Update

Captain's Log. Stardate 10-8-2007.

Have been delinquent in updating the blog recently due to laziness combined with normal power and connectivity problems. In the last three weeks I:

• Gave a few computer lessons to a pair of teachers at the college (private high school) that shares the campus with the university. Basic mouse and keyboard stuff.
• Used some of the new spare parts I got from Bill to fix up another machine and upgrade a second in my little improvised computer lab. Still have three or four dead machines to fix.
• Spent a week in Yaoundé for two things. First, Peace Corps Cameroon has set up a peer support network for volunteers and I was asked to join. Basically the idea is to have a list of volunteers around the country people can call if they need someone to talk to. (Being stuck alone at post while suffering through days of explosive diarrhea can get depressing.) Someone from Peace Corps Washington came out and gave us two days of counseling tips and helped us set up ground rules for organization, confidentiality, responsibilities, etc. Second, at my last province meeting I was elected the representative for the Center province volunteers to the Voluntary Advisory Committee (VAC). This is a committee composed of a volunteer from each province, the country director, and various other staff members that makes policies and addresses volunteer concerns. So, basically I'm the congressman for the volunteers in my province. While there I had hoped to do some posting, but the office was filled with other volunteers, meaning that the computers were occupied constantly.

Right now I'm working on some new (used) computers the university bought for the lab, getting them ready for the start of classes. The students are back today and my classes are supposed to start (in theory) next Monday.

It's been raining a lot lately. Water and mud everywhere. Power goes on and off .

That's about it for now. Eventually I will post some pictures and stories about what I did over the break, I swear.

End log entry.