New Years... Already??

It’s crazy to think that this is the last day of 2010! Where has time gone?! It seems like time moves so slowly, and yet each week goes extremely fast. The best I can do is to just try to keep up!

Well, a week ago I was chatting with Ashley (peace corps) at the Christmas Party. The idea of visiting her village came up and I asked if I could go along. Graciously she said that I could. There was one problem, I was scheduled to work the next week. So, after asking Moriah to work my shifts for me I decided that I would be able to head off Sunday morning. Yea!

The trip involved dead kittens on the road, being completely lost in the conversations around me, picking coffee, getting eaten by bugs, being Ashley’s shadow, eating scrumptious food, being followed by crazies, watching movies and music videos, doing crossword puzzles, having good conversations, yelling bus drivers, cleaning, and best of all hanging out with Ashley! (She is truly an amazing/inspirational girl! Oh! and so much fun!) It was so nice to get a break and just have chill time. (Thanks, Ashley!)

When I got back from Manjo, there were more packages for Moriah and I to open, (nine to be exact)! It was like Christmas all over again and it made it so much more fun to get back to Buea. (I was excited anyways, just because I was ready to see everyone here again!). I think that we now have a lifetime supply of crossword, jigsaw, and sudoku puzzles… it’s great! Oh, and probably one of my favorite part of the packages was the notes and letters that I received. My church sent me a journal full of notes! It reminded me just how amazing of a support group I have! So, thank you to all who wrote me notes of encouragement!!!!

Now it’s New Years Eve. In fact, I only have an hour and a half left of 2010. I would have to say that this has been a good year; full of fun, laughter, struggles, family, stress, and best of all wonderful memories! I wouldn't trade any of the experiences!

I hope that you all have a wonderful New Years and know that I love and miss you all!

Finally I'm Updating!

Right now I am going to try to force myself to actually work on this blog. It’s been FOREVER since I’ve written about my happenings in Cameroon. Things are becoming more routine here, I don’t feel like there’s much new to write about but probably the biggest reason I haven’t written is because I’m lazy.

Last thing I mentioned was about my dad and him being diagnosed with cancer. Well, for those that haven’t heard, the cancer didn’t go into his lymph system like we had been concerned about and they were able to get all the cancer out so he now has a clean bill of health. God is truly amazing! And he just celebrated his 28^th birthday this last Monday! He keeps getting younger and younger!

The other thing that happened in November was the start of the Christmas music. I hadn’t realized just how much I missed the Philippines till the Christmas music started being played. They don’t celebrate Christmas here in Cameroon quite as extensively as they do in the Philippines, but it still has the green and warm weather! (I do have to say that I am kind of missing the cold, but that’s more for the fact that I want to sit next to a fire and sip hot drinks without sweating J) Moriah and I decided the week before Thanksgiving that we would save all of your packages we received from Thanksgiving to Christmas, to open on Christmas day. As it was getting closer and closer to Christmas it got harder and harder to be patient. Well, we have done it and I must say it was well worth the wait! We’re hoping that we’ll get all the other packages that were sent to us, but we’re not too sure if it will actually happen! Thank you to all who sent packages, letters, and pictures! I loved it and it definitely made my Christmas all the more special!

The second weekend of December, Matt, Bill, Nate, Moriah and I headed up to Foumban, which is about 5 hours north ish of Buea. Foumban is known for it’s rich cultural history, it’s somewhat large population of Muslims, and also some gorgeous architecture. The scenery on the drive up there was wonderful also! We went from the humid and wet jungle like area of Buea to the dry grassy red dirt hills of Foumban. While there we were able to have a tour of the palace where the ruler (sultan) of the Bamoun people lives. And since they have a very rich cultural history they also have a very nice craft market and some of our group got masks, trinkets, chess sets, and other handcrafted items. (It’s hard to describe the town, so you’ll definitely have to look at pictures on my Facebook!) Later on Saturday we met up with Eric and Kristi, two independent volunteers who have been working in Buea for the last 6 months, and spent the rest of the time looking at the town with them.

We now have both Bill and Trixy back from their furlough. It’s so nice having them around again and we’re starting to get back into the ‘normal’ schedule again! I can say one thing though, Moriah and I will definitely be miss having a fully equipped kitchen to cook in. It’s amazing how spoiled we were for the last month! Inspite of the small space we are learning to use the little kitchen again. (I definitely have to be more creative when I don’t have all the nice kitchen stuff, but I’m enjoying it!)

And like I had mention in my last blog entry, the two ‘noisy old neighbor ladies’ will be missing the ‘poor bachelor next door’, the first reason is that we now have to do our own dishes and secondly we don’t have the great entertainment anymore! And talking about Matt leaving, we’ve had 3 other volunteers leave us; Carolyn, Kristi and Eric. Last night we had our Christmas Eve party and it just didn’t seem the same without the 4 of them being there. I mean all the people that were at the party were pretty awesome, but it would have been a lot of fun having all of them there too!

Well, if I want to make sure I get this finished I should better post it. I will try to keep up on blogging from now on, but I can’t promise anything!

I hope that you are all doing wonderful and that you all have a very Merry Xmas as they say here in Cameroon!