Welcome to Cameroon, where nothing ever works but everything always works out! ...a saying that one of last years students left... Yes, i am here. currently im sitting in an internet cafe near my house in dschang. the city is nestled in beautiful verdant mountains. its a postcard view from nearly everywhere. so much to recount and so little time...and a very frusterating french keyboard! the group that i am with is fantastic and energetic and diverse and very caring. we spent the first week in fongo tongo, a rural village near dschang when its dry, but far away if its raining...i am now an expert bus pusher. in our week of seclusion, we formed a very tight group bond which makes it muich easier to navigate this new life with friends. in fongo tongo we hiked through the rain forest to visit some fam,ous waterfalls and we were welcomed by the grand chief of the region...which has only ever happed one other time in the programs 15 year history. he welco,ed us with a traditional dance ceremony... and believe it or not, he honored my dancing by kissing a bill and placing it on my forehead as i danced by him!!!! it is a traditional thing to do, but anyone who has seen my dance moves will probably wonder why he chose me! probably more of a blonde hair thing and less of a rhythm thing. anyhow, we moved to dschang 3 days ago. i am living with the family njoko in foto which is about a 15 minute walk away fro, the university. ...for the moms...julia and rachel live in the same neighborhood and we all walk together. i have 3 sisters, 2 brothers, maman and papa, and an aunt...and anyone else who happens to stop by, which is all the time here! i love the daily challenge of living life in french and discovering a new culture. my papa works at the university and my maman gets up at 330 every morning to make banyos, kinda like donuts sortof, and then delivers them to stores around the town where they are sold. my papa gets up and helps her every morning...which is an amazing dynamic in this very gender divided soceity. i am the 7th student that my family has had, thus they are all used to being patient and being stared at all the time! the two oldest sisters, carrine and eugenne 16 and 14, are wonderful. i love talking with them and they with me. my papa loves to learn and engage me in very interesting conversations such as gender division, global warming, and global perception of developing countries. i love it and am very very amazed that my french can navigate such topics, albeit rather choppily! oooh, i have much to tell, but i need to head home to help with dinner. as this internet cafe is quite close to my house, my posts should be more frequent for the next month. i would love to hear from all, either by comments on this blog or by email ...brianne.carpenter@hope.edu, or by snail mail...an accurate adj here... if youre ambitious. know that i am well and happy! bisous, brianne