First days in Cameroon

Dear Friends and Family,
So hopefully this will be my first update from Cameroon. I say hopefully because I have been here for just over a week now and have not been able to access my blog page. The server has been blocking it, but I think I got it fixed today. I have wireless internet here, but it is VERY slow and takes a long while to upload things or even get a new page. And my personal account gets charged for the amount of minutes I use on the internet. So I am typing to you in Word and hoping I can soon copy and paste. It is almost 6pm here and I am exhausted from a long day of work, but it is only 11am-1pm for most of you. I am almost done with the day, but you are still going. I hope yours is not as exhausting as mine was. One thing about myself that I have confirmed being out here, is that I do not do well having to sit behind a desk and get things done all day. It exhausts me! Tomorrow is the first day of classes, Aug. 7th. So today I sat and tried to configure lesson plans. I feel good about my math class, but science literally gave me a headache today. I was re-learning torque and moment in the Machines and Movement section. I don’t remember ever learning that, but I am sure it is there somewhere, so I sat and wracked my brain with the students book as my aid to remember that the force (F) times the distance from the pivot = the turning force, known as the torque. So there you have it, my first science lesson. I hope it will get easier as time goes on and as my science mind gets back in shape. I am excited to meet my students tomorrow. I have heard great things about some of them specifically.
I am excited as well to help with the student worship team. I just agreed to do that yesterday. There is another woman who will be leading them in spiritual direction and focus, which I can help with, but primarily I will be helping them work on things musically. I am looking forward to working with them and having a small group to focus on within the larger student body. (When I say ‘larger’, I mean about 100)
I have been meeting lots of new people, which is very exciting, but can also be very draining for me.
I live in an apartment complex called CABTAL that is a gated property with an office/conference building and a 4 story apartment complex. I live on the top floor with my roommate Liz who has been here for several years and can show me how things work. We are getting along great and she is very helpful to answer my many questions. I can walk to school in about 10 min. I live in the capitol city, but we are on the outskirts of it and there are no tall buildings just very small businesses. I feel safe, but I wouldn’t walk alone at night. The climate here is more tropical, just without the forests. They have been cut away for the buildings, but are in the surrounding areas. It is humid here and the laundry and my hair take a long while to dry. It hasn’t rained much so far, only 3 or 4 times. But this month is the dryer part of the rainy season (March-Nov.).
I have a lot of the familiarities of home, but there are also a lot of things to adjust to. I did just get a cell phone and the way the service works here is that I pay only for calls I make, NOT for calls I receive. So I don’t know how much it would cost to call a Cameroonian cell phone from the U.S. but I can give you the number so if you want to call me you can and I will not be charged. The U.S. can give better long distance rates than I can get here. I don’t want to post it here for the whole world to see, but I will send it out in an email update and if you would like it you can email me and ask for it: amyoxendale@gmail.com
Well, I have many more stories and things to say, but I know I can be long winded and I already have taken up a whole page on Word. so I will go for now. but please pray for my first week of school. This week pray that I will remember my sciences from High School and can effectively teach it to these students. I would love to get emails from you. Just typing this makes me feel more connected to all of you back home. I hope this finds all of you well.
I remain here in Jesus' love,
AMY