Paris, Day 2

I am enjoying Wifi at the apartment. Am watching Blade Runner in French on France2. Several people have asked about the apartment, so here is a tour.

The building's entrance is on a small street just next to a Best Western. Once inside the passage, enter a second door code & take the elevator to the 3rd floor (which to Americans would be the 4th). The door opens to a relatively (for Paris) large living room, with a comfy couch, table & chairs, bookshelves. A shockingly large TV dominates. Turning left in the entryway, find the kitchen in front & a bathroom to the right. In the tiny kitchen is hidden an unused dishwasher & a nice fridge. The bathroom has a bathtub, sink, toilet, and washing machine. The bedroom is also small, furnished only with a bed & dresser. There are only 3 very small closets in the place but it's not cluttered. It's simply decorated. Most of the artwork is by the owner.

I met the owner today so she could pick up some of her things. She's nice, young and speaks good English. Apparently she did a year long exchange at Middlebury. There are plenty of restaurants, cafes, a few bakeries, butchershops & at least 2 large chain grocery stores within walking distance. I have yet to take the Metro (on Line 13, useless for traveling to tourist sites conveniently) or bus but have noticed the stops nearby . I strolled to Luxembourg Gardens today and it took about 45 minutes. Montparnasse train station is less than 10 minutes away, and I've already visted the Galleries Lafayettes.

Today I read in the park, ate a huge Salade Campagnard (toasted goat cheese, duck gizzards) and drank my first Orangina. After our meeting in the apartment I went shopping and on a whim saw a movie. It's the Fete du Cinema so for the next three days I can watch movies for 2Euros. And it's light here until past 10pm! I'm excited about tilting towards the sun and experiencing seasons change.

My feet are killing me, which means I need to stop wearing cheap Cameroonian leather sandals and buy some fancy Le Coq Sportif tennis shoes. Yes, indeed. Tomorrow I'm hitting the sales at Printemps & Samaritaine. I haven't even made it to the Seine or the Right Bank yet. Sightseeing is for tourists.

Ah, Paris!

I have arrived in the fabulous land of France. After a tearful goodbye & a long wait at the Yaounde airport, I & 3 fellow COSers flew to Casablanca today. We said our goodbyes at the Mohammed IV airport, as they are spending 10 days in Morocco. I continued on to Paris. I splurged on a 50 Euro cab ride from CDG to the apartment because I had a lot of bags and I deserved it.

Then I took a much needed shower and nap. For dinner I wandered the neighborhood and discovered a tasty Tibetan restaurant. I had black mushroom & vermecelli soup, fried vegetable & cheese dumplings with red wine, and, for dessert, saffron rice and yak butter tea. The amount I spent on dinner would feed Bokito for a day, but I deserve it! (Although I support Tibetans' fight for independence from China, I must admit that the yak butter tea is rancid.)

Didn't manage to get a SIM card, so no phone number yet. I did have one meaningful conversation in Parisian, though!

Tomorrow's plans: croissants, long stroll.

Packing & Saying "Au revoir"

Obviously packing skills are not herditary or otherwise I'd have no nervous anticipation of the enormous task before me. I have to pack the last two years of my life into a suitcase and a large backpack. I dumped all my stuff on the floor last Saturday when I arrived in Yaounde & it hasn't moved since. I'm discouraged just by looking at it. And the task isn't made easier by the fact that I'm still buying souvenirs & receiving "packages" to deliver to the US.

More later, my host sister is here...

CEMAC and COS

My last (attempted) travel in Cameroon as a Peace Corps volunteer:

I wanted to visit my host family in Mbalmayo for the last time. I called my host sister Mimi and arranged to travel with her on Monday. I met her at Mvan (the neighborhood which houses the travel agencies to the South province) around 1pm, after a long taxi ride across town. We boarded a bus and left a few minutes later. After a short 15 minutes of driving we were stopped at a police roadblock and told to pull over into an empty field.

Four and a half hours later, she & I began the long walk back to Yaounde to catch a taxi home. I finally paid 600F to circle the outskirts of Yaounde and return to Omnisport. I walked into the PC Case at 7:15pm, down 2500F and with nothing to show for it but fatigue.

You may know that travel in Africa is difficult, but it is further complicated when 5 African presidents are arriving at the Yaounde-Nsimalen airport and roads are closed all over town. CEMAC (the economic union of central Africa including Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Gabon, CAR and Cameroon) was hosting its annual meeting in Yaounde.

The one highlight of my 7 hour ordeal: the president of Congo-Brazzaville's police escort got lost on the way from the airport to the Hilton. Rather than following the prescribed route he took a secondary road, forcing policemen & soldiers to run up and down the street wildly gesticulating and blowing whistles at drivers to pull over. I sat calmly in my taxi cab & waved to Nguesso as he drove past.

My PC service is complete.

Counting the days...

I'll admit, up until a few weeks ago I was absolutely gleeful at the thought of leaving Cameroon. I was terribly bored in Bokito and couldn't wait to get out. Then, this past Friday, after showing me their report cards (all three passed!), my neighbor girls, Georgette, Charlie & Marie, told me they were leaving. Suddenly it hit me: I won't ever see them again. They've been constant nuisances & delights (alternately) the last two years, running errands for me, asking for salt or sugar, annoying me with their off key singing. I put old clothes & other stuff I planned to leave in package along with new pens & pencils for next school year. We took one last picture together and said goodbye. The next morning as I went for my run, they were waiting for a taxi by the roadside & we waved.

Since then my friend Carole's parents have come to say goodbye as well. They gave me a present & also one for Mom. Various students have stopped at the house to say goodbye and I try to come up with a "petit paquet" for all of them. I'm happy to give stuff away to friends, colleagues, and students who will appreciate it. It's annoying to be asked by strangers what I'm leaving to them, but I know it's expected in Cameroonian culture. I have been given presents, too, so it's not all one sided.

Here I am in Yaounde to drop off my bike...it needed air in the tires & some small repairs. I'm going to try to close my bank account, exchange CFA for Euros and do some souvenir shopping. Otherwise I'm ready to get back to Bokito & pack up my house. Most of my furniture has been bought. Saturday is my final APLYBOK (the teachers' association) meeting and I'm hosting it. Afterwards I'll give away the rest of my stuff, pack my bags and leave.

A colleague of Ashley's has generously offered to take us to Yaounde as long as we pay gas. I'm happy not to deal with Amigo Voyages, although the baggage handlers & ticket sellers have become friends of a sort after constant travels with them. Even my regular market mommies have been nice to me. All of them have contributed to my experience and I'll miss them.

Here's the address of my latest online photo album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2139635&l=68144&id=20601980