Yaounde, then and now.

I'm in Yaoundé right now, sitting in the Peace Corps office. IST (In-Service Training) went well up in Foumban in the West Region but I'm stuck back here in the capital until probably Friday because I joined the Environmental Education Committee. I think the main goal of the committee is to meet twice a year and learn about how we can promote environmental education and tackle some environmental concerns in our communities. Anyway, I said I’m stuck in Yaoundé. Like that’s a bad thing.
We flew into Yaoundé back in September and while I’ve traveled through it to get to and from post, I haven’t spent much time of substance here. Mostly just hanging out at the Peace Corps office/transit house or taking advantage of some delicious burgers across the street. When we arrived back in September, I was pretty intimidated by this place. Loads of traffic, pollution, people, poverty. This big third-world city with all the aggression wasn’t exactly where I wanted to spend my time. While I wasn’t determined to stay away, I was pretty set on not spending too much time here.
It’s amazing what a few months can do. Especially a few months in a place, such as the north, which is so drastically different from the south. Many people live in mud huts with thatched roofs and live on far less than a dollar a day up in my neck of the woods. Coming back to Yaoundé, I’m actually stunned. The level of development here boggles my mind. There are multi-story buildings, Mercedes, Chinese restaurants, and even a Hilton. In fact, last night I went to happy hour in the bar on the top floor of the Hilton. I felt like I was in America: I was sipping a Mai Tai, eating olives, and watching a soccer game on a flat screen. It’s amazing how spending four months eating little more than couscous (fufu) and sauce and speaking villageois French mixed with a little Fulfulde can sensitize me to be so stunned when I came back to this capital city, a place I initially thought to be little more than a big, dirty metropolis. I’m planning on meeting my parents in Denmark this summer and that will definitely be interesting seeing how I react when I get off the plane in Copenhagen. If I’m feeling this much culture shock in the same country, I can only imagine what it’ll be like in Europe.