January 30, 2014 I can’t believe it is almost a month into 2014. The past month flew by. Yesterday was a good day. I gave myself a haircut, or I guess a trim, and it actually doesn’t look terrible. I got 4 packages from home and lots of letters and cards. I spent the day unpacking goodies from the States. Afterwards, I brought out the soccer ball my parents sent me to play with the kids. I thought it was such a good idea, but when it ended in tears, I decided I might need to save the soccer ball for my older friends. Last weekend I helped a very inspiring woman set up a library here in Mayo-Darlé. She has written two books and is part of (possibly started) the group, Femmes du Sahel, which works on the development of women. She got 1,500 books in French, English, and Arabic for the library. We spent the day unpacking them and putting them on the shelves. I have already been talking about it to all my local friends and look forward to doing activities there. After a busy weekend, I went to Banyo (nearby town) to help a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer start a mural at the high school there. She had already painted a white square where the painting will be. We simply drew a grid so she can draw and paint the mural. It doesn’t sound like much, but it felt good to do actual work. It was hot and dusty over there, but they have electricity and I got to drink a cold beer afterwards. I’ve done more actual work in the past week than I’ve done since I’ve arrived in Cameroon. I know that’s hard to believe after reading about my “work” but it is unfortunately true.