Cameroon

I have a few minutes to quickly write, here from the school in Yaonde, where they have wireless, unlike at our hotel, which charges for wireless, so - no internet except if I can find some work/child free time, and VOILA, I have a few momentos now. SO, the trip to Yaounde was not without adventure. I just realized I'm not sure how to spell Yaonde, oh well. I'll just write "Y" instead. We had to go through another city in Cameroon first, and go through customs, blah blah, and guess what? All those security measures in the US for carryons, like - no gel/paste/cream/liquid over 3.2 ounces, well, I thought that was just a US thing, post 9/11, but - turns out it's not. They confiscate your carryon stuff in Africa, too, if it exceeds a certain amount. Well, not knowing that, we thought it wise to bring all our stuff in carryons to avoid a checked bag getting lost (I still can't believe our 15 bags made it from KS to Brazzaville, unscathed)and, ended up getting some liquid/gel/etc. stuff taken from us, oh well, it was fun trying to explain shaving cream in my bad French ,the woman asked what it was used for. So, once in Y, Paul met us at the airport and we rode in a school van to the Hilton, VERY nice, and we are in two connecting rooms again, like the hotel in Brazzaville, and Matt and one child sleep in one bed, and me and the other, in the other, and we switch off. We went to a marche yesterday (market) and it was a bit daunting, the vendors were swarming us, trying to get us to buy their stuff. I did buy a great Cameroon soccer t-shirt for Stuart and a traditional Cameroon dress shirt for Stuart. He did NOT like the marche, a bit overwhelming for him. I was off one "0" and really overpaid on the shirts, oops, oh well. 10,000 CFA is about $20 - why all the zeros? It was the same in Ecuador, lots of unnecessary zeros. So, the marche was quite entertaining, they really love Obama here, I saw lots of Obama paraphernalia, I took a pic of Obama on a backpack, I'll post it later. I saw an Obama 08 bumper sticker on a car, too. I especially loved the Buzz Lightyear that says "To Infinity and Beyond" in a voice that is NOT Tim Allen's, and then starts singing an African song. Matt and I found out our grade assignments, I'll be teaching a grade 1/2 combo, with 8 students. Matt a 4/5 combo with 6 students. The Canadian woman will be Paloma's teacher, in the PRE K 3 class, which is the largest class, 14 students (but they're hiring a Congolese assistant teacher) and Stuart in the Canadian man's K class. Most of their classmates are native French speakers, as are the teachers, so I love this - it will definitely accellerate their French acquisition. A woman who wants to be our children's "nu nu" (what they call nannies here) showed up at our hotel in Brazzaville as we were rushing out the door to catch our flight. I didnt' know she was coming, but wow, that was a shock, everyone (meaning all expats) have nu nus here, or cooks, chauffeurs, maids, etc. some people have many people working for them, that is rather foreign for we American teachers. The ride to the airport was memorable, as - roads were blocked off b/c the prez of ROC was going through town, so - our drivers literally drove on the sidewalks to get past the traffic jams, to get us to the airports. Then at the airport, we were ushered into the VIP room, and boarded from there, avoiding all the hassles. Turns out this woman who's, I'm learning, pretty much the main reason AISB is even happening is quite influential, her father is like prez of the central African countries union. She is very likeable. So, today, at the school here in Y, it was rather impossible to attend the training with Stuart and Paloma, so - I asked some of the Y teachers if they knew of any nu nus who could come, and they did, so - an hour later, a nu nu named Elizabeth shows up and is playing with our kids for the afternoon, this is why I'm able to write now, but it's time to go get them, they're right outside, in the school's playground, a two-minute walk away, we wouldn't have it any other way, - so, this is convenient. She's coming tomorrow for the whole day so we can attend meetings, etc. OH, last night Paul invited all the AISB teachers (we're 6) and the new Y teachers to his house, quite nice, for dinner. One of the new Y teachers is a couple and they brought their baby and 3 year old ,so - wow, that is tougher than a 3 and 5 year old IMHO. Au revoir for now!