kkeelss Blog on RealTravel

Kribi journal: Gorgeous Kribi

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 09:46:04 GMT

Last week, one of the single teachers that I met my first week invited me to a Spring Break beach trip that some of them were taking. I immediately said yes as I have no idea how often opportunities for travel will come up while I am here. I had better jump at every chance that is offered!!!!

Tuesday morning, the Jr. Hi Social Studies teacher, Liz, came by and picked me up. We were able to check out one of the SIL vehicles (a Van) so had plenty of room to load up all of the food we brought as well as the six of us: Emily, the art teacher – here just six months; Julie, the ESL teacher – ...

Austin journal: My Family Tree

Wed, 05 Jul 2006 07:38:45 GMT

Wanted to introduce my family members with pictures since I will refer to them often throughout this journal:

My Mom and her husband Dwight - they live in Plano, TX (most of the time). They are with a mission called SOWERS and so travel quite frequently throughout the United States and Canada.

My sister Lorrie and her two boys - Colton (15) and Mitch (13). Lorrie and her boys live in Tennessee. She is a Math teacher and also goes on mission trips during summer times. She has been to Honduras and Russia. Colton has been on trips to Mexico and Bermuda. Mitch has been on a ...

Yaounde journal: Sight Seeing in Yaounde

Sun, 11 Jun 2006 15:31:06 GMT

It's been a busy week of high school graduations, receptions, good-byes as ex-Pats prepare to return to their home countries to get their grads enrolled in college. I can't believe that it is June already. In two weeks, I'll have been here for three months. Amazing!!!

Saturday am - I got up early to decorate the last of four cakes that were ordered for the week. I finished about 9 AM and had originally planned to head back to bed for a while. However, my friend Lois called to let me know that there was a sight seeing tour planned for the afternoon if I would interested in coming along. ...

Yaounde journal: A night out on the town

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 02:52:23 GMT

This is just a quick entry to cover my first night-time restaurant excursion here in Cameroon. Some of the teachers with whom I have become friends are leaving as their assignments have come to an end. Elizabeth is an MK who grew up in the Philippians – she is leaving to get married. Her fiancé is currently working in China.

They plan to spend the first couple years of marriage in the US and then, who knows where they may end up.

Wednesday night, Elizabeth invited me to come to dinner on her last night here in Africa. We met up with some friends of hers who teach at the American ...

Yaounde journal: The Pondi Pad

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 02:35:02 GMT

Remember my friends Esther and Jean-Luc? They went to Kribi with us. Newlyweds whose home burned down soon after they were married. Since that time, they have been living in fairly cramped quarters with a relative.

One of their biggest goals this year, has been to find a house before their one year anniversary. They found one and boy is it PERFECT! A few of us were invited to come over for a house blessing. Esther prepared food – she is a wonderful cook! She treated us to mboongo tijodi (the basil fish that she cooked in Kribi), spicy chicken, rice with a luscious red sauce (she has ...

Yaounde journal: Caribbean Cameroonian Cuisine

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 02:13:30 GMT

What a fun week I have had. Thank you to all of you who sent birthday greetings – I even received some really, really amazing gifts via DHL that just blew me AWAY!!!!

When I packed my things in October to have shipped over in November – I included a few fun food items that I knew would help make certain days special. Dwight, my mom’s husband, laughed at my taking various seed and nut breadings for fish and chicken – however, I KNEW that I would have use for them. One such food saver vacuumed packet included a Chili Macadamia Nut breading that I had purchased from Central Market.

I ...

Africa journal: kk Overseas

Wed, 31 May 2006 06:37:46 GMT

Hi Everybody!!!!!

As many of you know, I left the United States on March 17, 2006 to come to Africa to work for two years.

My intention was to keep all of you up to date with my travels and adventures. However, as soon as I arrived in Cameroon, I was put to work and haven't had a lot of time to get my travel journal set up. I have finally received a bit of a break and so I can start getting things a little more organized.

The intent of this journal is to ensure that all of you receive regular updates on my time here in Africa. However, I love personal emails (both sending ...

Austin journal: My Lesson about Faith!!!

Wed, 31 May 2006 06:37:30 GMT

This journal entry is one that I would like to include because it is a wonderful example of God's grace and protection as I prepared for my two years in Africa:

I am a chef – I attack events by planning things to the must minute detail, I control, control, control so that things turn out exactly as planned. I am good at what I do and revel in an event that has been flawlessly pulled off. This is why having faith in reference to things beyond my control is very hard for me!!!!!

And so goes moving my things into storage – I knew exactly how many days I needed to pack everything up, ...

Yaounde journal: Electricity Blackout in Yaounde

Mon, 29 May 2006 02:29:58 GMT

Today is beautiful. . . . not a cloud in the sky -- and yet - our electricity blackout continues!!!!! The weirdest thing.

The storm hit yesterday around 5:00 pm - poured for about an hour. Electricity stayed on throughout the storm. Around 6:15 - everything quieted down and cooled off. It was GORGEOUS!!!!!

We made bread yesterday - DELICIOUS -- on which, I put fantastic tuna salad (hickory smoked) thanks to the package that I received from Lorrie!!!!! Absolute AWESOME dinner. I opted to skip the Sunday night service and keep working on the menus for the next five weeks . . . we ...

Yaounde journal: Cakes for Cameroonians

Tue, 23 May 2006 14:05:20 GMT

after seeing the cake that I decorated for the retirement party, one of the Cameroonians asked that I do a wedding cake for her brother -- I figured, why not - it will be a good chance to get invited to a Cameroonian wedding right off the bat --

6 hour wedding - whew!!!!! I was scared to death that the cake would start melting and slide apart, but it hung in there!!!!

Here are a few pics -- I was expecting the bride to be in authentic African garb - the family all was, but she was in white which is pretty traditional here in Cameroon (now) - I guess. I was exhausted from the Kribi ...

Yaounde journal: My First Catering Assignment - Cameroonian Style

Tue, 23 May 2006 14:02:41 GMT

I've been busy training with Janice and getting to know my staff. First on the horizon is a HUGE retirement party for one of the former employees from the kitchen. Victorine worked in the AOC kitchen for about 18 years.

One of the things that Wycliffe (the mission organization I am with) is famous for - world wide - is their daily coffee break at 10 AM. It is like a religious function -- everybody stops what they are doing and drinks some coffee and chats with their co-workers for about 30 minutes.

Today - we are hosting the coffee break for all of SIL (the group of Wycliffe ...

Yaounde journal: Week 1 - Saturday

Tue, 23 May 2006 13:58:49 GMT

Good morning - it is a GORGEOUS day here in Cameroon. It rained all night (my favorite way to sleep) so it will be beautiful sunny all day today!

I got about early and have already washed my clothes, hung them on the clothes line (gonna be weird getting used to everybody seeing my panties!!!! hee, hee!), washed dishes, burned my trash, swept my floor and am in the office now so that I can download this week's episode of LOST (thank you iTunes!!!!) and send Rickey this overdue email.

I began putting together this journal entry on Thursday night; however, the electricity went out so ...

Yaounde journal: Day 1 in Cameroon

Tue, 23 May 2006 13:55:07 GMT

I left the luxury of the Hilton around 6:30 AM and headed for the airport. Par for my trip so far, we were quite a bit late taking off from Paris. The flight was also packed, packed, packed. Though it was not noted on my original ticket, there would be a stop in Douala, Cameroon before we reached our final destination of Yaoundé.

As we prepared to board, they began taking carry on baggage away from approximately every 5th person in line because there were too many bags to fit in the overhead compartments. My carry on contained items that I had not trusted to be lost in the checked ...

Yaounde journal: Fête Nationale – Cameroonian Independence Day

Tue, 23 May 2006 08:50:09 GMT

Tomorrow (Saturday) is Independence Day here in Cameroon. They have a HUGE soccer match tomorrow with France and so most of the celebrations took place today. So- without an announcement on the radio or in the paper -- the date of the military celebrations was suddenly changed this morning to today.

The military base in located on the top of a hill overlooking the city -- they have been practicing fighter jet maneuvers all week. I've heard them, but have been stuck in the kitchen and so had not seen what all they were working on.

At 3:00 PM - we climbed up on the water tower (sound ...

Atlanta journal: Leaving Home

Tue, 23 May 2006 06:16:42 GMT

Leaving home was pretty hard - but I knew that it would be. I love family so much and am sad that I will miss so much of the kids lives while I am overseas. However, technology has come a LONG way since we were kids and living in South America without a clue of what our extended family was up to far away in Texas.

I wanted a fun, family focused dinner for my last night so we chose Buca di Beppo, a family style Italian Restaurant. Lorrie, and the boys drove me to the restaurant south of Nashville in Franklin where Joy, David and the kids were staying. We had a little trouble finding ...

Paris journal: My Awesome Vacation Package from God

Tue, 23 May 2006 04:23:55 GMT

March 19, 2006

well - my adventures began with a bang!!!!!!

My flight from Atlanta was a little over 2 hours late taking off due to Delta preparing for a strike. When I checked in at the gate to get my seat assignment (5 PM), I was the last seat available. By 6:15 PM, it was oversold by 15 people and they were taking bids to get volunteers to give up their seats.

6:30, we were to start boarding, however no one had cleaned the plane yet - 777 . . .lots of trash there!!!

7:15, we get on the plane. 7:45, we begin to taxi off, but are called back to the gate - the luggage ...