Village Girl goes to the Big City!

I've gotten pretty comfortable living in my little house in village.  I've settled into a routine, growing used to the scarcity of water and the constant battle with dust.  I have made some incredibly lovely friends in Sanguéré-Paul and I truly enjoy my time there.  Thus, I didn't necessarily feel like I needed a break from post and was not anxiously awaiting PST-Reconnect (our in-service training at the three month mark) as many of the other volunteers have been.  I was not particularly looking forward to the trip down south, where the people would not be as calm, I would not feel as safe and secure, and I would not be able to live in the comfort of my own home.

With all that being said, I arrived in Yaoundé Friday morning, and have been having one heck of a fancy-pants weekend here, and loving every minute of it!  

After the five hour bus ride to Ngaoundéré on Wednesday, we met up with the rest of the Grand North volunteers who live in different villages in the Adamawa region.  They gave us a tour of Ngaoundéré, taking us to a restaurant with delicious salads and homemade hummus, followed by a bar with beachy atmosphere.  We hiked Mount Ngaoundéré, went to the market (there were guinea pigs!!!), and found a dairy bar where the ice cream machine was broken, but the lady made a mean chocolate yogurt (bien glacé... it almost counts as froyo!)

Eleven of us boarded the train on Thursday evening, and kicked things off right with mimosas.  We had intended it to be classy and sophisticated, but I think that dream was shot when we realized we had no cups or glasses, and resorted to mixing liquids in empty water bottles, holding the bottles out the window to prevent spilling all over our beds and luggage. 

We arrived in Yaoundé just in time for lunch.  After sharing a pizza with my friend Pax, we went to Espresso House for delicious chocolate milkshakes (and coffee, but coffee -- ick!).  By the time we arrived back at the case (the Peace Corps transit house, pronounced "cause", which I should mention is brand new, currently still under construction, and has several sparkly chandeliers and a bathtub!!), it was nearly time for Hilton Happy Hour.  A few of us headed out to the Hilton Hotel, took the elevator to the 11th floor (whoa guys, whoa.  I forgot buildings this tall even existed!), and ordered ourselves some deliciously strong margaritas and long island ice teas.

This morning I went for a run at the Parcours Vita, which is basically a public sports complex where you can find hundreds of people faring sport: running the 2km fitness trail around a lake, taking various exercise classes, playing basketball, tennis, or soccer, and sweating their guts out in the painfully thick humidity.  I instantly found a running buddy and once we were good and tired from many miles of running-walking-and-talking, we went out for refreshing smoothies. 

Finally, we topped it all off with a pool party at the U.S. Embassy!  Six luxurious hours of swimming, sunbathing, and delicious food.  Spending the afternoon on American soil -- where the grass is green, people speak English, and no one will judge you if you're showing your kneecaps -- was unbelievable relaxing.  We had to keep each other in check, reminding each other that diarrhea is not considered an appropriate meal-time conversation topic outside of the PCV world, and no, it's probably not polite to wash your skirt in the pool.  Be on our best behavior so that we can be invited back!  The embassy workers seemed to be entertained by hearing our stories from post -- our struggles with food, water, and integration -- but mostly they seemed to get the biggest kick out of our excitement about little things such as toilets that flush, automatic paper-towel dispensers, and those little cone-shaped paper cups next to the water filter.  And Kraft Singles!

Tomorrow we will be leaving for Bamenda, where we'll meet with everyone from our original stage (training group), our program managers, and our counterparts.  Though I'm excited to see everyone together in one place again, I am mostly just still reveling in all the fancypants things that I nearly forgot existed outside of my sweet little village life.