La Mer

Our vacation - or In-Service Training - is over. So is the ocean, good food, and the ocean. IST was almost like a cruise ship: Everything you needed was really at the hotel (Hotel le Paradis) and they kept feeding you and feeding you and feeding you... (...man, M-e-t-h-o-d Man. Sorry, Wu-Tang reference. I'll never do that again, I promise). I've never eaten so many croissants in my life.

The actual conference was semi-helpful. It was nice hearing PCVs in their second year come and present some of the work they've done, especially considering that we'd never hear about any of the things they've done in person since we're so far away up in the north. IST got a little confusing, though, when our Cameroonian counterparts came, official PC-chosen Cameroonians that we're supposed to have at post to help us work (I didn't invite mine for a bunch of reasons I should probably explain here at some point to give you a better idea of what I've been doing and what I'm going to do). All the PCVs that presented all told us to take our time and not to jump into projects, and more importantly to do what we wanted to do, then once the counterparts got to Kribi, we immediately jump into needs-assessment and project-planning on subjects we might not really be interested in.

The best part of the IST was getting together with all of my stagemates and seeing another part of the country. And eating shrimp. Les crevettes etaient deliceux. The whole conference was a great way to recharge my batteries in order to deal with how I want to deal with CARE leaving (I should explain that later, too) and being able to prepare for wherever my work will go.

It's about time to hope on the train. Au revior, free Internet and Snickers bars at every boutique.