September 1st: The adventure beings

September 1st

The adventure begins…

I am doing one week of training in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon. Later in September, I will be heading to Maroua, one of the bigger towns in the Far North Province. At the end of the month, I should be settled in my village, Soulédé, which you won’t find on a map.

For now, I am using an internet café on a busy street of Yaounde.

Packing
I started packing for my trip about an hour before I had to leave for the airport. It was a little ridiculous. As some of you know, I had two classes to finish before I left. I took my last exam on Wednesday, and left on Friday. My studying left me little time for preparations and packing. Good thing I got a lot of help from my sister. Sarah taped the whole ordeal. Imagine packing for 6 months in about 45 minutes!

The Trip
I decided Sarah would come to the airport with me after all. I gave her going away presents in the van on the way over. It was really hard to say goodbye to her.

I had quite the trip today. If you count the travel time from my house to this hotel, I have been travelling for 24 hours.

Leg 1: Ottawa to Montreal (35 mins)
Wait 3 hours
Leg 2: Montreal to Paris (6 hours)
Wait 5 hours
Leg 3: Paris to Yaounde (8 hours)
Drive to Hotel, 1 hour

On the first flight I felt sad and missed home a lot. I felt like leaving for 6 months was something pretty serious… Air France fed us well though, and we got to watch movies on a personalized screen (my last dose of luxury!). On the second flight I started to look forward to seeing the country.

Arrival in Cameroon
By the time we got to Cameroon, we were all exhausted. We landed in Yaounde (the capital of Cameroon). VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) staff came to pick us up at the airport. We were swarmed with other people offering “help” with our bags, but they really wanted money. They were persistent.

The drive from the airport was interesting. I saw a lot of run-down houses and little shops that would qualify as “sketchy” by Canadian standards. I would like to send more pictures, but you can imagine that it is rude to take pictures of strangers.
There were a lot of people walking the side of the roads (not many sidewalks), and I found that they were dressed pretty nice. I saw a woman and several men peeing in the tall grass on the side of the road.

Driving
The driving here makes people in Montreal look like angels. It was out of control! I saw a motorcycle drive head on towards a car and then swerve in a ditch, nearly missing the people on the side of the road. There are no traffic lights, or stop signs. There are no lanes. People honk before passing. That is about the only “rule.”

Hotel
I am very happy with the hotel we got; it is nice. I included a picture of my bed. However, if this hotel existed in Canada, it would not be very busy! We are all grateful to have it here, though.

A bientôt,
JP