Flight: BOS --> Heathrow --> Zurich --> Douala --> Yaounde Hurray! (Also entitled: "Stupid Me")

Hello Out There! Greetings from Yaounde

Due to spotty internet access, busy days of training at the Embassy, and the crazy adjustment to life in “Mini Africa” (as Cameroon is frequently called), I’m a bit behind on my postings. A lot has happened over the past few days, so bear with me!

One of the main lessons that I have learned in my training for this assignment is the importance of remaining both flexible and calm. I think that the beginning of this trip a true testament to my ability to use these skills, and I’m glad (and seriously surprised) to report that in my first moment of would-be disaster/freak out, I actually remained quite composed. After a wonderful send off from my family at Logan, I boarded my plane and set off for Heathrow. About 3 hours into that flight, I had an urgent aching feeling that I was missing something. It turns out my ATM card was nowhere to be found. (Flash FWD: This was taken care of, and thanks to the amazing work of the US Embassy and DHL, a new card is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, so keep fingers crossed, please!) This did however, cause for a pretty anxiety-ridden journey….Although a flight attendant did give me $20, which in that moment felt like a million!

Luckily, I had some wonderful reading material with me on the journey, which eased my wandering thoughts of potential financial disaster, as well as the daunting and butterflies-inducing reality that I was flying over the deserts of Algeria and Chad: that on one of my 4 flights (Boston, Heathrow, Zurich, Douala, Yaounde), I was holding three books: Season of Migration to the North (remember this, John!?), Half the Sky (shout out Elizabeth!), and the Boy Scout Handbook (yeeeehaw Jen!).

That's bout I got in me now, but much more to come soon!

Signing off,

Jade