Hello everyone!
13 days and counting until I return home from Cameroon! I now have less days left in this country than the Dugger family has children (See TLC show "19 Kids and Counting").
Last weekend we took a trip to Kribi, which is a beautiful town on the Atlantic Ocean in the South region of Cameroon. It should have taken us about 5 hours to get there...it took us 8.
We began our journey at 10 AM by meeting at the bus station to get on a bus headed to the capital of Cameroon, Yaounde. Chinedum was getting her Nigerian visa that morning and said she would meet us at the station. She arrived as the bus was pulling out of the station, giving Alyssa and I some serious anxiety. Then there were more people on the bus than there were seats, so the bus took another 30 minutes to pull out onto the road. About an hour and a half into the journey, we passed through a police checkpoint where the police officers walked through the bus, checking ID cards. Most of the time we never travel with our passports, but our "legalized" photocopies so that we don't lose our original passports. Jose had brought his original with him, and Chinedum had her original because she was getting her visa right before, but the police officer asked Alyssa and I to get off the bus because we had only photocopies and no proof of our Yellow Fever vaccination (which is required to get the visa in the first place). We explained to him that the card was required to get our visa and that it was unnecessary for us to have it, but he asked for a bribe of 2000 CFA (about $4) from both of us. I told the police officer that I would call the US Embassy ans that he could speak to them and that they would verify that my visa is valid and that I have my vaccinations. He seemed very unhappy and begrudgingly let us return to the bus.
After another hour and a half we got off the bus and stopped in a city called Edea, which is about an hour from Kribi. We walked to a bus station where we caught a "bus" (van) that was going to Kribi, but about 15 minutes into our drive, the car broke down. So there we were, 4 foreigners and our Cameroonian friend Mandela, stranded on the side of the road with other travelers for 2 hours. We finally decided to head back to where we began and try to find another car to take us to Kribi. So we hopped in a truck that was going down the hill (3 in the back seat, 2 in the truck bed) and caught a ride back to Edea where we began. After about another hour we found someone who was willing to drive us to our hotel in Kribi, so we piled into to this man's car and went on our way.
We arrived at our hotel at around 6 PM, checked into our bungalow and immediately sought out the only restaurant nearby. The menu had pizza and drinks besides beer, so we were in heaven. The outdoor dining area was right on the beach, so we always dined outside, looking out at the ocean. Our way home went much smoother on Sunday, as we went through Douala, as we probably should have done on our way there.
Other than our weekend away, not much has been going on here in Cameroon. Since we finished our filters we have not had a lot to do. The people who have the information for our next project have both been out of the office until today, so we have been reading and watching movies in the office every day and leaving at lunchtime. So far, in the last 8 weeks I have read 11 books and began a 12th. These books include:
1. Water for Elephants
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. Lonely Planet's Best of Travel 2014
4. The Invention of Wings
5. Divergent
6. Gone Girl
7. Inferno
8. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
9. Insurgent
10. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)
11. Allegiant
12. A Game of Thrones: A Song of Fire and Ice: Book 1
As you can tell, we have a lot of free time here. The kids I live with think I am weird because I like to read so much, but since I don't have a lot of time to read for pleasure during the school year, I am taking this opportunity to do a lot of reading and enjoying it.
Well that's all from Cameroon! Now that the World Cup is over there's not much to do here...
Peace, Love and Clean Water!
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Rain Is A Good Thing
We have officially completed all 6 filters we set out to complete when we arrived here, which we are very happy about. We finished just before the roads got too soupy, which is great because driving on some of the muddy roads was like driving on unplowed snowy streets. We are now planning on spending our laat weeks here working on education and learning about the organization as a whole. Hopefully we will be able to help out a little bit with other projects that are happening through NKong, but in Cameroon you really never know.
I apologize for the shortness of this post, but there's not much to report. I miss everyone back home and I am countin down the next 19 days until I head home!
Katie
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Halfway Through
Today marks exactly halfway through our time in Cameroon - 35 days here, 35 days to go. I have to say, while I love being here, I am looking forward to being at home with my family.
To date Alyssa, Chinedum, Jose, and I have finished 3 biosand filters, half of the filters we need to complete. We have certainly had quite a few bumps along the road to the completion of these three filters, including completing a filter only to realize two days later that it's leaking and we will need to empty the filter in order to patch the leak. We are optimistic that we will finish all the filters that we have been working on, but not optimistic that they will be used by the villages we have completed them in. I read through the previous ETHOS groups' report they wrote before leaving and read that the villagers were incredibly excited about this project when they began it, and even read that they left completed filters in a village we are supposed to be finishing filters in. Upon our arrival to the village containing the supposed completed filters, we found that they were in fact completed, and hadn't been used for the last two years. It was incredibly disheartening to us to see that, but none the less we started them over.
Every time we leave the office to go out into the field to work we get stopped at a checkpoint and have our documentation checked. The first time we got stopped a police woman gave us a very funny look and we were all very confused. None of us carry our actual passports with us for safety reasons and to ensure that our passports will not be lost, so we each handed her a photocopy of our passport and visa. She told us that we had to go to the police station and have the copies of our passports "legalized". Having our passports legalized meant going to the police station, paying XAF 1200 for a stamp that is supposed to cost XAF 1000 (and says so on the stamp), and then having someone place this stamp on our passport copies and having someone sign the photocopies. We were all incredibly frustrated that we had to pay someone to sign a piece of paper, especially since I have seen people use an unsigned copy of their passport to get through Customs in multiple airports. The government, however, is incredibly corrupt, especially the police and the military. We heard stories from some of the Peace Corps volunteers about being asked for bribes to be kept out of jail if they passed through a checkpoint without a legalized copy of their documentation. They had to call the US Embassy in order to be allowed to pass through the checkpoint.
Despite the setbacks and annoyances I have had such an incredible 5 weeks here. My host family has become comfortable with me, and the older kids have even started knocking on my door before coming into my room (when I'm home). I have found a place that serves cheeseburgers (even though they sucked) and fries, and have even gotten used to taking cold showers on my return home from work. With the World Cup happening right now, there is never a dull moment, despite Cameroon's loss to all three teams in their group. We hope to cheer on the US to a victory, or at least a tie, on Thursday, so that they will advance into the top 16 teams in the tournament.
Another UD group will arrive to a village about an hour away from us, and we hope to visit with them a few times while they are here, as well as take a weekend and stay in a port town. On the weekends we have been able to explore a little bit of Buea, including finding a night club called Las Vegas. We have also experienced some of the culture here in Cameroon. We have attended traditional dance practices, drank palm wine, eaten more corn fufu and vegetable than we could ever imagine, and been able to find new restaurants and take taxis on our own to new places.
Public transportation can get a little sketchy sometimes though...We occasionally take public transportation to the field if the company vehicle is not available. Most taxis will only take you so far, so you must take multiple taxis to where you can pick up a bus. A bus is definitely not like a bus you will see at home. A bus is a large van that will hold about 16 people in its 5 rows, with people's stuff riding strapped to the top of it. When a bus stops on the side of a road or at a bus stop it is swarmed with people selling street food (peanuts, snail kebabs, chicken kebabs, plums, etc.), drinks, white bread, and anything else they think people might potentially need while they are traveling. Because we are white, people try to sell us EVERYTHING. It is really odd being a minority. Even we have started saying "Guys look, a white person" when we see other Americans or Europeans, which happens very occasionally.
Well I'm using Alyssa's computer to write this, so I should probably hop off so I can give her computer back to her.
Peace and Love from Cameroon. And GO USA!!!
Katie
To date Alyssa, Chinedum, Jose, and I have finished 3 biosand filters, half of the filters we need to complete. We have certainly had quite a few bumps along the road to the completion of these three filters, including completing a filter only to realize two days later that it's leaking and we will need to empty the filter in order to patch the leak. We are optimistic that we will finish all the filters that we have been working on, but not optimistic that they will be used by the villages we have completed them in. I read through the previous ETHOS groups' report they wrote before leaving and read that the villagers were incredibly excited about this project when they began it, and even read that they left completed filters in a village we are supposed to be finishing filters in. Upon our arrival to the village containing the supposed completed filters, we found that they were in fact completed, and hadn't been used for the last two years. It was incredibly disheartening to us to see that, but none the less we started them over.
Every time we leave the office to go out into the field to work we get stopped at a checkpoint and have our documentation checked. The first time we got stopped a police woman gave us a very funny look and we were all very confused. None of us carry our actual passports with us for safety reasons and to ensure that our passports will not be lost, so we each handed her a photocopy of our passport and visa. She told us that we had to go to the police station and have the copies of our passports "legalized". Having our passports legalized meant going to the police station, paying XAF 1200 for a stamp that is supposed to cost XAF 1000 (and says so on the stamp), and then having someone place this stamp on our passport copies and having someone sign the photocopies. We were all incredibly frustrated that we had to pay someone to sign a piece of paper, especially since I have seen people use an unsigned copy of their passport to get through Customs in multiple airports. The government, however, is incredibly corrupt, especially the police and the military. We heard stories from some of the Peace Corps volunteers about being asked for bribes to be kept out of jail if they passed through a checkpoint without a legalized copy of their documentation. They had to call the US Embassy in order to be allowed to pass through the checkpoint.
Despite the setbacks and annoyances I have had such an incredible 5 weeks here. My host family has become comfortable with me, and the older kids have even started knocking on my door before coming into my room (when I'm home). I have found a place that serves cheeseburgers (even though they sucked) and fries, and have even gotten used to taking cold showers on my return home from work. With the World Cup happening right now, there is never a dull moment, despite Cameroon's loss to all three teams in their group. We hope to cheer on the US to a victory, or at least a tie, on Thursday, so that they will advance into the top 16 teams in the tournament.
Another UD group will arrive to a village about an hour away from us, and we hope to visit with them a few times while they are here, as well as take a weekend and stay in a port town. On the weekends we have been able to explore a little bit of Buea, including finding a night club called Las Vegas. We have also experienced some of the culture here in Cameroon. We have attended traditional dance practices, drank palm wine, eaten more corn fufu and vegetable than we could ever imagine, and been able to find new restaurants and take taxis on our own to new places.
Public transportation can get a little sketchy sometimes though...We occasionally take public transportation to the field if the company vehicle is not available. Most taxis will only take you so far, so you must take multiple taxis to where you can pick up a bus. A bus is definitely not like a bus you will see at home. A bus is a large van that will hold about 16 people in its 5 rows, with people's stuff riding strapped to the top of it. When a bus stops on the side of a road or at a bus stop it is swarmed with people selling street food (peanuts, snail kebabs, chicken kebabs, plums, etc.), drinks, white bread, and anything else they think people might potentially need while they are traveling. Because we are white, people try to sell us EVERYTHING. It is really odd being a minority. Even we have started saying "Guys look, a white person" when we see other Americans or Europeans, which happens very occasionally.
Well I'm using Alyssa's computer to write this, so I should probably hop off so I can give her computer back to her.
Peace and Love from Cameroon. And GO USA!!!
Katie
Monday, June 16, 2014
It's Been Too Long...
It's been too long since I posted a blog, and I apologize to everyone for that. We have been so busy going out into the field every week day that by the time I get home around 4:30 all I hope for is the cold shower that awaits me (if the water is flowing). For those of you who haven't seen, I posted some pictures on Facebook ff my adventures here so far, especially some from the latrine installation I mentioned in my previous post.
Today, after 3 weeks, we finally finished our first Biosand Filter in the village of Misellele. After some confusion about the manual (mostly us just not reading it correctly) we now have more than enough materials to finish the 6 filters we intend to finish here. Hopefully we will finish our second filter in Misellele tomorrow and then pack up the rest of our materials to use in the other two villages we will work in. We really hope that the people we have installed these for will continue to use them after we leave, but Alyssa and I are not optimistic because they take so long to filter the water. We hope that these first few filters will be followed by many more installations by the organization we are working for, NKong Hilltop
I have experienced so many cool new things here. I went to a born house, which is a huge party they throw for a family when they return home from the hospital with a new baby. There was music, food, drinking and dancing and a videographer capturing it all on film. It made me smile to think that in 10 years when the family watches the video they will be like "oh yeah...that white girl was here for that summer!" I also was invited to attend a meeting with Celestine where she meets with local women who are of her ethnicity. They all wear the same dress, speak their native dialect, sing and dance to traditional songs and eat and drink. Being invited to be one with them was very humbling. They consider themselves sisters, and to have them consider me a sister to them made me feel very honored.
Everywhere we go we take taxis or the company truck and I have learned some of the rules of the road here that I thought I would share with all of you:
1. Pedestrians do not have the right of way
2. If someone or something is in your way, go around it. Opposing traffic will get out of your way or stop for you
3. If your car's speedometer doesn't work...that's totally okay, just keep on going
4. If you don't have any cones and your car is on the fritz, just dig up some grass from the side of the road and stick it on the road instead of a traffic cone
5. The number of seatbelts in your car does not determine the number of passengers. Most taxis will take 5 passengers, sitting two passengers in the front seat. We have traveled with 9 people in a 5 person station wagon and 7 passengers in a 5 person pick-up
6. All vehicles are off-road vehicles and wear the pavement ends the dirt road begins. Most local African roads are dirt and rock
7. The cars here are almost exclusively old Toyotas, but I have seen some Mercedes and mitsubishis around, as well as the very occasional VW, BMW, and Porsche. I have only seen one American car here.
Well that's all for now. Love and peace from Cameroon!
Katie
Today, after 3 weeks, we finally finished our first Biosand Filter in the village of Misellele. After some confusion about the manual (mostly us just not reading it correctly) we now have more than enough materials to finish the 6 filters we intend to finish here. Hopefully we will finish our second filter in Misellele tomorrow and then pack up the rest of our materials to use in the other two villages we will work in. We really hope that the people we have installed these for will continue to use them after we leave, but Alyssa and I are not optimistic because they take so long to filter the water. We hope that these first few filters will be followed by many more installations by the organization we are working for, NKong Hilltop
I have experienced so many cool new things here. I went to a born house, which is a huge party they throw for a family when they return home from the hospital with a new baby. There was music, food, drinking and dancing and a videographer capturing it all on film. It made me smile to think that in 10 years when the family watches the video they will be like "oh yeah...that white girl was here for that summer!" I also was invited to attend a meeting with Celestine where she meets with local women who are of her ethnicity. They all wear the same dress, speak their native dialect, sing and dance to traditional songs and eat and drink. Being invited to be one with them was very humbling. They consider themselves sisters, and to have them consider me a sister to them made me feel very honored.
Everywhere we go we take taxis or the company truck and I have learned some of the rules of the road here that I thought I would share with all of you:
1. Pedestrians do not have the right of way
2. If someone or something is in your way, go around it. Opposing traffic will get out of your way or stop for you
3. If your car's speedometer doesn't work...that's totally okay, just keep on going
4. If you don't have any cones and your car is on the fritz, just dig up some grass from the side of the road and stick it on the road instead of a traffic cone
5. The number of seatbelts in your car does not determine the number of passengers. Most taxis will take 5 passengers, sitting two passengers in the front seat. We have traveled with 9 people in a 5 person station wagon and 7 passengers in a 5 person pick-up
6. All vehicles are off-road vehicles and wear the pavement ends the dirt road begins. Most local African roads are dirt and rock
7. The cars here are almost exclusively old Toyotas, but I have seen some Mercedes and mitsubishis around, as well as the very occasional VW, BMW, and Porsche. I have only seen one American car here.
Well that's all for now. Love and peace from Cameroon!
Katie
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
What the Heck Have I Gotten Myself Into?
Those were my first words to Jose as we were being driven to our host homes in the middle of a blackout.
My first few days in Cameroon have been nothing less than interesting and educational. We arrived in Cameroon on May 21 at the Douala airport at about 9:00 pm. As soon as I stepped off the plane I felt the heat and humidity hit me. The airport is not air conditioned, but has windows with slats in them to let the air in, but not the rain. The airport had many police and security officers there, and yet I think it would be very easy to sneak past the two women checking yellow fever vaccination cards. The only two computers I saw were being used by the women checking passports and visas. We then proceeded to baggage claim, found all of our belongings (thank God) and went outside into the rain to be driven to our homes. The car ride was about 1.5 hours in the darkness. The drive was basically uphill once we left the city. We drove mostly on paved roads, but once we got into Buea and towards our host families, the roads became dirt and rocks, which was incredibly bumpy. I finally arrived to my host family’s house around midnight, and met no one but my host parents Cellestine and Marcel. They took me back to my room where I fell right to sleep.
I was abruptly awoken the next morning by strange children opening and closing my squeaky door, presumably staring at the “white man” inhabiting the room. They shoved me, asked me if I was going to work, to which I responded yes, and then they left me alone. They now do this every morning if I am not awake before 7, even thought I don’t have to be at work until 8 and it only takes me about 10 minutes to get there.
Our first day at the office last week, I shook a lot of hands, met a lot of people, and mostly took it easy and went over what they wanted us to do for the first few weeks. Day 2 we went to a ceremony at a very poor school where NKong Hilltop (the organization we are working at) installed a brand new ventilated latrine. The old outhouse at the school was so gross, that most children chose to urinate and defecate around the outhouse rather than go in it, which lead to about 30 students getting cholera in the 2012 – 2013 school-year. This week we have been visiting the communities and meeting some people that we will be working in this summer, all of which are much more rural than Buea, which is more like a city. The villages each have their own types of building materials that are used, some use wood, others use bricks or concrete, depending on what is available around them.
My host family is very nice, and I am living comfortably in my house. Cellestine and Marcel both graduated from a university and work during the day. Cellestine is an administrator in a nursing/midwifery school and Marcel is a high school and university teacher, who is also working towards his PhD. They also own a small bar. They have three children their son Jevis is 10 years old, and their daughters Karli and Delores are 6 and 1 respectively. They also have two of their nieces living with them, Joyce and Laura, who take care of Delores during the day and go to school in the evenings. Jevis and Karli have no idea about boundaries or personal space, so when my bedroom door is closed, they come in whenever they want, jump on me or my bed, touch all of my things and then try to eat my vitamins. I have had to hide almost everything I don’t use every day so that they won’t get into it. They are very loud, very early in the morning, before I wake up, which often wakes me up before it is necessary. They slam doors, yell at each other, and Delores cries and screams at the top of her lungs. They also wake up the roosters and chickens which make lots of noise outside my window.
The weather in Buea is very comfortable compared to the rest of the communities we visited, because of its elevation. The rains have not begun yet, but I am told that within a few weeks it will rain day and night for a few weeks without stopping, luckily my clothes dry pretty quickly. Because it is cooler up here though, the water I shower with every morning is frigid, which would feel nice after a long day in the sun, but the water does not always work at night, so I can only shower in the mornings.
The food here is definitely something I will have to get used to, but I decided that I would try everything at least once. So far I have tried snails, corn fufu, puff puff, vegetable (bitter greens, chopped nuts, and any meat the kitchen has), African yams, fish stew, mango, plantains, and salad, which is similar to our coleslaw. I also tried the Cameroonian beer, called Export, which comes in a 23 ounce bottle. It is easily the most popular drink here, but people also drink many Guinness products, and some places will sell Budwiser products, other places will not, but I haven’t seen anyone drink any yet.
Yesterday, I finally got travelers illness and ended up with a fever and stomach and intestinal pain, as did another student. Cellestine insisted that I eat last night, so she made me eat puff puff (fried dough balls) and some yellow, warm, creamy something, which even after putting some lemon in it to try to make it better, was gross and I could only manage a few bites. I only really ate a cliff bar and saltines yesterday. This morning she gave me some grasses to chew on and said they would help my stomach, but since they were rinsed in tap water (which I cannot drink) I chewed on one little piece and threw most of the rest of them away. I think sticking to my American medicine will be the best way for me to get better. My fever is gone today, but my stomach is still a little upset, so I am not sure I will be attending Mass early tomorrow morning for Ascension because I am pretty sure there isn’t a bathroom and when I went to Mass on Sunday it was close to 3 hours long!
I miss all of you so much and hope you’re all doing well! More next week!
Sorry, I tried to post pics but the internet here at work is very slow!
My first few days in Cameroon have been nothing less than interesting and educational. We arrived in Cameroon on May 21 at the Douala airport at about 9:00 pm. As soon as I stepped off the plane I felt the heat and humidity hit me. The airport is not air conditioned, but has windows with slats in them to let the air in, but not the rain. The airport had many police and security officers there, and yet I think it would be very easy to sneak past the two women checking yellow fever vaccination cards. The only two computers I saw were being used by the women checking passports and visas. We then proceeded to baggage claim, found all of our belongings (thank God) and went outside into the rain to be driven to our homes. The car ride was about 1.5 hours in the darkness. The drive was basically uphill once we left the city. We drove mostly on paved roads, but once we got into Buea and towards our host families, the roads became dirt and rocks, which was incredibly bumpy. I finally arrived to my host family’s house around midnight, and met no one but my host parents Cellestine and Marcel. They took me back to my room where I fell right to sleep.
I was abruptly awoken the next morning by strange children opening and closing my squeaky door, presumably staring at the “white man” inhabiting the room. They shoved me, asked me if I was going to work, to which I responded yes, and then they left me alone. They now do this every morning if I am not awake before 7, even thought I don’t have to be at work until 8 and it only takes me about 10 minutes to get there.
Our first day at the office last week, I shook a lot of hands, met a lot of people, and mostly took it easy and went over what they wanted us to do for the first few weeks. Day 2 we went to a ceremony at a very poor school where NKong Hilltop (the organization we are working at) installed a brand new ventilated latrine. The old outhouse at the school was so gross, that most children chose to urinate and defecate around the outhouse rather than go in it, which lead to about 30 students getting cholera in the 2012 – 2013 school-year. This week we have been visiting the communities and meeting some people that we will be working in this summer, all of which are much more rural than Buea, which is more like a city. The villages each have their own types of building materials that are used, some use wood, others use bricks or concrete, depending on what is available around them.
My host family is very nice, and I am living comfortably in my house. Cellestine and Marcel both graduated from a university and work during the day. Cellestine is an administrator in a nursing/midwifery school and Marcel is a high school and university teacher, who is also working towards his PhD. They also own a small bar. They have three children their son Jevis is 10 years old, and their daughters Karli and Delores are 6 and 1 respectively. They also have two of their nieces living with them, Joyce and Laura, who take care of Delores during the day and go to school in the evenings. Jevis and Karli have no idea about boundaries or personal space, so when my bedroom door is closed, they come in whenever they want, jump on me or my bed, touch all of my things and then try to eat my vitamins. I have had to hide almost everything I don’t use every day so that they won’t get into it. They are very loud, very early in the morning, before I wake up, which often wakes me up before it is necessary. They slam doors, yell at each other, and Delores cries and screams at the top of her lungs. They also wake up the roosters and chickens which make lots of noise outside my window.
The weather in Buea is very comfortable compared to the rest of the communities we visited, because of its elevation. The rains have not begun yet, but I am told that within a few weeks it will rain day and night for a few weeks without stopping, luckily my clothes dry pretty quickly. Because it is cooler up here though, the water I shower with every morning is frigid, which would feel nice after a long day in the sun, but the water does not always work at night, so I can only shower in the mornings.
The food here is definitely something I will have to get used to, but I decided that I would try everything at least once. So far I have tried snails, corn fufu, puff puff, vegetable (bitter greens, chopped nuts, and any meat the kitchen has), African yams, fish stew, mango, plantains, and salad, which is similar to our coleslaw. I also tried the Cameroonian beer, called Export, which comes in a 23 ounce bottle. It is easily the most popular drink here, but people also drink many Guinness products, and some places will sell Budwiser products, other places will not, but I haven’t seen anyone drink any yet.
Yesterday, I finally got travelers illness and ended up with a fever and stomach and intestinal pain, as did another student. Cellestine insisted that I eat last night, so she made me eat puff puff (fried dough balls) and some yellow, warm, creamy something, which even after putting some lemon in it to try to make it better, was gross and I could only manage a few bites. I only really ate a cliff bar and saltines yesterday. This morning she gave me some grasses to chew on and said they would help my stomach, but since they were rinsed in tap water (which I cannot drink) I chewed on one little piece and threw most of the rest of them away. I think sticking to my American medicine will be the best way for me to get better. My fever is gone today, but my stomach is still a little upset, so I am not sure I will be attending Mass early tomorrow morning for Ascension because I am pretty sure there isn’t a bathroom and when I went to Mass on Sunday it was close to 3 hours long!
I miss all of you so much and hope you’re all doing well! More next week!
Sorry, I tried to post pics but the internet here at work is very slow!
Monday, May 19, 2014
Anticipation: The Cameroon Saga Part 1
So this is it friends. Tomorrow I leave for my 10 week immersion in Cameroon. To say that I am excited would be an understatement, but as with most things, excitement is always accompanied by a little bit of nervousness. However, I truly believe that the last 16 years of my education have prepared me for this summer.
I was reflecting on just how much my education influenced my decision to apply for ETHOS in the first place. Between traveling to and hosting a student from Germany and the amount of studies about geography and different cultures in Grade School and the amount of traveling I got to do through Intercession in high school, I simply cannot imagine not traveling in college. It is also my Marianist, Catholic education that told me that the next time I traveled, it needed to be an experience where I could live in community with others and come to at least partially understand a culture completely different from my own, while also getting to do a little bit of good. My education has molded me to become a citizen diplomat.
I have always been taught that in order to really understand the world around me, that I must step outside my own comfort zone and outside of my own back yard. I know that will happen on this trip. I am fully confident that I will come back not only with some technical skills, but with the understanding that what is different is not frightening but an opportunity to learn and challenge ourselves.
I am more than certain that this summer is going to simply fly by, and that Jose, Alyssa, Chinedum and I are going to have the time of our lives. If you want to learn more about the ETHOS program or donate to our cause in Cameroon please visit http://www.udayton.edu/engineering/ethos/#1. (If you are donating you have to scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click the "Give Now" button and enter my name in the comment box.)
Hopefully Weekly Updates to Come!
Katie
I was reflecting on just how much my education influenced my decision to apply for ETHOS in the first place. Between traveling to and hosting a student from Germany and the amount of studies about geography and different cultures in Grade School and the amount of traveling I got to do through Intercession in high school, I simply cannot imagine not traveling in college. It is also my Marianist, Catholic education that told me that the next time I traveled, it needed to be an experience where I could live in community with others and come to at least partially understand a culture completely different from my own, while also getting to do a little bit of good. My education has molded me to become a citizen diplomat.
I have always been taught that in order to really understand the world around me, that I must step outside my own comfort zone and outside of my own back yard. I know that will happen on this trip. I am fully confident that I will come back not only with some technical skills, but with the understanding that what is different is not frightening but an opportunity to learn and challenge ourselves.
I am more than certain that this summer is going to simply fly by, and that Jose, Alyssa, Chinedum and I are going to have the time of our lives. If you want to learn more about the ETHOS program or donate to our cause in Cameroon please visit http://www.udayton.edu/engineering/ethos/#1. (If you are donating you have to scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click the "Give Now" button and enter my name in the comment box.)
Hopefully Weekly Updates to Come!
Katie
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
My Favorite Things of 2013
So every year Oprah compiles a list of her favorite things and puts them in her magazine, and seeing as I still have a week and a half until I return to UD, I thought I would take some time to think about my favorite things of 2013!
10. Steel Toe Shoes: These androgynous beauties are great for when someone in the factory drops something heavy on your feet, or when your sister who can't feel her own feet stomps on your feet so hard you're afraid she might break your toes
9. Safety Glasses: I wore them at both of my co-ops in 2013 and maaaaaan are they attractive...
10. Steel Toe Shoes: These androgynous beauties are great for when someone in the factory drops something heavy on your feet, or when your sister who can't feel her own feet stomps on your feet so hard you're afraid she might break your toes
9. Safety Glasses: I wore them at both of my co-ops in 2013 and maaaaaan are they attractive...
8. Greek Yogurt: If you ask any of my former roommates, they can attest to the fact that at school I eat yogurt almost every day, and Chobani is like crack to me...
7. My J Crew striped shirt: This shirt is seriously one of the best things I bought in 2013...my friends and I even started referring to it as "Ol' Faithful" when talking about what we might wear out that night
6. Bro Tanks: Seriously though, they are comfy, I can wear them on a warm Saturday on campus or chillin in Michigan by the lake. Or in the winter with leggings and a sweatshirt...layers anyone?
5. Hoodie Allen: This goes with the above image, as that is his logo on said bro tank. My friend Kyle introduced me to Hoodie Allen and it has been love at first listen. Seeing him live last summer was seriously one of the best things ever!
4. POTH: That's right, one of my favorite things this year has been being UD's reigning POTH champs. Hard work and some killer moves brought the title back to Pi Phi
3. The Hunger Games: Whether you're Team Gale or Team Peeta, The Hungers Games, both the books and the movies are seriously awesome, and can we talk about J. Law for just a sec...because I want to be her BFF like right now. Plus Josh and Liam are no eye sores either...
2. Sperry Shoes: If you know me well, you know that my shoe of choice is a pair of Sperry Boat Shoes, whether they're leather, suede, or canvas, they are like the comfiest things I own. Plus, my Sperry snow boots are like the best thing ever invented
1. Red Lipstick: That's correct, my number one favorite thing this year has been red lipstick! I'm usually a fan of the bright reds, but that has been my favorite addition to my make up drawer this year, and I think it will stay that way for a while.
Well...tune in next year to see my favorite things of 2014, and I'm pretty sure you can expect to see Chacos on the list!
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