City Tour

Overlooking Bastos from Palais de Congress

Yaounde view standing from the Greek Embassy on Mt. Febé

Looking down from Benedictine Monastary

Monument de la Reunification

Marché Central

Marché le Mfoundi..Live chicken anyone?

Tsinga Craft Market..lots of Cool stuff here

Carving table/stools I got at Tsinga

Mahima Supermarché

Carrefour, Bastos

The embassy had a city tour for the new comers and that's us and one other family. Iris the asst CLO is our tour guide. First in our iterinary is Mount Febé...climbing Mt. Febe by foot or by wheel is fun and worth it, the road is smooth and passable. Our first stop in Mt. Febé is the Benedictine Monastary and museum and standing from the monastary is an impressive beauty overlooking Yaounde. Opposite to the Monastary is the Mt. Febé hotel a four star hotel in Cameroon. The embassy location is adjacent to the Mount Febe golf club. Yaounde the capital of Cameroon is sorrounded by mountains and the Febe mountain adds a lot of beauty to Yaounde.
Our next stop is the Palais de Congres...its an old govt building on another big hill where they held convention or international conference. It's not where the Congress meets! Which is what everyone thought!
We drove by the Djeuga Palace Hotel where the former embassy use to be. Then off to Mahima Central/ Casino or the Super Marche where I mostly do my groceries, they have imported goods there kinda western market but very expensive though...a box of cereal cost $10 and the Philadelphia cream cheese cost $9 but Im just buying the local brand cream cheese for $3 and that is what Im using now on Jeff'and Claire's bagel every morning...its not as good as the philadelpia cream cheese but ok.
Then we stop by at the Reunification monument take some pictures and drove back to the town where Iris show us some bazaar ( Bricolux, Niki Centrale, Snob Bazaar) and the Dolce Vita ice creams shop I dont know how good the ice cream but I miss Ben and jerry!!
There's a street name after JFK it even has his monument in the middle of the street I saw that while we're heading to the Laking African fabric store, the fabric besides its an art its a beautiful clothes with an African design and color...Im gonna get one soon and have it tailored dress just like what the local women wearing here.
We passed by Marché le Mfoundi where you can get fresh product, they sell their chicken alive and if you wanna buy you bargain for the price and then bring it to the other guy who will murder the chicken (slaughter) and dressed it for you but of course thats another fee but still way more cheaper and fresh tooo
The Independence Street in central town is what I like most that's where all the good restaurants and bar is. I cant wait to have our car here! After Independence St. is Carrefour Street the road back to Bastos to our place, Yes the place where we live is called Bastos!(Bastos in my dialect means Disrespectful) its like a neighborhood where all the embassies are. The local say they get that name from the British American Tobaco but it was shut down now.
The Tsinga Craft Market is another great place for Yaounde Shopping. here you can buy traditional crafts and arts of their region they all have a typical African flavor, I was able to buy two small tables/stools with art carving on the sides, I haggled for the price and ended up getting a good deal. We hope to get some more of them and other things of course!!
The tour end passed 12 o'çlock and that's give us enough time to get ready for the Luau party at the Marine house. There's always something going on at the Marine house!!

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The Diplomatic pouch

the cards was mailed Aug6 and it get to us Aug24.

The three of us had our PPD shots today...and I also got my HEP A and HEP B. The duty driver came and got Claire and I around 1pm and took us to the Embassy. But...its not only the shots we got today but also four boxes, two small envelopes, and two letters all from the US! Thanks Mom! We're still not sure of the real "schedule" of how the mail works, since we only get mail once a week on Monday. I like shopping online much more now cause if you want quality stuff and you cant get it here. They dont even have a department store or a mall, most of their clothes are tailored. I still have a couple of boxes that didnt make it today but I tracked it online and said it was recieved on dock at Dulles last tuesday. Hmmm..We'll figure it out!

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Welcome Party

RSO/ESO Yaounde
Welcomes the Strickland’s!
When: This Saturday (August 22nd) at 4pm.
We plan to eat around 5pm, but please feel free to show up earlier
Where: Nicholson’s (Location 59 – across from the Embassy).
Menu: Ham, potatoes, green bean casserole, black-eyed peas and other tasty items!

U.S. Embassy Yaounde

In accordance with E.O. 12958, this email is UNCLASSIFIED

The Nicholsons just threw us a welcome dinner!! That's something! All the people in Jeff's department were there..the RSO/ESO shops. The food is so good, ham and green bean casserole filled me up, never have those in a long time...potatoes and pasta salad too. The Cornett family brought homemade apple pie and Im telling you Im not a sweet tooth person but it is really freakin good. We even had some ice cream! Locally made not as good as Ben and Jerry but ok. A nice, relaxing evening! and rain is pouring hard today.

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Michael Jackson of Cameroon

The Thriller segment"
We just got home from a tribute show to Michael Jackson and man this guy really did dance like Michael Jackson...and his body build and height just like Michael, he's a Cameroonian guy basically a black guy but he is an Albino. The show was held at the embassy sponsored by the Marine Security Guard. They sell hamburger and hotdog lil sxpensive but They're trying to raise money for the Marine Ball on November.We did really enjoy watching the guy imitating MJ. He had 3 other dancers backing him up and they were also very good. They also dressed up as zombies for the "thriller"segment... Il tres bien!!they were really good! All the kids got scared...claire was crying a little and we had to hold her. But it was all good...a really great performance. The ambassador was there...and the ambassador from Italy and his wife...plus people from other embassies around town...we think it was an excuse for people to come party at the american embassy!haha.We had a great saturday night!Kudos to the Michael Jackson guy of Cameroon! Ciao!

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Our house in Yaounde!

The facade

the driveway

one of the unique thing in our house

Claire St. this way pls..

view from the back patio

the backyard and the back patio

Jeff w/Augustine the day shift guard.

The house was assigned to us before we ever arrived and we had seen some photos of it, so we had an idea of what we were getting into.
It's a pretty cool house...older but comfortable. It's got 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. But the best part is the yard...plus we have a pool! Not bad. It's got furniture everywhere already, all are Oak color! I dont like that color in a furniture but thats fine its usable anyway we just have to get it arranged once our HHE arrives. The house got steel bars over all the windows, and steel gates in front of all the doors...plus a security system, you hear a chime when somebody open the door and not to mention the panic door that is installed in the hallway where Claire and our bedroom is, its a heavy metal kinda bullet proof door. We're locked in pretty good at night, not to mention our 24/7 guard. We have a washer/dryer, full size freezer, fridge, a gas stove and a water distiller. The bedrooms are big, with split ac units...the bathrooms are going to take some getting used to. The bathroom in our bedroom looks like it still has all original items since the house was built!! The sink has separate hot and cold faucets! Pretty unbelievable...we got a good laugh out of that one. haha. But it makes Jeff's shaving difficult! All the toilets are the european style, with the pull-up flusher in the center. Water pressure here is hit or miss...we have two water tanks for the house. Like I said the best part is the yard...it's not gigantic, but a nice size. It's green everywhere, coconut trees, banana trees and other native plants. We've started planting flowers...and we're going to plant some vegetables and herbs...there's a section in the yard the previous resident used for a garden so we're going to get that area ready. Im having my mom in law send me some more flower seeds from the states but we'll see about that since there is a restriction on the diplomatic pouch.The flooring in this house is 100% tiles which is nice. In our yard there's this native cabana where Jeff and I likes to hang out on weekends while having coffee and enjoying the morning breeze of Cameroon and sometimes it give me the feeling like we're on vacation in a resort back home(Philippines).Life in Yaounde is not bad at all. Im contented and happy as long as me,jeff and lil stinker Claire are together.

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So we had a Housekeeper/Nanny!!!

Monique on her first day with us

I started my day with a coffee in my hand and a couple of resume of a housekeeper that Im getting ready to give a call and have them come at our place for an interview. Jeff and I reviewed the rules and the contract format in hiring a housekeeper/nanny that the embassy gave us. We were briefed well by the embassy on this matter. I made a call to this girl and ask her if she can come for an interview and she sounded so happy and delighted about my call that she wanna come right away and yes she did! She speaks english and french which is a plus, she likes Claire and Claire say she already miss her hehehe. I did the interview while Jeff is in the backyard playing with Claire and at the same time keeping Claire away from us while the interview is going on. I make sure I state everything of what I want her to do around the house but our most concern in hiring her is to watch over Claire after school because soon enough Im going to work at the embassy too!! I'll be meeting with the Health Practitioner on Tuesday. We pretty much agree on everything and we hired her!! She'll be working with us as a part time housekeeper/nanny and she gonna start tomorrow!! So we have a housekeeper now!!! Cool! The first thing I'll ask her to do is a general cleaning of the house, we've been here for a week now and been going back and forth to the embassy for the briefing and meeting people so we hardly clean the house, so me and Monique will burn a lot of calories tomorrow hehehe. Im hoping we could keep her the whole time we are here on post. more coffee pls..

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UAB

Claire hanging loose with the Boxes
We just got the UAB (Unaccompanied Air Baggage) shipment today! Isnt it sweet!! We dont expect it to arrive that soon but thats very good for us!!! Five big boxes that wiegh 485 lbs. since only 500lbs is allowed in UAB. All my kitchen stuff is in the boxes. I have the paper inhand that says what box # that has what stuff and past 12 noon I started unpacking our things before i knew it, it's 5pm and Jeff is already home from work and there's no dinner!! I had fun opening the boxes, unwrapping our things and finding the best place to put everything mostly stuff for the kitchen. Im so happy to see my crock pot is intact but sad see that some of my Bobby Flay Collection is broken and a couple of pieces are dinged, but seeing my kitchen starting to look nice is a good feeling and the place is starting to look lived in. I put our dinner ware in the china cabinet and it looks really nice!!!I cant wait to get the HHE but I want our consumables now!

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Got to meet The Ambassador of Yaounde!

Today is Jeff first day at work at the embassy...mostly just checkin stuff. But he came and got us for lunch, we went to a local Italian place and we met Jeff's supervisor, Justin, and his wife, and two other SEOs who are here for TDY from Pretoria.Me and jeff had calzone its a turnover made from pizza dough and its huge stuff with ham,mushroom and lots of cheese on it as soon as it gets on our table Claire say Wowowee!and she's excited to ripped it open and eat it.Service was very slow...took a long time for food to arrive after we placed our order. We were told to get used to it...that's the way it is here.
After lunch we all went back to the Embassy,The building is pretty new and very high-tech as far as safety is concern. I met a marine guy on duty. Jeff and I got our Embassy ID cards...nice!My ID allow me almost anywhere inside the embassy except on those area that is classified. We were able to get some more stuff from the commisary. Then we both had check-in with the Regional Security Officer...the office that Jeff works in (RSO). She gave us a briefing on residential security as well as the situation here in Cameroon,I make sure I absorbed evrything she briefed us.The RSO carry a gun and she's a lady! She is nice and find her cool!Then we had a briefing with the Deputy Chief of Mission...the DCM. He's the #2 person in charge at the Embassy, and stands in as the ambassador when she is out of country. He gave us some brownies with a card as a gesture in welcoming us. Pretty cool!! He was really nice and told me he hopes I plan to work!! Then we got to meet with the Ambassador...she is also really nice! Calm and very sophisticated.She welcome us personally and tell us how lucky we are(for some reasons) to get our first post here in Yaounde. On the lower level of the building is the CLO office,She is so nice and hand me a copy of the monthly event schedule and classes going on.She suggested I join the African dance Class!and Im opt for that!!I spot a couple of event that excite me that is the Ebogo Canoe trip and of course the Ladies night!Lastly we went to the Language class and met Amadou a local guy and sign up for french lesson.Seems like there's a lot of nice and interesting things we can do in Cameroon!!

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We are here!!!

She is a great traveller!
Dulles Airport

Left Brussels yesterday morning (7/31)...a little bit late but ok.Arrived Yaounde safe and sound from our one leg journey.Claire is behaving the whole time and daddy sat beside her.The plane was packed...it was to stop in Yaounde first, then go on to Kinshasa, so lots of people. Plenty of colorful clothes...a different fashion style here! and the smell of the strong perfume hahaha!
Flight was scheduled for another 7 hours...but about the time were start our descent into Yaounde, the pilot came on the intercom and told us that the Yaounde airport was closed! haha. Really. I couldn't believe it. He said the President and some VIPs were there, so we couldn't land. So...we were rerouted to Douala, the largest city in Cameroon and the economic "capital" of the country. We land in Douala and are told that we'll wait in the plane for clearance to back to Yaounde. About 1.5 hours later, we take off for the 20 minute flight to Yaounde. We finally land and get off the plane...start walking to baggage claim. As we're walking down the steps toward immigration, a local guy welcomes us and picks up Claire and tells us to follow him. It's Dairu, the embassy's expediter. Sweet!! We buzz through immigration without slowing down and get out to the baggage claim area...there we meet Keith, the other STS assigned to the embassy. It's great to finally meet him, he really helped us out over the past couple of months. So we give Dairu our passports and yellow shot cards and he disappears...now we just wait with Keith for our luggage to get on the carousel. After we collect our bags, we load them up on the trolley and buzz right through customs...no stopping with Dairu leading the way! Sweet! We head out to the parking lot and are met by the duty driver...load our stuff into the embassy's Chevy Suburban and hit the road. Quite an experience...it's dark now and there's not a lot of lights, absolutely no traffic signals and people walking along the street and no lane markers!Prhaps I'll donate 10 gal of white paint first and have them paint the lane haha but nah I dont think I wanna drive here.
It's a free-for-all when driving here...taxis, motorbikes, pedestrians. 2 lanes become 4 or 5. Most cars don't have working headlights or brakelights, or both. So we finally get to our house...it's already been assigned to us before we arrived. The guard opens the gate and we pull in and yes we have our own 24 hr security guard hah!Two local guy take turn on a 12 hr shift. The house is big and has a swimming pool but thats another blog to write. I'll post some pix later.

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