Last Post

First of all, I'd like to congratulate Guy Ritchie.  To quote Ron White, "I married into a rich family.  If you ever have the chance, go ahead."

Second, this is my last blog post as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  I finished up my service and have been back in the good ol' Etats-Unis since Saturday evening.  I'm just getting over the jet lag and still haven't figured out I'm actually here yet.  Here's a short list of what I've been doing and observing these last few days:

•    Freezing – Mon dieu, it's cold

•    Lots of pickles – Way too many pickle choices at the grocery store

•    Trying to find bargaining angles – I have to remind myself I can't bargain for tomatoes anymore

•    The power of Google – Whenever a question pops in my head, I used to say, "Hey, I'm gonna [bleeping] Google that [bleep]."  Now, I actually can.

•    How fast YouTube videos load – It's really incredible, like Google

•    Catching up on T-Pain songs – Love the new hat

•    Not worrying about small change – Vendors always have change.  Amazing!

I won't be continuing the blog because the second I stepped on the plane in Yaoundé, I became less interesting.  Sure, I'll be talking a lot about Cameroon, but my day-to-day life in America doesn't make for good blogging, except for me describing how a part of me decays every time I walk into a box store.

I just want to thank everyone who has read the blog and/or has written to me these last two years, whether through the blog, Facebook, email, or snail mail.  It really meant a lot to me to hear from you while being away for such a long time.  If you still have a fix for Peace Corps blogs, check out Phil's or the link on the right side of the page for all the PC blogs you could ever want.

Merci beaucoup!  Sey yeeso.

Dockworkers, Joe Johnson, Shit Street

NOTE: This entry is what I wrote in Cameroon, but never finished.  "COS Week" is incomplete, but since this entry is my Special Edition Deluxe Bonus Tracks Exclusive, here 'tis.

Celebrating Department Stores and Dockworkers, Bitches

Yeah, you know what this is
It's a celebration, bitches
    - Kanye West

Career opportunity, the one that never knocks
Every job they offer you is to keep you off the docks
    - The Clash

We got department stores and toilet paper
Got Styrofoam boxes for the ozone layer
    - Neil Young

The Clash, Kanye West, and Neil Young capture these next two weeks.  On one hand, I've left post for the final time and start my final two weeks in country, 28+ months of being in the Peace Corps, a proud achievement to be sure.  On the other mano, I have to go back to America and find a job.  Damn the Man, but let's have a few "33"s at the bar first.

I've spent this last week watching Season 2 of Entourage, celebrating Turkey Day in Ngong, enjoying Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman in Air Force One ("Get off my plane!"), and upending my house.  The packing is a little overwhelming because I have to figure out what to do with everything in my house since I'm not being replaced.  I have a preset amount of space in my traveling bags, so once that is taken care of, what to do with the rest?  Some of it I'm giving to the guards and Rose, my cleaning lady, things like buckets and towels and empty water bottles; other stuff is going to volunteers, even my fridge, which a PCV in Garoua picked up a few days ago in Lagdo with the help of an American Baptist missionary, and will be put in the Garoua office; but whatever's left, I don't know.

The itinerary for the week: Garoua, two nights in N'gaoundéré, Meiganga, two nights in Bertoua, Yaoundé for the duration.

Prediction Reflection

I was going through my old entries saved on my computer and came across my 2008 NBA playoffs and MLB season predictions, and I was about half right – kinda.

With the NBA, I said Boston would annihilate Atlanta in a "merciless sweep" and would beat the Lakers in the Final.  First, I guessed right that Atlanta would when the Someone Has To Take It spot in the NBA playoffs: the 8th seed in the Eastern Conference, easily the worst team that makes the playoffs.  The Celtics did beat Atlanta but in seven games, and Boston beat Kobe in six games I believe, so not too bad.

Baseball.  I got 3/4 of the NL playoff teams right (Phillies, Dodgers, Brewers), although the Phillies got the division and not the wild card, which the Brewers ended up getting.  In the AL, I got half of them right in the wrong positions (Red Sox, Angels).  Boston got the wild card, not the East, while the Angels got the West.  World Series?  Way off.  I had the Tigers beating the Brewers in six.

What's to be learned from all of this?  Kind of like Anchorman, I correctly predict these things half the time all the time.

COS Week

A familiar site during COS (and Mid-Service) week: groups of volunteers taking taxis darting around Yaoundé holding bags of their own poop.  We have to poop in a cup two or three times, and those chalices of shyte have to be transferred to a lab downtown for various tests.  In addition to that, we have a normal physical and a dental exam; exit interviews with our APCD and the Country Director; and a lot of paperwork.

The week has been sort of organized.  Before COS Conference in August, Peace Corps gave us a booklet with a bunch of forms to fill out that were due by the conference or during our last week in Yaoundé.  We turned in a bunch of them at the conference, and all those forms were promptly returned to us on our arrival in Yaoundé this week.  In the booklet, there's also a two-page checklist we have to get signed by various admin officials by Friday.  A large chunk of the checklist are the papers that were returned to us...