Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Back to blogging!

It has been quite a long time since I last blogged, the truth being that my summer, while it has been very fun, hasn't been very blog-worthy. Sean and I have spent a lot of time packing up boxes, shopping for furniture, and piling up frozen vegetable bags on our bodies....ok so it's been super hot here. Last week the apartment finally topped 97 degrees and so our minds have been focused on our big move to our new apartment!

Some of you might be confused. "I thought she was moving to Africa?" Well, I am. At the end of next month. But first I get to move across town into a wonderful apartment with an in-unit washer and dryer and central air and a beautiful kitchen counter that is more than just a square and a couch that isn't made out of wicker. So yep, still going to Cameroon, but first I need to tie things up here! (Of course, it wouldn't be me unless I moved into an apartment and could stay in it for longer than a year, but this time I'm staying for a grand total of 4 weeks.)

While I've been on summer break I've:
Gone camping
Gone to a White Sox game
Hung out with lots of old friends in Chicago
Learned to knit
Played with my adorable sort-of nephew (all the while thinking of and missing my adorable actual nephew!)
Cooked and baked a lot
Had a visit from a friend from camp
Attended the Milwaukee Summerfest music festival where we saw a Ben Folds Five reunion concert
Helped a friend move
Bought a new phone
Aided in the trapping/rescuing of a raccoon on my parents' roof/in their attic
Experienced my first "coupure" (power outage) since living in Senegal
Fixed a complete toilet disaster (we're talking a completely shattered tank, and me saving thousands of dollars for everyone involved by stopping the water flow with my handy toilet skills I learned from living with a plumber's daughter for 2 years!)
....among other things I'm sure. So, like I said before, I haven't been super bored, but I also haven't done anything incredibly blog-worthy. I'm getting really excited for my internship, although fairly nervous. I wanted to start blogging again so that I can get in the habit of blogging while abroad. Even though it seems like total common sense to spend a few minutes every night writing about your day, I find that when I move to a new place I am often so wrapped up in everything that is going on that I completely forget about blogging unless I'm homesick, and that's no fun to read or look back on later! I also plan on keeping a private hand-written journal mostly entailing my research for my grad program and how I'm personally adapting to the situation. My friend did that when she was in Senegal and we were looking over it together a few months ago and I really wished I had done something similar.

That's all for now. I'm going to try and blog fairly frequently up until my departure, but we'll see if that actually works out. I'm trying to learn a little Pulaar (aka Fulfulde) before I head off to Yaounde..where's the Rosetta Stone for African languages?!? (Ok, so they have Swahili but come on. They have sooo many Asian and European languages) Anyway, that's a rant for a different day.

Until then...
Ngonen e jam!


1 comment:

jennyp said...

Yay! You are blogging again! Do your parents live in a barn- a raccoon in their attic:) I am glad you are able to see that the summer has had some fun and adventure even if the job pickings have been slim. I am excited for your new adventure! Love Mom