Miss me yet?

First off, I want to say that I am alive and well in Yaoundé, and no complaints thus far!  Just got back from an interactive dance performance and dang!  You guys haven't seen "twerking" until you've been to Cameroon.  I mean, holy moly!  If I can leave here with even one ounce of the dance skills of Cameroonians, I will be a happy camper.  We haven't had much time to explore or get to know the place yet, but the other volunteers are absolutely awesome. 
 
But let's back up a minute.  Let me tell you about my extremely long journey over here.

Oy...  Will I ever learn to pack light?  I thought I was doing so well, having everything laid out weeks ago.  The night before leaving, my darling momma helped pack everything into my two bags (a giant rolling duffel and a hiking pack), and we had each one weighing in at 49.5lbs.  Yikes...that's pretty darn close to the limit, but still acceptable.  Then I realized that I hadn't packed any shoes.  Scrap that whole "two bags" idea.  I then loaded up another mini carry-on duffel.  And I really mean LOADED.  How?  With what?  I don't even know!

Then disaster struck.  I woke up at 5:15AM, after not being able to get to sleep until 3:30AM.  Packed my backpack full of my electronics til it was bursting at the seams, and decided to weigh all of my bags one last time just to quadruple check that they were under the weight limit.  MY HIKING PACK GAINED AN ENTIRE POUND OVER NIGHT?!  50.5 pounds?!  What the heck?!  This thing must have been gaining weight from all of the Nutella it consumed.

It wasn't until we were in the airport parking lot that I began to unpack a few things, and it's a darn good thing I did -- the scale rang in at 100 pounds on the nose!  Phew!

I thought I was safe.  However, we arrived at JFK airport on the 12th and learned that our carry-on luggage had to be under 12kg total.  Mine were 20kg, and that's not even counting Stanley the Manly Unicorn.  I then spent the next hour frantically trying to jam my 15 pounds of candy into other people's underweight luggage and rearranging my bags to avoid having to pay the $150 fine.  Yep, I was that girl.  It all worked out in the end, and I celebrated the feat with a scoop of hazelnut biscotti gelato before boarding the plane. 

Seven hours on plane one, ten hours in the airport in Brussels, and eight hours on plane two.  We arrived at the hotel and had dinner at 1:30AM, Yaoundé time.

So here we are!  I've begun my adventure, and I am feeling absolutely amazing.  I have full confidence that it's going to be an incredible 27 months.  I could not be happier!  We have a few more logistical things to figure out here in Yaoundé, and then on Wednesday we will all move to our homestays in Bafia (or Bokito for the Health volunteers), where we'll begin training.

Not entirely sure what my internet access will be like for the next little while, so don't expect much.  Just hang tight and know that your favorite Maria is safe and sound and absolutely loving life!  

Ta ta for now!