Last few weeks in Cameroon...

So here I am spending my last few weeks in Cameroon alone. Anyone who checks in regularly knows that Alberto and Sofia left a week ago so that they could spend some time in Mexico with Al's family. He hasn't been home in a couple of years and I wanted Sofia to get to go, so this was the best time. What it means though, is that I am still here in Africa, since I can't leave until a prescribed date. So we packed our stuff just before they left and now I am sleeping on a very uncomfortable government-issued mattress and eating on government-issued plates. Guess which one makes me sort of cranky...it's not the plates.

Anyway, I get to pretend to be a single person for a few weeks. Sounds great, right? Well the only issue with that is that since we have already sold our truck, I am basically at the mercy of the motorpool and any of my friends that I can beg for a ride. Being alone in a mostly empty house with no wheels, is pretty tough. Oh well, I have made plans to rectify this situation.

I have planned dinner with friends for the next three nights. I want to laugh and talk and have a good time, because I must remember that Cameroon was a good place for us. We have been happy here. Sofia learned a lot and Al and I made some really excellent friends. I do not want my final memories of Cameroon to be sitting in the dark in my empty house watching old episodes of "NCIS" on the internet.

So I will go out with friends; I will laugh and talk and drink wine and I will take my camera and get pictures of all of these amazing friends. That way when we move on to the next adventure and I am finally reunited with my family, when they ask, "So what did you do while we were gone", I will actually have some stories to tell.

T-minus 22 days and counting...until next time.

An update...at long last

I realize that it has been a while since I shared any pictures or stories about our life here in Cameroon. We had a few events over the last couple of weeks that were photo worthy so a new blog post was a must. 

We are starting to think about our departure from Cameroon. It will be a busy few months while we sort through and sell some of our stuff. It is challenging to plan to have most of your things in storage for more than a year.Oh well, we signed up for this and we are really looking forward to our next big adventure.

Well, enough of that, on to the pictures.

Here are some good shots of Sofia just before Friday Night Live, the school talent show.

We also celebrated International Women's Day, Cameroonian style. We had the girl scouts march with us and as always, the clothing was something to see. It was much better this year than last, but honestly, that isn't saying much.

MY friend Angie and I. I really wish I had her hat!

Three different levels of Girl Scouts participated.
Daisy, Junior, and Brownie

Halloween in Cameroon 2013

It has been a while since I posted, this seems the constant litany every time I create a blog post. Honestly, I am not keeping our life here in Cameroon a secret. I am happy to share all the exciting details of our life with our family and friends, and the blogosphere at-large. But that is just it, most of life is simply not exciting. 

We work, Sofia goes to school, I cook dinner, Sofia does homework, Al fixes stuff, kills bugs, and plays his video game. That is the regular pattern of our life. It really isn't so different than the life you lead back in the USA, or elsewhere in the world. Yes, we have to be more creative with ingredients for cooking and yes, we worry about things like whether we will have water and how many times the generator will run today, but all in all, our life is pretty simple and boring.

This week, however, was Halloween. In the US, most people went trick-or-treating on Thursday evening. I hear that most of the country was soaked with rain and I am so sorry that the weather may have ruined the fun for lots of kids. Since Cameroon doesn't recognize Halloween, which is a decidedly American custom, we decided to have our Halloween fun on Friday night. This is just easier for everyone involved, since the kids don't need to be in bed early for school the next day. This is especially nice, since they ate a lot of candy.

Sofia and her friends had a great time trick-or-treating throughout the embassy. She and her daddy made excellent pirates! Arghhh, have a look at some great pictures.

Arghh mateys...where be your buried treasure?

My happy pirates

En guard

This is a face full of mischief!

Thar' she blows....

Pretty Pink Pirate

Halloween is fun with friends!

Sofia and her friend Rachel acting silly!

She looks so serious and so beautiful!

We had a great time with Halloween and when I was downloading the pictures, I found some others that I had taken previously. I will leave you with a few final shots of Sofia.

Until next time......

Summer 2013 Update

So, I realize that it has been a while since I posted anything and for that I apologize. Honestly, before our vacation, we hadn't done anything worthwhile or exciting for me to talk about. Well, all that has changed now. We just returned from R&R (vacation in the Foreign Service) and I have tons of pictures to show and some stories to tell.

We left the day after school ended for Sofia. Can you tell that we were itching to get away. We spent 2 days traveling to get home and our first Air France experience was really good (not so on the way back, but that is another story). We stayed in Philadelphia, MS for a few days visiting my mom and the rest of the Philly family and doing really boring stuff like going to the eye doctor and dentist and getting hair cuts. These things are important and most people take them for granted, but we were so glad to have clean teeth and short hair. 

Next it was off to Biloxi, MS for a short visit with Dad and Deb. We enjoyed doing really normal stuff like going to Walmart and Sams. We got to visit with great friends (thanks so much to Felica, Marie, Cheree, Carla, Ashley and the guys for making us welcome). I had lunch with a great friend and mentor, Krystyna and we checked out Margaritaville for some average food and pretty good live music. Sofia got to visit with some of her friends and even spent the night with a couple of them while we were in town.

It was back to Philadelphia for a few short days where we got to see even more great friends (thanks for swimming and making a wave pool with us) and had a nice meal with my brother and his family. Mom makes the best ribs ever! We got to spend time with Grandma Sue and Papa and played lots with Anna Katherine, who was very small when I left for Washington in 2012.

Our next adventure began with a trip to Walt Disney World. We took Sofia and my mom and my nephew, Charlie, came along. It was busy and not particularly relaxing, but we had a great time! 

The kids enjoyed swimming and we got some fun shots with our new underwater camera. The camera was a gift from my sweet husband. 

We stayed at a neat resort at Disney World called the Art of Animation. We took this fun shot with Rafiki right outside our hotel building.

Up next, here are some random pictures that we took. 

We went to Epcot and got these fun shots. 

Sofia playing in a fountain in the rain in Germany

Al and the kids enjoying the mariachi music in Mexico

Last up, here are pictures of the kids with some of the Disney characters. There will be more Disney pictures to come, once we get our disc from Disney World in the mail. Wait until you see the ones of Mom dancing and singing with Tigger.

Sofia and Charlie with Chip and Dale

Sofia with Tigger and Pooh

After a busy week at Walt Disney World, Mom and Charlie headed back to Mississippi and we left for a few relaxing days on the Disney Cruise. My dad and stepmom, Deb, came along on this leg of our vacation. It was a bit more relaxing than Disney World. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the cruise.

We took a ride on a catamaran.

Sofia went snorkeling!

Sofia liked snorkeling. I always call her my little fish!

Disney Cruise Line took some professional shots and I wanted to share those. They turned out pretty good. We had a lot of fun on Pirate night!

After our Disney trip, it was time to head back to Yaounde, after a short stop in Philadelphia. We stayed for a couple of nights in Paris to try and get over the jet lag a bit before returning to Cameroon. We saw Notra Dame, the Louvre and took a Seine River cruise. We were really tired and I don't know that Paris is really a city for kids, but here are some good pictures that we got.

We all had fun on our vacation, but we are glad to be back home. We have another year here in Yaounde and then we will be off to our next post. Stay tuned for information on where that will be...I will share it soon!

Until next time....

Easter time...almost

I apologize to everyone right up front. I haven't posted in over a month and I am sorry. Things here are so blissfully normal, that I can't usually think up much to post. We are preparing for Sofia's 8th birthday next weekend and also Easter and the start of her spring break.

Work is work and we are very busy preparing for evaluation season, award season, and several other important deadline driven things. Alberto is busy with work, taking guitar lessons, and has considered playing soccer. He is enjoying the Cameroon-Togo match at the stadium, as I type.

Already plans are underway for our summer R&R trip and I must admit, I am ready for a break. It will be nice to see our family and friends.

I am currently making yogurt, in the crock-pot. For everyone who is following our African adventure, you will know that I have gotten very domestic since coming to Cameroon. I have made sour cream, pizza dough, ice cream, bread, and cinnamon rolls from scratch. Now, I am giving yogurt a shot. I will let everyone know how it goes.

To conclude this post, of course, I have some great pictures of Sofia to share!

Sofia in her new Easter dress.

Sofia with Al before he transformed all the way into the Easter bunny!

Sofia in her Easter dress with her basket.

Honestly, Al makes kind of a creepy Easter bunny, but the kids loved it.

That's all folks. Until next time...