This post will be shorter than my others have been. It will also be my last post before the weekend although I will try to jot down 5 things I do on the weekend days and post them Monday when we go back to school. 

Today I...

1. attended class as normal. My French class discussed religion and colonization and read a letter from the minister of the Belgian Congo to missionaries entering the colony. 
2. had a Research Methods and Ethics class discussing the importance of observation, methods, and the extent to which it can be used in different studies. 
3. went to the “Mama” who sells food on the corner up the road from the SIT office for lunch. My friend Marianna and I split a helping of potatoes and beef for only 500 CFA francs (about $1) and it was one of the best meals that I’ve had here so far! The Mama makes her food at home and then brings it to the corner each day between 1:15pm and 1:30 and I plan to visit her more frequently in the future. You can either bring your own plate or container to take the food with you or you can use her plates and silverware and eat on the benches next to her stand. In Cameroon eating on the go is not really done.
4. stayed at the SIT office until 8pm for the weekly “Student’s Night.” Each Thursday the office stays open until 8pm and we can come and go as we please. This give us the opportunity to do things in the neighborhood that might not be close to our homes, use the internet, do homework together, and cook our own food. This evening we did homework mostly but took several breaks throughout the evening to paint nails, do yoga, and look through the library of previous student’s research projects.
5. got home and ate dinner since I hadn’t yet. Dinner tonight was spaghetti, with a cabbage, carrot, tomatoes, and beef stew topping. As I’m writing this I’m also sitting in my room with Gael, my host sister watching “Victoria” a Spanish soap opera dubbed in French that both Gael and my host mom watch every evening.

This Saturday, there’s an optional visit to another town to see a gorilla sanctuary and an art school. I plan on going and bringing Gael and my younger host brother, Glendon.

Just as a side note, I usually write these posts at night when I'm back at my house and then post them in the morning when I get to the SIT office. This morning my computer was having a hard time with the internet so I didn't get a chance to post until 1pm. So, when I say "today" on my posts I'm really referring to the day before.