I guess maybe most of you are wondering when I will start talking about work. Trees, plants, meetings, anything that might be a signal that I am actually doing something besides eating and reading. Sadly I have precious little to give you. My counterpart has been in the hospital for most of the time that I have been there and I really had no idea when we would start. But he is out now and doing much better. I think he had some sort of upper respiratory infection. I talked to him on Thursday and he seemed excited to get started. So what does that mean exactly? Good question. As it turns out, about half of my job here is figuring out what my job is here. So he and I will plan a meeting and at that meeting, I will explain who I am, what the Peace Corps is, what agroforestry is, and ask them what they think they need. And then hopefully that conversation will develop into some sort of possible project I could start or help with. I am glad that I will be starting soon, because I am getting a little stir crazy!
I am in Maroua this weekend for the provincial meeting. Its good to see everyone and hear stories of other people trying to adapt into their communities. I also got a haircut, courtesy of a certain talented new resident in Maroua. She has become the hairstylist to all of us, and we do look rather dashing I must say. I got mail from home and that was lovely! Now I am off to the market to get a few things before I head back out to the village tomorrow. Thanks so much for keeping up with me! Hopefully I will get better at this and the posts will be a little bit more story-telling instead of just relaying activities. I miss and love you all!
Sid – thanks for the note! I did read the article Matt wrote and I would love to hear more stories of the way Peace Corps used to be.
