Welcome to Cameroon!

Bonjour tout le monde

I have officially been living in Cameroon for 3 weeks! Communications has been quite difficult so sorry for the lack of blogs I will make the best effort to stay in contact but it is definitely more difficult than I thought. Though I have to remind myself I am just figuring things out here!
Well, I am currently in my fourth week of Peace Corps Training and starting my third week in Bangante a town in the West Region of Cameroon. With this being my first blog entry in country I find it difficult to begin! Every moment of everyday is something new especially with living with a Cameroonian family who doesn't speak any English. No better way to understanding the Cameroonian lifestyle than to live with a family of 8, 9 including me the new "blanche" sister!
Well before going into the many stories that I have I figured I should give you all a little bacground on the country in which I will be living for the next several years so when you read this blog you can have an idea of where I am writing from.
Cameroon is a country of about 18 million, located at the convergence of the West African countries and those of Central Africa. It was colonized by the French and the British and composed of 10 regions; 8 Francophone and 2 Anglophone. French is spoken by over 80 percent of the country and there are another 239 languages spoken throughout Cameroon. This being one of the reasons that Cameroon received its nickname of "Africa in Miniature." Many tribal groups call Cameroon home including the Pygmies down in the south and the east regions. The geography of the country varies greatly from rainforest, savanah, jungle, desert, game parks to mountains (Mount Cameroon is the tallest peak in W. Africa which I cant wait to climb!).
Peace Corps Training is quite similar to the concept of the Block Plan at Colorado College, intense submersion. We have class 6 days a week and typically 8 hours a day. We have classes on the economic and political landscape, history, culture and of course French. I must say the French spoken here takes a lot of getting used to. Even those fluent in French before arriving have had to adjust to the completely different accent and vocabulary used.
The land around Bangante is quite beautiful with green rolling hills, fruit trees and more red dirt/mud than you could ever imagine. My favorite part of my days here have been my morning runs. The clouds settle in the hills and from the soccer field close to my house you can look over all the town. My mom and two of my sisters and my neighbor have joined me on separate occasions and they all absolutely love how much I like "faire du sport." I am greeted on my runs with shouts of "du courage" However, there is one down side to running here and that is all the dirt/mud coupled with the fact that in Cameroon it is highly important to keep one shoes clean. I am talking white as new clean even with running shoes! Everytime I return home after a run my mama tells me "tes chaussures sont tres sales" if she had her way I would wash them everyday. We have now come to the agreemenat that once a week for each of my shoes is good enough. It is quite the affair to try to get the shoes clean and took me an hour to clean them to where they passed the inspection of my sisters and neighbor who watched over the fence and laughed while I struggled to clean them yesterday.
Well, I have plenty more stories compiling from entering a family with completely different customs, living arrangements and of course language than myself. For now I will just say that I found myself laughing often or digging deep for patience.
In less than 2 weeks I will found out my "post" for the next two years! All of the Business Volunteers find out on July 9th, my bday! Should be a great bday present to actually know where I will be living while in Cameroon!
Hope all is well for each of you...I have gotten a cell phone here which surprisingly is more reliable than the internet access! My phone number is 01123775523720 so if you ever want to text or call feel free! Calling from Skype is the cheapest option that I know of thus far. My address is Corps de la Paix, Ashley Johnson Peace Corps Volunteer, B.P. 215 Yaounde, Cameroon.
Lots of Love!
~Ashley

Journey to becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer

I am sitting here in Philadelphia outside a restaurant enjoying my last true American meal replaying the steps that have taken me to this place. Tomorrow I enter pre-service training as a Peace Corps Volunteer. The application process to become a volunteer began at the beginning of July this past year when I decided the time had come to stop dreaming of this grand adventure and begin to pursue it. I would actually say that I started down this past many many more years ago as the kid who would run along bear inhabited trails in Alaska trying to tackle the greatest challenges and explore the furthest places. I can say one thing in life that God has certainly blessed me with is an Adventurous spirit!
After many months of waiting in the uncertainty of the application process and awaiting medical clearance (that's right all of those surgeries did not hold me back;) I received my invitation to become a Small Business Development Volunteer for The Peace Corps in the country of Cameroon in West Africa. I was thrilled to receive my invitation to serve in Cameroon for many reasons, one of them being that my Uncle Dean served in the Peace Corps years ago in Cameroon. I am just amazed at the fact that I have been placed in the same country as he volunteered.
I am excited for all that this opportunity has to offer me including the chance to offer my service to my country as well as the country of Cameroon. I hope that my time in Cameroon will prove to be a time of growth for myself and for those that I have the chance to work alongside. I would appreciate all of the prayers, support and encouragement that you can provide me throughout the next 27 months. I also want to thank each of you for being such an important part of my life. I can honestly say that I am surrounded by the most amazing individuals who love and care for me so well and who continually challenge me to reach outside myself and seek to leave the world around a better place. Thank you for being a part of my life and thank you for your support as I embark on this great journey!
God Bless and Take Care I will miss all of you tremendously!
~Ashley