Christmas in Yaounde!!

Milk and Cookies for Santa

Baking cookies

Our family little tradition on Christmas Eve

Our Family Christmas ornament every year

Glad to spent Christmas in Yaounde!

Claire with her new red dress and her outdoor goal set

Wii game for Christmas who could ask for more!

Showing off my Cameroon home jersey!!

　
Our first Christmas in Yaounde is not bad at all!! Wherever we are we stick with our little tradition that we started since Claire came into our life. On the night of Christmas Eve I usually prepare a good dinner...after dinner Jeff will put the star topper on the Christmas tree and then later before going to bed Jeff and Claire will bake a cookies for Santa and we put claire to bed...of course Jeff eats the cookies and drinks the milk to make Claire think that Santa stopped by and brought her presents. Christmas morning we woke up with excitement especially Claire and I! So still in our pajamas the three of us sat under the Christmas tree and start looking for our name on each gift. I'm happy with what I got this year, the Cameroon home soccer jersey is so cool!!! Thanks baby! I also got a wii which is the reason my shoulder is hurting now hehehe..and of course my swiss army watch that is on my wish list and to top it all my Bobby Flay collection has expanded and I thank my loving Mom in law for that beautiful gift. Claire got a outdoor goal set with a soccer ball and some accessories for field hockey and lacrosse. She really likes it and is kicking the ball all the time now! She also got a KidJam musical toy from Grandma...she's really enjoying that too, and is already making different music and mixes. We went over to our friends place in the afternoon and had a BBQ...some burgers and chicken, plus some fish and my ratatouille. We had a great time...Claire and the girls went swimming...on Christmas day! Then we all went swimming again on the 26th!! Only in Yaounde!! I'm sure we'll jump in on New Years day as well!!

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The Fon du Mankon!

The Mankon Palace gate

Claire with the traditional dress

We are the Mankonians!

Bowing and clapping 3 times is how to show respect to the Fon

Fo Angwafo III S.A.N

The mankon traditional dance

The gun salute. You can see the real Elephant tusk an entrance to the Fon throne.

The Horse show

The Fon and the steer horn

Beautiful kids

Claire and the d'jambe

Dancing to the beat of the d'jambe

Claire's new found friends

Accident along the way

Two pig sunbathing on the bus roof top

Car Loaded with plantain and banana

Just one of the many beautiful view (overlooking) of Bamenda

We just took a 3 day trip to the North West province of Cameroon. A very interesting experience and a fun time. The embassy got an invitation to attend the 50th year celebration of the Fon du Mankon in Bamenda. We left Yaounde Friday morning and got to Bamenda late afternoon...we went on convoy which makes our trip more fun. A very long drive along some very bad roads! We checked in at Ayaba hotel...our stay at that hotel is really something to laugh about and we learned our lesson never to stay there again! On Saturday we all dressed up and headed for the festival. We got to sit in the covered area with all the local officials and other foreign representatives. Things got off to a late start due to the late arrival of the governor, but it was very interesting to watch and learn. Lots of dancing and shooting of guns! Even the Fon got into the act a little bit. The people were very nice and were happy to see us there. We left and went to grab a late lunch which was another experience in itself...some of us ordered sandwhiches off the menu and it took an hour to get them! For sandwiches! We also were invited to dinner with the Secretary of Health which made up for the sandwiches! On Sunday we stopped at Prespot Pottery before heading home and bought a few things. Then we began the long drive back to Yaounde...finally arriving just after 7pm. We were all quite exhausted from the weekend, but glad we did it and not to mention our car is covered in dirt and dust. We wish Fon Angwafo III S.A.N and the people from Mankon continued success!!

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