Bonne Voyage

I've been sitting here in this sweltering internet cafe for the past 5 minutes trying to figure out how to start this final Cameroonian post.

...I've got nothing.

Tonight I will be on Swiss Air, eating that mini chocolate bar and airplane food I've been fantasizing about for the past 4 months. (yes, I've been fantasizing over airplane food...). And the MOVIES. Looking forward to that to.

With a 6:00 curfew most nights, there has been a LOT of Laura time. I created a game with myself called "Instances" , in which I write out in detail extreemly specific moments I want to occur when I return home. (...most pathetic game ever?).

For example: It is snowing outside,I just took a HOT shower, and I am wearing hoodie sweatshirt. Driving with new music to see Where The Wild Things Are, drinking a fountain Diet Coke from McDonalds with a fat straw and ICE.

It is definitely bittersweet leaving Cameroon. I'm absolutely ready for the creature comforts of home, the Christmas season, seeing family & friends. However, I'm really going to miss the adventure of each day here.

During the first week of the program here, we had something called "The Drop Off", a sort of scavenger hunt in a third world city. Basically, they send us out in taxis and tell them to drop us at a certain place in the city. To say my partner and I were freaking out is an understatement. We were afraid to speak french, afraid to ask for directions, afraid to take a taxi, afraid to be with just the 2 of us, afraid when people called out "la blanche to us, afraid to go to the ATM, afraid to bargain...you get the picture. It hit me yesterday when I went to Centre Ville by myself to do some last minute shopping just how much things have changed over the last few months. All of the forementioned things I was afraid of seem so silly now.

When I arrived in Yaounde for the first time, I definitely felt like I was in a third world city. But now, after returning from the trips throughout the rest of Cameroon, Yaounde feels like Dubai. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but there is still cold beverages and relitively fast internet. Can't imagine what NYC is going to feel like flying into...

Okay, time to go have my last meal of beignets and beans. Thank you so much to everyone who kept in touch throughout my trip here, you have no idea how much it meant to me. Getting the e-mails and posts from family and friends kept me sane and so happy throughout my time here.

Au revoir Cameroon! Tu me vas manquer!