My new family

I've officially started training and things are going great. My host brother and sister picked me up when I first arrived in Bagante, they even made me a sign which was really nice. A little awkward at first living with a family who speaks a language I don't know all that well but I got over it pretty fast. One of my host brothers is great because he speaks french slowly and even speaks a little english. The house is really nice, they even have a TV running water too. It takes a few minutes to get used to the cold shower, but I'm not going to be in there for more than a few minutes anyway so it's not that bad. My bedroom is great, it has a large bed, and a desk, and a mosiquito net, which is very important. Oh and they also have a tv. The family is going to help improve my french and teach me about world soccer. I left my host brothers who are in high school use my ipod while they were studying. then over dinner one of them started signing... My humps, my humps, my humps my lovely lady lumps.. it was hilarious. I was a little upset to find out that i didn't have any really younger host siblings, but from my room i can hear the neighbor's babies quite well so I'm okay with it. Same with the roosters, all 30 of them next door.

The roads are very muddy here with red clay mud. It's really important to be clean and most importantly to keep your shoes clean here. It's a sign of respect. Litterally when I meet someone, they smile at me, say bonjour and then look at my shoes. So I've got to work on keeping clean better. Apparently it's their cold season, which is 65 at night and 75 degrees during the day. Besides the short hurriance like downpours that turn the roads to rivers, it's perfect weather.Speaking in french constantly is really exhausting though. It's at least 4 hours a day of french lessons at school and then more at home when I attempt to understand whats going on in the house. One of my host brothers is learning english, so I'm helping him and he helps me out by speaking slower in french. The accent here is much much different than a traditional french accent which is alot of the confusion. I'm starting to think in french which is good sign though. All of my professors are cameroonians as well and there are definitely some communication barriers. I tried to explain deer hunting season (chasing season of an animal that doesn't exist in Cameroon and maple syrup/ maple fest (sugar from a tree festival). I got some weird looks.

The food is definitely different. I eat tons of avocadoes, bananas, rice, bread and potatoes usually along with some kind of meat that I'm not yet able to identify. But my sister is an excellent cook. She does all the cooking, cleaning and shopping.. alot of work! I can always go to the market for a spaghetti omelette, or a meat kabob, or for something more expensive (we're talking $2) I can get a box of cookies or crackers. For about $3, I can go to a nicer restaurant here, but that's expensive.

Well I guess that's all for right now, either I have nothing interesting to say or some foreign things have just become normal already. A bientot!