Le foudre violet

Bonjour! wow...the last few days have been a complete whirlwind. we travelled for 30 straight hours...i slept for um...3. it was very exhausting but everyone made it with all their luggage...my backpack cover ripped, :>( and my bag was actually wide open but everything was still inside!? we arrived in douala, cameroon and found out our plane had been hit by lightening in the sky, so we ended up sitting in the airplane for over 2 hrs with only a 30 minute flight ahead of us to the capital: yaounde. i sat next to a cameroonian woman on the plane and i ended up talking to her towards the end of the trip in my horrible french..but she put up with me and we sorta had a conversation about the most basic things, of course. she was very animated and kind and it was interesting, she pretty much ended up sleeping on my shoulder. the rest of the people on the plane for the most part did NOT like us (i guess a group of 42 twenty somethings has that effect)...the french especially the flight attendents were not very nice :>( Peace Corps sure took care of us though, they got all our luggage organized, moved, took us to the hotel, fed us...
when i woke up the next morning i looked out my window first thing, since we'd driven to the hotel in the dark the night before...it's beautiful here! so red and green...and i love the rain (as of now) we got to leave the hotel to buy laundry detergent only, but then the water in the hotel didn't work for a day and a half...so no laundry, nor shower has yet taken place!!! other than that we sat around the hotel ALL sunday playing cards, and it was incredibly fun...too many stories/details about people to tell!
food: lots of potatos and rice...i had my FIRST bite of fish in a long time. everyone keeps ripping on me for not liking beer, meat or cheese and being from WI, and i get made fun of for my accent (and the words bag and bagel ;>) ) constantly.
we had our first day of "training" today...lots of medical info. and our french interview...yeah, that didn't go so hot...i know all the things but i get so incredibly nervous my mind doesn't work...but i'm pretty sure i'll be in the intermediate class...better than novice after 5 yrs of french i guess. i am however about the 2nd most qualified person here for agroforestry..which made me happy! lots of people with no classes/experience in the area. our training for agro. sounds SOOOO interesting, and i'm sooooo excited for that to start.
other than that everything has been going very very well...i'm very happy about where i am!
i miss you all and please let me know how you all are!