You are Back?

Yes, I am back.  One of the things I love about Cameroon is how people remember you.  Today I showed up at the Baptist Rest House in Bamenda after a long drive from Douala.  I stayed at the same Rest House for a week last June.  As soon as I arrived, the caretaker and cleaners immediately recognized me and said, "You are back?  Its been a long time!" 

Dr. Okwen picked me up from the airport in Douala last night and we stayed with his cousin for the night.  Before I went to bed last night I was reflecting on the last time I stayed at his cousin's house.  It was almost exactly five years ago and we were on our way to Kribi in the South Province for Peace Corps Volunteer/Counterpart In-Service Training.   It was the first time that I had really traveled in Cameroon and I was nervous about taking the bus from Bamenda and staying in bustling, big-city Douala.  During the bus ride Dr. Okwen and I each took a headphone earpiece and listened to my iPOD during most of the trip.  I think it was then that we discovered that we had very similar tastes in music and began sharing multiple albums during the two years that I worked with him as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  Five years later, we are traveling together and enjoying my music but this time, in his own car and listening to my iPOD through his car speakers.  It was another reminder of how some things have changed in Cameroon, but how much has really stayed the same.  We are working together again, yet in a different capacity.  I too have changed and grown some, but I am back and it feels good.