A first entry!

Hello readers!

So, here it all begins. In written, blog form anyway.

I'm totally new to all of this blogging stuff, and kind of feel as if I'm in a movie, and that the words that I'm typing should be projected as a voice-over, but maybe that is a normal feeling to most any first-time blogger.

To start, I'll tell you what I know, and what has happened thus far.

In September of 2008, during my senior year at Oberlin, the inevitable and ever-daunting question of "what to do next" was ceaselessly lurking in my brain. Out of curiosity, I started looking into what applying for a Fulbright grant would entail. For several reasons, I decided to postpone my application until the following year. After many essay drafts, and endless emails incredible support from professors, mentors and friends (to whom I am ever-grateful), the application was complete.

I chose to apply to Cameroon for an English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) grant. This seemed to fit with both my interests and background (turns out having a BA French and Comparative Literature, as well as all of those hours of TAing language classes and working as an ESL conversation partner under your belt could actually be applied to something! Hurray!), and therefore the grant for which I was most qualified. Something that excited me about the assignment in Cameroon was that the ETA posts were in universities, specifically teaching as assistants to English professors in a Teacher's College, teaching the teachers... sounds great!

After applying in September (word to the wise: for future Fulbright applicants, APPLY THROUGH YOUR UNIVERSITY! My experience with the Fulbright committee at Oberlin was very supportive, and the faculty on the committee are experts at this sort of thing...obviously.)
I heard back in January that I had been selected as a finalist, and then on a sunny day in April (as the lovely Alice Manos can tell you, she was there!!) a big fat envleope arrived in my mailbox. Not thinking anything of it, I picked it up with the rest of the mail. It was from the Institute for International Education (IIE) in New York. My moment of "OH SHIT!" flushed through my entire body, and there it was: THE LETTER.


After the Honeymoon period and the shock factor wore off, I started doing some research one where I was acutally going. By the time I went to the Fulbright Orientation in June, (which was an experience in and of itself!) I found out the following:

1. I will be leaving in mid-September 2010 and returning in mid-July 2011 (9 months, to be exact...) I am currently trying to get all my "Ducks in a line" as far as visas, vaccines, flights etc. Just today, I received a letter stating that I have "Medical Clearance" and am good to go from the US side of things. We'll see how the anti-Malarial drugs go...

2. I will be teaching at the Université de Maroua, which is in the Extrême Nord (Extreme Noth) region the Cameroon, up near Lake Chad. Maroua is a Muslim city where people speak French and a language called Fulfulde, which I am making babystep attempts at starting to learn...
French and English are both National languages of Cameroon, but it seems like the language that the majority of the people speaks depends heavily on the region.

3. There are 5 other "Fulbrighters" going to Cameroon as well, although for the most part we will all be stationed in different parts of the country. The 2 other ETAs, Eva and Meera, will be teaching in universities in the southern part of the country, while the 3 researchers, Devon, Joe and Mackenzie, will be travelling throughout the country for the duration of their grants. We will begin our journies in the capital city of Yaoundé, for an in-country orientation at the US Embassy, with our trusty, wonderful go-to friend Gerald, who works for the Department of Cultural Affairs there.


Whew! That's all I got for now. A good opening? It's very strange to think that I am sitting here on a beautiful, green, breezy New England day, and will be writing to you all from this same "place" from the deserts of Maroua (which, for the record, is VERY, VERY close to the equator, but still on the Northern side!)

Hope you enjoy, and keep up on this journey with me!

Love,

Jade