so (which included us of course) were detached from the front wagons, who didn't notice and couldn't be contacted due to lack of phone service)... as i've learned to say... TIA (this is africa).

 <-- A village in the Adamaoua, as seen from the train on our way up north. These houses are known as "saaré's" (the word for house in Fulfuldé).

The next two pictures two the right are both views of Poli from the top of a hill, behind my house. This hill is where people can be found faire-ing le sport (rough translation = working out) by running or hiking up and down the hill. Children also climb this hill on a daily basis looking for firewood.