Back to Training(and photos!)

8/28/07

I don’t feel like I have a lot to write this week. To make up for that, I’m going to attempt to upload pictures to the blog this week. The gist of what’s going on: I got a glimpse of what’s to come on my site visit – what I signed up for: a chance to make a difference and have fun doing it – and now I’m back in a rigorously scheduled training program. I wasn’t expecting to ever feel this “senioritis” feeling again, but I’m itching to be done with training. I feel like 95% of what I need to know is going to b learned on the job (at post). Of the other 5 %, I’ve already learned 3%. So it feels like I’m back in training for three weeks and 2% of what I need to know. Oh well. Ça va aller (It will all be okay). The one saving grace in the whole matter is that I’ve already reached the necessary French proficiency required before going to post. That means almost half of my classes, where everyone else has language are “self-directed learning.” Believe it or not, I’ve actually spent most of these classes self-directing myself to French grammar, but it is nice to know that if I want to take a nap during this time, I can just take a nap.

It’s also nice to be back with all the other trainees. We all get along great, and even though training is dragging on, this might be the last time we’re all together. We have In-Service Training in December, but we just found out that the Small Business and Education IST are not held at the same time. That was upsetting to all of us, so I decided to bust out some of my organizing skills I learned at Clean Water Action. Last week, I brought up the issue in front of all of our training staff in our weekly group meeting. The training director said he would bring it up with the country director, but didn’t sound too hopeful. This week, the country director is going to be here when we have our group meeting. I prepared a formal letter and had all 36 of us sign it. We’ll present it to him on Thursday. We’ll see how it goes.

Alright, so I’ve rambled on for a little bit. Let me see how many pictures I can get up on this SLOW connection.

Tim

The Cameroon Country Director(left) laughing at the Peace Corps Director (yes, the director) from Washington dancing at the celebration for the 45th anniversary of Peace Corps in Cameroon

The entryway to my house!