Use this link to check out a selection of my photos from the semester!
https://picasaweb.google.com/116208964654702685820/MariaSPhotos
Monday, June 13, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
you say goodbye, I say hello
Bye Bye…
-Calling everyone ‘maman’ or ‘ma soeur’
-saying hello to everyone on the street; being able to hold a conversation with anyone I meet
-never being able to blend in
-passing groups of matching 5 year-olds walking themselves to school
-buying cheap snacks on the street
-people peeing on the side of the road
-beautiful green scenery and hills
-sweating at the sight of babies and kids wearing long sleeves and snowcaps in 80degree weather
-my daily baby-blue malaria pill….NOT. I have to take it for four more weeks after I get home.
-Manuella’s precious ‘fro that feels like Build-a-Bear stuffing and her oversized-outy bellybutton; Magnus’ strong opinions (fact based? Maybe…); Therese’s pregnant-ness and prissiness
-drinking ‘juice’ all the time. And when we say ‘juice’, we mean ‘pop’. And when I say ‘pop’, I mean the Real.Deal—glass bottles, not wimpy cans. TOP Ananas and TOP Pamplemousse, I will miss you!! (Pineapple and Grapefruit flavored pop)
-our group ringtone
-playing “the game” (polygamous and deuxieme bureau version, of course!)
-pretending I actually watch El Diablo when someone references it so that I don’t seem lame
-joking about being a ‘case study’ at next semester’s SIT orientation
-girls drooling over Bobo and Able
-Paul Biya’s picture plastered everywhere
-watching tv all the time; singing along to all the commercials
-the runs!! (too much info? Sorry)
-crappy pens and everyone’s constant efforts to sneakily steal them (there might be a relation between these two things now that I think about it…)
-dreaming of my next order for my tailor
-delicious papaya, pineapple, mango, avocado, fresh chicken…heck, I might even miss cassava
-my constant amazement at Cameroonians’ balancing-things-on-the-head skills
-people asking me if my freckles/moles/zits are mosquito bites
-horrible roads, dangerous driving
-taking taxis (with their nearly-always Jesus-y exterior, and sometimes-fuzzy interior). Frequently shutting my long skirts in the door, sometimes arguing with the driver if he doesn’t realize I already know the normal price of a ride.
-dropping “1,000” here and “1,000” there when shopping or eating
-the handshake with the snap that I’m just starting to grasp
-penciled-on eyebrows
-Bobo saying “ok guys, I’ve got your money” (for our weekly lunch stipend, etc)
-the concept of village life and all it entails (tontines, marriages with dowries, “funerailles”…)
-straight-faced photos
-child labor
-strong sense of financial responsibility for one’s siblings
-nose picking in public
-sleeping in my mosquito tent!! (weird!)
-using 2-in-1 shampoo (not so gentle on the hair…)
-wives’ dependency on their husbands for cash
-kids’ complete disregard for gendered clothing/backpacks
-that animal that makes the nose that sounds like the Catchphrase buzzer!
Hello…
-seatbelts
-stoplights, street names, street signs, addresses, and maps
-bathrooms with toilets, toilet seats, toilet paper, sinks, running water, trash cans, and mirrors
-warm showers
-five-bar internet that is actually fast
-full-sized refrigerators…full of food
-pizza, pasta, Mexican food, dairy products
-processed food
-microwaves
-trashcans
-not stressing over how to get change for a $10 or $20 bill
-non-cash currency
-spare keys
-seeing a dog without screaming “ah! Rabies!” in my head
-staying out after 6:30pm (!)
-grass
-sleeping through the night and sleeping in (I hope?!?)
-Calling everyone ‘maman’ or ‘ma soeur’
-saying hello to everyone on the street; being able to hold a conversation with anyone I meet
-never being able to blend in
-passing groups of matching 5 year-olds walking themselves to school
-buying cheap snacks on the street
-people peeing on the side of the road
-beautiful green scenery and hills
-sweating at the sight of babies and kids wearing long sleeves and snowcaps in 80degree weather
-my daily baby-blue malaria pill….NOT. I have to take it for four more weeks after I get home.
-Manuella’s precious ‘fro that feels like Build-a-Bear stuffing and her oversized-outy bellybutton; Magnus’ strong opinions (fact based? Maybe…); Therese’s pregnant-ness and prissiness
-drinking ‘juice’ all the time. And when we say ‘juice’, we mean ‘pop’. And when I say ‘pop’, I mean the Real.Deal—glass bottles, not wimpy cans. TOP Ananas and TOP Pamplemousse, I will miss you!! (Pineapple and Grapefruit flavored pop)
-our group ringtone
-playing “the game” (polygamous and deuxieme bureau version, of course!)
-pretending I actually watch El Diablo when someone references it so that I don’t seem lame
-joking about being a ‘case study’ at next semester’s SIT orientation
-girls drooling over Bobo and Able
-Paul Biya’s picture plastered everywhere
-watching tv all the time; singing along to all the commercials
-the runs!! (too much info? Sorry)
-crappy pens and everyone’s constant efforts to sneakily steal them (there might be a relation between these two things now that I think about it…)
-dreaming of my next order for my tailor
-delicious papaya, pineapple, mango, avocado, fresh chicken…heck, I might even miss cassava
-my constant amazement at Cameroonians’ balancing-things-on-the-head skills
-people asking me if my freckles/moles/zits are mosquito bites
-horrible roads, dangerous driving
-taking taxis (with their nearly-always Jesus-y exterior, and sometimes-fuzzy interior). Frequently shutting my long skirts in the door, sometimes arguing with the driver if he doesn’t realize I already know the normal price of a ride.
-dropping “1,000” here and “1,000” there when shopping or eating
-the handshake with the snap that I’m just starting to grasp
-penciled-on eyebrows
-Bobo saying “ok guys, I’ve got your money” (for our weekly lunch stipend, etc)
-the concept of village life and all it entails (tontines, marriages with dowries, “funerailles”…)
-straight-faced photos
-child labor
-strong sense of financial responsibility for one’s siblings
-nose picking in public
-sleeping in my mosquito tent!! (weird!)
-using 2-in-1 shampoo (not so gentle on the hair…)
-wives’ dependency on their husbands for cash
-kids’ complete disregard for gendered clothing/backpacks
-that animal that makes the nose that sounds like the Catchphrase buzzer!
Hello…
-seatbelts
-stoplights, street names, street signs, addresses, and maps
-bathrooms with toilets, toilet seats, toilet paper, sinks, running water, trash cans, and mirrors
-warm showers
-five-bar internet that is actually fast
-full-sized refrigerators…full of food
-pizza, pasta, Mexican food, dairy products
-processed food
-microwaves
-trashcans
-not stressing over how to get change for a $10 or $20 bill
-non-cash currency
-spare keys
-seeing a dog without screaming “ah! Rabies!” in my head
-staying out after 6:30pm (!)
-grass
-sleeping through the night and sleeping in (I hope?!?)
[Dirt] Wall[s], Waterfall[s], Girl You Think You Know it All…
Well, this is it. All the goodbyes have been said. I’m sitting in the President’s Club in the DC airport (thanks dad!!) sipping wine and eating trailmix and carrots. Haven’t seen those in awhile…other long lost friends rediscovered on the plane included: salad, twix, cheese, and juice.
Though I’ve calmed down a bit during my last two flights, here’s what I wrote during my first one-->
[On the way to the airport:]
Me: Weird.
Nathaniel: I’ve never felt this way about leaving a place before.
Me: me neither.
What do I mean exactly? I’m not sure…I’m still trying to figure it out. I know, though, that it has something to do with not being ready to leave.
It wasn’t until recently that I realized how attached I had grown; it wasn’t until very recently that I realized I still have so much to learn here.
I started processing how I feel about leaving about a week ago, but I know there’s still a lot of reflecting to come…
First of all, I’ve learned a TON here. It is the most incredible feeling to enter a country you know Nothing about, and be able to fly away 3 ½ months later talking about its culture, its people, its food, its geography, its politics, its accents, its strengths/weaknesses, its history… To enter and think ‘yewww…these streets are over stimulated and grimy!’, but leave feeling comfortable strolling them. To enter thinking ‘yeah! Traveling is fun, but I’ll never live permanently abroad’ and to leave thinking ‘well….maybe…’
I learned big things (what is international development? What is generosity?), I learned little things (how do you eat a mango without a knife? How do you barter?), and I learned inbetween things too (how do you adapt to diverse eating and hygiene habits?).
And something that took me by surprise, is that I got much more comfortable speaking French—don’t be fooled, this is thanks to the welcome offered by Cameroonians and not my skill.
I didn’t really know what to expect of my semester or of Cameroon. Though I knew it would be an excellent experience, I also knew it might be really challenging. I read a former SIT Cameroon student’s blog a week or so before leaving, and she concluded by summing up the semester as “trying”. With my departure looming, this wasn’t very comforting. One of her pictures showed her “bathroom”—a bucket—and I thought “whoa! That’s crazy! but that won’t be me…”
I can easily see how someone could walk away from the semester and call it “trying”’; in fact, several students in my group are—but that doesn’t mean they use the term in a negative fashion. It is not, however, the word I’m going to use. I’m grateful for this, and I think it hinges a lot on my previous semester in Nantes and I’ll that I learned there.
SO. What IS my word of choice?
Well, to be honest, it’s not really mine. I’m going to steal from Araba and describe my time here as ENRICHING. I’m going to add by stealing from Ellen and say “it has raised more questions than it has answered”. And finally I’m going to say something original by addressing the “was it life changing?” question. I think every newly encountered idea, attitude, belief, custom, question, or experience changes one’s life a bit. I just so happens that I encountered these new things at a more rapid pace than usual, and consequently my life was changing more quickly than usual.
As I said, I’m suddenly unsure about leaving. To be perfectly honest, my concern is two-fold. Not only am I uncertain about being away from Cameroon, but I’m also uncertain about coming home. Odd! I’ve never felt that before…
Ultimately I know I’ll adapt right back into the swing of things, but I’m mentally preparing myself for a bit of a transition. I want to give you a glimpse of what’s running through my mind and my friends’ so that you have the fullest picture possible of my study abroad semester, and so that you’ll be patient with me as I shift back to live here in the USofA.
-First, even if people back home know a lot about my trip (yeah! Like you, my faithful readers!), the reality is that they were not here with me. They cannot really relate to my experiences. I appreciate their sympathy, but that doesn’t mean they can empathize. There’s nothing I can do about it, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be frustrating.
-I want to get back into things without compromising what I’ve learned. Will I be able to hold tight onto all that I’ve learned? Or will it slip away from me when I’m miles and miles away from Cameroon?
-I’m going to miss not only my Cameroonian friends, but my SIT friends too!!
-What if my everyday life seems a bit duller?
-Will I be able to look at US prices without having a heart attack ??!?
-Will I be(more) impatient with: skanky clothes? The media? Pettiness? Ignorance? People who don’t find significant that which I believe is important?
These are real culture shocks. Sure, walking into Super Wal-mart will be a bit surprising the first time, but honestly, I’ve only been gone 3 months—I remember what it looks like. It’s these non-tangible things that might be harder to adjust to.
I’m sitting (legs crossed, just because they can be) in the plane, and we just took off from Yaoundé. It hasn’t quite hit yet—still feels unreal. The trip here felt unreal too, but that was “wow! Who knows what’s to come!” UNREAL, and this is “I feel sort of empty” UNREAL.
So, that’s the truth. I hope I don’t sound overly dramatic, but even putting my thoughts on paper makes me feel a bit better. Sure I’m a little down, but that says a lot about the power of my experience in Cameroon, and I do have a lot to look forward to in T-Town. Besides…don’t worry Cameroon, I’ll be back!
A la prochaine, alors…
Though I’ve calmed down a bit during my last two flights, here’s what I wrote during my first one-->
[On the way to the airport:]
Me: Weird.
Nathaniel: I’ve never felt this way about leaving a place before.
Me: me neither.
What do I mean exactly? I’m not sure…I’m still trying to figure it out. I know, though, that it has something to do with not being ready to leave.
It wasn’t until recently that I realized how attached I had grown; it wasn’t until very recently that I realized I still have so much to learn here.
I started processing how I feel about leaving about a week ago, but I know there’s still a lot of reflecting to come…
First of all, I’ve learned a TON here. It is the most incredible feeling to enter a country you know Nothing about, and be able to fly away 3 ½ months later talking about its culture, its people, its food, its geography, its politics, its accents, its strengths/weaknesses, its history… To enter and think ‘yewww…these streets are over stimulated and grimy!’, but leave feeling comfortable strolling them. To enter thinking ‘yeah! Traveling is fun, but I’ll never live permanently abroad’ and to leave thinking ‘well….maybe…’
I learned big things (what is international development? What is generosity?), I learned little things (how do you eat a mango without a knife? How do you barter?), and I learned inbetween things too (how do you adapt to diverse eating and hygiene habits?).
And something that took me by surprise, is that I got much more comfortable speaking French—don’t be fooled, this is thanks to the welcome offered by Cameroonians and not my skill.
I didn’t really know what to expect of my semester or of Cameroon. Though I knew it would be an excellent experience, I also knew it might be really challenging. I read a former SIT Cameroon student’s blog a week or so before leaving, and she concluded by summing up the semester as “trying”. With my departure looming, this wasn’t very comforting. One of her pictures showed her “bathroom”—a bucket—and I thought “whoa! That’s crazy! but that won’t be me…”
I can easily see how someone could walk away from the semester and call it “trying”’; in fact, several students in my group are—but that doesn’t mean they use the term in a negative fashion. It is not, however, the word I’m going to use. I’m grateful for this, and I think it hinges a lot on my previous semester in Nantes and I’ll that I learned there.
SO. What IS my word of choice?
Well, to be honest, it’s not really mine. I’m going to steal from Araba and describe my time here as ENRICHING. I’m going to add by stealing from Ellen and say “it has raised more questions than it has answered”. And finally I’m going to say something original by addressing the “was it life changing?” question. I think every newly encountered idea, attitude, belief, custom, question, or experience changes one’s life a bit. I just so happens that I encountered these new things at a more rapid pace than usual, and consequently my life was changing more quickly than usual.
As I said, I’m suddenly unsure about leaving. To be perfectly honest, my concern is two-fold. Not only am I uncertain about being away from Cameroon, but I’m also uncertain about coming home. Odd! I’ve never felt that before…
Ultimately I know I’ll adapt right back into the swing of things, but I’m mentally preparing myself for a bit of a transition. I want to give you a glimpse of what’s running through my mind and my friends’ so that you have the fullest picture possible of my study abroad semester, and so that you’ll be patient with me as I shift back to live here in the USofA.
-First, even if people back home know a lot about my trip (yeah! Like you, my faithful readers!), the reality is that they were not here with me. They cannot really relate to my experiences. I appreciate their sympathy, but that doesn’t mean they can empathize. There’s nothing I can do about it, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be frustrating.
-I want to get back into things without compromising what I’ve learned. Will I be able to hold tight onto all that I’ve learned? Or will it slip away from me when I’m miles and miles away from Cameroon?
-I’m going to miss not only my Cameroonian friends, but my SIT friends too!!
-What if my everyday life seems a bit duller?
-Will I be able to look at US prices without having a heart attack ??!?
-Will I be(more) impatient with: skanky clothes? The media? Pettiness? Ignorance? People who don’t find significant that which I believe is important?
These are real culture shocks. Sure, walking into Super Wal-mart will be a bit surprising the first time, but honestly, I’ve only been gone 3 months—I remember what it looks like. It’s these non-tangible things that might be harder to adjust to.
I’m sitting (legs crossed, just because they can be) in the plane, and we just took off from Yaoundé. It hasn’t quite hit yet—still feels unreal. The trip here felt unreal too, but that was “wow! Who knows what’s to come!” UNREAL, and this is “I feel sort of empty” UNREAL.
So, that’s the truth. I hope I don’t sound overly dramatic, but even putting my thoughts on paper makes me feel a bit better. Sure I’m a little down, but that says a lot about the power of my experience in Cameroon, and I do have a lot to look forward to in T-Town. Besides…don’t worry Cameroon, I’ll be back!
A la prochaine, alors…
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
"tell the world I'm coming home"
This song called "I'm coming home" plays on TRACE (the music video channel) all the time. It has this depressing tone, and it sort of makes me think of this week, because this week, though a good one, was also a long process of mentally and literally saying goodbye.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWYOXKx3OGU
Thursday May 5th
More ISP presentations today! I was worried these two days would be a drag, but they’ve been quite interesting. Today we had…
1.Allison: Internship with this really cool sounding NGO in Kribi that dabbles in a bit of everything (helping people with HIV/AIDS, giving microcredit loans, looking to start an orphanage…)
2. Laurel: the dual function of CIGs (groups of farmers)—economic and social
3.Rachel: elementary math education in Cameroon (guess what the average class size is. SIXTY.)
4.Rebecca: Spent the month learning woodcarving. I’m not even kidding. She made 2 stools, and they’re incredible!
5. Janelle: changing trends in age gaps in marriages in Ngaoundere
Friday May 6th
Daytime activities included: printing/binding French version of ISP, delivering ISP to Heifer, and preparing for the end-of-the-semester par-tay.
Also, I ran into a couple of 15 year-old Americans. WHAT are you doing here?? I wondered. Turns out their parents work for UNICEF ; they live here and have for a couple years. I tried to tell them how lucky they are…I hope they get it.
We had a ‘the end!’ party with our families tonight, and everyone had a really good time. Granted, getting there was a bit of a hassle thanks to “Cameroonian time”--the party began at 18h. When I told my mom I was going to get ready at 17h20, she said ‘why?’. Magnus didn’t get home till after 18h, and then he had to change the lock on the door before we could go (granted, this is sort of my fault: yesterday I broke the key. IN the lock. Uh-oh.)
Anyhoo, the evening began with speeches (read: Maria weeping), and then moved on to food and entertainment. We performed the dance we had learned awhile back for our families, had a fashion show of all of our sweet Cameroonian clothing, played some games, and watched a slideshow of pictures. Naturally the evening ended with some time on the dance floor. Also with all the students gossiping about how their parents were making them smuggle the extra wine home.
Today was definitely a “I’m not ready to go!!” day.
Saturday May 7
Upon completion of my exit French exam, my semester is officially over! Guess that means I’m a senior?
Tonight we students [plus some Cameroonians] went and hung out at Laurel’s, which is conveniently immediately behind my apartment. We chatted, ate Pringles (!!), wrote ‘warm fuzzies’ to each other, and got our groove on. Good times!
Sunday May 8
Last mass in Cameroon!
When we got home we realized we were locked out of the apartment. Not because we didn’t have the key, but because the deadbolt that slides into the floor had somehow fallen while we were gone…Magnus found a kid to scale up the balcony. Typical.
The housecleaner/cook brought over a ‘village girl’ she knows, as instructed by my host parents. They’re seeking out a live-in nanny. They were a little disappointed that she’s already 20, but she starts tomorrow nonetheless. The amount of personal help that middle class families here can afford is so wild to me, but it makes sense, because labor is dirt cheap. She’s going to make $40 a month, and her sister is going to come to pick up $30 each month to send back to the nanny’s child in the village. Wait, why can’t she send it? “Because if she leaves the house she will get pregnant again.” –Magnus.
I hung out with Rodrigue all afternoon. First we had to go visit his sister, because she wanted to “garde” me something (give me a gift). This is an example of how crazy-nice people are here. I met this woman once and she Insisted not only on giving me this giant bottle of “arachides” (peanuts), but on feeding me too.
Then we decided to go visit Minnie, another Heifer employee. It was fun to meet her 4 and 6-year old boys, because she talks about them a lot; they have a really loving little family. She, too, insisted that we eat. (Whew!) It was really good meat…I found out afterwards that it was LIVER. Ah!
Broke curfew again…good thing we’re going home soon, because this is quickly becoming a habit…oops.
We spontaneously had a Copp Family conference call via skype (Maria in Yaoundé, Johnny at Yale, the rest of the gang in T-Town). It was a little silly I suppose, since I’ll be seeing them so shortly, but it was a good reminder that part of me does want to go home. Tomorrow’s my last FULL day in Cameroon (for now!).
Monday May 9
Spent the day at school watching one last ISP presentation [Ashley: distribution of antiviral drugs (for AIDS) in Cameroon], writing evaluations of the program, and having re-entry prep [more on this to come on a later date]. Not everyone’s leaving on my flight out tomorrow, so I had to say goodbyes to nearly half of my friends. Unreal.
Back at home, Rodrigue came to give me my voice recorder back and say goodbye. Then my friend Helene from Dschang (who braided my hair) came to visit, because she’s in Yaoundé for a few days. Look, I have friends!
*Leaving Tuesday, but there are more important blog posts to come! Don’t quit now!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWYOXKx3OGU
Thursday May 5th
More ISP presentations today! I was worried these two days would be a drag, but they’ve been quite interesting. Today we had…
1.Allison: Internship with this really cool sounding NGO in Kribi that dabbles in a bit of everything (helping people with HIV/AIDS, giving microcredit loans, looking to start an orphanage…)
2. Laurel: the dual function of CIGs (groups of farmers)—economic and social
3.Rachel: elementary math education in Cameroon (guess what the average class size is. SIXTY.)
4.Rebecca: Spent the month learning woodcarving. I’m not even kidding. She made 2 stools, and they’re incredible!
5. Janelle: changing trends in age gaps in marriages in Ngaoundere
Friday May 6th
Daytime activities included: printing/binding French version of ISP, delivering ISP to Heifer, and preparing for the end-of-the-semester par-tay.
Also, I ran into a couple of 15 year-old Americans. WHAT are you doing here?? I wondered. Turns out their parents work for UNICEF ; they live here and have for a couple years. I tried to tell them how lucky they are…I hope they get it.
We had a ‘the end!’ party with our families tonight, and everyone had a really good time. Granted, getting there was a bit of a hassle thanks to “Cameroonian time”--the party began at 18h. When I told my mom I was going to get ready at 17h20, she said ‘why?’. Magnus didn’t get home till after 18h, and then he had to change the lock on the door before we could go (granted, this is sort of my fault: yesterday I broke the key. IN the lock. Uh-oh.)
Anyhoo, the evening began with speeches (read: Maria weeping), and then moved on to food and entertainment. We performed the dance we had learned awhile back for our families, had a fashion show of all of our sweet Cameroonian clothing, played some games, and watched a slideshow of pictures. Naturally the evening ended with some time on the dance floor. Also with all the students gossiping about how their parents were making them smuggle the extra wine home.
Today was definitely a “I’m not ready to go!!” day.
Saturday May 7
Upon completion of my exit French exam, my semester is officially over! Guess that means I’m a senior?
Tonight we students [plus some Cameroonians] went and hung out at Laurel’s, which is conveniently immediately behind my apartment. We chatted, ate Pringles (!!), wrote ‘warm fuzzies’ to each other, and got our groove on. Good times!
Sunday May 8
Last mass in Cameroon!
When we got home we realized we were locked out of the apartment. Not because we didn’t have the key, but because the deadbolt that slides into the floor had somehow fallen while we were gone…Magnus found a kid to scale up the balcony. Typical.
The housecleaner/cook brought over a ‘village girl’ she knows, as instructed by my host parents. They’re seeking out a live-in nanny. They were a little disappointed that she’s already 20, but she starts tomorrow nonetheless. The amount of personal help that middle class families here can afford is so wild to me, but it makes sense, because labor is dirt cheap. She’s going to make $40 a month, and her sister is going to come to pick up $30 each month to send back to the nanny’s child in the village. Wait, why can’t she send it? “Because if she leaves the house she will get pregnant again.” –Magnus.
I hung out with Rodrigue all afternoon. First we had to go visit his sister, because she wanted to “garde” me something (give me a gift). This is an example of how crazy-nice people are here. I met this woman once and she Insisted not only on giving me this giant bottle of “arachides” (peanuts), but on feeding me too.
Then we decided to go visit Minnie, another Heifer employee. It was fun to meet her 4 and 6-year old boys, because she talks about them a lot; they have a really loving little family. She, too, insisted that we eat. (Whew!) It was really good meat…I found out afterwards that it was LIVER. Ah!
Broke curfew again…good thing we’re going home soon, because this is quickly becoming a habit…oops.
We spontaneously had a Copp Family conference call via skype (Maria in Yaoundé, Johnny at Yale, the rest of the gang in T-Town). It was a little silly I suppose, since I’ll be seeing them so shortly, but it was a good reminder that part of me does want to go home. Tomorrow’s my last FULL day in Cameroon (for now!).
Monday May 9
Spent the day at school watching one last ISP presentation [Ashley: distribution of antiviral drugs (for AIDS) in Cameroon], writing evaluations of the program, and having re-entry prep [more on this to come on a later date]. Not everyone’s leaving on my flight out tomorrow, so I had to say goodbyes to nearly half of my friends. Unreal.
Back at home, Rodrigue came to give me my voice recorder back and say goodbye. Then my friend Helene from Dschang (who braided my hair) came to visit, because she’s in Yaoundé for a few days. Look, I have friends!
*Leaving Tuesday, but there are more important blog posts to come! Don’t quit now!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
HOLY COW! : I'm done with ISP
Dimanche le 1 mai
Happy JPII beatification day!
Guess what. On our weekly DOVV supermarché visit post-mass, we bought ham. As in, the lunchmeat. It was a pretty big deal.
Several ISP milestones today: 1) Finished rough draft of my translation 2) Finished the most final of final version of my English version
I’m sorry that I’ll I do is talk about ISP. There’s good reason for it…
(it’s all I do.)
Lundi le 2 mai
Ellen and I went to print and bind 7 copies of our ISPs this morning!! I was prepared for the entire thing to be an expensive, long hassle, but I was rather delighted to find out it was rather simple and scam-free. We were really excited to hold them in our hands hot of the press; so excited, in fact, that we got our picture taken with the man who had put them together for us. Also, we went and got ice cream to reward ourselves.
…the work’s not quite done though. I met with my French professor today to discuss corrections to the first half of my translation.
Mardi le 3 mai
-Turned in my ISP! Ah! It seemed rather impossible just 5 weeks ago, and now, here we are…all done. My paper’s not perfect, but I worked really hard and learned a lot. [I know you all are DYING to read “HOLY COW! : Perceptions and Impact of Heifer’s ‘Pass on the Gift’ Policy”, so just shoot me an email (maria-copp@utulsa.edu) letting me know if you want to read it in French or in English, and I’ll get it to you right away.]
-Met with my French professor to finish translation corrections.
-Went souvie shopping with Ellen. We met a Cameroonian there that lives in Texas! He was really nice and very excited to see us—we got pics together.
-Bought mangos today. Correction: they are 20/$1. I’m so addicted.
-Ran into almost all of my SIT friends today at some point! Everyone’s “home”! It’s a crazy reminder though of how soon the semester will be over. All of our conversations these days turn into a group therapy session of sorts where we discuss how we’re feeling about going home…
Mercredi le 4 mai
I presented today! I think it went really well.
And just like that, ISP: DONE. Now serving as an excellent example of how those things that seem nearly impossible….aren’t.
ISP was one of the reasons I decided to study abroad, and I will say it was a really good process, just like I had hoped. I learned a lot about Heifer and about conducting research. I became more independent in Cameroon and more immersed in the community. And I worked very hard. My project’s not perfect, that’s for sure, but I definitely am proud of how hard I worked.
Anyhoo, I presented, and Rodrigue (the other Heifer intern/my friend) came to watch, which was super nice of him.
I’m too excited about my classmates’ research to not talk about their presentations, too, so bear with me and these short descriptions…
1. Araba: unrealized dream of Pan-Africanism
2. Afiwa: still existing tie between the CFA and the French Franc
3. Me!
4. Ellen: “land grab” and a local fair trade fruit project here in Cameroon and the link between the two topics
5. Sam: the culture exchange experience of a SIT Cameroonian student in a homestay
6. Nathaniel: The World Bank and their participatory approach/lack-there-of
7. Dillon: Solar energy in Cameroon (wow! This seems it has a lot of potential in developing countries!)
8. Haley: Cameroonian oral poetry
I went home and relaxed all evening. Partially because I wanted to, and partially because it stormed—which I’m quickly learning means “byebye power” (can’t really complain though, because I’m fortunate to have had power the whole semester). Anyway, OH MY did it storm. Let’s put it this way: at one point, Therese was literally freaking out that lightning was going to hit the apartment…I wouldn’t have been too surprised.
With the tv off for once, I got to have some good chat time with both the ‘rentals. Therese recounted how she met Magnus, and Magnus and I talked about my upcoming departure. He gave me a brief recap of how awesome Cameroon is and noted that I “will probably marry a Cameroonian. Or at least an African”. He gave me strict instructions to be a good ambassador of his country when I go home. I promised I would, and it’s true, I will…
Oh Cameroon, you fooled me! I thought we agreed that it would just be a summer fling. Fun, but no strings attached. Puppy love, that’s all. But now, as I constantly reflect on our break-up-to-be, I can’t help but think that you’ve stolen a little piece of my heart.
Happy JPII beatification day!
Guess what. On our weekly DOVV supermarché visit post-mass, we bought ham. As in, the lunchmeat. It was a pretty big deal.
Several ISP milestones today: 1) Finished rough draft of my translation 2) Finished the most final of final version of my English version
I’m sorry that I’ll I do is talk about ISP. There’s good reason for it…
(it’s all I do.)
Lundi le 2 mai
Ellen and I went to print and bind 7 copies of our ISPs this morning!! I was prepared for the entire thing to be an expensive, long hassle, but I was rather delighted to find out it was rather simple and scam-free. We were really excited to hold them in our hands hot of the press; so excited, in fact, that we got our picture taken with the man who had put them together for us. Also, we went and got ice cream to reward ourselves.
…the work’s not quite done though. I met with my French professor today to discuss corrections to the first half of my translation.
Mardi le 3 mai
-Turned in my ISP! Ah! It seemed rather impossible just 5 weeks ago, and now, here we are…all done. My paper’s not perfect, but I worked really hard and learned a lot. [I know you all are DYING to read “HOLY COW! : Perceptions and Impact of Heifer’s ‘Pass on the Gift’ Policy”, so just shoot me an email (maria-copp@utulsa.edu) letting me know if you want to read it in French or in English, and I’ll get it to you right away.]
-Met with my French professor to finish translation corrections.
-Went souvie shopping with Ellen. We met a Cameroonian there that lives in Texas! He was really nice and very excited to see us—we got pics together.
-Bought mangos today. Correction: they are 20/$1. I’m so addicted.
-Ran into almost all of my SIT friends today at some point! Everyone’s “home”! It’s a crazy reminder though of how soon the semester will be over. All of our conversations these days turn into a group therapy session of sorts where we discuss how we’re feeling about going home…
Mercredi le 4 mai
I presented today! I think it went really well.
And just like that, ISP: DONE. Now serving as an excellent example of how those things that seem nearly impossible….aren’t.
ISP was one of the reasons I decided to study abroad, and I will say it was a really good process, just like I had hoped. I learned a lot about Heifer and about conducting research. I became more independent in Cameroon and more immersed in the community. And I worked very hard. My project’s not perfect, that’s for sure, but I definitely am proud of how hard I worked.
Anyhoo, I presented, and Rodrigue (the other Heifer intern/my friend) came to watch, which was super nice of him.
I’m too excited about my classmates’ research to not talk about their presentations, too, so bear with me and these short descriptions…
1. Araba: unrealized dream of Pan-Africanism
2. Afiwa: still existing tie between the CFA and the French Franc
3. Me!
4. Ellen: “land grab” and a local fair trade fruit project here in Cameroon and the link between the two topics
5. Sam: the culture exchange experience of a SIT Cameroonian student in a homestay
6. Nathaniel: The World Bank and their participatory approach/lack-there-of
7. Dillon: Solar energy in Cameroon (wow! This seems it has a lot of potential in developing countries!)
8. Haley: Cameroonian oral poetry
I went home and relaxed all evening. Partially because I wanted to, and partially because it stormed—which I’m quickly learning means “byebye power” (can’t really complain though, because I’m fortunate to have had power the whole semester). Anyway, OH MY did it storm. Let’s put it this way: at one point, Therese was literally freaking out that lightning was going to hit the apartment…I wouldn’t have been too surprised.
With the tv off for once, I got to have some good chat time with both the ‘rentals. Therese recounted how she met Magnus, and Magnus and I talked about my upcoming departure. He gave me a brief recap of how awesome Cameroon is and noted that I “will probably marry a Cameroonian. Or at least an African”. He gave me strict instructions to be a good ambassador of his country when I go home. I promised I would, and it’s true, I will…
Oh Cameroon, you fooled me! I thought we agreed that it would just be a summer fling. Fun, but no strings attached. Puppy love, that’s all. But now, as I constantly reflect on our break-up-to-be, I can’t help but think that you’ve stolen a little piece of my heart.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Papa-PapaRasta
THURSDAY April 28
This morning when I was walking to catch a taxi, I saw a minivan.
Wait, it gets even weirder: it had a DUKE sticker on the back windshield!
Also this morning, I had 4 (yes, 4) freshly sugared beignets for breakfast.
Spent my day in the office translating my paper and googling ‘how to clean viruses off a flashdrive’.
When I left Heifer and hopped in a taxi, I looked over and realized it was my driver from yesterday morning! No breakdown this time. I was happy the whole way home, because it was one of those moments where you think “I must be exactly where I’m supposed to be right now”.
Passed the evening peer-reviewing Haley and Ellen’s ISPs.
Tomorrow’s my last day at Heifer!
FRIDAY April 29
Not a very productive last day, which may or may not have been due to the fact that the royal wedding was taking place (I mean, at least I’m clearly not the only guilty one—2 billion television viewers??).
After work the whole staff went to get drinks as a send-off of sorts…it’s so nice to realize I have Cameroonian friends! Also, while sipping on our Ices, we saw a young girl walk by carrying a monkey!!
SATURDAY April 30
At 11, after my final meeting with my advisor, I started getting my hair braided, and 6 and ½ hours later, tada! I have some great rastas—braids made out of a mix of my own hair and fake hair. I popped some ibuprofens, but I don’t think that throb is going away for awhile. Totally worth it though (heck, I got 3 compliments on the walk home alone), because I am that much closer to being a real African woman. I must add, it’s a rather odd sensation to suddenly have more than 2x as much hair as you did earlier in the day. I’m somewhat used to chopping off huge chunks of my hair periodically, but to magically have it grow a couple inches and add what feels like pounds of weight in a single day…now that’s a new one!
This morning when I was walking to catch a taxi, I saw a minivan.
Wait, it gets even weirder: it had a DUKE sticker on the back windshield!
Also this morning, I had 4 (yes, 4) freshly sugared beignets for breakfast.
Spent my day in the office translating my paper and googling ‘how to clean viruses off a flashdrive’.
When I left Heifer and hopped in a taxi, I looked over and realized it was my driver from yesterday morning! No breakdown this time. I was happy the whole way home, because it was one of those moments where you think “I must be exactly where I’m supposed to be right now”.
Passed the evening peer-reviewing Haley and Ellen’s ISPs.
Tomorrow’s my last day at Heifer!
FRIDAY April 29
Not a very productive last day, which may or may not have been due to the fact that the royal wedding was taking place (I mean, at least I’m clearly not the only guilty one—2 billion television viewers??).
After work the whole staff went to get drinks as a send-off of sorts…it’s so nice to realize I have Cameroonian friends! Also, while sipping on our Ices, we saw a young girl walk by carrying a monkey!!
SATURDAY April 30
At 11, after my final meeting with my advisor, I started getting my hair braided, and 6 and ½ hours later, tada! I have some great rastas—braids made out of a mix of my own hair and fake hair. I popped some ibuprofens, but I don’t think that throb is going away for awhile. Totally worth it though (heck, I got 3 compliments on the walk home alone), because I am that much closer to being a real African woman. I must add, it’s a rather odd sensation to suddenly have more than 2x as much hair as you did earlier in the day. I’m somewhat used to chopping off huge chunks of my hair periodically, but to magically have it grow a couple inches and add what feels like pounds of weight in a single day…now that’s a new one!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Baby's Got Back
I just realized I should have used that as a post title a long time ago when I got to carry the baby on my back in Dschang. Oh well, better late than never.
SATURDAY April 23
I thought today was going to be a bit dull because once my meeting with my advisor was cancelled, the only plans I had left for the day were ‘laundry’. But then I decided to try to be a good host student and cook something for my family. Therese wanted Mexican, but multiple Dovv searches had turned up no tortillas or tortilla chips, so I gave up on that and made alfredo pasta instead. Actually pretty successful!
Then, the other intern at Heifer (Rodrigue) called me wanting to borrow my recorder. When we met up he had a whole little list of things for us to do. We walked to the Palais du Congres (conference center of sorts) where you get a good look down on the city, went and got some ‘beeftek’ at a restau, and dropped by his sister’s house. Turned out to be a pretty busy day in the end (and a refreshing 24 hour break from ISP!)
This just in: I’m suddenly not sure if I’m ready to come home…It will be nice, but strange too. Oh well, as the good Lord says, ‘there is a time for everything’. So, ready or not, I’ll be peacing out on a flight May 10th (not my original, mind you—that just got cancelled…)
SUNDAY April 24
Happy Easter! We went to mass and then had a pretty average day, actually (though I don’t think this was necessarily an accurate representation of the rest of the country…). Somone, however, did try to ‘save’ me as I was walking to an international call box to give my ‘real’ family a ring. If you thought evangelicals were intense in the US, think again—this dude ended by telling me I should call him so he could take me to the airport. [Side note so as not to come off as rude: I respect the work of those preaching the Good News, but I think it’s frustrating when they refuse to accept the fact that you’re already Christian]
MONDAY April 25
Here’s your mundane fact of the day: Therese washed my towel for me…in the machine. Praise. The. Lord. Either bucket washing wasn’t cutting it, or this bucket washer lacks the proper skill, but either way, that poor yellow towel had not been yellow in ages.
Less mundane: Today I think I saw a dude walking down the street with only a shirt on. That’s pretty strange even by Cameroonian standards.
Also odd: it was surprisingly cool out today! No complaints on my end!
So, most of the time we take the Heifer pick-up to go work out in the field, but sometimes we split into groups and have to take public transport (read: 12 passenger van with 20+ people, and maybe a chicken or two), which is unfortunate mainly because it slows our day down a lot. Anyhoo, today was a public transport day.
TUESDAY April 26
I think today was my last day in the field…long (left my house at 6:30am and got back at 7:20pm—OOPS, curfew violation) but good. Today we were training a new group on the 12 Cornerstones of Heifer, how to avoid dependency syndrome, etc
Today we were in the same shed-thingy as the elementary school students. OH. MY. Singing Cameroonian children simply melt my heart.
After the training we visited the priest who hooked these groups up with Heifer, and he was as cool as I had imagined. He was rocking his Jesus-pagne-pants and cracking priest jokes. When he kept teasing the staff about how he too demonstrates ‘true need’ (a Heifer cornerstone) and deserves some goats, I told him “well, you know what the Bible says…the first shall be last and the last shall be first, so I think it’s okay if you’re suffering a little bit”. Wow, did I think Minnie (staff member) was going to die; she was mortified (and giving me the ‘you did not just say that to a priest’ look) but whatever, we all enjoyed a laugh. Feels good to be able to tell a joke in French!
WEDNESDAY April 27
My taxi broke down for a bit on my ride to work this morning; I would have ditched but the driver had it up and running again in no time.
Did some odd jobs at the office today, but also spent awhile working on translating my paper (2/3 of the way through round one of translating!)
I’ll be home 2 weeks from today!
I’ll be home 2 weeks from today?
SATURDAY April 23
I thought today was going to be a bit dull because once my meeting with my advisor was cancelled, the only plans I had left for the day were ‘laundry’. But then I decided to try to be a good host student and cook something for my family. Therese wanted Mexican, but multiple Dovv searches had turned up no tortillas or tortilla chips, so I gave up on that and made alfredo pasta instead. Actually pretty successful!
Then, the other intern at Heifer (Rodrigue) called me wanting to borrow my recorder. When we met up he had a whole little list of things for us to do. We walked to the Palais du Congres (conference center of sorts) where you get a good look down on the city, went and got some ‘beeftek’ at a restau, and dropped by his sister’s house. Turned out to be a pretty busy day in the end (and a refreshing 24 hour break from ISP!)
This just in: I’m suddenly not sure if I’m ready to come home…It will be nice, but strange too. Oh well, as the good Lord says, ‘there is a time for everything’. So, ready or not, I’ll be peacing out on a flight May 10th (not my original, mind you—that just got cancelled…)
SUNDAY April 24
Happy Easter! We went to mass and then had a pretty average day, actually (though I don’t think this was necessarily an accurate representation of the rest of the country…). Somone, however, did try to ‘save’ me as I was walking to an international call box to give my ‘real’ family a ring. If you thought evangelicals were intense in the US, think again—this dude ended by telling me I should call him so he could take me to the airport. [Side note so as not to come off as rude: I respect the work of those preaching the Good News, but I think it’s frustrating when they refuse to accept the fact that you’re already Christian]
MONDAY April 25
Here’s your mundane fact of the day: Therese washed my towel for me…in the machine. Praise. The. Lord. Either bucket washing wasn’t cutting it, or this bucket washer lacks the proper skill, but either way, that poor yellow towel had not been yellow in ages.
Less mundane: Today I think I saw a dude walking down the street with only a shirt on. That’s pretty strange even by Cameroonian standards.
Also odd: it was surprisingly cool out today! No complaints on my end!
So, most of the time we take the Heifer pick-up to go work out in the field, but sometimes we split into groups and have to take public transport (read: 12 passenger van with 20+ people, and maybe a chicken or two), which is unfortunate mainly because it slows our day down a lot. Anyhoo, today was a public transport day.
TUESDAY April 26
I think today was my last day in the field…long (left my house at 6:30am and got back at 7:20pm—OOPS, curfew violation) but good. Today we were training a new group on the 12 Cornerstones of Heifer, how to avoid dependency syndrome, etc
Today we were in the same shed-thingy as the elementary school students. OH. MY. Singing Cameroonian children simply melt my heart.
After the training we visited the priest who hooked these groups up with Heifer, and he was as cool as I had imagined. He was rocking his Jesus-pagne-pants and cracking priest jokes. When he kept teasing the staff about how he too demonstrates ‘true need’ (a Heifer cornerstone) and deserves some goats, I told him “well, you know what the Bible says…the first shall be last and the last shall be first, so I think it’s okay if you’re suffering a little bit”. Wow, did I think Minnie (staff member) was going to die; she was mortified (and giving me the ‘you did not just say that to a priest’ look) but whatever, we all enjoyed a laugh. Feels good to be able to tell a joke in French!
WEDNESDAY April 27
My taxi broke down for a bit on my ride to work this morning; I would have ditched but the driver had it up and running again in no time.
Did some odd jobs at the office today, but also spent awhile working on translating my paper (2/3 of the way through round one of translating!)
I’ll be home 2 weeks from today!
I’ll be home 2 weeks from today?
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
beaucoup
Before I went to France, I never thought about the possibility that not only would the LANGUAGE be different, but the small, everyday GESTURES would be too ! In Cameroon I’ve become quite fond of two very popular hand motions. The first is a wave of sorts and means “come”, and the second looks like “paper” in rock-paper-scissors and means “beaucoup” (a lot). Be on the lookout—I’ll definitely be bringing these home with me.
So, speaking of beaucoup, what is there beaucoup of in Cameroon? Here’s a little mash-up of things I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet.
First, there are a lot of albinos in Cameroon! I don’t recall ever seeing one before I left home.
There is also a lot of corruption. Unfortunately. I don’t think I’ve met a person yet that doesn’t believe the government is corrupt. It’s really depressing to think about what they’re doing to their people.
There is a lot of carrying-things-on-heads. Ok, ok, I know I’ve mentioned this already, but I’m just so intrigued and impressed and amazed by this. It blows my mind to see someone walking down the street (la di da) with a jumble of buckets as tall as me…or maybe a cage of baby chicks….or maybe a tray of omelet supplies, including the raw eggs atop his head.
There is lots of nose picking in public.
There is a lot of voter apathy. What's the point in voting if you know ahead of time who will win? Only one person I've met has told me they will vote this coming fall in the election. (not my parents, not my professors...)
There are a lot of bad roads. Every time I imagine my poor car driving on them I cringe.
There is a lot of religion here. Most people are something, whether it’s Christian, Muslim, some traditional religion, or a combo of the above.
There is a ton of greenery here. Not in the city, but everywhere else it’s still all….jungle-y? I don’t know how to describe the landscape. Jungle seems a little strong. Basically, it seems like a lot of trees to someone who’s used to living where ‘the wind comes sweeping down the plains’.
Finally, there are a lot of “deuxieme bureaus” here. Literally that translates to “second office”. Can you guess what it means figuratively? ….”mistress”. We had a male lecturer at one point who told us that “everyone” has a deuxieme bureau. I think it’s safe to assume he was exaggerating, but still.
So, speaking of beaucoup, what is there beaucoup of in Cameroon? Here’s a little mash-up of things I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet.
First, there are a lot of albinos in Cameroon! I don’t recall ever seeing one before I left home.
There is also a lot of corruption. Unfortunately. I don’t think I’ve met a person yet that doesn’t believe the government is corrupt. It’s really depressing to think about what they’re doing to their people.
There is a lot of carrying-things-on-heads. Ok, ok, I know I’ve mentioned this already, but I’m just so intrigued and impressed and amazed by this. It blows my mind to see someone walking down the street (la di da) with a jumble of buckets as tall as me…or maybe a cage of baby chicks….or maybe a tray of omelet supplies, including the raw eggs atop his head.
There is lots of nose picking in public.
There is a lot of voter apathy. What's the point in voting if you know ahead of time who will win? Only one person I've met has told me they will vote this coming fall in the election. (not my parents, not my professors...)
There are a lot of bad roads. Every time I imagine my poor car driving on them I cringe.
There is a lot of religion here. Most people are something, whether it’s Christian, Muslim, some traditional religion, or a combo of the above.
There is a ton of greenery here. Not in the city, but everywhere else it’s still all….jungle-y? I don’t know how to describe the landscape. Jungle seems a little strong. Basically, it seems like a lot of trees to someone who’s used to living where ‘the wind comes sweeping down the plains’.
Finally, there are a lot of “deuxieme bureaus” here. Literally that translates to “second office”. Can you guess what it means figuratively? ….”mistress”. We had a male lecturer at one point who told us that “everyone” has a deuxieme bureau. I think it’s safe to assume he was exaggerating, but still.
Friday, April 22, 2011
that's the sign of a victory
Monday April 18
Back at Heifer! Today’s field visit wasn’t a training session but a check-in on how a group’s “pass on the gift” payments are coming along. I must say I’m quite bummed I won’t get to attend a “passing” ceremony while I’m here—I think this group is having theirs next month. The best part today was that some of the women offered to show me their goats! I got to see about 15 of them, including some babies and one named “merci Heifer”. Precious.
Not precious: the skinniest dog I have ever seen. This poor thing looked like it should have died a month ago. Actually kind of frightening.
ISP progress report: as of today I am half way done with my surveys and completely done with my staff interviews and transcriptions! Hoorah!
Ah home: Manuella has new footy pajamas, and she is struttin’ around cuter than ever. Also, Oklahoma was on the news tonight for tornadoes (déjà vu, much??).
Tuesday April 19
First, I just have to say: I learned today that they eat termites here. When I showed up to talk to a group this morning, there was a swarm of children collecting them; why weren’t they in school? Good question, good question.
Anyway, today I split from the staff so that I could talk with a group that worked with Heifer from 2006-2008. My time with Heifer has been giving me a different view of Cameroon—I’m getting a real look at village life and its hardships. Today I found the poverty especially discouraging. Granted, it’s never fun to see, but today I just couldn’t handle it; I had only worked so far with groups that had recently begun working with Heifer, so maybe I was subconsciously hoping for a magic fix, a different scene in places they’ve already been. Don’t get me wrong, Heifer is doing good work—when I talk to the participants, they happily go off about Heifer taught them so much, but I look around and I see they still have so very few resources. And then I remember that there are so many others who haven’t received any help at all…
I get uncomfortable at how endless it seems and at how little I can relate to this suffering, but I’m trying to seek comfort in Mother Teresa’s words “we can do no great things, only small things with great love”.
Wednesday April 20
I FINISHED DATA COLLECTION!! Whew…that’s a relief. I enjoy talking to Heifer participants, but I never should have decided to do my research via surveys—the literacy level just isn’t there, which means the process demands a lot of patience. The members I talked to this morning were a riot; they were pretty certain I should take them home with me and set them up with my dad. I tried to tell them my mom might get upset, but they weren’t convinced. We also swapped a little language lesson before I left, so that was fun. I taught them a few words in English and they taught me a few words in….? Who knows what language…
Thursday April 21
I don’t think I’m tired of working, and I don’t think I’m tired of my topic, I’m just tired of only working on my topic. ISP is intense. I wake up, I go to my internship at Heifer, I come home, I work on my paper, and I go to bed. Repeat. I need a little more distraction in my life, but at least I’ve got my Manuella to play with!
Anyhoo, I’m just whining. My project is going pretty darn well in my opinion, and it will be over before I know it!
So the highlight of my day today was probably on my way home when the taxi driver—still rollin’ along at a good pace—tossed his corn cob out the passenger window and it landed perfectly in a dumpster. Made me chuckle.
Friday April 22
Today I finished the first draft of my paper…I think R Kelly would agree “that’s the sign of a victory”.
…I see the light at the end of the tunnel,
and I can feel heaven in its place…
and thats the sign of a victory
…I see the finish line just up ahead n
and I can feel it risin' deep within
and that’s the sign of a victory
ooooohh ohh ohhhh
[Sometimes you have to go all the way to Cameroon to fall in love with an American song.]
Back at Heifer! Today’s field visit wasn’t a training session but a check-in on how a group’s “pass on the gift” payments are coming along. I must say I’m quite bummed I won’t get to attend a “passing” ceremony while I’m here—I think this group is having theirs next month. The best part today was that some of the women offered to show me their goats! I got to see about 15 of them, including some babies and one named “merci Heifer”. Precious.
Not precious: the skinniest dog I have ever seen. This poor thing looked like it should have died a month ago. Actually kind of frightening.
ISP progress report: as of today I am half way done with my surveys and completely done with my staff interviews and transcriptions! Hoorah!
Ah home: Manuella has new footy pajamas, and she is struttin’ around cuter than ever. Also, Oklahoma was on the news tonight for tornadoes (déjà vu, much??).
Tuesday April 19
First, I just have to say: I learned today that they eat termites here. When I showed up to talk to a group this morning, there was a swarm of children collecting them; why weren’t they in school? Good question, good question.
Anyway, today I split from the staff so that I could talk with a group that worked with Heifer from 2006-2008. My time with Heifer has been giving me a different view of Cameroon—I’m getting a real look at village life and its hardships. Today I found the poverty especially discouraging. Granted, it’s never fun to see, but today I just couldn’t handle it; I had only worked so far with groups that had recently begun working with Heifer, so maybe I was subconsciously hoping for a magic fix, a different scene in places they’ve already been. Don’t get me wrong, Heifer is doing good work—when I talk to the participants, they happily go off about Heifer taught them so much, but I look around and I see they still have so very few resources. And then I remember that there are so many others who haven’t received any help at all…
I get uncomfortable at how endless it seems and at how little I can relate to this suffering, but I’m trying to seek comfort in Mother Teresa’s words “we can do no great things, only small things with great love”.
Wednesday April 20
I FINISHED DATA COLLECTION!! Whew…that’s a relief. I enjoy talking to Heifer participants, but I never should have decided to do my research via surveys—the literacy level just isn’t there, which means the process demands a lot of patience. The members I talked to this morning were a riot; they were pretty certain I should take them home with me and set them up with my dad. I tried to tell them my mom might get upset, but they weren’t convinced. We also swapped a little language lesson before I left, so that was fun. I taught them a few words in English and they taught me a few words in….? Who knows what language…
Thursday April 21
I don’t think I’m tired of working, and I don’t think I’m tired of my topic, I’m just tired of only working on my topic. ISP is intense. I wake up, I go to my internship at Heifer, I come home, I work on my paper, and I go to bed. Repeat. I need a little more distraction in my life, but at least I’ve got my Manuella to play with!
Anyhoo, I’m just whining. My project is going pretty darn well in my opinion, and it will be over before I know it!
So the highlight of my day today was probably on my way home when the taxi driver—still rollin’ along at a good pace—tossed his corn cob out the passenger window and it landed perfectly in a dumpster. Made me chuckle.
Friday April 22
Today I finished the first draft of my paper…I think R Kelly would agree “that’s the sign of a victory”.
…I see the light at the end of the tunnel,
and I can feel heaven in its place…
and thats the sign of a victory
…I see the finish line just up ahead n
and I can feel it risin' deep within
and that’s the sign of a victory
ooooohh ohh ohhhh
[Sometimes you have to go all the way to Cameroon to fall in love with an American song.]
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Crumby Days
In one of our early classes this semester on Cameroonian history, our prof told us that ‘Cameroon’ came from ‘Kamerun’, which in German, has something to do with crumbs. I couldn’t resist the play on words.
Thursday April 14
I’ve got two days free to do work since everyone at Heifer is in Bamenda. Thank goodness! I need it!
I needed a place to go to transcribe and write, and since they don’t have practical things like libraries or coffee shops here, I finally broke down and went to Espresso. It’s an internet café that some of the other kiddos go to a lot. Probably the nicest internet café in all of Cameroon if I had to guess. I just went in, bought my drink and camped out. It was a $3 drink, which is outrageous, but I did then proceed to stay for 6 hours, so I think it was worth it. Besides, I heard Ke$ha come on the flatscreen tvs and used the nicest bathroom I’d seen since January 24th.
Friday April 15, 2011
Back to Espresso! Got a break from working when I met an American there today…whoa…I think the only other Americans I’ve spoken to since I got here have been
1. SIT students
2. US embassy workers
3. Peace corps workers
Anyways, he’s here searching for a market for his business. I was a bit shocked to find out that this business in online gaming. First of all, there can’t be much of a market for that, and second of all, what good can come out of encouraging gambling, especially in a country like Cameroon?
Magnus made crepes as a snack tonight….whoa! beware! Cameroonian man in the kitchen!! Rather nice of him, though—think he did it as a treat for Therese, because she’s in the middle of finals.
In other news:
-the water’s been cut for two days now
-I haven’t shaved my legs in over a month
-it’s mango season!! 10/$1
Saturday April 16, 2011
What are we going to do today Brain? Same thing we do every day Pinky, WORK ON ISP.
Sunday April 17, 2011
So apparently Therese’s oldest sister is loaded (ie she was sporting LV, and her two twenty-something sons had on Lacoste and Polo); she’s in town for the weekend and staying at the Hilton, so after mass we went and had continental breakfast there with her. Yes, you heard me right, I said Continental Breakfast. I felt minor waves of culture shock as I walked through that lobby…
Dinner tonight was a total crackup--Magnus excitedly sang through every song he had every learned in elementary school.
ISP update: I’ve finally started translating my paper into French! Woot!
Thursday April 14
I’ve got two days free to do work since everyone at Heifer is in Bamenda. Thank goodness! I need it!
I needed a place to go to transcribe and write, and since they don’t have practical things like libraries or coffee shops here, I finally broke down and went to Espresso. It’s an internet café that some of the other kiddos go to a lot. Probably the nicest internet café in all of Cameroon if I had to guess. I just went in, bought my drink and camped out. It was a $3 drink, which is outrageous, but I did then proceed to stay for 6 hours, so I think it was worth it. Besides, I heard Ke$ha come on the flatscreen tvs and used the nicest bathroom I’d seen since January 24th.
Friday April 15, 2011
Back to Espresso! Got a break from working when I met an American there today…whoa…I think the only other Americans I’ve spoken to since I got here have been
1. SIT students
2. US embassy workers
3. Peace corps workers
Anyways, he’s here searching for a market for his business. I was a bit shocked to find out that this business in online gaming. First of all, there can’t be much of a market for that, and second of all, what good can come out of encouraging gambling, especially in a country like Cameroon?
Magnus made crepes as a snack tonight….whoa! beware! Cameroonian man in the kitchen!! Rather nice of him, though—think he did it as a treat for Therese, because she’s in the middle of finals.
In other news:
-the water’s been cut for two days now
-I haven’t shaved my legs in over a month
-it’s mango season!! 10/$1
Saturday April 16, 2011
What are we going to do today Brain? Same thing we do every day Pinky, WORK ON ISP.
Sunday April 17, 2011
So apparently Therese’s oldest sister is loaded (ie she was sporting LV, and her two twenty-something sons had on Lacoste and Polo); she’s in town for the weekend and staying at the Hilton, so after mass we went and had continental breakfast there with her. Yes, you heard me right, I said Continental Breakfast. I felt minor waves of culture shock as I walked through that lobby…
Dinner tonight was a total crackup--Magnus excitedly sang through every song he had every learned in elementary school.
ISP update: I’ve finally started translating my paper into French! Woot!
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Je suis blanche et je n'aime pas le manioc
Sunday April 10
I was in charge of writing and reading the petitions at mass today! As if that wasn’t great enough, Manuella ran up to me in the middle of it. Like I said, she refuses to stay still in mass, and we’re becoming quite good pals.
(offbrand) FROSTED FLAKES [they're more than good, they're great]. Yesterday Therese made some mention about corn flakes, and I must have gotten that wild I-remember-those-from-my-country look, so we picked up a box during our weekly post-mass family trip to Dovv. Cereal is good.
Monday April 11
In the field…but not “in the fields”. I’m learning a teensy bit about agriculture! I have a lot of respect for farmers--as proud as I am of our peach tree that we planted as a pit when I was in the 4th grade, I don’t think I’ve got the patience to do something like that for a living.
Tuesday April 12
The [streets] are alive with the sound of…cote d’ivoire. Every time I stepped outside today I heard the buzz, and I can promise you that what I’m hearing about it is not what you’re hearing about it (if you’re hearing anything at all…). I don’t generally follow politics very much, but I must say my motivation to stay up on things is pretty high right now; I mean, cote d’ivoire and Lybia and just a hop and a skip away. Since I actually do have an opinion for once, I feel inclined to get on my soap box and spout off about it, but I’m going to keep it to two words:
“Neocolonialism much?”
Find out what Oklahoma senator Inhofe is saying about the matter on his webpage:
http://inhofe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.JimsJournal&ContentRecord_id=3218c4e9-b19e-9f09-3866-7981e5068dbf
Sights from the field:
-Need a car wash? Just drive a little ways into the river…
-A HUGEass snake. For sale. To eat.
-Plenty of graves…in people’s front yards
I’m spending something like 2 hours a day in the car, but I don’t mind, because I get some good views. Today’s village was in. the. Boonies. By which I suppose I mean, “in the jungle”. I have a hard time figuring out where one village ends and the next one begins or knowing how big they are, but let’s just say it’s quite different from Yaoundé. Pretty much all the houses are made with traditional mud-brick walls, which apparently are really good at keeping the heat out.
I like meeting the different groups. Most of the time is spent doing training sessions, though, so I don’t get much of a chance to speak with the members. The little time I do have I use to pass out my surveys (which, by the way, are slowly killing me—why on earth did I think 20 questions was going to be ok?). Probably my 2 favorite parts of visits are
1. Prayer at the beginning and end—generally they lead it, and so it’s in the local dialect
2. Singing and dancing. We either do this as a welcome, break from class, or a goodbye, and it’s awesome. Mainly because the women love it when I get really into it, which just delights me.
Overall, everyone loves me. Probably just because I’m white, but personally I like to think it’s because I’m friendly.
Wednesday April 13
Half of the office has already left for Bamenda for a meeting with the country base and the west Africa regional director, so it was just a few of us in the field today. It was my last day with my food-sharing-employee-friend because she’s going on leave for the rest of the month; it’s rather sad, but we did get a nice heart-to-heart chat in today, so that’s good.
In other news: I ate cassava in 3 different forms today.
1.uh, just regular ol’ steamed cassava, I think? First time trying it.
2. tapioca
3. couscous
I was in charge of writing and reading the petitions at mass today! As if that wasn’t great enough, Manuella ran up to me in the middle of it. Like I said, she refuses to stay still in mass, and we’re becoming quite good pals.
(offbrand) FROSTED FLAKES [they're more than good, they're great]. Yesterday Therese made some mention about corn flakes, and I must have gotten that wild I-remember-those-from-my-country look, so we picked up a box during our weekly post-mass family trip to Dovv. Cereal is good.
Monday April 11
In the field…but not “in the fields”. I’m learning a teensy bit about agriculture! I have a lot of respect for farmers--as proud as I am of our peach tree that we planted as a pit when I was in the 4th grade, I don’t think I’ve got the patience to do something like that for a living.
Tuesday April 12
The [streets] are alive with the sound of…cote d’ivoire. Every time I stepped outside today I heard the buzz, and I can promise you that what I’m hearing about it is not what you’re hearing about it (if you’re hearing anything at all…). I don’t generally follow politics very much, but I must say my motivation to stay up on things is pretty high right now; I mean, cote d’ivoire and Lybia and just a hop and a skip away. Since I actually do have an opinion for once, I feel inclined to get on my soap box and spout off about it, but I’m going to keep it to two words:
“Neocolonialism much?”
Find out what Oklahoma senator Inhofe is saying about the matter on his webpage:
http://inhofe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.JimsJournal&ContentRecord_id=3218c4e9-b19e-9f09-3866-7981e5068dbf
Sights from the field:
-Need a car wash? Just drive a little ways into the river…
-A HUGEass snake. For sale. To eat.
-Plenty of graves…in people’s front yards
I’m spending something like 2 hours a day in the car, but I don’t mind, because I get some good views. Today’s village was in. the. Boonies. By which I suppose I mean, “in the jungle”. I have a hard time figuring out where one village ends and the next one begins or knowing how big they are, but let’s just say it’s quite different from Yaoundé. Pretty much all the houses are made with traditional mud-brick walls, which apparently are really good at keeping the heat out.
I like meeting the different groups. Most of the time is spent doing training sessions, though, so I don’t get much of a chance to speak with the members. The little time I do have I use to pass out my surveys (which, by the way, are slowly killing me—why on earth did I think 20 questions was going to be ok?). Probably my 2 favorite parts of visits are
1. Prayer at the beginning and end—generally they lead it, and so it’s in the local dialect
2. Singing and dancing. We either do this as a welcome, break from class, or a goodbye, and it’s awesome. Mainly because the women love it when I get really into it, which just delights me.
Overall, everyone loves me. Probably just because I’m white, but personally I like to think it’s because I’m friendly.
Wednesday April 13
Half of the office has already left for Bamenda for a meeting with the country base and the west Africa regional director, so it was just a few of us in the field today. It was my last day with my food-sharing-employee-friend because she’s going on leave for the rest of the month; it’s rather sad, but we did get a nice heart-to-heart chat in today, so that’s good.
In other news: I ate cassava in 3 different forms today.
1.uh, just regular ol’ steamed cassava, I think? First time trying it.
2. tapioca
3. couscous
Sunday, April 10, 2011
76 Trombones Led the Big Parade
Thursday April 7
First day on the field! Went with a team to have a preliminary visit with 3 groups applying for Heifer’s assistance (Heifer aids individual families only if they are a part of a farming group called a CIG).
This is how unorganized the groups were: some of the members did not know which group they belonged to. True story.
I was a bit shocked, and though I’m not yet sure if they’ll be approved, I think they will be, because immediately afterward our manager said ‘you see, it’s like I told you—Heifer takes very weak groups and helps them build their capacity’. Wow! More power to ya’, Heifer. By teaching groups to help themselves, Heifer contributes to more sustainable development; when they leave the picture in 3 years, hopefully the members will have the skills to successfully support one another.
Part of the reason these groups were so poorly organized was most likely due to the fact that they are cocoa CIGs, which means they’re mainly active during cocoa harvesting season, which only comes once a year (I’m learning some agricultural stuff!). Cocoa is one of Cameroon’s most important exports; looking around at my surroundings today reminds me why fair trade is important. How is it just that chocolate is such a booming market and these people are living in such poverty?
After our work we were taking to the priest’s house, because he’s the one who put the groups in contact with Heifer. We had a good lunch, but he wasn’t there…bummer! He sounds really cool—he’s growing a garden and raising piglets to help his poorest parishioners.
Friday April 8
I had to be at Heifer by 6:30 this morning! Yikes! That was, however, because I got to go the field again. Animated conversation during the hour drive, but....it was all in Pidgeon! PIDGEON DRIVES ME CRAZY. Very frustrating. Let's put it this way: during the average French conversation, I understand 9 of 10 words; during the average Pidgeon conversation, I understand 1 of 10 words.
This time I went with an employee who was giving a training session to a group that just recently began its partnership with Heifer.
I was a little shocked to realize that learning what binders, tab dividers, whole punches, staplers, and meeting agendas made up the majority of the lesson, but quickly realized that the beginning is in fact, a very good place to start. I just cannot imagine never having used a stapler. I think I learned a lot more than they did today.
I also began distributing my surveys today. Against all better judgment I made them way too long...this might get old fast. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
By the way, best part of today's work was seeing a momma goat feeding its baby goat. Precious!
I saw a firetruck for the first time today! And an ambulance yesterday! Nice to know those exist...
Helped Therese make crepes tonight—yum! Seems like a yummy treat for successfully finishing week one of ISP!! (Wait, what? One week down!? I’ve already learned a lot but don’t have much of a paper to show for it yet…*sighs*)
Saturday April 9
Today is my 76th day in Cameroon, and what a lovely 76 days it’s been!
This morning I met with my project advisor (a local professor) and again had to remember to be patient living on Cameroonian time…he was an hour and a half late, and as I waited with Araba (he’s her advisor too), dudes at a nearby “bar” were trying to buy us beers. At 9:30 am.
Spent the rest of the day trying to get work done, succeeding a teensy bit, but mostly playing with Manuella. We are getting to be quite pals and have even begun taking short evening walks to get a taste of fresh air. She’s definitely a cutie pie.
First day on the field! Went with a team to have a preliminary visit with 3 groups applying for Heifer’s assistance (Heifer aids individual families only if they are a part of a farming group called a CIG).
This is how unorganized the groups were: some of the members did not know which group they belonged to. True story.
I was a bit shocked, and though I’m not yet sure if they’ll be approved, I think they will be, because immediately afterward our manager said ‘you see, it’s like I told you—Heifer takes very weak groups and helps them build their capacity’. Wow! More power to ya’, Heifer. By teaching groups to help themselves, Heifer contributes to more sustainable development; when they leave the picture in 3 years, hopefully the members will have the skills to successfully support one another.
Part of the reason these groups were so poorly organized was most likely due to the fact that they are cocoa CIGs, which means they’re mainly active during cocoa harvesting season, which only comes once a year (I’m learning some agricultural stuff!). Cocoa is one of Cameroon’s most important exports; looking around at my surroundings today reminds me why fair trade is important. How is it just that chocolate is such a booming market and these people are living in such poverty?
After our work we were taking to the priest’s house, because he’s the one who put the groups in contact with Heifer. We had a good lunch, but he wasn’t there…bummer! He sounds really cool—he’s growing a garden and raising piglets to help his poorest parishioners.
Friday April 8
I had to be at Heifer by 6:30 this morning! Yikes! That was, however, because I got to go the field again. Animated conversation during the hour drive, but....it was all in Pidgeon! PIDGEON DRIVES ME CRAZY. Very frustrating. Let's put it this way: during the average French conversation, I understand 9 of 10 words; during the average Pidgeon conversation, I understand 1 of 10 words.
This time I went with an employee who was giving a training session to a group that just recently began its partnership with Heifer.
I was a little shocked to realize that learning what binders, tab dividers, whole punches, staplers, and meeting agendas made up the majority of the lesson, but quickly realized that the beginning is in fact, a very good place to start. I just cannot imagine never having used a stapler. I think I learned a lot more than they did today.
I also began distributing my surveys today. Against all better judgment I made them way too long...this might get old fast. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
By the way, best part of today's work was seeing a momma goat feeding its baby goat. Precious!
I saw a firetruck for the first time today! And an ambulance yesterday! Nice to know those exist...
Helped Therese make crepes tonight—yum! Seems like a yummy treat for successfully finishing week one of ISP!! (Wait, what? One week down!? I’ve already learned a lot but don’t have much of a paper to show for it yet…*sighs*)
Saturday April 9
Today is my 76th day in Cameroon, and what a lovely 76 days it’s been!
This morning I met with my project advisor (a local professor) and again had to remember to be patient living on Cameroonian time…he was an hour and a half late, and as I waited with Araba (he’s her advisor too), dudes at a nearby “bar” were trying to buy us beers. At 9:30 am.
Spent the rest of the day trying to get work done, succeeding a teensy bit, but mostly playing with Manuella. We are getting to be quite pals and have even begun taking short evening walks to get a taste of fresh air. She’s definitely a cutie pie.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Step into my office, baby
Sunday April 3
Was ringing my host parents’ doorbell by 8oclock and was headed back out the door by 9 for mass.
Mass today actually made me kind of homesick. Called home for a bit (ok…maybe an hour) though and felt a jillion times better. I do find that I think of “home” (read: America and all things American) a lot, but I’m going to attribute that to the fact that it’s a sort of a constant mental contrast to my daily life here. I mean, I love Cameroon and am pretty well adapted, but let’s be real—it’s pretty different from the U.S.
Anyhoo, hard to believe that when I set up my mosquito tent today, it was for the last time…
5 weeks straight here in Yaoundé in some ways will be long (haven’t stayed in one town that long since Fall semester, I don’t get to see my new friends much now, and it’s what’s separating me from my return), but I know it will also pass more quickly than I want (ah! ISP work!!).
Monday April 4
Day 1 of ISP! Day 1 at Heifer! It actually went really well—I feel like I’m off to a good start. From what I can tell there are 5 permanent staff members, 1 six month intern, 1 security guard, and me, and everyone is Cameroonian and seems very friendly. Plus, I can tell they’re going to be very supportive of the research component of my project, which is key (in fact, I’m not sure if they’re going to give me anything else to do…hmmm…)
Got my ISP stipend (for lunches, printing expenses, etc); we’re all really going to miss these SIT handouts…
Tuesday April 5
Day number two in the office…feeling (sort of) grown up.
Today I started reading files on participants (whew! I should give them a lesson or two on the value of tabs and organization), helped a bit with translating (silly bilingual Cameroon with your non-bilingual people), and conducted a couple of interviews with staff members.
These people apparently do not stop for a lunch break. I don’t understand. I was quite hungry by the time I got home and ate at 5:30. [I had written ‘starving’, but then thought to my whole day’s work and felt rather guilty…there are whole communities reporting that they only eat once a day…]
I just want to say, Heifer is really really cool. I’m sure you will get tired of hearing me talk about it, and I’ll do a better explanation later of all the great things they do, but I just wanted to put that out there for now…
Wednesday April 6
Getting settled into the office and my new routine, and I like it. One of the staff members even gave me a whole plate of banana and avocado as a morning snack!
Cleaned up my questionnaire translations a bit with another staff member’s assistance (though I must boast a bit—they needed very little help) and got those all printed out. My-oh-my do I miss free printing at TU; printing in Bastos is $0.60 a page.
On my way home I ran into several of my friends, which was quite fun…I miss them!
Was ringing my host parents’ doorbell by 8oclock and was headed back out the door by 9 for mass.
Mass today actually made me kind of homesick. Called home for a bit (ok…maybe an hour) though and felt a jillion times better. I do find that I think of “home” (read: America and all things American) a lot, but I’m going to attribute that to the fact that it’s a sort of a constant mental contrast to my daily life here. I mean, I love Cameroon and am pretty well adapted, but let’s be real—it’s pretty different from the U.S.
Anyhoo, hard to believe that when I set up my mosquito tent today, it was for the last time…
5 weeks straight here in Yaoundé in some ways will be long (haven’t stayed in one town that long since Fall semester, I don’t get to see my new friends much now, and it’s what’s separating me from my return), but I know it will also pass more quickly than I want (ah! ISP work!!).
Monday April 4
Day 1 of ISP! Day 1 at Heifer! It actually went really well—I feel like I’m off to a good start. From what I can tell there are 5 permanent staff members, 1 six month intern, 1 security guard, and me, and everyone is Cameroonian and seems very friendly. Plus, I can tell they’re going to be very supportive of the research component of my project, which is key (in fact, I’m not sure if they’re going to give me anything else to do…hmmm…)
Got my ISP stipend (for lunches, printing expenses, etc); we’re all really going to miss these SIT handouts…
Tuesday April 5
Day number two in the office…feeling (sort of) grown up.
Today I started reading files on participants (whew! I should give them a lesson or two on the value of tabs and organization), helped a bit with translating (silly bilingual Cameroon with your non-bilingual people), and conducted a couple of interviews with staff members.
These people apparently do not stop for a lunch break. I don’t understand. I was quite hungry by the time I got home and ate at 5:30. [I had written ‘starving’, but then thought to my whole day’s work and felt rather guilty…there are whole communities reporting that they only eat once a day…]
I just want to say, Heifer is really really cool. I’m sure you will get tired of hearing me talk about it, and I’ll do a better explanation later of all the great things they do, but I just wanted to put that out there for now…
Wednesday April 6
Getting settled into the office and my new routine, and I like it. One of the staff members even gave me a whole plate of banana and avocado as a morning snack!
Cleaned up my questionnaire translations a bit with another staff member’s assistance (though I must boast a bit—they needed very little help) and got those all printed out. My-oh-my do I miss free printing at TU; printing in Bastos is $0.60 a page.
On my way home I ran into several of my friends, which was quite fun…I miss them!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Nasara! Nasara!
Wednesday March 30
A very full day of IDI presentations; Ellen and I are officially done thinking about “women and work!”…time to focus on ISP!!
When I got home we had a precious moment where the children of the compound swamped Maria and played ring-around-the-rosy over and over with her.
I got to serve myself at dinner for the first time in awhile. That might not sound like a big deal, but it was—nice break from forcing down 2x as much rice as I think I can possibly eat.
Thursday March 31
Whew! Long day. We spent the last 2 days listening to everyone’s IDI presentations, and today we sat in that stuffy room from 9-5 presenting our ISP proposals. It was really good for swapping ideas though. Tomorrow’s our last day of classes…weird!
Got home and discovered the 4 and 6 year old had left again and won’t be back for a few days. Bummer because that means I don’t get to say goodbye.
I noticed that tonight my host sister Koulsoumi (14) knows how to time her prayer perfectly during the commercial break between El Diablo and The Gardener’s Daughter—2 of Cameroonians’ favorite soaps [I swear everyone watches at least one of these]. What’s interesting is that she’s the only ne I ever see doing the daily prayers; Dad goes to the neighborhood mosque, the other kids are too young, and maybe mom’s exempt because of the baby?
Friday April 1
Woke up happy because Balla was all snuggled up against me.
Used the morning to finish up my ISP proposal and then had our last class of the semester (research methods). Then we enjoyed a lovely lecture on the dangers of cholera, because it’s apparently cruisin’ around Cameroon at the moment. I was worried, but then I learned that Doxycycline helps prevent the dreaded disease. Who’s already on doxycycline for malaria prevention? MARIA’s already on Doxycycline. [BOO-YA]
Waking hoe I got chased down by a young gent who was quite sad to hear “we leave tomorrow”, but was somewhat appeased when I gave him my email address. Except apparently NOT.
He. Showed. Up. At. My. House. Later that night. I was sitting with my host parents when he came in. Oh man, was I mortified. I asked “oh are you guys friends?” and someone said “yes”, but after he eagerly handed me a piece of paper with his name, email, phone, AND his mom’s phone number (huh?) and headed out, I asked again, and my parents said they’d never seen him in their lives. Good times.
Saturday April 2
Perfect last wake-up in Ngaoundere—Balla was all cuddled up by me and petting my hair.
Went to the little market near our house this morning with Koulsoumi…It’s HOPPIN on Saturdays. I found a SWEET pair of hot pink rubber shoes (think Jellies material, Keds style), but could not convince the man to sell them to me for 800, all I had on me. I seriously went home and dug through the bottom of all my bags until I found another 200 (40cents). I’m offish broke (simply to stubborn to go to a bank, because I know we’re getting a hefty ISP stipend soon) but am wearing the shoes as I write!! Back at the house I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon hanging out with the family neighbors and getting saddened by all the “don’t leave us!!” comments.
There was, however, a slight interruption for “Maria’s lover: THE RETURN”. He CAME BACK to my house, this time with a letter in hand. I must explain, he is very friendly; however, that doesn’t mean I didn’t burst out laughing once he left. For the record, I’m laughing at the cultural difference and not at him. For everyone’s enjoyment I will now translate the letter in full…
[note: for some reason he has neglected punctuation]
To miss Maria
Hi maria how are you I’m very well we just barely had our first meeting and you’re leaving me already. That’s normal because you’re rejoining your family but I’m very sad because I would’ve liked to get to know you better and the only chance is that we can see each other on the we and get to know each other better but promise me to never forget me even at home because me I even think that we could get married one day I would invite you one day to meet my family but one think can you give me your number that you use in America I will call you from time to time to know the state of your health and that of your family I await your response even if you give it through Koulsoumi she will give it to me
Have a good trip kisses goodbye
[He then proceeded to sign both his name AND an alias. Guess I’ll protect his anonymity just in case…]
Remember readers, all I did was say ‘hi’ to this guy.
Must say, all the girls are pretty jealous of my letter (minus Rebecca, because she already got one when we were in Dschang). I’m sitting next to Araba as I write this, and I commented “aw, I feel kind of bad”; she notes, “it’s hard to be a heart breaker”. So true, so true.
Sitting on the train headed back to Yaoundé as I write this. Leaving today was hard. This is my favorite (Cameroonian) family. I truly feel at home with them. I enjoy chatting with Koulsoumi and kids are fun and adorable. Not only do I approve of mom and dad’s parenting style, I’ve even seen them exchange small gestures of affection. Plus, I love living on top of a bunch of neighbors…I get so much attention and people interaction!
Ngaoundere: it’s been short, but it’s been real. We may have had a rough start (crazy lady), and you may be less beautiful than other places I’ve visited in Cameroon, but it wasn’t long before I realized how good you were. With your squishier baguettes, gorgeous pagne, and sense of peace, I practically want to write you a love letter, even if we did just meet…
Bye bye Ngaoundere, bye bye ‘nasara’. [I’m telling you—never have I ever learned a new word and then heard it so many times in rapid succession. ‘Nasara’ means white person in Fulfulde, and I swear I must have heard it 50 times a day for 2 weeks straight.]
…so as I mentioned, right now I’m sitting on the night train, but it’s much less exciting this time since they skipped buying us beds. Did just buy some bananas out the window at a stop, though. Great service, but I must say they’re crazy! It’s nearly 1am, and there are still kids out there!
All right…they haven’t bothered to dim the lights, but I should try to get some sleep anyways…
Peace out girl scouts,
Maria
A very full day of IDI presentations; Ellen and I are officially done thinking about “women and work!”…time to focus on ISP!!
When I got home we had a precious moment where the children of the compound swamped Maria and played ring-around-the-rosy over and over with her.
I got to serve myself at dinner for the first time in awhile. That might not sound like a big deal, but it was—nice break from forcing down 2x as much rice as I think I can possibly eat.
Thursday March 31
Whew! Long day. We spent the last 2 days listening to everyone’s IDI presentations, and today we sat in that stuffy room from 9-5 presenting our ISP proposals. It was really good for swapping ideas though. Tomorrow’s our last day of classes…weird!
Got home and discovered the 4 and 6 year old had left again and won’t be back for a few days. Bummer because that means I don’t get to say goodbye.
I noticed that tonight my host sister Koulsoumi (14) knows how to time her prayer perfectly during the commercial break between El Diablo and The Gardener’s Daughter—2 of Cameroonians’ favorite soaps [I swear everyone watches at least one of these]. What’s interesting is that she’s the only ne I ever see doing the daily prayers; Dad goes to the neighborhood mosque, the other kids are too young, and maybe mom’s exempt because of the baby?
Friday April 1
Woke up happy because Balla was all snuggled up against me.
Used the morning to finish up my ISP proposal and then had our last class of the semester (research methods). Then we enjoyed a lovely lecture on the dangers of cholera, because it’s apparently cruisin’ around Cameroon at the moment. I was worried, but then I learned that Doxycycline helps prevent the dreaded disease. Who’s already on doxycycline for malaria prevention? MARIA’s already on Doxycycline. [BOO-YA]
Waking hoe I got chased down by a young gent who was quite sad to hear “we leave tomorrow”, but was somewhat appeased when I gave him my email address. Except apparently NOT.
He. Showed. Up. At. My. House. Later that night. I was sitting with my host parents when he came in. Oh man, was I mortified. I asked “oh are you guys friends?” and someone said “yes”, but after he eagerly handed me a piece of paper with his name, email, phone, AND his mom’s phone number (huh?) and headed out, I asked again, and my parents said they’d never seen him in their lives. Good times.
Saturday April 2
Perfect last wake-up in Ngaoundere—Balla was all cuddled up by me and petting my hair.
Went to the little market near our house this morning with Koulsoumi…It’s HOPPIN on Saturdays. I found a SWEET pair of hot pink rubber shoes (think Jellies material, Keds style), but could not convince the man to sell them to me for 800, all I had on me. I seriously went home and dug through the bottom of all my bags until I found another 200 (40cents). I’m offish broke (simply to stubborn to go to a bank, because I know we’re getting a hefty ISP stipend soon) but am wearing the shoes as I write!! Back at the house I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon hanging out with the family neighbors and getting saddened by all the “don’t leave us!!” comments.
There was, however, a slight interruption for “Maria’s lover: THE RETURN”. He CAME BACK to my house, this time with a letter in hand. I must explain, he is very friendly; however, that doesn’t mean I didn’t burst out laughing once he left. For the record, I’m laughing at the cultural difference and not at him. For everyone’s enjoyment I will now translate the letter in full…
[note: for some reason he has neglected punctuation]
To miss Maria
Hi maria how are you I’m very well we just barely had our first meeting and you’re leaving me already. That’s normal because you’re rejoining your family but I’m very sad because I would’ve liked to get to know you better and the only chance is that we can see each other on the we and get to know each other better but promise me to never forget me even at home because me I even think that we could get married one day I would invite you one day to meet my family but one think can you give me your number that you use in America I will call you from time to time to know the state of your health and that of your family I await your response even if you give it through Koulsoumi she will give it to me
Have a good trip kisses goodbye
[He then proceeded to sign both his name AND an alias. Guess I’ll protect his anonymity just in case…]
Remember readers, all I did was say ‘hi’ to this guy.
Must say, all the girls are pretty jealous of my letter (minus Rebecca, because she already got one when we were in Dschang). I’m sitting next to Araba as I write this, and I commented “aw, I feel kind of bad”; she notes, “it’s hard to be a heart breaker”. So true, so true.
Sitting on the train headed back to Yaoundé as I write this. Leaving today was hard. This is my favorite (Cameroonian) family. I truly feel at home with them. I enjoy chatting with Koulsoumi and kids are fun and adorable. Not only do I approve of mom and dad’s parenting style, I’ve even seen them exchange small gestures of affection. Plus, I love living on top of a bunch of neighbors…I get so much attention and people interaction!
Ngaoundere: it’s been short, but it’s been real. We may have had a rough start (crazy lady), and you may be less beautiful than other places I’ve visited in Cameroon, but it wasn’t long before I realized how good you were. With your squishier baguettes, gorgeous pagne, and sense of peace, I practically want to write you a love letter, even if we did just meet…
Bye bye Ngaoundere, bye bye ‘nasara’. [I’m telling you—never have I ever learned a new word and then heard it so many times in rapid succession. ‘Nasara’ means white person in Fulfulde, and I swear I must have heard it 50 times a day for 2 weeks straight.]
…so as I mentioned, right now I’m sitting on the night train, but it’s much less exciting this time since they skipped buying us beds. Did just buy some bananas out the window at a stop, though. Great service, but I must say they’re crazy! It’s nearly 1am, and there are still kids out there!
All right…they haven’t bothered to dim the lights, but I should try to get some sleep anyways…
Peace out girl scouts,
Maria
Friday, April 1, 2011
ujineere didi be tenere didi be nogas é didi
...that means "two thousand two hundred and twenty two" in Fulfulde. I was going to translate the number of days I've been here into Fulfulde, but I don't actually know how many days that is...
so I just picked a really big number to impress you with my language skills!
Thursday March 24
Class and meetings with profs to discuss ISP proposal. Getting mixed feedback about feasibility, but I’m starting to get a clearer idea for the research component of my practicum and am excited. “Perceptions and impact of Heifer International’s ‘Pass on the Gift’ Policy”.
Here are the proposed research questions: 1) Do participants fulfill the “Pass on the Gift” requirement merely out of obligation or out of desire? 2) Does the policy inspire increased generosity among participants?
By the way, on my way home I passed a cow walking down the street. By itself. No big deal.
In other news, I now make water. Yep, I’m that magical. Or…maybe I’ve just started using my iodine tablets. Maybe.
Quiet at home because the 6 and 4 year old went to their mom’s for a few days.
I had to eat like a whole freakin’ bag of rice for dinner. Whew!
I had a nice chat with Papa about religion. My host parents here are just so kind and gentle.
I’m treating myself to 8+ hours of sleep here. Kind of a must since it’s my only “me” time. Though I must say, it’s becoming QUITE the party in bed—we’ve added the newborn to our gang!
Friday March 25
Fewer classes - - > less structure - - > Maria feels unproductive.
Even when I don’t have class, I just get up and leave as if I do…it’s just simpler.
Maybe I’m a bit hard on myself though—part of the unproductiveness might be due to all my walking. I’m getting some good exercise! I takes me something like 45 minutes or an hour to get from my house to centreville (and pretty much all the taxis here are motorcycles).
Random note about town: So I’d seen plenty of Obama tshirts around Cameroon, but Ngaoundere is even home to several Obama establishments… “Obama Clothing” and “Obama Call Box” are my favorites so far.
We did, however, visit the Lamidat today, so I suppose it was somewhat productive. The Lamidat is basically the type of chefferie found in this region. It’s situated right next to the “grand mosquee”, and since today’s Friday, we got to watch the faithful gathering. It was a good compromise since I can’t actually enter a mosque since 1) I’m not Muslim and 2) I’m a girl.
Also, afterwards the Lamido dude himself showed up…I felt like I was in Aladdin thanks to his turban and the procession guiding him in. Those trumpets were bigger than me!
The neighbor ladies fed me dinner on our shared front porch; I think this means we’re officially friends. SO. MUCH. FOOD. Thinking of “The Little Engine that Could” as I eat.
Saturday March 26
Got picked up at 4am! To take a daytrip to a park. Closer than Waza and less cool, but we did spot 1 giraffe and 14 hippos! I s’pose that made the bumpy ride worth it.
Once back to town I met up with Ellen (she’s back!) to catch up on life and on our IDI homework.
At home I watched a bit of the soccer match…Cameroon lost to Senegal, which means they don’t get to compete in the African cup. Boo.
Sunday March 27
-La messe me manque.
-Put pedal to the metal and cranked out my IDI results. In short, Ellen and I found in our research that: when a woman begins working, her husband’s not going to pitch in with chores. Whether he’ll treat her better/worse/same because of her job, now that’s a mixed bag.
-Loads of visitors. Hard to say if it’s thanks to the baby or if it’s simply the usual way.
-Balla, the 15 month old, is my favorite. Great day, because he is finally not scared of me!! You don’t understand…he’s SO cute.
-It’s official: I’ve eaten couscous manioc or rice for dinner for a week straight.
-Out on the porch with the gals….
*One of the neighbors is a real hoot. Every day she tries to think up a new way to come home with me. Today she proposed several times that I marry her husband and the three of us go back together.
*The other neighbor sells that purple drank stuff on the street. We all helped fill and tie the little packets. Blows my mind—she’ll sell them at a nickel a piece. So in about an hour’s time she packaged enough to earn about $3. And it could take several days worth of work to sell those…
Monday March 28
-Class was our final “thematic seminar” discussion.
-Fulfulde lesson
-lunch at the milk bar (per usual)
-visit to an artist: this was really cool! He was a handicapped man who has won some of the top prizes for art in Cameroon and has even travelled some with his art in the US and Europe.
-Oops, I’m becoming a cyber café addict.
-I came home and found the kids are back, and everyone is freshly braided and henna-ed for tomorrow’s baptism. Wasn’t long before I was matching!
Tuesday March 29
I got really lucky! I didn’t start class till 13h, so that meant I got to stay at home for the baptism and all its prep. Even when getting ready for a party these people stay calm; I swear stress does not exist in Ngaoundere—greatest thing ever. I helped a bit with packaging kola nuts for the guests (important part of many Cameroonian traditions…I tasted it for the first time. Yuck!)
Friends and family started swinging by around 10h30 or 11h. I used the opportunity to snap a jillion pics. Makes up a bit for the fact that I can’t whip out my camera on the street to capture all the sights (a man tending to his small field with a water can—a patch of bright green in a sea of red dust; a moto zipping by with its passenger carrying a 12’ piece of plywood or the one following it, his passenger with a baby strapped to her back). Anyhoo, lots of cute kids and beautiful ladies wrapped in lovely pagne.
In fact, ALL the guests were ladies. Apparently the gents celebrated at 6 this morning, giving the baby his name at the mosque and sacrificing a lamb outside the house…wish someone had woken me up for that! I must say, I find it interesting that this ceremony is also called a ‘baptism’. No water or sin washing involved, but they did shave the boy’s head and shared plenty of rice and purple drank. From what I could tell, soap was the #1 baby gift; whew! that’ll last a while.
so I just picked a really big number to impress you with my language skills!
Thursday March 24
Class and meetings with profs to discuss ISP proposal. Getting mixed feedback about feasibility, but I’m starting to get a clearer idea for the research component of my practicum and am excited. “Perceptions and impact of Heifer International’s ‘Pass on the Gift’ Policy”.
Here are the proposed research questions: 1) Do participants fulfill the “Pass on the Gift” requirement merely out of obligation or out of desire? 2) Does the policy inspire increased generosity among participants?
By the way, on my way home I passed a cow walking down the street. By itself. No big deal.
In other news, I now make water. Yep, I’m that magical. Or…maybe I’ve just started using my iodine tablets. Maybe.
Quiet at home because the 6 and 4 year old went to their mom’s for a few days.
I had to eat like a whole freakin’ bag of rice for dinner. Whew!
I had a nice chat with Papa about religion. My host parents here are just so kind and gentle.
I’m treating myself to 8+ hours of sleep here. Kind of a must since it’s my only “me” time. Though I must say, it’s becoming QUITE the party in bed—we’ve added the newborn to our gang!
Friday March 25
Fewer classes - - > less structure - - > Maria feels unproductive.
Even when I don’t have class, I just get up and leave as if I do…it’s just simpler.
Maybe I’m a bit hard on myself though—part of the unproductiveness might be due to all my walking. I’m getting some good exercise! I takes me something like 45 minutes or an hour to get from my house to centreville (and pretty much all the taxis here are motorcycles).
Random note about town: So I’d seen plenty of Obama tshirts around Cameroon, but Ngaoundere is even home to several Obama establishments… “Obama Clothing” and “Obama Call Box” are my favorites so far.
We did, however, visit the Lamidat today, so I suppose it was somewhat productive. The Lamidat is basically the type of chefferie found in this region. It’s situated right next to the “grand mosquee”, and since today’s Friday, we got to watch the faithful gathering. It was a good compromise since I can’t actually enter a mosque since 1) I’m not Muslim and 2) I’m a girl.
Also, afterwards the Lamido dude himself showed up…I felt like I was in Aladdin thanks to his turban and the procession guiding him in. Those trumpets were bigger than me!
The neighbor ladies fed me dinner on our shared front porch; I think this means we’re officially friends. SO. MUCH. FOOD. Thinking of “The Little Engine that Could” as I eat.
Saturday March 26
Got picked up at 4am! To take a daytrip to a park. Closer than Waza and less cool, but we did spot 1 giraffe and 14 hippos! I s’pose that made the bumpy ride worth it.
Once back to town I met up with Ellen (she’s back!) to catch up on life and on our IDI homework.
At home I watched a bit of the soccer match…Cameroon lost to Senegal, which means they don’t get to compete in the African cup. Boo.
Sunday March 27
-La messe me manque.
-Put pedal to the metal and cranked out my IDI results. In short, Ellen and I found in our research that: when a woman begins working, her husband’s not going to pitch in with chores. Whether he’ll treat her better/worse/same because of her job, now that’s a mixed bag.
-Loads of visitors. Hard to say if it’s thanks to the baby or if it’s simply the usual way.
-Balla, the 15 month old, is my favorite. Great day, because he is finally not scared of me!! You don’t understand…he’s SO cute.
-It’s official: I’ve eaten couscous manioc or rice for dinner for a week straight.
-Out on the porch with the gals….
*One of the neighbors is a real hoot. Every day she tries to think up a new way to come home with me. Today she proposed several times that I marry her husband and the three of us go back together.
*The other neighbor sells that purple drank stuff on the street. We all helped fill and tie the little packets. Blows my mind—she’ll sell them at a nickel a piece. So in about an hour’s time she packaged enough to earn about $3. And it could take several days worth of work to sell those…
Monday March 28
-Class was our final “thematic seminar” discussion.
-Fulfulde lesson
-lunch at the milk bar (per usual)
-visit to an artist: this was really cool! He was a handicapped man who has won some of the top prizes for art in Cameroon and has even travelled some with his art in the US and Europe.
-Oops, I’m becoming a cyber café addict.
-I came home and found the kids are back, and everyone is freshly braided and henna-ed for tomorrow’s baptism. Wasn’t long before I was matching!
Tuesday March 29
I got really lucky! I didn’t start class till 13h, so that meant I got to stay at home for the baptism and all its prep. Even when getting ready for a party these people stay calm; I swear stress does not exist in Ngaoundere—greatest thing ever. I helped a bit with packaging kola nuts for the guests (important part of many Cameroonian traditions…I tasted it for the first time. Yuck!)
Friends and family started swinging by around 10h30 or 11h. I used the opportunity to snap a jillion pics. Makes up a bit for the fact that I can’t whip out my camera on the street to capture all the sights (a man tending to his small field with a water can—a patch of bright green in a sea of red dust; a moto zipping by with its passenger carrying a 12’ piece of plywood or the one following it, his passenger with a baby strapped to her back). Anyhoo, lots of cute kids and beautiful ladies wrapped in lovely pagne.
In fact, ALL the guests were ladies. Apparently the gents celebrated at 6 this morning, giving the baby his name at the mosque and sacrificing a lamb outside the house…wish someone had woken me up for that! I must say, I find it interesting that this ceremony is also called a ‘baptism’. No water or sin washing involved, but they did shave the boy’s head and shared plenty of rice and purple drank. From what I could tell, soap was the #1 baby gift; whew! that’ll last a while.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
On that midnight train to...Ngaoundéré?
March 19-20
Spent the morning and early afternoon packing and twiddling my thumbs.
As I headed towards school I stopped by the tailor and picked up a super cute skirt. Love it. Unfortunately, I also broke out in sobs for the first time since I got here. In short: she doesn’t remember me paying, but I did. In the end she was nice about it and gave a very sweet speech about how of course we’ll let it go, because people are much more important than money. I, meanwhile, started bawling at this point. I just hate the thought that she would think I’m trying to trick her; it’s frustrating.
Anyhoo, after that we headed to the train station. I’m not really sure why SIT felt the need for us to get on that still, un-air-conditioned train 2 hours before departure, but at least we did defy Cameroonian standards and leave at 6:10 on the dot.
I must admit, I was quite excited to be on a sleeper train for the first time, and though I’m sure it was 100 times bumpier than the Hogwarts Express, I couldn’t help but think of Harry Potter as we sat surrounded by friends in our individual cabins.
We had heard the ride “could take days if there’s a derailment” and had braced ourselves for the worst, but we made it in record time and got to Ngaoundere by 8am. Peeked out our windows and could see that Bastos (our quarter in Yaounde) was long gone….we were surrounded by the savannah!
Settled in at the Protestant boarding school where we’re spending the night, and then a group of us decided to walk towards centreville to take a stroll around town.
Unfortunately we got a poor first impression of Ngaoundere. There were seven of us girls, all walking in a group, when all of a sudden, out of NO WHERE, I:
-heard “WHACK!”
-felt someone’s hand SMACKING the back of my head
-and felt my glasses go flying
What??? We all kind of freak out, and I spin around to try to figure out what had just happened. I had literally not even noticed anyone come up behind me. I was sort of shook up and mainly confused as to what had just happened. We pretty quickly decided it was just a crazy woman…who knows what had set her off. We saw her yelling at some other people, and so we (still in shock) stood there and I thought “I’ll go confirm with those other people that she’s just crazy” as soon as she’s out of sight. However, she saw us still watching her and did a 180 and started to come back towards us. Now, this is when I started getting upset. We were trying to figure out whether to cross the street (I tried, too many motorcycles) or just flee straight, meanwhile some of the group was lagging, dealing with the situation. The surrounding crowd was a bit slow to step in on our behalf, but eventually made efforts to protect us as we fled to a gas station ahead.
We then sorted through our thoughts on the whole thing over some softserve; luckily my girls are great. It was just very very odd. Luckily I wasn’t hurt at all, and I know that this sort of thing could happen anywhere (don’t worry Grandma, Cameroon’s very safe!!). Anyhoo, bummer of a beginning in a new town, but I’m still very excited to get to know the people and culture here! Plus, we all agreed “it will make a good story tomorrow!”
In fact, it already made a good story by dinner, where we recounted it to the half of the group that had missed out on our little adventure.
Also at dinner, we voted on whether or not we want to take the trek to Waza Park for a sweet Safari. Now, it sounds really sweet, but…it will take four days, which is just too stressful since it wasn’t built into the schedule. It really detracts from bonding time here in Ngaoundere and will hurt the quality of our IDI papers/presentations, so after quite a bit of reflection, we voted it down.
After dinner with the group we came back and found kiddos playing soccer at the Protestant school. We joined in, playing until the seeping dark made it impossible to tell the deflated ball from the dust. I apparently not only made two goals, but a few friends! Afterwards some of the girls came and found me in my room and we played cards together. It’s simple interactions like those that simply make my day.
March 21
After a morning class on homestay living here in Ngaoundéré and free time for lunch (sad realization: I need to stop eating soft serve—it’s made with water), we were dropped off at our homestays.
The first day’s always a bit awkward (it’s not them, its’ me), and seeing as it’s round three, I’m running out of steam a bit, BUT, I like my family, and that’s what counts. We’ve got: Dad (very chill), Mom (very pregnant!), 14 year old niece, 6 year old daughter, 4 year old son, 15 month old son. [Fun fact: USED to be a polygamous family, but apparently the first wife left…] Plus we live in a cokpoud and have several neighbors. My family’s Muslim, the neighbors are Christian—goes to show they can get along just fine. [Fun fact: one of the neighbors told me she married at FIFTEEN]
So I was pretty taken aback and on the verge of mental panic when I found out…I don’t have a room here. Lack of personal space and lack of place to do homework and living out of my suitcase might be a bit trying, but of course I’ll manage—it’s only 2 weeks. And hey, what screams “bonding time!” more than sharing a room and bed with your host mom and baby bro??
House wise, I’d say mine here is a tad nicer than mine in Dschang…I mean, the hole-in-the-ground-toilet/shower is inside, which is a real plus. Also, there’s just a sense of peace here, and I value calm a lot. Communication is difficult; the family speaks Fulfulde among themselves, and the three youngest children don’t understand anything I say…luckily the language of “play” is universal! Tickling, piggy back rides, and ring around the rosy don’t take much talk.
Dinner (rice mixed with spaghetti) was like a picnic! We spread the tablecloth on the living room rug and all sat around—precious.
March 22
Used a well for my first time! Quite fitting since it’s international water day.
Fulfulde classes today to learn the basics…learning’s hard!
I talked to Christiane today and found out that ‘crazy woman’, is in fact, just that: Crazy. She went back to the scene and talked to people there; they all knew her very well, but were surprised by her sudden outburst. So, nothing to worry about!
Came home and learned Maman was already at the hospital! A couple of hours later news arrived that she gave birth to a healthy baby boy!
The house may be “calm’, but the kids aren’t necessarily! Wasn’t long before I had six or seven of them tumbling on top of me. Whew! Maria definitely wears out before they do!
TERRIFIC NEWS! I have an Independent Study Project topic!!
I came to Cameroon planning on studying microfinance, but I started to get cold feet a bit when I realized that here, microfinance is a business. A very big one in fact. Now, I’m not saying this isn’t a good method of development—it probably is; however, in my mind I wanted to work specifically with a nonprofit. Meanwhile, I’m thinking of a new topic I could study pretty much every day (prison conditions? Philanthropy among the middle class? Mixing of traditional and imported religious practices? Fair trade? Human trafficking?)
Suddenly a little sign came to me in the form of Ellen when she mentioned that HEIFER INTERNATIONAL has projects here in Cameroon. Within two seconds I was sold. Hunting them down and getting the internship approved took a bit longer, but I’ve officially been accepted as their intern, and will spend my 4 weeks during ISP working with them in projects near Yaoundé.
I’m so incredibly excited!
(don’t know what Heifer is? Google it!)
March 23
Class today on Islam tradition, plus a visit to a traditional doctor who described his work a bit and showed us some of the plants they use as medicine. Some of the kiddos even got their fortunes told…
Went to a cyber café for a bit, and they had AIR CONDITIONNING. Whoa. Must say, actually, I don’t think it’s hotter here than in Yaoundé.
Also decided to scope out Laking, and even though I had told myself I was done buying pagne, I found some cloth with the Virgin Mary and basically decided it would be sinful NOT to get it…
Back at home I got to see and hold the baby! He’s pretty precious.
Was quite proud of myself for spending several hours chatting in French with the neighbor ladies (fun fact: one of them has 39 brothers and sisters!) and my host dad’s high school brother and his friends.
Spent the morning and early afternoon packing and twiddling my thumbs.
As I headed towards school I stopped by the tailor and picked up a super cute skirt. Love it. Unfortunately, I also broke out in sobs for the first time since I got here. In short: she doesn’t remember me paying, but I did. In the end she was nice about it and gave a very sweet speech about how of course we’ll let it go, because people are much more important than money. I, meanwhile, started bawling at this point. I just hate the thought that she would think I’m trying to trick her; it’s frustrating.
Anyhoo, after that we headed to the train station. I’m not really sure why SIT felt the need for us to get on that still, un-air-conditioned train 2 hours before departure, but at least we did defy Cameroonian standards and leave at 6:10 on the dot.
I must admit, I was quite excited to be on a sleeper train for the first time, and though I’m sure it was 100 times bumpier than the Hogwarts Express, I couldn’t help but think of Harry Potter as we sat surrounded by friends in our individual cabins.
We had heard the ride “could take days if there’s a derailment” and had braced ourselves for the worst, but we made it in record time and got to Ngaoundere by 8am. Peeked out our windows and could see that Bastos (our quarter in Yaounde) was long gone….we were surrounded by the savannah!
Settled in at the Protestant boarding school where we’re spending the night, and then a group of us decided to walk towards centreville to take a stroll around town.
Unfortunately we got a poor first impression of Ngaoundere. There were seven of us girls, all walking in a group, when all of a sudden, out of NO WHERE, I:
-heard “WHACK!”
-felt someone’s hand SMACKING the back of my head
-and felt my glasses go flying
What??? We all kind of freak out, and I spin around to try to figure out what had just happened. I had literally not even noticed anyone come up behind me. I was sort of shook up and mainly confused as to what had just happened. We pretty quickly decided it was just a crazy woman…who knows what had set her off. We saw her yelling at some other people, and so we (still in shock) stood there and I thought “I’ll go confirm with those other people that she’s just crazy” as soon as she’s out of sight. However, she saw us still watching her and did a 180 and started to come back towards us. Now, this is when I started getting upset. We were trying to figure out whether to cross the street (I tried, too many motorcycles) or just flee straight, meanwhile some of the group was lagging, dealing with the situation. The surrounding crowd was a bit slow to step in on our behalf, but eventually made efforts to protect us as we fled to a gas station ahead.
We then sorted through our thoughts on the whole thing over some softserve; luckily my girls are great. It was just very very odd. Luckily I wasn’t hurt at all, and I know that this sort of thing could happen anywhere (don’t worry Grandma, Cameroon’s very safe!!). Anyhoo, bummer of a beginning in a new town, but I’m still very excited to get to know the people and culture here! Plus, we all agreed “it will make a good story tomorrow!”
In fact, it already made a good story by dinner, where we recounted it to the half of the group that had missed out on our little adventure.
Also at dinner, we voted on whether or not we want to take the trek to Waza Park for a sweet Safari. Now, it sounds really sweet, but…it will take four days, which is just too stressful since it wasn’t built into the schedule. It really detracts from bonding time here in Ngaoundere and will hurt the quality of our IDI papers/presentations, so after quite a bit of reflection, we voted it down.
After dinner with the group we came back and found kiddos playing soccer at the Protestant school. We joined in, playing until the seeping dark made it impossible to tell the deflated ball from the dust. I apparently not only made two goals, but a few friends! Afterwards some of the girls came and found me in my room and we played cards together. It’s simple interactions like those that simply make my day.
March 21
After a morning class on homestay living here in Ngaoundéré and free time for lunch (sad realization: I need to stop eating soft serve—it’s made with water), we were dropped off at our homestays.
The first day’s always a bit awkward (it’s not them, its’ me), and seeing as it’s round three, I’m running out of steam a bit, BUT, I like my family, and that’s what counts. We’ve got: Dad (very chill), Mom (very pregnant!), 14 year old niece, 6 year old daughter, 4 year old son, 15 month old son. [Fun fact: USED to be a polygamous family, but apparently the first wife left…] Plus we live in a cokpoud and have several neighbors. My family’s Muslim, the neighbors are Christian—goes to show they can get along just fine. [Fun fact: one of the neighbors told me she married at FIFTEEN]
So I was pretty taken aback and on the verge of mental panic when I found out…I don’t have a room here. Lack of personal space and lack of place to do homework and living out of my suitcase might be a bit trying, but of course I’ll manage—it’s only 2 weeks. And hey, what screams “bonding time!” more than sharing a room and bed with your host mom and baby bro??
House wise, I’d say mine here is a tad nicer than mine in Dschang…I mean, the hole-in-the-ground-toilet/shower is inside, which is a real plus. Also, there’s just a sense of peace here, and I value calm a lot. Communication is difficult; the family speaks Fulfulde among themselves, and the three youngest children don’t understand anything I say…luckily the language of “play” is universal! Tickling, piggy back rides, and ring around the rosy don’t take much talk.
Dinner (rice mixed with spaghetti) was like a picnic! We spread the tablecloth on the living room rug and all sat around—precious.
March 22
Used a well for my first time! Quite fitting since it’s international water day.
Fulfulde classes today to learn the basics…learning’s hard!
I talked to Christiane today and found out that ‘crazy woman’, is in fact, just that: Crazy. She went back to the scene and talked to people there; they all knew her very well, but were surprised by her sudden outburst. So, nothing to worry about!
Came home and learned Maman was already at the hospital! A couple of hours later news arrived that she gave birth to a healthy baby boy!
The house may be “calm’, but the kids aren’t necessarily! Wasn’t long before I had six or seven of them tumbling on top of me. Whew! Maria definitely wears out before they do!
TERRIFIC NEWS! I have an Independent Study Project topic!!
I came to Cameroon planning on studying microfinance, but I started to get cold feet a bit when I realized that here, microfinance is a business. A very big one in fact. Now, I’m not saying this isn’t a good method of development—it probably is; however, in my mind I wanted to work specifically with a nonprofit. Meanwhile, I’m thinking of a new topic I could study pretty much every day (prison conditions? Philanthropy among the middle class? Mixing of traditional and imported religious practices? Fair trade? Human trafficking?)
Suddenly a little sign came to me in the form of Ellen when she mentioned that HEIFER INTERNATIONAL has projects here in Cameroon. Within two seconds I was sold. Hunting them down and getting the internship approved took a bit longer, but I’ve officially been accepted as their intern, and will spend my 4 weeks during ISP working with them in projects near Yaoundé.
I’m so incredibly excited!
(don’t know what Heifer is? Google it!)
March 23
Class today on Islam tradition, plus a visit to a traditional doctor who described his work a bit and showed us some of the plants they use as medicine. Some of the kiddos even got their fortunes told…
Went to a cyber café for a bit, and they had AIR CONDITIONNING. Whoa. Must say, actually, I don’t think it’s hotter here than in Yaoundé.
Also decided to scope out Laking, and even though I had told myself I was done buying pagne, I found some cloth with the Virgin Mary and basically decided it would be sinful NOT to get it…
Back at home I got to see and hold the baby! He’s pretty precious.
Was quite proud of myself for spending several hours chatting in French with the neighbor ladies (fun fact: one of them has 39 brothers and sisters!) and my host dad’s high school brother and his friends.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Je suis dans la joie
this --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpe0w6aHXEs
is my other favorite song here. This entry's title comes from it and translates literally as "I am in the joy".
Tues Mar 15
We have a total of a mere two classes this week, which is a bit of a shock after finally getting used to being in class all the time.
For lunch I went back to a tiny restaurant I hadn’t been to in awhile, and the woman was so happy to see us again that we exchanged bisous—now that’s the sort of thing that makes me so happy to be here.
Nathalie (homestay coordinator) is an absolute doll and fixed the broken zippers on my suitcase for me…good! We leave again on Saturday!
The combination of the lack of structure and uncertainty-overload with regards to my ISP sort of had me pulling my hair out today. On the plus side, we finally located the NGO I want to work with and I handed over my letter…hopefully they’ll get back to me soon. As in, VERY soon.
This evening I started transcribing a 40 minute interview in French. About a quarter of the way through I was ready to cry and so gave up for the night. Transcriptions will probably be the death of me.
My buddy Ellen is going home for 10 days. Good news for her—she’s got an interview for a nationally competitive scholarship—but bad news for me--I’ll miss her!
Wed Mar 16
Woke up this morning and realized first thing that I forgot to take my malaria pill yesterday. Oh shiz, and I was doing SO well. In my efforts to repair the damage, I immediately took one without thinking about how empty my stomach was…mistake.
Since we didn’t have class today, I spent a whole lot of hours at school working on transcribing.
Back at home: laundry. I don’t think I’m getting any better at this…
Manuella was overly eager to “help” with the wash and I’ve decided that my patience with babysitting has officially run out.
Great news, though! I have running water in my bathroom again! Wheee! Sink! Toilet! SHOWER!!
Thurs Mar 17
Happy St Patty’s day! Too bad they don’t know what that is here.
I thought maybe, just maybe, they knew it was St Patrick’s day, because they were passing out free Bailey’s samples at Dovv (our grocery store). Just a coincidence, though---they had ‘em again on Friday. (I think Bailey’s is my new fave.)
No class. Finished my beastly transcription!!
Went back to the NGO I want to do my practicum with, this time with Christiane (academic director) in tow. Things are looking good, but nothing’s for sure. And we leave Saturday. And I have to start it as soon as we get back. Eek!
Somehow it was already our last student night together here in Yaounde, so we splurged and spent five bucks each on pizza we’d been eyeing for over a month.
A friend of mine in the USoA wrote “You have the best life” on my facebook wall today. What a good reminder! She’s so right!! I love it here, and I’m so grateful for the experience.
Fri Mar 18
Had our group discussion on recent lectures on minorities (women; Anglophones; pygmies) and got a bit of info on Ngaoundere (pronounced: GOW-un-dare-ay). Apparently it’s:
-the gateway to the extreme north
-predominantly muslum
-very hot
-slightly larger than Dschang
We’ll spend two weeks there with our final homestay, and when we finish there, ISP starts! Ah!
Also gave into my biggest Cameroonian weaknesses 1. Swapped pagne with other girls and ordered more clothing 2. Had a delicious éclair. I’m maybe going a bit crazy on the pastries, but here’s the thing—we get a daily lunch stipend of $3from SIT, so when my lunch only costs $1, it’s hard to feel guilty spending another $1 on an éclair…
Back at home I watched Hotel Rwanda. I’d seen it before, but it seems even more horrific when watched on African soil. Also, I actually conversed with Magnus tonight, which is good, because I now remember that we are, in fact, friends.
is my other favorite song here. This entry's title comes from it and translates literally as "I am in the joy".
Tues Mar 15
We have a total of a mere two classes this week, which is a bit of a shock after finally getting used to being in class all the time.
For lunch I went back to a tiny restaurant I hadn’t been to in awhile, and the woman was so happy to see us again that we exchanged bisous—now that’s the sort of thing that makes me so happy to be here.
Nathalie (homestay coordinator) is an absolute doll and fixed the broken zippers on my suitcase for me…good! We leave again on Saturday!
The combination of the lack of structure and uncertainty-overload with regards to my ISP sort of had me pulling my hair out today. On the plus side, we finally located the NGO I want to work with and I handed over my letter…hopefully they’ll get back to me soon. As in, VERY soon.
This evening I started transcribing a 40 minute interview in French. About a quarter of the way through I was ready to cry and so gave up for the night. Transcriptions will probably be the death of me.
My buddy Ellen is going home for 10 days. Good news for her—she’s got an interview for a nationally competitive scholarship—but bad news for me--I’ll miss her!
Wed Mar 16
Woke up this morning and realized first thing that I forgot to take my malaria pill yesterday. Oh shiz, and I was doing SO well. In my efforts to repair the damage, I immediately took one without thinking about how empty my stomach was…mistake.
Since we didn’t have class today, I spent a whole lot of hours at school working on transcribing.
Back at home: laundry. I don’t think I’m getting any better at this…
Manuella was overly eager to “help” with the wash and I’ve decided that my patience with babysitting has officially run out.
Great news, though! I have running water in my bathroom again! Wheee! Sink! Toilet! SHOWER!!
Thurs Mar 17
Happy St Patty’s day! Too bad they don’t know what that is here.
I thought maybe, just maybe, they knew it was St Patrick’s day, because they were passing out free Bailey’s samples at Dovv (our grocery store). Just a coincidence, though---they had ‘em again on Friday. (I think Bailey’s is my new fave.)
No class. Finished my beastly transcription!!
Went back to the NGO I want to do my practicum with, this time with Christiane (academic director) in tow. Things are looking good, but nothing’s for sure. And we leave Saturday. And I have to start it as soon as we get back. Eek!
Somehow it was already our last student night together here in Yaounde, so we splurged and spent five bucks each on pizza we’d been eyeing for over a month.
A friend of mine in the USoA wrote “You have the best life” on my facebook wall today. What a good reminder! She’s so right!! I love it here, and I’m so grateful for the experience.
Fri Mar 18
Had our group discussion on recent lectures on minorities (women; Anglophones; pygmies) and got a bit of info on Ngaoundere (pronounced: GOW-un-dare-ay). Apparently it’s:
-the gateway to the extreme north
-predominantly muslum
-very hot
-slightly larger than Dschang
We’ll spend two weeks there with our final homestay, and when we finish there, ISP starts! Ah!
Also gave into my biggest Cameroonian weaknesses 1. Swapped pagne with other girls and ordered more clothing 2. Had a delicious éclair. I’m maybe going a bit crazy on the pastries, but here’s the thing—we get a daily lunch stipend of $3from SIT, so when my lunch only costs $1, it’s hard to feel guilty spending another $1 on an éclair…
Back at home I watched Hotel Rwanda. I’d seen it before, but it seems even more horrific when watched on African soil. Also, I actually conversed with Magnus tonight, which is good, because I now remember that we are, in fact, friends.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
oh you crawled out of the sea...
Saturday march 12
Spring break (ish)!! To the beach for the weekend! Since we don’t have a spring break, we’re pretending like this is a real vay-cay.
On the way there we travelled along the road to Doula—it’s apparently the most dangerous route in Cameroon. We made it without a hitch, but saw others that did not. We saw a really nasty accident including an overturned truck and covered bodies—that’s what we call a disturbing cultural difference (the lack of whisking away).
BEACH! Beach!! BeAcH! It’s beautiful here. I’m pretty sure we’re the only ones at our hotel. No other hotels in sight. The only people around are some locals who are fishing—we even helped them pull in their net!
We were quickly reminded that this is not, in fact, spring break, and were greeted with a class. Interesting though, because it was prep for tomorrow’s visit to Pygmy camps.
Night fell quickly. We waded a bit and were shocked to look down at our watches and see it was only…7:30! Felt hours later because we were surrounded by so much darkness. That was in part because the power at the hotel was cut. We played mafia in the dark and worked on de-braiding Rebecca (it’s very much a group effort).
Sunday march 13
Possibly my best day yet in Cameroon (though I don’t think this is a very fair comparison, because vacation is always the best)
We got to visit 2 Pygmy camps—brought by an NGO worker who knows them well and could translate for us--which was very very interesting. A little bit about the Pygmies: they are forest peoples, but have unfortunately been increasingly kicked out as the forests are used for timber or declared as national parks. The 2 groups we visited were just a few steps off the main road. Pygmies live in very small communities ranging from 3 to 65 people. These communities are independent of one another and even speak different languages. They are short in stature. They are maltreated by surrounding Cameroonian ethnic groups (we even witnessed this during our visits). Though some do a bit of farming, they still cling to their hunter/gatherer roots. Most of the children do not go to school because it’s a 6-7km walk. Definitely no running water or electricity. During our visits they answered any questions we had and performed dances for us.
Spent the afternoon soaking up the sun (maybe a bit much, if the red skin means anything). Swimming, playing chicken, building sandcastles… *happy sighs*
Then we walked to this incredible waterfall that falls directly into the ocean (pretty big deal—I think it’s the only one in Africa that does that). Ok, I had thought the other waterfall we went to was cool. This was much much cooler in my opinion. One of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever experienced, in fact; the combination of lots of mini waterfalls converging into one, plus the beach, plus a lowering sun, plus bathing Cameroonians, plus island-y jungle-ness was a magnificent combo. *more happy sighs*
After dinner in town we enjoyed some more night time wading plus some friend bonding time with lots of song-singing, pyramid-building, and other general goofiness.
I then had the opportunity to take my first warm Cameroonian shower…but it was too hot!! So that was a bust, but it was still a terrific day.
Monday march 14
Oh man…time to come home already. Boo.
On the way home, though, we did get ‘controled’ by the police, which was exciting. I’ve been dying to whip out that official copy of my passport.
Therese didn’t go to class today, so we bonded over “16 and Pregnant” and other similarly classy shows.
Spring break (ish)!! To the beach for the weekend! Since we don’t have a spring break, we’re pretending like this is a real vay-cay.
On the way there we travelled along the road to Doula—it’s apparently the most dangerous route in Cameroon. We made it without a hitch, but saw others that did not. We saw a really nasty accident including an overturned truck and covered bodies—that’s what we call a disturbing cultural difference (the lack of whisking away).
BEACH! Beach!! BeAcH! It’s beautiful here. I’m pretty sure we’re the only ones at our hotel. No other hotels in sight. The only people around are some locals who are fishing—we even helped them pull in their net!
We were quickly reminded that this is not, in fact, spring break, and were greeted with a class. Interesting though, because it was prep for tomorrow’s visit to Pygmy camps.
Night fell quickly. We waded a bit and were shocked to look down at our watches and see it was only…7:30! Felt hours later because we were surrounded by so much darkness. That was in part because the power at the hotel was cut. We played mafia in the dark and worked on de-braiding Rebecca (it’s very much a group effort).
Sunday march 13
Possibly my best day yet in Cameroon (though I don’t think this is a very fair comparison, because vacation is always the best)
We got to visit 2 Pygmy camps—brought by an NGO worker who knows them well and could translate for us--which was very very interesting. A little bit about the Pygmies: they are forest peoples, but have unfortunately been increasingly kicked out as the forests are used for timber or declared as national parks. The 2 groups we visited were just a few steps off the main road. Pygmies live in very small communities ranging from 3 to 65 people. These communities are independent of one another and even speak different languages. They are short in stature. They are maltreated by surrounding Cameroonian ethnic groups (we even witnessed this during our visits). Though some do a bit of farming, they still cling to their hunter/gatherer roots. Most of the children do not go to school because it’s a 6-7km walk. Definitely no running water or electricity. During our visits they answered any questions we had and performed dances for us.
Spent the afternoon soaking up the sun (maybe a bit much, if the red skin means anything). Swimming, playing chicken, building sandcastles… *happy sighs*
Then we walked to this incredible waterfall that falls directly into the ocean (pretty big deal—I think it’s the only one in Africa that does that). Ok, I had thought the other waterfall we went to was cool. This was much much cooler in my opinion. One of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever experienced, in fact; the combination of lots of mini waterfalls converging into one, plus the beach, plus a lowering sun, plus bathing Cameroonians, plus island-y jungle-ness was a magnificent combo. *more happy sighs*
After dinner in town we enjoyed some more night time wading plus some friend bonding time with lots of song-singing, pyramid-building, and other general goofiness.
I then had the opportunity to take my first warm Cameroonian shower…but it was too hot!! So that was a bust, but it was still a terrific day.
Monday march 14
Oh man…time to come home already. Boo.
On the way home, though, we did get ‘controled’ by the police, which was exciting. I’ve been dying to whip out that official copy of my passport.
Therese didn’t go to class today, so we bonded over “16 and Pregnant” and other similarly classy shows.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Man, I feel like a Woman
Tues Mar 8
HAPPY WOMEN’S DAY!!! Wow, I thought they celebrated this well in France. I was wrong. The US is seriously missing out. Women’s day here is very big; maybe because women here need it more. In theory “women aren’t supposed to have to cook today” and are “allowed to show up in bars”, according to my profs. I must say, I did see my host dad iron his own shirt this morning.
I was thrilled to wear my women’s day “pagne” (fabric) today along with all the other Cameroonian ladies! Very nice sense of belonging. Turned down a special ticket some random-guy-I-met gave me to sit near Chantal Biya (president’s wife) to watch the Women’s Day Parade (just as well, she didn’t show) in order to….march in it! Most of we SIT gals joined in, marching with an organization called MUFFA—a microfinance NGO for women. They were a bit mean at first, bossing us into lines, but once things got rolling it was awesome. I just had the biggest grin on my face. Even just being in the streets the rest of the day was fun, because anytime I ran into a woman, we would exchange “bonne fete!”, and little kids kept giving us compliments about how pretty we looked in our pagne.
Psh, who needs Mardi Gras beads when you’ve got pagne??
Wed Mar 9
Our NGO visit today was with an environmental group—helps try to protect rights of people who live in the forest, etc, so that was pretty cool. They even gave us dried fruit that they’re in the process of trying to get fair-trade-certified (ooh! That’d be a cool ISP…note: every day I think of a cool new ISP topic. Probably I need a whole year to conduct all this research…)
After school Araba and Ellen came over to play. Okay I’m kidding, but they really did come over. For some reason I suddenly magically became the babysitter (which is mostly okay…), so while my mom’s at class I’m home with the babe. Araba and Ellen came to keep me company. Actually I’m pretty sure they just came to use my internet, but we had a lovely couple of hours together, and I made them take my braids out in exchange. Yep, I’ve got my locks and my looks back. More major hair loss. Never-have-I-ever needed to wash my hair so badly. I was so desperate I did it by flashlight—we lost power for awhile.
Thurs Mar 10
Today we visited UNICS, a MicroFinance Institute (MFI), and they gave us a pretty good presentation. I helped raise money for microcredit loans in Nicaragua last semester, so I’m definitely very interested in this (so sustainable!!). I was, in fact, planning on doing my ISP on it. Got cold feet, though and am in the works of putting something else together…I’ll keep it a surprise ‘til I know it will work!
Had to rush out at the end to head an IDI interview with the Ministry of Women & Family. Unfortunately Ellen and I overbooked—she had to go to another NGO meeting, which meant I was tackling this one by myself. That was fine, but getting there was a bit stressful; I was running late because the UNICS meeting went long, and it took me 15 minutes to find a taxi that would take me. It was also my first time taking a taxi by myself, so the combo was a bit much. I did, however, learn that if you’re willing to fork over 300 CFA (60cents) instead of 200, drivers might be more willing to lend a hand. Whew! Well, at least the interview went very smoothly. (Though I’m not exactly looking forward to transcribing the 37 minutes of French…)
Essay due tomorrow for French class over the book we’ve been reading (Je suis noir et je n’aime pas le manioc). Blah. What? This is school??
Fri Mar 11
We had our last French class, which is a strange feeling. Followed by a group discussion over the unit on NGOs we just finished.
Got a little adventurous for lunch: Araba and I made sandwiches out of bread (15 cents), avocado (20 cents), tomato (15 cents), and laughing cow cheese (two triangles = 40 cents; only reasonably priced cheese in all of Cameroon. I’m telling you, a thing of Camembert costs $13). Quite delish. Must repeat soon.
Ellen and I had an interview with an NGO and are now done collecting data for our IDI on women and work!! Plenty of work still to come, but exciting nonetheless. While we were in centreville I picked up a women’s-day-fabric dress for Manuella because Therese asked me to (little late, but oh well). Who cares? I just want to brag a bit about my “marchandag”ing skills—got the price down from 15,000 (absolutely and positively ridiculous) to 3,000.
Watched Fantastic Mr Fox on tv. Quality.
Have I mentioned my new naughty habit? I am now addicted to sneaking sugar cubes from the kitchen as a snack. What am I, six years old?
HAPPY WOMEN’S DAY!!! Wow, I thought they celebrated this well in France. I was wrong. The US is seriously missing out. Women’s day here is very big; maybe because women here need it more. In theory “women aren’t supposed to have to cook today” and are “allowed to show up in bars”, according to my profs. I must say, I did see my host dad iron his own shirt this morning.
I was thrilled to wear my women’s day “pagne” (fabric) today along with all the other Cameroonian ladies! Very nice sense of belonging. Turned down a special ticket some random-guy-I-met gave me to sit near Chantal Biya (president’s wife) to watch the Women’s Day Parade (just as well, she didn’t show) in order to….march in it! Most of we SIT gals joined in, marching with an organization called MUFFA—a microfinance NGO for women. They were a bit mean at first, bossing us into lines, but once things got rolling it was awesome. I just had the biggest grin on my face. Even just being in the streets the rest of the day was fun, because anytime I ran into a woman, we would exchange “bonne fete!”, and little kids kept giving us compliments about how pretty we looked in our pagne.
Psh, who needs Mardi Gras beads when you’ve got pagne??
Wed Mar 9
Our NGO visit today was with an environmental group—helps try to protect rights of people who live in the forest, etc, so that was pretty cool. They even gave us dried fruit that they’re in the process of trying to get fair-trade-certified (ooh! That’d be a cool ISP…note: every day I think of a cool new ISP topic. Probably I need a whole year to conduct all this research…)
After school Araba and Ellen came over to play. Okay I’m kidding, but they really did come over. For some reason I suddenly magically became the babysitter (which is mostly okay…), so while my mom’s at class I’m home with the babe. Araba and Ellen came to keep me company. Actually I’m pretty sure they just came to use my internet, but we had a lovely couple of hours together, and I made them take my braids out in exchange. Yep, I’ve got my locks and my looks back. More major hair loss. Never-have-I-ever needed to wash my hair so badly. I was so desperate I did it by flashlight—we lost power for awhile.
Thurs Mar 10
Today we visited UNICS, a MicroFinance Institute (MFI), and they gave us a pretty good presentation. I helped raise money for microcredit loans in Nicaragua last semester, so I’m definitely very interested in this (so sustainable!!). I was, in fact, planning on doing my ISP on it. Got cold feet, though and am in the works of putting something else together…I’ll keep it a surprise ‘til I know it will work!
Had to rush out at the end to head an IDI interview with the Ministry of Women & Family. Unfortunately Ellen and I overbooked—she had to go to another NGO meeting, which meant I was tackling this one by myself. That was fine, but getting there was a bit stressful; I was running late because the UNICS meeting went long, and it took me 15 minutes to find a taxi that would take me. It was also my first time taking a taxi by myself, so the combo was a bit much. I did, however, learn that if you’re willing to fork over 300 CFA (60cents) instead of 200, drivers might be more willing to lend a hand. Whew! Well, at least the interview went very smoothly. (Though I’m not exactly looking forward to transcribing the 37 minutes of French…)
Essay due tomorrow for French class over the book we’ve been reading (Je suis noir et je n’aime pas le manioc). Blah. What? This is school??
Fri Mar 11
We had our last French class, which is a strange feeling. Followed by a group discussion over the unit on NGOs we just finished.
Got a little adventurous for lunch: Araba and I made sandwiches out of bread (15 cents), avocado (20 cents), tomato (15 cents), and laughing cow cheese (two triangles = 40 cents; only reasonably priced cheese in all of Cameroon. I’m telling you, a thing of Camembert costs $13). Quite delish. Must repeat soon.
Ellen and I had an interview with an NGO and are now done collecting data for our IDI on women and work!! Plenty of work still to come, but exciting nonetheless. While we were in centreville I picked up a women’s-day-fabric dress for Manuella because Therese asked me to (little late, but oh well). Who cares? I just want to brag a bit about my “marchandag”ing skills—got the price down from 15,000 (absolutely and positively ridiculous) to 3,000.
Watched Fantastic Mr Fox on tv. Quality.
Have I mentioned my new naughty habit? I am now addicted to sneaking sugar cubes from the kitchen as a snack. What am I, six years old?
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
'Cause we gon' rock this club/ We gon' go all night
Thurs March 3
NGO visit of the day: World Bank. Now, I don’t know much about the World Bank, so I thought it was a pretty good presentation, but apparently they’ve got a bad rep and the rest of the group wasn’t so convinced. I was, however, skeptical of the fact they had a pool.
Lots of running around this afternoon. My adaptor’s being feisty so I went to a buy a new one. Went back and forth 3 times exchanging the ones they sold me. The one I ended up still doesn’t work that well. Also learned that printing/copying costs twice as much here as in Dschang! I’m so spoiled at TU! Ellen and I started distributing our questionnaires on working women.
Also, I must have seen 15 white people today. Too weird, I can’t handle it. Seriously.
Fri March 4
Watched a Cameroonian film in French class—not a lot of those out there. Fun fact: there is no movie theater here in Yaoundé.
Final dance class!
Wow the week went quickly!
Sat March 5
Started the day off with a football match: student’s vs host siblings. Quite a muddy affair, but fun even though I have zero soccer skills.
It took Ellen and me FIVE HOURS to gather SIX SURVEYS. Basically, the women at the market: weren’t in our sample population, say they’re too busy to help (even if they’re clearly not), think we’re spies, or demand a beer in exchange for helping. A very sweaty and trying afternoon, but at least we finished.
On the plus side…fun night!! SIT took us to a nightclub. It was pretty swanky place, velvety red seats, light up floor, and more. We did not, however, get the memo on the appropriate time to arrive. Got there at 10:30 and were literally the first people there. Oh well, by the time we left 5 hours later the place was hoppin’. Then we satisfied all of our elementary-school dreams and got to spend the night at school. Nothing like some 4am grilled cheese sandwiches in a country that rarely treats us to cheese before passing out.
Sun March 6
Today’s highlights:
-Got really very close to running out of gas on the way to church this morning.
-Manuella decided to vom on my new dress.
-Homework. Get this: I choose to write an essay in French instead of English. That’s definitely a first.
-I saw Magnus for more than 5 minutes for the first time since I got back from Dschang (he’s been really busy because he’s starting a printing shop).
Mon March 7
Got caught in the rain today for the first time…
This evening we got to sit in the audience of a weekly tv program while they were filming. Think Oprah, except completely different, because this is Cameroon. This week’s theme was Women’s Day, and it featured quite a variety of guests. It was both interesting and “interesting…”.
NGO visit of the day: World Bank. Now, I don’t know much about the World Bank, so I thought it was a pretty good presentation, but apparently they’ve got a bad rep and the rest of the group wasn’t so convinced. I was, however, skeptical of the fact they had a pool.
Lots of running around this afternoon. My adaptor’s being feisty so I went to a buy a new one. Went back and forth 3 times exchanging the ones they sold me. The one I ended up still doesn’t work that well. Also learned that printing/copying costs twice as much here as in Dschang! I’m so spoiled at TU! Ellen and I started distributing our questionnaires on working women.
Also, I must have seen 15 white people today. Too weird, I can’t handle it. Seriously.
Fri March 4
Watched a Cameroonian film in French class—not a lot of those out there. Fun fact: there is no movie theater here in Yaoundé.
Final dance class!
Wow the week went quickly!
Sat March 5
Started the day off with a football match: student’s vs host siblings. Quite a muddy affair, but fun even though I have zero soccer skills.
It took Ellen and me FIVE HOURS to gather SIX SURVEYS. Basically, the women at the market: weren’t in our sample population, say they’re too busy to help (even if they’re clearly not), think we’re spies, or demand a beer in exchange for helping. A very sweaty and trying afternoon, but at least we finished.
On the plus side…fun night!! SIT took us to a nightclub. It was pretty swanky place, velvety red seats, light up floor, and more. We did not, however, get the memo on the appropriate time to arrive. Got there at 10:30 and were literally the first people there. Oh well, by the time we left 5 hours later the place was hoppin’. Then we satisfied all of our elementary-school dreams and got to spend the night at school. Nothing like some 4am grilled cheese sandwiches in a country that rarely treats us to cheese before passing out.
Sun March 6
Today’s highlights:
-Got really very close to running out of gas on the way to church this morning.
-Manuella decided to vom on my new dress.
-Homework. Get this: I choose to write an essay in French instead of English. That’s definitely a first.
-I saw Magnus for more than 5 minutes for the first time since I got back from Dschang (he’s been really busy because he’s starting a printing shop).
Mon March 7
Got caught in the rain today for the first time…
This evening we got to sit in the audience of a weekly tv program while they were filming. Think Oprah, except completely different, because this is Cameroon. This week’s theme was Women’s Day, and it featured quite a variety of guests. It was both interesting and “interesting…”.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Love is a dress that you made/long to hide your knees
Monday Feb 28
Since we spent the weekend “in class” and travelling, we had the day off, which was really nice. I used the tie to do home work (sort of…) and attempt laundry round 2. I don’t think the dirt from Dschang will ever come out.
Probably should not have spent the first four weeks bragging that I didn’t have any mosquito bites…payback time.
Tuesday March 1
My shower’s not working, so I’m back to the bucket. Um, hello, why do you think I came back to Yaounde? (kidding)
Class. Class. New restaurant. Class.
By the way, “mini rainy season” seems to be here in full force.
Wednesday March 2
For French class we planned and cooked a meal…at 9am. Avocado salad, fried plantains, and what-was-supposed-to-be-smoothies-but-became-fruit-punch-when-the-blender-refused-to-work.
Our focus for the next two weeks will be on NGOs. Two interesting visits today: US Embassy and the Peace Corps office. Wow, did I feel like I was in America at the embassy. That may sound dumb, but something as simple as a conference room or a free pen really feels like home. Also, that could be a fun job…
Peace corps was great since I’d like to do some sort of similar volunteer work post-graduation.
Afterwards we all gave into peer pressure and bought our dresses for Women’s Day!! Pretty pumped for March 8th. PLUS, my other dresses I ordered from the tailor are done!! We’re all quite hooked. Picked those up and ordered some more…
Planned on doing homework tonight, but then Momma Mia came on, and quite frankly, “how can I resist ya?”
PS Exciting news! My French professor told me today that I’m picking up the Cameroonian accent…it’s true, I can even hear it a bit! When I got really excited, she told me she’s not sure it’s a compliment. Psh. I’m taking it as one.
Since we spent the weekend “in class” and travelling, we had the day off, which was really nice. I used the tie to do home work (sort of…) and attempt laundry round 2. I don’t think the dirt from Dschang will ever come out.
Probably should not have spent the first four weeks bragging that I didn’t have any mosquito bites…payback time.
Tuesday March 1
My shower’s not working, so I’m back to the bucket. Um, hello, why do you think I came back to Yaounde? (kidding)
Class. Class. New restaurant. Class.
By the way, “mini rainy season” seems to be here in full force.
Wednesday March 2
For French class we planned and cooked a meal…at 9am. Avocado salad, fried plantains, and what-was-supposed-to-be-smoothies-but-became-fruit-punch-when-the-blender-refused-to-work.
Our focus for the next two weeks will be on NGOs. Two interesting visits today: US Embassy and the Peace Corps office. Wow, did I feel like I was in America at the embassy. That may sound dumb, but something as simple as a conference room or a free pen really feels like home. Also, that could be a fun job…
Peace corps was great since I’d like to do some sort of similar volunteer work post-graduation.
Afterwards we all gave into peer pressure and bought our dresses for Women’s Day!! Pretty pumped for March 8th. PLUS, my other dresses I ordered from the tailor are done!! We’re all quite hooked. Picked those up and ordered some more…
Planned on doing homework tonight, but then Momma Mia came on, and quite frankly, “how can I resist ya?”
PS Exciting news! My French professor told me today that I’m picking up the Cameroonian accent…it’s true, I can even hear it a bit! When I got really excited, she told me she’s not sure it’s a compliment. Psh. I’m taking it as one.
Friday, March 11, 2011
On the road again
Vendredi le 25 fevrier
Rise ‘n shine! The morning was a mad rush of normal morning prep (last cup of not-quite-boiled-water tea…glad I didn’t get too sick from that), packing, and good-byeing. Luckily Mimi helped me get my suitcase down to the road. The van was 45 minutes late to pick me up, but by 8 we were on our way. Au revoir Dschang! Tu me manqueras!
Some concluding thoughts on Dschang: This town grew on me so quickly! I liked having classes at the university, because it meant increased independence and more interaction with the community (ie street vendors outside the gate).
Plus, I learned a LOT at my homestay. I learned about adapting: stoves and running water? Psh! That ws so two weeks ago. I learned about poverty and my reaction to it: this is what seemed to make Dschang a bit of an emotional roller coaster for everyone—pretty much all of we students either had 1. Family members (generally kids) constantly asking for things or 2. Money go missing at home. Luckily I fell into the first category. Here’s the battle: who am I, a middle class American who makes $7.50 an hour to deprive a kid a 10cent lollypop? On the other hand, I didn’t want my brothers and sisters to expect me to bring them something everytime I came home and/or only like me because of my purchasing power. I spent the whole second week trying to brainstorm things I could get my host parents for their house to help/say ‘thank you’, but couldn’t think of anything. In a way they have everything they need. They have a blender, they just choose to crush things by hand. They have a broom, but they just prefer to use these twig thingys. Who am I to tell them their way’s not as good?
I’d like to think that what they lack in possessions they make up for in joy, but it’s not that simple. Their life is hard. Plenty of Cameroonians are struggling more, but that doesn’t mean that my family didn’t drop comments about not being able to afford meat or ask “see how we suffer here?” when I replied, “no, in the US we don’t cook over a fire…” It’s that sort of thing that starts to twist your gut into a know and sucks the words right out of you.
Anyhoo, 2 hour drive to Bamenda where we’re spending the weekend. We got to spend most of the afternoon walking around town and the market, and though I didn’t hear much Pidgin, I did have fun shopping! (We found ourselves constantly accidentally slipping into French, but I guess that’s a good thing!) Then we had a class about the history of discrimination against Anglophones that was taught by an active member of an organization that is fighting for Anglophone Cameroon to “regain their rightful independence”. He was very passionate. Not so sure I agree with the whole thing.
We had dinner at a really nice restaurant (first time I’d seen a sink with running water since the hotel the first night in Dschang!) and then had the night to feter a bit…it’s not very often that we students all get to spend a night together.
Samedi le 26 fevrier
We spent the morning speaking with leaders in the main opposition party (SDF). In theory there will be national elections this coming fall…we’ll see…
Normally we would have met John Fru Ndi, the SDF chairman (he was once elected president, but somehow *ahem* did not make it into office. *cough, cough* corruption *cough*). He’s touring right now, because he’ll be on the ballet again later this year.
Dimanche le 27 fevrier
After breaking my suitcase zipper (grrr) and eating some delicious banana bread, we were back in the van and headed “home”. Probably the highlight of the trip was when we stopped at a market for lunch and Bobo (our office manager) was eating when all of a sudden a huge bird swooped down and stole his food right out of his hands!
Rise ‘n shine! The morning was a mad rush of normal morning prep (last cup of not-quite-boiled-water tea…glad I didn’t get too sick from that), packing, and good-byeing. Luckily Mimi helped me get my suitcase down to the road. The van was 45 minutes late to pick me up, but by 8 we were on our way. Au revoir Dschang! Tu me manqueras!
Some concluding thoughts on Dschang: This town grew on me so quickly! I liked having classes at the university, because it meant increased independence and more interaction with the community (ie street vendors outside the gate).
Plus, I learned a LOT at my homestay. I learned about adapting: stoves and running water? Psh! That ws so two weeks ago. I learned about poverty and my reaction to it: this is what seemed to make Dschang a bit of an emotional roller coaster for everyone—pretty much all of we students either had 1. Family members (generally kids) constantly asking for things or 2. Money go missing at home. Luckily I fell into the first category. Here’s the battle: who am I, a middle class American who makes $7.50 an hour to deprive a kid a 10cent lollypop? On the other hand, I didn’t want my brothers and sisters to expect me to bring them something everytime I came home and/or only like me because of my purchasing power. I spent the whole second week trying to brainstorm things I could get my host parents for their house to help/say ‘thank you’, but couldn’t think of anything. In a way they have everything they need. They have a blender, they just choose to crush things by hand. They have a broom, but they just prefer to use these twig thingys. Who am I to tell them their way’s not as good?
I’d like to think that what they lack in possessions they make up for in joy, but it’s not that simple. Their life is hard. Plenty of Cameroonians are struggling more, but that doesn’t mean that my family didn’t drop comments about not being able to afford meat or ask “see how we suffer here?” when I replied, “no, in the US we don’t cook over a fire…” It’s that sort of thing that starts to twist your gut into a know and sucks the words right out of you.
Anyhoo, 2 hour drive to Bamenda where we’re spending the weekend. We got to spend most of the afternoon walking around town and the market, and though I didn’t hear much Pidgin, I did have fun shopping! (We found ourselves constantly accidentally slipping into French, but I guess that’s a good thing!) Then we had a class about the history of discrimination against Anglophones that was taught by an active member of an organization that is fighting for Anglophone Cameroon to “regain their rightful independence”. He was very passionate. Not so sure I agree with the whole thing.
We had dinner at a really nice restaurant (first time I’d seen a sink with running water since the hotel the first night in Dschang!) and then had the night to feter a bit…it’s not very often that we students all get to spend a night together.
Samedi le 26 fevrier
We spent the morning speaking with leaders in the main opposition party (SDF). In theory there will be national elections this coming fall…we’ll see…
Normally we would have met John Fru Ndi, the SDF chairman (he was once elected president, but somehow *ahem* did not make it into office. *cough, cough* corruption *cough*). He’s touring right now, because he’ll be on the ballet again later this year.
Dimanche le 27 fevrier
After breaking my suitcase zipper (grrr) and eating some delicious banana bread, we were back in the van and headed “home”. Probably the highlight of the trip was when we stopped at a market for lunch and Bobo (our office manager) was eating when all of a sudden a huge bird swooped down and stole his food right out of his hands!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
“I don see my wife” & “Starry starry night”
Mardi le 22 fevrier
Found out I’m sharing my room with a mouse. Wheeeee. Since I never see any mosquitos anyway, we’ll just pretend like my sleeping net is mouse protection.
The rain rain rain came down down down…whew! Glad I won’t be around for Cameroon’s rainy season, because get this—red mud is even messier than red dirt.
Ellen and I had a good interview with an NGO worker who helps working women and then found Dschang’s tiny grocery store (if you can call it that—no refrigerated or frozen items). Never have I ever had so many helpful attendants…if by ‘helpful’ I mean ‘swooning’. Ellen and I were in a good mood and so were getting a kick out of the 4 or 5 guys who were professing their love and wanting our numbers. Hey! It’s not every day (in the US) that you’ll meet someone and the first thing they’ll tell you is that you’re pretty, so we just consider it to be a bit of a confidence boost mingled with good French practice. Also, I’ve practically made it into a game to work into conversation with such boys the fact that I don’t know how to cook. I wish you could see their faces… Anyhoo, it is nice that we can shake guys pretty easily right now since we’re skipping town on Friday.
Back at the house I really needed to get homework done….and it actually happened! The kids still love me, but my novelty’s wearing off a bit (GOOD).
Mercredi le 23 fevrier
For no real reason we met at a coffee shop for class this morning (yay! We found it…finally getting to know my way around town just in time to leave). We had our last French lesson with our Dschang profs and then had a class on “survival pidgin” to prep us for our upcoming weekend in Bamenda. It’s strange struggling to understand a language that is nearly “English”. We did finally come to understand our favorite Cameroonian song though! Turns out that “I don see my wife” means “I just saw my wife”, and not “I don’t see my wife”. Oh….
watch this a couple times in a row, and you'll get a little glimpse of my average day--> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8t1Y9XPZus
Also today we:
Had to give presentations critiquing previous ISPs (ah! ISP is quickly approaching…)
Successfully finished the Dschang part of our IDI research, which is a real relief.
I had a new food for dinner! Mushed plantains (think mashed potato consistency) with black beans [thumbs up]. Also, the kids went to bed at a decent hour for once!
I looked up while I was brushing my teeth tonight and saw that the sky was finally clear. Couldn’t help but be joyful at the sight of so many incredible stars.
PS it was actually cool enough to wear long sleeves today!
PPS Mimi asked me if I would leave my hair behind as a little gift, so she could use it as “mech”. I think she was only half kidding.
Jeudi le 24 fevrier
Last day in Dschang?!?
Learned of attempted rallies in Yaoundé and Doula yesterday. Don’t know if you’ve heard, but Africa’s a little on edge right now… We should be fine here in Cameroon, though—the government shot down what small attempts there were in no time. I think if something happens it will be in the fall when “elections” will take place. I mean, the people are going to have to do something to get Paul Biya out of office, unless they don’t mind waiting till he kicks the bucket, that is. Basically, a bit of a revolt might not be all bad for Cameroon, but it needs to wait…I don’t want to get sent home!!
Had a group presentation that involved recapping what we had learned in our classes about Bamiléké culture/tradition and facilitating a discussion on the topic.
Waited around campus for awhile, because I thought Mimi was going to come meet me and show me around, but…she never “beeped” me. Then I waited in the rain for an hour to do an ethnic interview with Laurel’s dad, but he never showed. Oh livin’ on Cameroonian time *sighs* how you test me. Luckily, instead, Ellen and I went and did our ethnic interviews with workers at our fave internet café.
Went and saw a play with Papa at the FrancoCameroon Alliance where he works, but it was an existential one-man show and I understood embarrassing little.
SO. I did not know that my family didn’t realize I was leaving tomorrow. Oops. M’bad. They were pretty upset and I felt really bad. They still whipped up a cake me for though as a surprise, which was beyond nice when considering it had to be made over a fire and with so little notice. Plus, they didn’t even make a cake for Daril on his birthday… As Mama wrapped it in newspaper for me, she told me to think of them with every bite as I enjoyed it on the road the next day.
For my part, I gave the kiddos some Tartina (Cameroon’s version of Nutella) and exactly what they’d been begging for for days—pens/pencils/erasers and toothpaste. After everyone went to bed, Mimi and I stayed up and she showed me pictures on the computer as a last little bonding experience.
Found out I’m sharing my room with a mouse. Wheeeee. Since I never see any mosquitos anyway, we’ll just pretend like my sleeping net is mouse protection.
The rain rain rain came down down down…whew! Glad I won’t be around for Cameroon’s rainy season, because get this—red mud is even messier than red dirt.
Ellen and I had a good interview with an NGO worker who helps working women and then found Dschang’s tiny grocery store (if you can call it that—no refrigerated or frozen items). Never have I ever had so many helpful attendants…if by ‘helpful’ I mean ‘swooning’. Ellen and I were in a good mood and so were getting a kick out of the 4 or 5 guys who were professing their love and wanting our numbers. Hey! It’s not every day (in the US) that you’ll meet someone and the first thing they’ll tell you is that you’re pretty, so we just consider it to be a bit of a confidence boost mingled with good French practice. Also, I’ve practically made it into a game to work into conversation with such boys the fact that I don’t know how to cook. I wish you could see their faces… Anyhoo, it is nice that we can shake guys pretty easily right now since we’re skipping town on Friday.
Back at the house I really needed to get homework done….and it actually happened! The kids still love me, but my novelty’s wearing off a bit (GOOD).
Mercredi le 23 fevrier
For no real reason we met at a coffee shop for class this morning (yay! We found it…finally getting to know my way around town just in time to leave). We had our last French lesson with our Dschang profs and then had a class on “survival pidgin” to prep us for our upcoming weekend in Bamenda. It’s strange struggling to understand a language that is nearly “English”. We did finally come to understand our favorite Cameroonian song though! Turns out that “I don see my wife” means “I just saw my wife”, and not “I don’t see my wife”. Oh….
watch this a couple times in a row, and you'll get a little glimpse of my average day--> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8t1Y9XPZus
Also today we:
Had to give presentations critiquing previous ISPs (ah! ISP is quickly approaching…)
Successfully finished the Dschang part of our IDI research, which is a real relief.
I had a new food for dinner! Mushed plantains (think mashed potato consistency) with black beans [thumbs up]. Also, the kids went to bed at a decent hour for once!
I looked up while I was brushing my teeth tonight and saw that the sky was finally clear. Couldn’t help but be joyful at the sight of so many incredible stars.
PS it was actually cool enough to wear long sleeves today!
PPS Mimi asked me if I would leave my hair behind as a little gift, so she could use it as “mech”. I think she was only half kidding.
Jeudi le 24 fevrier
Last day in Dschang?!?
Learned of attempted rallies in Yaoundé and Doula yesterday. Don’t know if you’ve heard, but Africa’s a little on edge right now… We should be fine here in Cameroon, though—the government shot down what small attempts there were in no time. I think if something happens it will be in the fall when “elections” will take place. I mean, the people are going to have to do something to get Paul Biya out of office, unless they don’t mind waiting till he kicks the bucket, that is. Basically, a bit of a revolt might not be all bad for Cameroon, but it needs to wait…I don’t want to get sent home!!
Had a group presentation that involved recapping what we had learned in our classes about Bamiléké culture/tradition and facilitating a discussion on the topic.
Waited around campus for awhile, because I thought Mimi was going to come meet me and show me around, but…she never “beeped” me. Then I waited in the rain for an hour to do an ethnic interview with Laurel’s dad, but he never showed. Oh livin’ on Cameroonian time *sighs* how you test me. Luckily, instead, Ellen and I went and did our ethnic interviews with workers at our fave internet café.
Went and saw a play with Papa at the FrancoCameroon Alliance where he works, but it was an existential one-man show and I understood embarrassing little.
SO. I did not know that my family didn’t realize I was leaving tomorrow. Oops. M’bad. They were pretty upset and I felt really bad. They still whipped up a cake me for though as a surprise, which was beyond nice when considering it had to be made over a fire and with so little notice. Plus, they didn’t even make a cake for Daril on his birthday… As Mama wrapped it in newspaper for me, she told me to think of them with every bite as I enjoyed it on the road the next day.
For my part, I gave the kiddos some Tartina (Cameroon’s version of Nutella) and exactly what they’d been begging for for days—pens/pencils/erasers and toothpaste. After everyone went to bed, Mimi and I stayed up and she showed me pictures on the computer as a last little bonding experience.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Don't Go Chasin' Waterfalls
SATURDAY Feb 19
Field trip! Met at 8am (ah! Why so early??) to go visit caves and a waterfall! 1 ½ hours is a long ride on dirt roads; I was in the 7th of 7 rows in the van, and I SWEAR at one point the trek got so bumpy a got a foot of air (times like these make me miss seatbelts). Anyhoo, the waterfall and surrounding jungle were gorgeous and caves were pretty great too. I’ve got pics….it’s just too much work to put them up.
Afterwards I hit up an internet café (wow, less than a $1 for 2 hours) to apply for next year’s housing, do a bit of homework, blow some time on facebook, etc
Spent awhile with the kids at the salon on my way home and then spent a couple of hours helping Mimi make dinner: bananas with peanut sauce. Apparently you can eat unrippenned ba-nay-nays, and they taste sort of like potatoes. Not bad. Based on the number I peeled, we’ll be eating them for every meal until I go…
SUNDAY Feb 20
Silly me—thought for once I’d get to sleep in. Nobody stopped me from doing so per say, but the rest of the house got up at the usual 6:30 hour, so the noise woke me pretty quickly.
Got the kiddos to de-tresse (whee! Franglais!) my hair (OW) and wash it. Never have I ever gone so long without washing my hair. Never have I ever shed so much hair in one day. Next thing I knew, I was headed back to the salon for more tress-ing. I like my new hairdo even better, but it took even longer (5 hours!). Sped things up at the end so I could go to mass with Mimi and the kiddos (Mom was at a reunion—I’ll explain what that is some other time—and dad’s an animist]. Catholicism is a really good bonding point for Mimi and me, because she’s currently going through catechesis classes to be confirmed. This mass was less westernized than the one I go to in Yaoundé, which means that 1. The priest was 20 minutes late 2. Mass was pretty much outside 3. Got some sweet African beats. Also, people were clapping and cracking up during the homily…wish I had understood it better (microphones are the worst!)
A bit after mass Mimi wanted me to go out with her—we met a friend of hers at the bar a couple minutes from the house. Oops, definitely got chewed out for this the next day for not telling Papa where I went.
MONDAY Feb 21
3 new people in braids when we got to school this morning!
At 12:30 Ellen and I were supposed to do our governmental interview for our Women and Work project. Got a little taste of Cameroonian time…we didn’t get to meet with the minister until 4:30 (She had lost her keys, so she left to fetch a blacksmith or something and they literally broke into her office and replaced the locks while we were waiting. For real?)
Also went to the bakery to pick up birthday pastries for my host brother since I was delegated the task of providing the par-tay. Along the way we encountered our most persistant suitor yet; I’m not joking when I say he walked with us for 30 minutes.
Also at the bakery we saw a white couple. They waved; I mostly refrained from waving back. Race is an odd thing, n’est-ce pas? For some reason we white folk all feel the need to befriend one another—starting to see how ridiculous it is. Just this weekend at the waterfall, we met French botany students and swapped phone numbers without hesitation. Now, let’s think about this: how many times a day do we lie and tell Cameroonians we meet that we don’t have phones? (correct response: a lot)
At the salon Maman was so excited for Daril’s birthday. (PS while he’s turning 3, my real bro is turning 18 back at home!) I was excited because I got to carry the baby home on my back!! I didn’t drop her!!
Once at home she thoroughly enjoyed carrying out the plan she had hatched: she brought Daril in and told him that even though they couldn’t afford tocelebrate this year, that we would sing nonetheless. As we sang people gradually brought in all his goodies on trays—pop, pastries, kebabs (meet is such a treat for them!), and candy. I think he was a bit overwhelmed at first, but he eventually ditched the shocked silence for his usual giggle.
Whew! We didn’t eat until 10:30. Question: when will I ever do homework?
Field trip! Met at 8am (ah! Why so early??) to go visit caves and a waterfall! 1 ½ hours is a long ride on dirt roads; I was in the 7th of 7 rows in the van, and I SWEAR at one point the trek got so bumpy a got a foot of air (times like these make me miss seatbelts). Anyhoo, the waterfall and surrounding jungle were gorgeous and caves were pretty great too. I’ve got pics….it’s just too much work to put them up.
Afterwards I hit up an internet café (wow, less than a $1 for 2 hours) to apply for next year’s housing, do a bit of homework, blow some time on facebook, etc
Spent awhile with the kids at the salon on my way home and then spent a couple of hours helping Mimi make dinner: bananas with peanut sauce. Apparently you can eat unrippenned ba-nay-nays, and they taste sort of like potatoes. Not bad. Based on the number I peeled, we’ll be eating them for every meal until I go…
SUNDAY Feb 20
Silly me—thought for once I’d get to sleep in. Nobody stopped me from doing so per say, but the rest of the house got up at the usual 6:30 hour, so the noise woke me pretty quickly.
Got the kiddos to de-tresse (whee! Franglais!) my hair (OW) and wash it. Never have I ever gone so long without washing my hair. Never have I ever shed so much hair in one day. Next thing I knew, I was headed back to the salon for more tress-ing. I like my new hairdo even better, but it took even longer (5 hours!). Sped things up at the end so I could go to mass with Mimi and the kiddos (Mom was at a reunion—I’ll explain what that is some other time—and dad’s an animist]. Catholicism is a really good bonding point for Mimi and me, because she’s currently going through catechesis classes to be confirmed. This mass was less westernized than the one I go to in Yaoundé, which means that 1. The priest was 20 minutes late 2. Mass was pretty much outside 3. Got some sweet African beats. Also, people were clapping and cracking up during the homily…wish I had understood it better (microphones are the worst!)
A bit after mass Mimi wanted me to go out with her—we met a friend of hers at the bar a couple minutes from the house. Oops, definitely got chewed out for this the next day for not telling Papa where I went.
MONDAY Feb 21
3 new people in braids when we got to school this morning!
At 12:30 Ellen and I were supposed to do our governmental interview for our Women and Work project. Got a little taste of Cameroonian time…we didn’t get to meet with the minister until 4:30 (She had lost her keys, so she left to fetch a blacksmith or something and they literally broke into her office and replaced the locks while we were waiting. For real?)
Also went to the bakery to pick up birthday pastries for my host brother since I was delegated the task of providing the par-tay. Along the way we encountered our most persistant suitor yet; I’m not joking when I say he walked with us for 30 minutes.
Also at the bakery we saw a white couple. They waved; I mostly refrained from waving back. Race is an odd thing, n’est-ce pas? For some reason we white folk all feel the need to befriend one another—starting to see how ridiculous it is. Just this weekend at the waterfall, we met French botany students and swapped phone numbers without hesitation. Now, let’s think about this: how many times a day do we lie and tell Cameroonians we meet that we don’t have phones? (correct response: a lot)
At the salon Maman was so excited for Daril’s birthday. (PS while he’s turning 3, my real bro is turning 18 back at home!) I was excited because I got to carry the baby home on my back!! I didn’t drop her!!
Once at home she thoroughly enjoyed carrying out the plan she had hatched: she brought Daril in and told him that even though they couldn’t afford tocelebrate this year, that we would sing nonetheless. As we sang people gradually brought in all his goodies on trays—pop, pastries, kebabs (meet is such a treat for them!), and candy. I think he was a bit overwhelmed at first, but he eventually ditched the shocked silence for his usual giggle.
Whew! We didn’t eat until 10:30. Question: when will I ever do homework?
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Follow the [RED DIRT] Road
TUESDAY Feb 15
I have officially picked out my morning teeth-brushing-spot (There’s not a designated one—no one else seems to brush as regularly) I peek around the corner of the house, and I can see the mountains in the distance, which look like silhouettes in the morning light. Beautiful.
Don’t think I mentioned, but I really like our new French profs here in Dschang; they’re funny and friendly and start each class with a skit to teach us ‘cameroonianisms’.
After class Ellen and I went to a cyber café (my first!) to work on a project together. Besides not having any luck with our google searches, we walked away with quite a few viruses on our flashdrives (928 bad files on mine alone, according to the dude we paid to clean them off).
I’ve officially begun eating bananas—at 5cents a pop, I can’t afford not to! I LOVE buying snacks on the side of the road all day long. (Orange? Sugary beignet? Yes please!)
When I walk home I pass this group of 10-15 kids on the dirt road near my house playing soccer; looks like a photo straight from national geographic.
Peace out girl scouts!
Maria
PS the kids are OBSESSED with my travel alarm clock
WEDNESDAY Feb 16
To the chefferie! Chiefs are a really big deal in Bamiléké culture, so we got to go visit one. The drive was just under 2 hours, but I love car rides here—the countryside’s beautiful and there are fun distractions such as herds of cows in the middle of the road. At the chefferie we: saw dancers/musicians, met the chief, took a tour of the ‘palace’ led by the chief, even got to wine and dine with the chief. Tried palm wine (aka raffia wine) for the first time; it’s a pretty big deal here. The taste was ok-ay, but the smell? Not so much. The chief explained many traditions to us and even recounted how he became chief. In short: his dad died. Left the Jesuit seminary for a few days to come to the funeral. Was arrangingfor his ticket back when suddenly attacked by 10ish men. Fainted. Was dragged off. Held hostage for a while nd was eventually asked if he had a fiancée, because he was to marry that night…4 times!! 22 years later, here he is. We asked how many wives/kids he has now and he refused to say, but he did say that his father had 250ish children!
2 new foods at dinner: “potates”—like potatoes but sweeter—and cabbage, which was surprisingly good when lots of stuff is mixed with it.
THURSDAY, Feb 17
Crazy foggy this morning. Class? The traditional and modern Cameroonian woman. Interesting idea that the concept of inequality of the sexes was brought to Africa by colonizers; before then, women and men had distinctly separate roles, but they were complementary. While western civilizations may look down on motherhood (etc), it’s actually a great honor here, where kids are the greatest thing since sliced bread (the more the merrier!!).
[By the way, I want to clarify an earlier post: my host dad in Yaoundé is not exceptionally sexist, he was just explaining to me the typical Cameroonian belief.]
Speaking of women, that’s what my friend Ellen and I are studying for our “IDI”—basically a small multi-city research project. General research questions: when married women here begin working, do their duties at home change? Does the level of respect they are given by their husbands change?
So we have to distribute surveys and conduct interviews both here in Dschang and in Yaoundé when we return. Since we arrived in Dschang only 5 days ago and know practically no one, we just have to walk up to random street vendors, explain our homework, hand them a survey, and hope for the best. That’s definitely out of my comfort zone, but most of the women are really friendly and helpful. Plus it’s great French practice and just a good way to interact with the community.
FRIDAY, Feb 18
Continuing along yesterday’s theme, today we had a male guest prof who presented the traditional arguments for the belief that “men lead, women follow”. Wow, does a lecture like that get a group of 11 American girls riled up!
Finally gave into curiosity and bought one of the whiskey packets that most street vendors sell. I mean, who can resist. I’m not exactly a whiskey gal, but according to my friend Sam, it was “really mediocre”. Guess that’s what you get for a 20cent shot.
Ellen and I finished our surveys! Yay!!
When I stopped at the salon on my way home I found Allison there getting her hair done. Whew! They ended up having to finish it back at our house…I think it took 5-6 hours, but it looks awesome. They did it with blond ‘mech’…hmmmm…maybe I’ll try something like that??
It meant we ate dindin quite late. 10pm is quite a contrast to my 4:30 Yaoundé dinner. Potates for the 3rd day in a row. Good thing I’m a fan.
Maman made a comment about how I MUST return and do my ISP here—makes me feel loved! Speaking of which, I know Therese really likes me too, because she was sad to see me go. Anyhoo, who knows where I’ll end up for my ISP…I really like it here in Dschang and for the most part I really like my family, but 1. The kids are distracting, and that would make getting work done really hard 2. I’m simply not used to how the parents yell at their kids. Big cultural difference.
A bit about Dschang:
-87.000 population
-University town
-less westernized than Yaoundé
-mountainous and beautiful!! (minus the trash everywhere. My family literally uses their yard as their trashcan.)
-red, red, red dirt roads. It’s cool looking, but it means EVERYTHING here is perpetually dirty. I cannot wait to get ‘home’ and get my feet clean. I’m telling you, there’s even dirt when I blow my nose.
-Instead of taxis there are motos…we’re not allowed to use ‘em
-It’s a bit cooler here, which means the weather is perfect!
I have officially picked out my morning teeth-brushing-spot (There’s not a designated one—no one else seems to brush as regularly) I peek around the corner of the house, and I can see the mountains in the distance, which look like silhouettes in the morning light. Beautiful.
Don’t think I mentioned, but I really like our new French profs here in Dschang; they’re funny and friendly and start each class with a skit to teach us ‘cameroonianisms’.
After class Ellen and I went to a cyber café (my first!) to work on a project together. Besides not having any luck with our google searches, we walked away with quite a few viruses on our flashdrives (928 bad files on mine alone, according to the dude we paid to clean them off).
I’ve officially begun eating bananas—at 5cents a pop, I can’t afford not to! I LOVE buying snacks on the side of the road all day long. (Orange? Sugary beignet? Yes please!)
When I walk home I pass this group of 10-15 kids on the dirt road near my house playing soccer; looks like a photo straight from national geographic.
Peace out girl scouts!
Maria
PS the kids are OBSESSED with my travel alarm clock
WEDNESDAY Feb 16
To the chefferie! Chiefs are a really big deal in Bamiléké culture, so we got to go visit one. The drive was just under 2 hours, but I love car rides here—the countryside’s beautiful and there are fun distractions such as herds of cows in the middle of the road. At the chefferie we: saw dancers/musicians, met the chief, took a tour of the ‘palace’ led by the chief, even got to wine and dine with the chief. Tried palm wine (aka raffia wine) for the first time; it’s a pretty big deal here. The taste was ok-ay, but the smell? Not so much. The chief explained many traditions to us and even recounted how he became chief. In short: his dad died. Left the Jesuit seminary for a few days to come to the funeral. Was arrangingfor his ticket back when suddenly attacked by 10ish men. Fainted. Was dragged off. Held hostage for a while nd was eventually asked if he had a fiancée, because he was to marry that night…4 times!! 22 years later, here he is. We asked how many wives/kids he has now and he refused to say, but he did say that his father had 250ish children!
2 new foods at dinner: “potates”—like potatoes but sweeter—and cabbage, which was surprisingly good when lots of stuff is mixed with it.
THURSDAY, Feb 17
Crazy foggy this morning. Class? The traditional and modern Cameroonian woman. Interesting idea that the concept of inequality of the sexes was brought to Africa by colonizers; before then, women and men had distinctly separate roles, but they were complementary. While western civilizations may look down on motherhood (etc), it’s actually a great honor here, where kids are the greatest thing since sliced bread (the more the merrier!!).
[By the way, I want to clarify an earlier post: my host dad in Yaoundé is not exceptionally sexist, he was just explaining to me the typical Cameroonian belief.]
Speaking of women, that’s what my friend Ellen and I are studying for our “IDI”—basically a small multi-city research project. General research questions: when married women here begin working, do their duties at home change? Does the level of respect they are given by their husbands change?
So we have to distribute surveys and conduct interviews both here in Dschang and in Yaoundé when we return. Since we arrived in Dschang only 5 days ago and know practically no one, we just have to walk up to random street vendors, explain our homework, hand them a survey, and hope for the best. That’s definitely out of my comfort zone, but most of the women are really friendly and helpful. Plus it’s great French practice and just a good way to interact with the community.
FRIDAY, Feb 18
Continuing along yesterday’s theme, today we had a male guest prof who presented the traditional arguments for the belief that “men lead, women follow”. Wow, does a lecture like that get a group of 11 American girls riled up!
Finally gave into curiosity and bought one of the whiskey packets that most street vendors sell. I mean, who can resist. I’m not exactly a whiskey gal, but according to my friend Sam, it was “really mediocre”. Guess that’s what you get for a 20cent shot.
Ellen and I finished our surveys! Yay!!
When I stopped at the salon on my way home I found Allison there getting her hair done. Whew! They ended up having to finish it back at our house…I think it took 5-6 hours, but it looks awesome. They did it with blond ‘mech’…hmmmm…maybe I’ll try something like that??
It meant we ate dindin quite late. 10pm is quite a contrast to my 4:30 Yaoundé dinner. Potates for the 3rd day in a row. Good thing I’m a fan.
Maman made a comment about how I MUST return and do my ISP here—makes me feel loved! Speaking of which, I know Therese really likes me too, because she was sad to see me go. Anyhoo, who knows where I’ll end up for my ISP…I really like it here in Dschang and for the most part I really like my family, but 1. The kids are distracting, and that would make getting work done really hard 2. I’m simply not used to how the parents yell at their kids. Big cultural difference.
A bit about Dschang:
-87.000 population
-University town
-less westernized than Yaoundé
-mountainous and beautiful!! (minus the trash everywhere. My family literally uses their yard as their trashcan.)
-red, red, red dirt roads. It’s cool looking, but it means EVERYTHING here is perpetually dirty. I cannot wait to get ‘home’ and get my feet clean. I’m telling you, there’s even dirt when I blow my nose.
-Instead of taxis there are motos…we’re not allowed to use ‘em
-It’s a bit cooler here, which means the weather is perfect!
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