Soon to be at post

So I forgot to mention that yesterday, we had meetings with the APCD, Kim Ahanda. She talked with each of us individually about our preferences for post placement. Basically, I told her I’m interested in having the chance to do reproductive health, or gender-related work, and that I want to be in a French-speaking province. I mentioned that the Adamawa province (which is part of the grand north, which generally tends to have more of a muslim influence) is of particular interest to me as well, but that I am pretty flexible to go anywhere. I also said that if it was possible, I wouldn’t mind being in a house with electricity. I’ve decided that running water is not super important to me, because it will be easy enough to fetch water myself or send petites (read: little kids... apparently, it's pretty common to just always send the wee children to do errands, so I'm gonna try not to feel bad about this) to get water for me. Bucket baths don’t really bother me, they’re actually kind of fun. But having a computer is like drugs to me. I am sure I would adjust just fine not having the ability to use one regularly (ie without electricity), but it really is nice to have one right now.

So we are going to find out our post placements this coming Thursday, November 1. I’m really excited. Thinking about being at post is exciting. It’s going to be wonderful to have my own space, to be able to decide how to structure my days, and to just have some privacy (granted, not a ton, because I don’t think PCVs ever really have privacy, since we tend to stick out). I’m excited to cook for myself, to do household chores, to begin to really get to know a community, and to do everything else I need to do at post. I’m also a little nervous, because as we get closer and closer to leaving for post, I realize more and more that I will be completely on my own and responsible for making myself productive. This is a little frightening. It helps that we will have a concrete objective during the first three months (i.e. to do community assessment), but it’s still a little unnerving to think about being all alone, no Americans nearby to sound off of everyday. I'm also a bit nervous about protocol. Protocol is the process of introducing oneself to a community - it's a way to sort of show respect to the notables, i.e. the people in power. Protocol is extremely important, because if you do it wrong somehow, you could fail to gain the support of the powerful people (like village chiefs, fons, or notables) in your community. And if I fail to have the support of those in power in my community, I will be, in essence, screwed. I will basically be unwelcome, and unable to do any of my work really. Plus, I probably won't be so safe, since the power-wielders in the community won't have welcomed me. Therefore, I'm pretty nervous about making sure protocol goes well when I get to post. It's supposed to be task numero uno upon arrival. To conclude, right now, I am a little nervous about the unknown, but mostly, excited. It also helps that we’ll have a chance to visit our posts in about a week and a half, which I expect will also be really fun/exciting/interesting.