Monday, August 27, 2007

Pete's Office


Pete moved out to the bukaroo this year. It is a round shaped building with a tin roof. The traditional bukaroos have thatched roofs. It looks really good in there as he got a new rug and moved everything all around. I will get a photo of him later as he is meeting with some parents right now. He had a hectic day making sure the big kids actually went to their classes.

1st Day Back



Whew! We made it through the first day. I helped with the opening assembling by trying to get the crowd pumped as I introduced the elementary teaching staff. We then made it back to class to get to know one another. Only 7 of the 10 I am supposed to have made it today. One of the boys only learned English last year and another doesn't know any at all! It will be interesting... It was nice that I knew a lot of the kids
names already, not just my class, but the entire school. I am in front of my classroom. It's still bright blue inside, but I have changed around the shelves and whatnot. I like it a lot and wonder what I will end up with next.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Ahh Hefeweisen


Yep, you guessed it. We are some where in Germany and I am quenching my thirst with my favorite flavor of beer. It was neat to sit at picnic tables and people watch.

Canals of Venice

My dad took a lot better shots of Venice that I will add later. These are just some that I had on a disposable camera. My parents, Pat and Rich are in the last shot. It was one of the few sunny days that we had in Europe. SOOOOO pretty!

Venice

We did a canal ride in Venice on a Gondola one way and a motorized boat on the way back. The first shot is of a metallic skull that was on display for a huge art event they have every two years.


Pete and I are in Saint Mark's square.

Summer Shots




Hi all. I am sooooo busy with the school year starting tomorrow that I am going to just update the blog sporadically and completely out of order.

Pete is standing on the edged of a windy road in Lucerne. The view of the lake was great and later that night there was a fantastic thunder and rain storm.


I am in front of a villa we stayed in Italy. Were not in the center of Venice, but on the outskirts. It was a nice property and there was even a wedding reception the night we stayed there. Due to that I think we did not get all the culinary delights I had hoped for, in fact we were served a processed turkey dinner. At night we walked around the town with my parents and saw where we should have gone. Oh well.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

African Couture



Stephanie got a lot of outfits made while she was here. Here are just some examples of the clothing styles here in Cameroon.

Family Visit


While Stephanie was here we went down to meet my house helper's (Linda) family. This shot is in her living room, with her kids.
Pete and I are outside her house.

The Feast



Here is a shot of the food and Jocelyn, in the center. Nina is to the left and Jennifer is on the right.
The other is of our director, Nanci, and her house helper, Rose.

New teacher orientation



After seeing Stephanie off at the airport Pete and I stayed to help welcome the new teachers. We could hardly believe a year had passed already. Even harder to believe is that we are the veteran teachers now and helped to orientate them to Yaounde. I spent last week helping them learn about the day to day things and hopefully help them to not get too overwhelmed. One of the nights we went to Nanci's house and had a Cameroonian feast, made by her house helper, Rose.











From left to right: Katie (she was here last year, but came back early- she missed me so), Nina, Jennifer, Jocelyn. Next to Pete is Tom.

Happy Birthday MOM!!!


Best wishes for a fun-filled day Mom! Pete and I are up at school getting ready for the first day on Monday. We are here to greet and orientate new families to the school. The work load never seems to end. You are in our thoughts, especially when thinking about a birthday cake!

Saturday, August 11, 2007

High Alert

Mount Cameroon is behind Stephanie and this is a bit of trail that leads people over the lava flow of 1999. Of course we were unable to actually see the peak as there are too many clouds.

This is reflective of how we spent our time in Limbe. Stephanie in the mosquito netting to ward off the many bugs and us laughing about it.

Limbe with Stephanie


These shots are of the lava flow of 1999 in Limbe from Mount Cameroon. We later learned that ferns are the first thing to grow after a volcanic eruption--that's what green plants are.

We returned from an action-packed time in South Africa last Saturday. I will get to those photos after we say goodbye to Stephanie tomorrow night. We decided to go to Limbe and check out the black sand beaches. Unfortunately due to the time of year, the surf was really rough and the beach on the sand was non-existent. According to a local, there are three months in the year when the waves drag out the sand and leave behind the large volcanic rocks we were left with. We did go in one day and battled the waves for a while