Cinderella and Beyonce

My new names?

Had orientation today (they started to fill in some of the "unknowns" of the trip...I'm starting to understand why they didn't give us every little detail before we came to Cameroon). The staff is incredibly friendly and fun (and absolutely brilliant). We will be doing lots more traveling than most SIT programs to see all of the diversity that Cameroon has (they tell us it is the most diverse country on the continent between the 200 unique ethnic groups, climate zones, landscapes, wildlife, etc.)

Only have 5 minutes left so let me explain the title of this post. There are 4 Cameroonian students from the University of Yaounde that will be spending most of the semester with us. A large group of us walked down the huge hill from the monestary to go into town...I was in the back with my roomate Kelsey and Fleur (one of the Cameroonian students). Basically, Fleur didn't know we were walking so she was in heels... half way down the hill the 3 of us fell far behind because of the heels/singing American hip hop combonation. I traded my Birks for her heels because I thought I would be able to run in them and catch up to the others. Failed plan. After 30 seconds of shuffling in her Cameroonian heels, we decided to slow down and just enjoy the walk down the hill. In the middle of my "Single Ladies" Beyonce impression, the shoe broke. Not only were we about 3 more miles from town, but there were NO taxis or stores in sight. Ended up each wearing one of my sandals ....finally got a cab to her sister's house to get some new shoes and wash our feet. She is now calling me Beyonce Cinderella, because the shoe broke right in front of the President's "castle," if you will. Fleur was such a champ about it... it was fun meeting her sisters and having this little adventure with her. I'll never forget the french words/pronunciations for shoe, broken, story, rediculous again!