Bamenda

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves..." Anatole France

Bamenda: the place where dreams come true! (Second only to Disneyland.) Leaving Yaounde for Bamenda is like going on a long-awaited vacation, and then BOOM congratulations, you get to live here! The drive was over 6 hours long, but completely worth it; any way you choose to take is "the scenic route." Along the way we saw all kinds of trees, including some kinds of evergreens and real-life Dr. Seuss trees, stopped by the side of the road for meat and the biggest avocados I'v ever seen (Cameroonians call them pears), and met several Peace Corps volunteers newly assigned to Cameroon. Every sighting of a white person around here is announced by punching each other and yelling "WHITE MAN! WHITE MAN!" which is usually followed by the Jacksons inviting them to our weekly Pizza and Movie night. Tis a fun game, and a marvelous way to meet every single white person in the country. 

With just the Jacksons, Sarah, Lum, Fadi, Nelly, Caroline, and me here tonight, Pizza and Movie night was quieter than usual - or as quiet as you can get with 6 girls in the house. It was a little weird walking through the house, and seeing the garden, and meeting the dogs (Autumn and Sasha) and cats (Jane and Monk) with the thought that this will be my home for the next 12 moons or so. The adjustment will be hard, I think, but perhaps won't take as long as it may seem. My perspective has already changed so much within these first few days, I can only imagine what the differences will be between now and the end of the year. (For instance, the other day talking to Chris he asked how the internet had been during a skype call.. and my answer: "Oh, really great, it only cut out 2 or 3 times!" Cause for celebration, right there.)

But thank God for the times when the internet does work, and that I can talk to my family and Toby when I'm missing home. In the middle of all this craziness, He still cares about stuff like that, things that may not seem important to anyone else but us. That makes it important to Him too, and that is pretty awesome.