Language, Culture & the World
April 26, 2010
Hello readers, if you are still out there! I know going on a hiatus is not the smartest way to build readership in a newly established blog. Yes, I do have some excuses: I brought books to Cameroon, went to a conference with fellow Peace Corps volunteers, and…slow Cameroonian Internet makes the idea of posting pictures and blogs a somewhat…
Read MoreUnderstanding Big Chairs
April 12, 2010
Laura: What are we going to do when it’s not socially acceptable to drink a cold Castel on the beach at 10 in the morning? I have been back in village for a week now after the whirlwind of COS conference, and I have never missed Americans this much in my entire life. My fortunate circumstances that have allowed…
Read MoreBeginning of an End
April 10, 2010
After the successful distribution of books, I headed to Yaoundé for Close-of-Service (COS) conference with my fellow ’08-’10 SED/ED volunteers. To celebrate having endured Cameroon for nearly two years, Peace Corps put us up in a nice hotel in Yaoundé. While one of the nicest hotels in Cameroon, in comparison to the US standard, Mont Fébé is nothing but a…
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A Celebration
March 26, 2010
After weeks of banging my head against a wall, cursing at inefficiency, and later moving 23,000 books around, we were able to see the appetizer portion of the fruits of our labor on Friday, March 19th, when a small ceremony of book distribution took place in Bafoussam. The Books For Cameroon team - Kate, Siobhan, Connie, Laura and myself - was present at once finally. Prior to this, we've been working largely through email or meeting separately. It was great to have all of us in one space and witnessing the books going out to recipients.
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The Ultimate Obstacle Course
March 26, 2010
I've been dreading to write this post on the difficulties and pure ridiculousness that we went through for those 23,000 books to arrive. After the past two weeks, the only thing I want to do is rejoice in the success, not revisit the frustration. However, yesterday I came to the realization that my time in Cameroon remains only 3 precious months. I became nostalgic for these past two years and frankly, quite sad. I need to write about the obstacles in order for me to appreciate the efficiency that I will undoubtedly face in the "real world". It's human nature to reminiscent over an intense experience and think of only the peachy parts, yet the details of the trials and frustration is equally important and merits documentation.
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O.M.G. Books!
March 17, 2010
I am exhausted. I haven't worked this hard since May 2008. After the ultimate obstacle course, which I will write about it at a later time, the 40-ft container of 23,000 books have arrived in Bafoussam on Saturday at 11am. Since then, the team of volunteers and I have been working almost around the clock during most daylight hours to sort through all these books. In total, we received 617 boxes of books. For the large majority, we had to take them out of the boxes and sort through them by subject and level.
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Stepping Back: to Grandmother’s House!
March 11, 2010
Last summer, I had the chance to revisit my birth country of Taiwan. One of the many stops we made along the island was at the Lee family estate in Ping-Tung (屏東), to visit my amazing 91-year-old grandmother. At 91 and without much formal education, my grandmother still speaks 3 languages – Hakka, Japanese and Taiwanese. I suppose the polyglot…
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Celebrating Women’s Day
March 10, 2010
The Indomitable Lions is the Cameroonian national football (or soccer) team, but the real national sport is drinking at a bar. There are more bars in Cameroon than any other type of enterprise. Even if you find yourself in the middle of nowhere with no food in sight, there will likely be a shack selling bottles of Castel, 33, or…
Read MoreNew Beginning!
March 8, 2010
I am excited to have finally moved this blog to a self-hosted address! This new change will allow me to have more freedom in the layout and design. Web design is still a completely new area for me. But slowly, I am learning to tweak a thing or two to my taste and who knows, maybe one day I will…
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