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.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
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!
Friday, March 4, 2011
[Let's Pick Up and Go]
Now, I've heard my blog described as 'daunting', but seeing as I've given you a nice long break to catch up, it's time to pick up where we left off.
Saturday, February 12
Our suitcases were all piled up again at SIT by 8 am. Hit up a boulangerie on the way out of town to get lunch (and in my case an ice cream cone too…).
Sleep. Read. Music. Potty break in the bushes on the side of the road—hey, you know what they say: the study abroad group that pees together stays together. While we were taking care of business the driver realized we had a flat tire; he took care of it pretty quickly though. More beautiful countryside once back on the road. At one point we stopped at a checkpoint and children swarmed us, pulling open our windows; they wanted anything and everything we owned, and we (somewhat) appeased them with the silly bands I had on.
Got to our new city, Dschang (pronounced ‘chong’) around three, where we were staying in a lovely hotel for a night. Dinner there, chalax time, girlie-prep-to-go-out-time, bar/nightclub. The going-out was planned by SIT, which was nice normally our curfew is 6:30. At first the club was a bit of a bust—not many young people, creepy dudes, and unknown music—so some people left. You should have seen how our faces lit up a bit later when a Lady Gaga song came on, followed by a whole American medley. Clearly the people there had never seen the electric slide done before. If life were a movie, everyone would have decided to learn it from us and join in; instead we kept awkwardly bumping into everyone.
Sunday, February 13
Host family nerves—wait, didn’t we just do this?! This time, though, we were delivered to our houses. When I walked into the yard I was immediately swarmed with children who had fled their afternoon chores (laundry/dishes outside, washing floor inside) to greet me. I tried to sort out who everyone was, but gave up pretty quickly. The woman who I thought was my host mother ws apparently not, because she just told me that my parents weren’t home (wasn’t for hours that I learned that she’s my host aunt and that one of those kids belongs to the neighbors). Papa was at the village for a funeral, and mom was at work. She’s a “coiffeuse” and has a hair salon with a convenience stand/call box (place to buy phone credits) out front. After learning to eat manioc couscous for lunch (take mush in fingers, dip in sauce, repeat), I was taken to maman at the salon where I was greeted with pure job and a baby. Maman and her helper (Helene) hinted at doing my hair, and the next thing I knew, they were running a comb through my head. They told me it was going to hurt and that I was going to cry. They bought me an orange to soften the blow, but it actually didn’t hurt that badly. It just took forever! 3ish hours? Whew. Meanwhile I couldn’t understand much of the conversation…luckily that was because they were speaking Bahame, and not because my French is horrid. Anyhoo, I’m all braided up and feel so legit, even if I don’t look like myself. Won’t have to wash my hair all week…
As we were finishing up the braids, Papa got back in town and came by, also greeting me with such joy. Walked home with him and learned I’m their 10th student!
When Maman got home, I helped her (read: kept her company) in the kitchen (read: 5x3 shack in the backyard where we build the cookin gfire) with dinner. She stressed that communication is key and asked me right away what foods I do/don’t like. Yay! No omelets here…
Back in the house, I was walking across the room to sit down to eat when my metal plate of spaghetti slid out of my hands and flew across the table and onto the floor. Inner panic; outer calm. I scooped that spaghetti right up off the floor, onto my plate, and into my mouth in front of the kiddos sitting next to me. Nobody blinked an eye.
By dinner I understood that there are 8 family members living at the house: Maman (Veronique), Papa (Jean), Yoyo (f;9), Yaya (m;7; actually a cousin, but raised as own—that’s a true African family for you), Borres (m; 7), Daril (m; 3; my favorite!!); Clara (f; 9 mo), Mimi (f; a bit older than me; Papa’s youngest sister).
The kids are all precious (even if Yoyo begs a lot) and I especially want to steal Daril with his huge eyes, constant laugh, and high pitched laugh.
Monday, February 14
Roosters sent wake up calls a bit earlier than I ordered---4:30, 5:30, and 6:00, and soon very joyful Jesus music could be heard all throughout the house. Maman heated my water for me! First warm water washing IN Cameroon. Also my first ever bucket “shower”. (Turns out the ‘toilet’ also serves as the ‘shower’.) My friend Allison lives literally next door, so after downing my tea and grabbing my ½ baguette to go, with her family’s help, we walked to school together.
1st up? Homestay debriefing. Got to love stories like Rachel’s! Apparently her host coiusin is “madly in love” with her and wants to get married! We have new French teachers and I love mine. Plus we’ve started our next Thematic Seminar lecture theme—Bamiléké tradition/culture (Bamiléké are the most prevalent ethnic group in this region).
Swung by the salon on my way home (yay! We—Allison/Araba/I didn’t get lost!). Helped the kids a bit with their chores and then the asked me to take my camera out, so we took some adorable pics (I’m so grateful that my camera’s working again!!). I finally learned what Ellen meant by “doing homework with children is impossible”. Yeah, it’s really a stressful endeavor. For the most part, though, it’s cute—they love me. And I love them, and the way they call me ‘tata’ (older sister), and the way they want to brush their teeth with me (I mean, they’re just using me for my toothpaste, but still), and the way they greet me excitedly when I get home. I just wish I didn’t have such a heavy work load here in Dschang. Boo.
I helped prep dinner again; I’m sort of embarrassed that the 9 year old knows more about cooking than I do. Cooking with a fire is slow but really peaceful—there in the glowing light, with the surrounding darkness…
Saturday, February 12
Our suitcases were all piled up again at SIT by 8 am. Hit up a boulangerie on the way out of town to get lunch (and in my case an ice cream cone too…).
Sleep. Read. Music. Potty break in the bushes on the side of the road—hey, you know what they say: the study abroad group that pees together stays together. While we were taking care of business the driver realized we had a flat tire; he took care of it pretty quickly though. More beautiful countryside once back on the road. At one point we stopped at a checkpoint and children swarmed us, pulling open our windows; they wanted anything and everything we owned, and we (somewhat) appeased them with the silly bands I had on.
Got to our new city, Dschang (pronounced ‘chong’) around three, where we were staying in a lovely hotel for a night. Dinner there, chalax time, girlie-prep-to-go-out-time, bar/nightclub. The going-out was planned by SIT, which was nice normally our curfew is 6:30. At first the club was a bit of a bust—not many young people, creepy dudes, and unknown music—so some people left. You should have seen how our faces lit up a bit later when a Lady Gaga song came on, followed by a whole American medley. Clearly the people there had never seen the electric slide done before. If life were a movie, everyone would have decided to learn it from us and join in; instead we kept awkwardly bumping into everyone.
Sunday, February 13
Host family nerves—wait, didn’t we just do this?! This time, though, we were delivered to our houses. When I walked into the yard I was immediately swarmed with children who had fled their afternoon chores (laundry/dishes outside, washing floor inside) to greet me. I tried to sort out who everyone was, but gave up pretty quickly. The woman who I thought was my host mother ws apparently not, because she just told me that my parents weren’t home (wasn’t for hours that I learned that she’s my host aunt and that one of those kids belongs to the neighbors). Papa was at the village for a funeral, and mom was at work. She’s a “coiffeuse” and has a hair salon with a convenience stand/call box (place to buy phone credits) out front. After learning to eat manioc couscous for lunch (take mush in fingers, dip in sauce, repeat), I was taken to maman at the salon where I was greeted with pure job and a baby. Maman and her helper (Helene) hinted at doing my hair, and the next thing I knew, they were running a comb through my head. They told me it was going to hurt and that I was going to cry. They bought me an orange to soften the blow, but it actually didn’t hurt that badly. It just took forever! 3ish hours? Whew. Meanwhile I couldn’t understand much of the conversation…luckily that was because they were speaking Bahame, and not because my French is horrid. Anyhoo, I’m all braided up and feel so legit, even if I don’t look like myself. Won’t have to wash my hair all week…
As we were finishing up the braids, Papa got back in town and came by, also greeting me with such joy. Walked home with him and learned I’m their 10th student!
When Maman got home, I helped her (read: kept her company) in the kitchen (read: 5x3 shack in the backyard where we build the cookin gfire) with dinner. She stressed that communication is key and asked me right away what foods I do/don’t like. Yay! No omelets here…
Back in the house, I was walking across the room to sit down to eat when my metal plate of spaghetti slid out of my hands and flew across the table and onto the floor. Inner panic; outer calm. I scooped that spaghetti right up off the floor, onto my plate, and into my mouth in front of the kiddos sitting next to me. Nobody blinked an eye.
By dinner I understood that there are 8 family members living at the house: Maman (Veronique), Papa (Jean), Yoyo (f;9), Yaya (m;7; actually a cousin, but raised as own—that’s a true African family for you), Borres (m; 7), Daril (m; 3; my favorite!!); Clara (f; 9 mo), Mimi (f; a bit older than me; Papa’s youngest sister).
The kids are all precious (even if Yoyo begs a lot) and I especially want to steal Daril with his huge eyes, constant laugh, and high pitched laugh.
Monday, February 14
Roosters sent wake up calls a bit earlier than I ordered---4:30, 5:30, and 6:00, and soon very joyful Jesus music could be heard all throughout the house. Maman heated my water for me! First warm water washing IN Cameroon. Also my first ever bucket “shower”. (Turns out the ‘toilet’ also serves as the ‘shower’.) My friend Allison lives literally next door, so after downing my tea and grabbing my ½ baguette to go, with her family’s help, we walked to school together.
1st up? Homestay debriefing. Got to love stories like Rachel’s! Apparently her host coiusin is “madly in love” with her and wants to get married! We have new French teachers and I love mine. Plus we’ve started our next Thematic Seminar lecture theme—Bamiléké tradition/culture (Bamiléké are the most prevalent ethnic group in this region).
Swung by the salon on my way home (yay! We—Allison/Araba/I didn’t get lost!). Helped the kids a bit with their chores and then the asked me to take my camera out, so we took some adorable pics (I’m so grateful that my camera’s working again!!). I finally learned what Ellen meant by “doing homework with children is impossible”. Yeah, it’s really a stressful endeavor. For the most part, though, it’s cute—they love me. And I love them, and the way they call me ‘tata’ (older sister), and the way they want to brush their teeth with me (I mean, they’re just using me for my toothpaste, but still), and the way they greet me excitedly when I get home. I just wish I didn’t have such a heavy work load here in Dschang. Boo.
I helped prep dinner again; I’m sort of embarrassed that the 9 year old knows more about cooking than I do. Cooking with a fire is slow but really peaceful—there in the glowing light, with the surrounding darkness…
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