Alli in Africa

SO all this week, I have been attending meetings and training sessions with my Cameroonian counterpart, which requires large amounts of skits and public speaking. Through these experiences, I have discovered the difference in public speaking styles for Cameroonians and Americans. As any American stands before a large group of people to speak, their heart begins to race and the hands begin to sweat and shake. As they begin to speak, they start at a normal volume and speed but as the time in front of the audience progresses so does the speed and their voice occasionally takes on a slicglty higher pitch. Usually at the end of the speech, whatever they have tried to convey has been lost in the fast speech and abnormally high voice. On the other hand, the more nervous a Cameroonian gets, the slower they begin to speak putting very large emphasis on key words as if the audience is mentally slow while stating the most obvious things as fact. THAT      IS        ALL       I       HAVE         TO           SAY          TODAY.

With everything that has been going on lately, I have not managed to update lately. Ashia. so here goes: First, at the end of January my patenrs and grandfather came to visit post. Talk about a “site visit”. I do believe that I have managed to have one of the most memorable out-of-country experiences while they were here but I must admit, it was very enjoyable as well. From dad yelling at mom and I for laughing in the face of car troubles to fixing the leaking pipes in my compound to a ncle Charles flashback at C.P.C. with Dr. Gwanfogbe, it was nothing but memorable. I can only look back and smile (thankfully). Following that in February, there were the transportaion strikes nationwide that disrupted daily life and gave me one of the most exciting taxi rides ever. Running blockades, fighting and arguing with blockade-ers, and the car sooo full that there was even a man riding hood…..You don’t get that kind of field experience just anywhere. These demonstrations also forced the Peace Corps to evacuate my province and bring everyone to the capital (Yaounde) for 4 fun filled days of surfing the web, fighting with the dvd player, playing softball and shotput with ripe avocados, and any other activity set to occupy the minds of 23 cooped up adults. But luckily, we were soon returned to our posts and life resumed its usual snail’s pace into the future. The last thing that has happened was I lost a very dear member of my African family, Maddi (my dog). Not surprisingly, the veteraniary care here is not of the highest caliber and so after a visit with the vet, he died of an allergic reaction to some medicine. Let’s all just pray that things settle down on this side of the world for a while.