Lagnooooooo

Well, I just wrote this really long entry about my new post that I didn't get to post before Internet Explorer crashed, so I'm going to start over and try to remember the witty and insightful comments that disappeared into cyberspace...

 

I just got back from a site visit at my new home for the next two years: Lagdo.  It's a small town or big village, depending on your perspective in the North province about an hour SE of Garoua, the provincial capital.  It's on this huge lake, called Lac Lagdo or something like that, and is famous for it's "White Man Hotel", some wildlife (I saw hippos!), and a huge dam built by the Chinese 25 years ago.

 

I'm the third PCV to be posted in Lagdo and am continuing working on a Malaria education project with CARE International, the huge NGO.  This is both a good and bad thing. My French is going to improve rapidly (probably not as fast as my counterparts would hope, though), my house is pretty badass, and I'll become very knowledgable in teaching about malaria, a huge problem for the villages along the lake.  The bad news is that it will slow down my integration in the community, I might get bogged down in office politics, and the project ends in July, possibly leaving me with a housing problem.

 

But let's focus on the positive for now: my house. It's part of the local CARE compound, a grand total of four or five houses with guards 24/7, one of which is mine (the house, not a guard).  It's fully furnished already, with CARE-owned stuff and things that the PCV that's leaving, Danielle, is selling me.  It has: air conditioning, a kitchen with a frige (!!!!), a screened-in porch, a big living room, two bedrooms, and a bathroom with a shower (well, a shower head on a cord) and a toilet. The electricity is very reliable and the water works during the day (it shuts off from about 10 PM - 6 AM).  Posh Corps, anyone?  

 

Another benefit of being in Lagdo is that I'm in close proximity to a bunch of volunteers.  The closest are David, an older guy 7 km away who's is extending for a third year, and Michelle, an agro in my stage about 20 minutes away.  There's also a bunch of other peeps from my stage that can be reached easily.  We're also within 4-5 hours of Maroua and Ngaoundere, the capitals of the Extreme North and the Adamauoa, which is convenient because a lot of my friends from stage are posted way up yonder in the Extreme.

 

In all, I'm looking forward to stage ending and moving to Lagdo.  It's going to be a pretty overwhelming first few months when I get there, a common problem with PCVs just getting to post.  I'm going to have to do a lot of work to integrate into the community and help out, especially when the CARE project ends. In the mean time, I'm going to figure out how goats stay on top of bush taxis as they barrel down the highway.

 

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A note on my address: for some reason, I didn't open a PO box in Lagdo when I had the chance this week, so I'll be doing that in about a month. The Yaounde address will always work, but I'll post my new one when I get it.

 

A note on Scott: Congrats on the job, car, move, etc.!

 

A note on Republicans: hahahaha.