Spring Break: Cameroon Edition

After much pestering from my dad, here is the long awaited for update.

A lot has been going on since I’ve last written. A friend came to visit me in my village, before I went up to the Extreme North region of Cameroon for my Spring Break, finished up for the school year, and helped design training for the new training for the volunteers who are coming in June.

Sean, a Science teacher, decided to come to my post before going to the Extreme North, since his post is so far away. It was nice having a visitor for a chance. He came to help teach at my school and my kids actually paid attention for once. I think they were curious just to find out if he was my mythical husband. Unfortunately Sean had to go back to Yaoundé early to get post-exposure rabies vaccination. We had an unfortunate run-in with a chimpanzee near my village. It wasn’t bad, but better to be safe than sorry.

Once Sean left, Justine and I took a bus from Bertoua to Meiganga, in the East Adamawa, to visit Danielle at her post. It was definitely different than my post because she has 4 other post mates, so she has completely different experience than I do in my little village. After a couple of days at her post, we took a bus to Ngaoundere. The normal way to get there is to take the train, but we decided to check out the countryside on the 10 hour bus ride.  The ride involved profuse sweating, arguing, and a baby shivering in his snow suit, against the 120 degree climate. In Ngaoundere, we visited the Lamido (the chief) and luckily we were there when all the important people had to go to pay homage to the chief.

For all of those of you who aren’t accustomed to washing their clothes in a bucket and line drying them in a tropical climate, you should know that you have to wait at least 4 days until you wear your clothes, for fear of the dreaded mango worms. In stage, we had heard of a male volunteer getting 40 mango worms in a very delicate area. Needless to say I always wait to wear my clothes. Unfortunately Justine didn’t, so we got to pull a worm out of her foot! It definitely motivates me to wait to wear my clothes.

Mango worm!

The next day we took the 9 hour bus to Maroua, the regional capital of the Extreme North. I think it is one of my favorite cities in Cameroon. All of the streets are tree lined, I think mainly to protect everyone from the heat. But although everyone complains about the heat, it really isn’t that hot. I had more of a problem with how dry it was up there. But like everything in this world you can get used to it.

Hippos!!!

Our first full day in the Extreme North we went to a lake 100 K from Maroua to visit a lake. We decided to take a boat on the lake. Comically enough the boat had a hole in it and it was constantly leaking, so there was a boy bailing us out for the whole trip. Luckily we were able to see hippopotamuses. We didn’t get that close, but close enough for me to see that they are not that cute.

A picture of the leaky boat

Chadian women walking to Chad

The lake was really close to the Chadian border. In fact every week women from Chad walk across a river to go to the market in Cameroon. A couple of us decided to do the same, just in reverse, we walked across the river to Chad, or at least attempted to, we didn’t make it all the way.

Drinking the beer made from millet in Mokolo

The aftermath of the stick incident

The grasshopper I ate

The next day we left to go to Mokolo and unfortunately in the market there I stepped on a piece of stick that got stuck in my foot. It wasn’t pretty nor did it feel good. Luckily someone was there to pull it out and help me clean it up. But it made walking a bit more difficult for a couple of days. In the market we bought some grasshoppers to eat, which were surprisingly good, kind of like the termites. Afterwards we continued on to Rhumski, which was gorgeous. There are all these giant rock formations that appear to have come from nowhere.

In Rhumski, we went to see “The Crab Sorcerer,” who is basically an old man who spits on crabs and puts them in a bowl and lets them knock over sticks and things in the bowls, then he reads the knocked over sticks and tells you your future. Apparantly I am going to come back to work in Africa, not Cameroon, but another African country, where I will work for a long time. (I don’t know if I should believe him because he told Justine’s mom that she would have 3 boys and she has had 1 girl and 1 boy). Although one member of my group was told that in 3 years she will have a child, so I guess we’ll know if he was right about something in 3 years.

Rhumski

Rhumski

After Rhumski, we left to go to Toro, where women wear hollowed out gourds on their heads as hats and they also double as bowls! How convient! That night we stayed in a case or an African hut and let me tell you it was HOT. There was not air circulation at all and also we broke the water faucet so water was continuously flowing. Thankfully it was turned off soon.

Even though we didn't see elephants we saw their footprints

Sean, our guide, and Renee consulting the guide book

Even though all this was fun, I think the highlight of the trip was Waza, which is the national park. Although we didn’t get to see a lion or an elephant, we saw a lot of giraffes, a lot of really cool birds (secretary bird, wooden hoopoe, Abyssinian roller, vultures eating a monkey (gross!) etc…), a jackal, warthogs, antelopes, topai, monkeys, and Zazoo from the Lion King. Even though this was my first Safari (it is Swahili for voyage), it was pretty cool because they actually let us walk around and get out of the car ( which was nice because it was hot and there was no AC).

Our car in Waza

After Waza, I went to visit my friend at his post. There we went to an old quarry that they have filled with water and somehow crocodiles. There were about 30 crocodiles there and the weirdest part was that there were Cameroonians who were actually swimming in the quarry! I can’t imagine that that is safe.

We left the Extreme North early, so we could hang out in Ngaoundere because I was told that there were waterfalls in the area and since I had never seen a waterfall I had to go. In Ngaoundere I got to see not one but TWO waterfalls, and I went swimming in both. It was a lot of fun and really pretty , so I’m glad I left the Extreme North early.

On our way back South we took the train, but unfortunately we weren’t able to get a sleeping wagon, so we had to travel 1^st class, which is a seat that won’t recline for 16 hours overnight. At least our train didn’t break down or get derailed which is pretty common. So that was nice. I didn’t get much sleep though because they didn’t turn the lights off nor the music off. But it wasn’t that bad… I just don’t think I’ll travel first class again.

After hanging out in Yaoundé for a couple of days, I went back to post to continue teaching. But now I am done! I really can’t believe that my first school year is already over. I have been talking with my principal and I think that next year I will be teaching the other teachers computers to help them do their grades faster.

I basically was only teaching for 3 weeks, because I had to go to Yaoundé for the Training Design Workshop, where we create the training for the new volunteers who are coming in June. I didn’t realize how difficult it was, because I remember complaining a lot last year, but now I see that you can’t make everyone happy when it comes to training.

Now I am done until September when school starts back again. I will go back to Bafia for a couple of weeks to help out with training and then in the end of July I will go to Ethiopia for 26 days, with my friend Sean. I am really looking forward to this summer!

Hopefully my next post won’t be too long.

Update - Teaching, Parties, and Time

Well I know it’s been a while since I have been able to update my blog on what I have been up to. Well for starters everyone in my stage went to Limbe, in the South West, for IST. We all stayed at a hotel, and unlike last year, we were not help up at a bar by machetes! So all in all it was a success! I got to swim in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time and that was a lot of fun, I only wish we got to spend more time at the beach, but as it was training we had things to learn. However, IST for me was more of a chance to get to see everyone, and it will be the last time everyone in our stage will be together before COS (Close of Service) Conference in April 2013, when we will decide our official COS dates.

Limbe was a lot of fun, great seafood (yes mom I actually like fish now! I eat the bones sometimes too = ) ) It was a little weird to be in an Anglophone region though (Cameroon is a bilingual country; there are only 2 regions (out of 10) that speak English). But luckily they understand French there too! After IST, I went to Yaoundé, after being stuck in Buea for a night, because my bus never came, even though it was continually only 20 minutes away!

In Yaoundé, I finally got an x-ray on my foot. They decided that it wasn’t broken, although I did see some weird white spots on my foot, that weren’t there when I got an x-ray in May, but what do I know? I am not a doctor! For Christmas, about half my stage met in the West region, in Bangangte for Christmas. It was definitely an experience. The West is a lot more developed than the East and it was interesting to see! It was great for everyone to be together for Christmas because it was the first time for a lot of people to be away from their families (unfortunately, it wasn’t for me!) We actually had a Mexican themed Christmas dinner and it was pretty good, considering =)

After the Christmas celebrations I went back to Yaoundé because I wanted to meet Justine’s parents who had come to visit during the vacation. They were really nice and it was interesting to see their impressions on Cameroon and on the East. Apparently it is a lot more difficult than we think, but we have just gotten used to it. We parents refused to take a shower in her latrine so they bathed outside in their bathing suits in front of everyone walking by. I guess they gave some of the villagers something to talk about!

In Yaoundé during the holiday season, in downtown there is what is called “Yao Fete” which is a way for Cameroonians to celebrate and have fun. They have drinking, food, and shops. Well some volunteers went to Yao Fete to check it out; unfortunately a giant group of white people catches peoples’ attention and not all of it positive. So they had to be escorted out, when they were finally out someone in the group offered to buy the guy a bottle of whiskey for his troubles. Unfortunately he didn’t want the small bottle, he wanted the bigger bottle. This offended the volunteer, because in reality he didn’t have to buy him anything at all. Even more unfortunately this drew a giant crowd and the security guard wouldn’t let any of them leave until he got what he felt was just compensation. It caused a giant kerfuffle. Until the security guard was physically restraining some volunteers and trying to hit them. He actually picked one of them up! Luckily all of the volunteers were keeping their cool and not reacting, even more fortunate other Cameroonians, who can’t avoid a conflict, intervened on our part and tried to get the security guard to understand. At the end of the night it was all resolved, but just another interesting night in Cameroon. (PS nobody was injured during this, so don’t worry!)

It was interesting spending so much time in Yaoundé. It can be overwhelming just because of all of the choices one has to make! It is almost, just almost like being back in American or in France. In Dimako, it is fairly easy; there aren’t any options so I don’t have to think about it. But grocery shopping in Yaoundé is now a taxing exercise because I can’t decide what I want anymore! Most of the time I don’t decide and don’t buy anything just because I can’t make up my mind. It is definitely a new habit of mine.

When I came back to Dimako, another volunteer came to visit and it was nice to show someone my house and around my village. I can’t wait for some people to come through, especially those who are coming to Cameroon! Well this volunteer, Danielle taught me how to bake in a giant pot, or a Dutch oven. So now I have been making a lot and cooking a lot more in general. I will try to make you jealous now! I have been making snicker doodles, chocolate coffee cake, apple sugar muffins, oatmeal crisps, and I think I will try making banana bread next! I have also been making a lot of banana pancakes, which was really good, if I do say so myself =)

The only problem with this method of baking is that it uses up a lot of gas. And unfortunately when I was making my own Mexican night, guacamole, tortillas, Spanish rice and beans (jealous?), my gas finished before I finished cooking! Luckily I was almost done, but it meant that I had to go to Bertoua to get a new gas bottle. The process is easy; you pay 6.600 CFA and change your old gas bottle for a new full bottle. But they are really heavy and it makes for riding on a motorcycle a bit uncomfortable, but I guess I will only have to do it every 5 or so months! 

When I first arrived in country it seemed like time dragged on. Not necessarily because it was boring or bad, but because everything was so new and different I was just taking it all in. When I first moved to post I couldn’t believe that I had a whole 2 years to stay here. Well bizarrely enough I have been at post for now 7 months (I’ve already been in country for 10 months) and now time is just flying! I can’t believe I have less than a year and a half here. Some days it feels like an eternity and other days it can feel like it’ll go by in the blink of an eye, all depending on my mood and circumstances.

It’s really interesting because it seems like days are forever here but then the weeks fly by. Right now I am already 2/3rds done with the teaching of this school year. I just have to fill out the report cards for this sequence and the 2^nd trimester. Luckily I have excel that can automatically calculate the averages for me. Too bad there is no machine here to fill out the report cards for us!

Speaking of teaching, ever since I got back from IST, teaching has become a lot easier. I think this is for multiple reasons, ranging from more student absences to more random Cameroonian holidays. At the end of January we celebrated Bilingualism Week. Each school is supposed to hold contests and things to promote and celebrate bilingualism. At my school I held a translation contest, and I was really surprised with how well the majority of the students did! On the 31^st of January, the 2 high schools in Dimako joined up to have a big celebration with singing and skits and a fashion show!

The week after it was Youth Week or La Semaine de la Jeunesse, this is definitely a contradiction. Apparently this is when most of the children fall into traps and get pregnant, thus ending their youth, what we are trying to celebrate. Even more ironic is that there is no school at all during this week, because they all have to learn how to march, for the big celebration in front of all the grands. (I guess all of our practice paid off because my high school won!!) Also during Youth Week are Soiree Culturelles, which are essentially talent shows for the kids, they dance, they sing, they do skits. It’s all a lot of fun actually! In my village as well there was a beauty pageant, it was definitely the most interesting beauty pageant I have ever seen, complete with an athletic outfit competition and many other competitions which I can’t really explain or even put into words… 

It was interesting that is all I will say! Youth Day is officially the 11^th of February and at night I guess the students just go to bars and get drunk. I have tried finding out the drinking age and everyone just laughs. I guess the legal age may be 18 years, but no one and I mean NO one enforces it. People even let babies drink. It is common to see people drinking beers at 7 or 8 in the morning, or drinking sachets of liquor, which only cost 20 cents. I am not sure of the quality of this liquor but I have my serious doubts! It is just a little interesting I should say that a holiday devoted to youth, often is the end of their youth.

The next holiday is International Women’s Day (it’s interesting to me that all of these holidays are international, but I have never heard of them anywhere but here!). It is on the 8^th of March. There is actually a pagne for Women’s Day that every woman is supposed to wear. Unfortunately that is what this holiday has become, it is no longer for celebrating women, but it is about women going out and getting drunk and wearing this pagne. There are actually lines to buy this pagne (it is currently sold out at La King, the national pagne store) and I have heard that it can be grounds for divorce if the husband doesn’t buy his wife this pagne. One colleague told me of a woman who super glued her womanly parts and died because her husband didn’t buy her this special pagne. I think the whole thing is all a little crazy, but I bought my pagne and will just see what happens on Women’s Day.

In completely other news, Dimako now has a gas station. It opened in Januaray and they threw a giant THREE day party for this gas station. There were people from all over who came to this party. I heard that even the mayor of Yaounde was here to celebrate the opening of a gas station! As Justine told me, they will take any reason here to have a party. But it is exciting because now they carry my favorite drink! This soy drink that comes in 4 flavors, so I am excited about his gas station and the fact that the asphalt road is almost to Bertoua now. There is only 20 more kilometers to go!

Transportation

Transportation in Cameroon is definitely different than anything I have experienced. Also more dangerous. As of now, after being country for only 9 months, I have been in a total of 4 accidents. Nothing completely serious, but that just illustrates the dangers of travelling in this country.

For short trips, most people can just grab a motorcycle. In Bertoua, the regional capital, most trips cost 100 CFA a person (about 20 cents). These moto drivers can take you about anywhere you wish. There are almost always moto drivers. Unfortunately of course when you really want one, they are never there and they hassle you when you don’t need one.

In Bertoua and most other big towns there are also yellow taxi cars. They are small 4 door cars, smaller than a Camry, and their carrying capacity is 6 people plus the driver. In Yaoundé, there are only taxis, moto taxis are prohibited. In order to grab a taxi you stand on the side of road and wait for a taxi to drive by, you then yell where you want to go, how much you are going to pay, and how many places you need. If they accept all of the above they will honk their horn and then you get in. If they don’t like it then they will just drive off. Sometimes it can take 1 taxi or 20 taxis to finally get where you want to go. On the other hand you can just “depot” or taxi or pay for all the seats and then you can go directly to your destination without having to get other passengers if your taxi isn’t full. It is definitely an interesting system, but I doubt it will ever pick up in America. On the Brightside it makes the taxi rides relatively cheap about 200 – 300 CFA (10-15 cents) depending on how far you want to go.

For longer trips, most people take agency bus. There are many different agencies all going to the same place. When a taxi drops you off, often the porters will rip your bags from you and take you to their agency, so they are ensured that you go with them. There is no big difference between any of the agencies, but people have their preferences. I personally like to take Melo Agence for my trips to and from Bertoua. The 5 hour trip costs 4000 CFA (or 8 dollars) one way.

You make think that since it is an agency and not a bush taxi, there would be a time table. Unfortunately, not so. Basically the buses leave whenever they are full to maximize profits, which mean you can wait hours for the bus to leave. I like Melo because they normally only leave 60 – 90 minutes late. I once waited 5 hours for a bus that never came even though every hour I was told that the bus was only 20 minutes away, it just goes to show you how time is all relative. Another way the agencies maximize profits is that they pick up passengers on the side of the road. So people are in the basically standing up in the aisles or sitting in the stairways. The length of the trip can depend entirely on how many stops the bus driver makes to pick up more passengers, the gendarme stops, and of course the infamous breakdowns (So far I’ve had 2 breakdowns = ) )

There are many different types of agency buses too. Ranging from a typical van you would see in America, that will magically fit 20 people, to prison bus, named so for the grate between the driver and the passengers, to a coaster which fits 35 people, and then a coach bus like those in America, except it is 3 seats, an aisle, and 2 seats (they magically fit an extra seat in each row).

Even more fun on this bus rides are the people who hop on and sell things. Often talking for the whole entire bus rides hawking their wares, anything from toothbrushes to magical lotions and potions that will cure you of anything. What I find most amazing about this is that people are willing to buy this junk.

Although transportation in Cameroon can be difficult, it also has its benefits. Such as after an accident on the way to Yaoundé our bus was broken, I was able to get on another bus with relatively little problems. It was funny that a bus from the same agency hit my bus. Even more ironic was that our bus was slowing down because there was another accident. On the side of the road with my friends Rachel and Sam, I tried flagging down every car and bus trying to get us on a bus to Yaoundé. One taxi wanted 30.000 CFA (60 dollars) to take us, even though the taxi looked like it was in worse shape than our bus. I refused on principle to pay that much because it should have only cost 2.000 CFA. Luckily another bus came by and I haggled with the driver to only pay 1500 CFA a person because we wouldn’t even have seats. Unfortunately someone on the bus did not like that only white people came on the bus and started complaining. Well I wasn’t in the mood for her attitude so I told her that the others did not want to stand and if she was unhappy that no Cameroonians came on the bus, she could give up her seat for one of them. Apparently she wasn’t too upset because she didn’t give up her seat. 

November: A Month in Review

Multiple people have told me I need to update and I apologize for the lack of them, but you know how it is living in a tiny village with no Internet, it’s not that easy to update. Plus with my computer screen broken, it makes writing a little bit more difficult. Luckily Justine’s parents are AWESOME and are bringing a new computer that I bought in a couple of weeks. So one less problem I have to deal with!

November has gone by incredibly fast! In fact I can’t believe that it’s already December, which coincidently marks my 6 months in Africa (Again how time flies!)

I guess I left you all on a cliffhanger. The kid who got sent to prison came back only two days later. Apparently they do that to scare them (whipping someone with a machete would do that to you no?). So no Tom, I don’t have to represent him!

At the end of October, Justine, Any (another volunteer in the East) and I travelled to Batori which is even further East and getting closer to the CAR border. The road there is 90KM of unpaved bumpiness. Justine and I made the mistake of sitting in the back and by the time we arrived I was a completely different color because I was covered in so much dust. (Luckily they have running water in Batori). After arriving the first thing we did was go eat waffles and frozen yogurt! It was really just yogurt that was frozen, but it was still pretty amazing! We were there for an engagement party of a volunteer to her Cameroonian boyfriend. The party was a lot of fun and the food was amazing (Thanks Janelle). Even though I was sick I still managed to enjoy the food! Unfortunately we all had to leave bright and early the next day so that we could make it back to our villages so we could teach on Monday.

The next week I got to meet the new volunteers, who are still in training but will posted in the East, they were on their site visit. There are 8 new volunteers in total while there are 8 old volunteers. So the new stage is doubling us! I couldn’t believe that they would place that many people out here, but I think it’s awesome because they understand that there is still a lot of room for development out here. It still amazes me that the East is the largest geographic region in Cameroon, but that there are so few PC volunteers out here.

All of the new volunteers all seem really nice and ready to work, so I think that they will be a great addition for out here! And I look forward to when they finally move to post, which will be in a couple of weeks.

On November 11^th, Justine came to Dimako because it was my turn to host Amicale (still not sure what it is, but they argue a lot about money…). Since it was my turn I had to help prepare the food and I wanted to make snickerdoodles, unfortunately there wasn’t enough money in the budget for flour and all that so I didn’t get to make them. But I did make a Cameroonian dish and it turned out pretty well! All the teachers were surprised, I think they think that Americans can’t cook!

The next weekend I went to Diang to visit Justine’s village, it’s only fair that we trade off! We walked around a lot and visited her village, which is A LOT smaller than my own. On Saturday, some of her neighbors took us to a not even a village 5 KMs from Diang. This place was literally just a couple of houses. It is where her neighbor’s parents live and they wanted to meet me. They were very friendly and invited us in to eat. I was excited because it was my first time in a mud hut and I was a bit surprised by how nice it was. The furniture is nicer than the stuff in my house and looking around I saw a TV! Imagine my surprise!

On the walk to this village it was exactly what I imagined Africa would be like. It was so stereotypical Africa, it was pretty amazing. And walking around the other houses, everyone was so excited to talk to us and shake our hands. Someone even showed us how they make palm wine! On the walk back they bought us some sugar cane to eat and it is good! Everyone should try it at least once.

On Sunday before I left, one of Justine’s students braided my hair, apparently my hair is thinner than her hair and therefore more difficult to braid. But we all thought it turned out really well!

Some of you may be wondering how I Earth I spent Thanksgiving, the most American holiday, in Cameroon. Well all the volunteers in the East went to Batori where Janelle’s parents cooked dinner for us. Of course we helped, but it was as close to a Thanksgiving dinner one can get to in Africa. We had chicken (instead of turkey), stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce (which is good Mom!), avocado and tomato salad (which I made), a cabbage salad and for dessert brownies and banana cake. It was really feast and it was good!

We had dinner at an American’s house who stays in Batori every so often to look after one of his businesses in Cameroon. He lets some of the volunteers use the wifi and the kitchen ever now and then because it is a real honest to god American style kitchen with cabinets and everything! He also has a pool (an inflatable above ground pool, but a pool nonetheless!) so I got to go swimming before Thanksgiving.

On the school front, there was actually a new bilingual (meaning she can teach both French and English) teacher placed at my school. And my mom will be proud of me because I stood up for myself! She wanted to take the class of only 26 kids, but I stood up for myself! I told her that it didn’t make any sense, since I was in the middle of the sequence and was about to test them. So I gave her my class of 150 kids, haha. Which makes my life a whole lot easier! I would feel bad about it, but she tried to take the smallest class from me without even a discussion. Luckily I had already tested and graded that class so it made the most sense logistically.

Teaching is the same, some days are good, some aren’t so good. It’s a mixed bag, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE my girls club. I love working with them each week and seeing little light bulbs flash inside their heads when talking about things that are important. So that is what really keeps me through the week, that and my Secondes (sophomore class). If only all my classes could be 30 and under… A girl can dream right?

On my house front, the dreaded mouse is back. Fortunately my mom sent me a bunch of tins to keep him out (thanks mom!). So it isn’t so bad this time around. I am still waiting for a dining room table set, hopefully soon, in the next few months or so. I keep trying to put pictures up, but they just keep falling right back down. I am thinking super glue is my best bet!

The weather has finally changed; it is officially the dry season. The other day it was 130 degrees in the sun, which makes 106 sounds nice! But it gets down into the 60s at night, which means I am freezing and have goose bumps all over. I don’t think I will ever be able to live in France again. I actually don’t mind the heat that much anymore because it isn’t humid. But the dry season means that there is dust EVERYWHERE and it just covers you. But I like it more than the mud personally.

Well that’s it for now, I realize it’s the abridged version, but hopefully when I get my computer I will be able to keep my updates more regularly. Next week I go to Yaoundé (to get my foot looked at) and then it’s off to Limbe for In-Service Training, where everyone from my stage gets together and we get more training, Not looking forward to the training part, but I can get behind Limbe (it’s a beach town). Then I have 2 weeks off for Christmas, I still don’t know my plans but I will be in Yaoundé for New Year’s Eve with Justine and her parents. So hopefully I’ll be able to update once in a while during my break. But if not see you all next year and have a great Christmas!

A Little Bit Out of the Ordinary

My week was a little bit out of the ordinary, which is actually a good change from doing the same thing every week. It started last Saturday, when my proviseur called in the morning to let me know that I had to be at school at 6:30AM in order to catch a bus to go to Abong Mbong for a Teacher’s Workshop. All of the teachers in the department, where I live had to go. (It would have been nice to have known a little bit beforehand, but at least I didn’t get a call Monday morning!) Because I had to leave so early Monday, I decided to leave Bertoua a bit earlier than normal, which was lucky because I saw what has to be the craziest thing ever and honestly I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t had seen it with my own eyes. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera, so you’ll just have to take my word for it!

On the way back to my village I kept seeing people carrying cassiers or crates full of beer bottles. I thought it was a bit weird, but maybe there was just a shipment. And these tiny village bars don’t get a lot of business?? (Because bars normally get 20 or 30 crates at a time) But the more we drove the more people I saw carrying beer bottles and not just in crates anymore. There were people of every age carrying bottles in bags, on their head, basically in just anything they could find. Which was a little weird, but then I saw it. A beer delivery truck had fallen over. There were people everywhere, inside of the truck, outside of the truck essentially stealing beer from this truck. They were climbing all over the truck, it was insane! I saw a gendarme truck and I thought oh they are going to restore order! I was a little naïve, they were taking the beer too!! For the rest of the moto ride I saw people running with empty bags, I’m assuming to go try to grab beer.

The interesting thing is that there was another beer delivery truck that fell over on the other side of my village. The crazy thing about this is that this road is the national highway. But it is just a dirt road. Unfortunately since the roads are so bad, there are many accidents. But on the brightside, on the trip to Abong Mbong, which is 120 KM from Dimako going towards Yaoundé, I saw that the asphalt goes almost all the way to Dimako now. Everyone has been telling me that there would be asphalt soon, but I just thought it was just talk. But since August the asphalt has gone almost the whole way from Abong Mbong to Dimako, there is only a couple kilometers left until my village! So maybe before my two years are finished they will finish the road and make it go all the way to Bertoua, thus making my rides safer. Even better, they put in a lot of speed bumps on the road!

So on Monday, I showed up bright and early for the bus, much to everyone’s surprise. I guess they don’t understand that I show up when they actually tell me too. So I waited around for an hour, which in Cameroonian travel isn’t that bad… Plus I was in a car and they didn’t make 5 people sit where only 4 should! So the ride to Abong Mbong wasn’t that bad! When we got there, my colleagues made me eat. Which was a little weird, but thankfully I did. I didn’t understand what or how long the workshop would last. So afterward I went to the high school where the workshop was and walked into a giant room full of about 300 people and I was the only white person. This was a little bizarre especially since everyone stared at me and probably was wondering what I was doing there. I sat down at a desk and waited for it to start. From about 10 – 14, there were speeches made, all in French. I am not going to lie, I fell asleep a bit, but I wasn’t the only one! My excuse is that waking up at 5 AM and having to listen to 4 hours of speeches that have nothing to do with me and in French none the less, isn’t all that interesting!

After the speeches, all the teachers split up into subjects. I went to the English workshops. That was a lot of fun because we got to listen to presentations in English. Every time they made us do group work, I got to do all the work because the people in my group were too afraid to speak English in front of me. But some of the other participants spoke so much just to show how much English they knew. At least that was fun for me to witness! The presentations were not that useful, in fact it was just like Training, but minus my friends and I playing scrabble on my kindle during the presentations.

At 1730, they finally let us go! Unfortunately none of my colleagues were still there, so I decided to go to the hotel, where the proviseur reserved a room for me and drop off my stuff. But I was starving so I went off in search of food. There was a boutique across the street from the hotel and unfortunately they didn’t have food, but the owner told me to go to the center. Outside of the boutique I was just deciding what to do, when I ran into one of the English teachers from the workshop. I asked her if she was going to the center of town and she said yes and then I invited myself to walk with them. I normally wouldn’t be so forward but I was all alone and hungry and she seemed nice. On the walk to the center, I was talking with her colleagues and they were all really nice. Half way there they wanted to stop to grab a beer, but because I was hungry and just wanted to go home after dinner. I said that I would just continue by myself, but they refused. And we went somewhere closer to eat, le petit marche.

When we got there they asked me what I wanted to eat. I didn’t really want to eat fish, but that appeared to be my only choice. But they pointed out 2 marmites (pots). I decided to investigate, after opening 1 pot I decided that that was enough, that I was going to eat fish. I asked what was in the marmite and they responded l’elephant. I wasn’t sure if I heard that correctly, because I know out in the East there is a lot of bush meat, but ELEPAHNT! I have never heard of anyone eating elephant! But they verified it not once, but three times. I decided NO on the elephant, especially since I was going to have to voyage back to my village, and I wouldn’t have wanted to if I was having stomach issues and who knows what would happen with elephant??(I say this delicately, but they really don’t lie, PCVs really do talk about their bowel movements, in fact we talk about it pretty much daily, I never thought I would, but I do ahaha…) So I decided to play it safe with the fish. The English teacher’s colleagues were are very nice and polite and I am glad that we had a nice talk about Cameroon and America (Yay goal 2!). After dinner I caught a moto back to my hotel and went to bed.

The next day at the workshop was pretty much the same, except they said to be there at 9 but they didn’t show up until 930. And then all the workshops were supposed to stop at 11 for the closing ceremony which didn’t start until 1430. So I was basically sitting in my desk when people kept coming up to me and asking what “La blanche” was doing here. After awhile this gets annoying, especially when you can smell the alcohol on their breath. So finally when one man wouldn’t stop calling me “La Blanche” and wondering out loud why I was mad and if I hated Africans. I finally turned to him and told him my name isn’t “La Blanche” and then I asked him how he would like it if I called him “Le Noire” and then he got offended, because he obviously didn’t like it. Thankfully there was another man who was very nice and polite and explained that it is impoli to call Americans or Europeans, or basically anyone by their skin color, and that HE as a teacher should know better! I love people like that, who stick up for me! It doesn’t happen often, but when it does I really appreciate it.

After the closing speeches, we finally finished around 16, and then we proceeded to “Item 11” or food! After eating, some of my colleagues walked to the center of town to catch a car going to Bertoua, so we could just hop off in Dimako. Unfortunately I always get in the WRONG car, because everyone was fighting with the chauffeur over the price. They kept saying that it was 1500CFA (3$) to go to Bertoua and 1500CFA (3$) to go to Dimako, even though Bertoua is 30km from Dimako. Many people thought that price was unfair, I just kept quiet and just went with what the majority thought. After we had failed to get them to lower the price, we still had to wait an hour to fill up the bus. Unfortunately, at this time the sun had started falling and it was getting dark. Although I was in a hurry to get home before it was completely dark, the chauffeur, however, was not in the same mindset. He stopped for everyone on the side of the road, even if they weren’t in a village. At one point there were 21 people in the first 4 rows alone. That doesn’t include the last 2 rows, where there was at least 12 people plus a couple of children. By my estimation, there were 40 people in this Coaster bus at one time. I think that might be a record even in Cameroon.

This bus ride had to be one of the most amusing, at least of my time so far (this is including the time, I got conned and didn’t even end up with a seat, during site visit). It seemed as if one thing after another had happened on this trip. First off the charger, the guy who helps the chauffeur, collect money and load the bus with both people and bags, refused to give me my 500 CFA change. He said that he was going to use it to help another passenger pay. Fortunately my colleagues stood up for me and got my 500 CFA back. It is very ironic, because he wouldn’t accept money from this one woman, because she didn’t have it all right away and when she got off the bus, she just left without paying. I think he should have at least taken what money she had offered, but I guess that is just his loss.

All along the way we kept picking up people and when we were finally full (even by Cameroonian passengers), some of the people offered to pay the ones who just got on to get off because there was just no more room. Unfortunately, they didn’t take the offer. I really wish they had left, because within the group was the craziest man ever! He wouldn’t leave me alone and kept trying to talk to “La Blanche,” for some reason he thought I was Spanish so kept trying to speak Spanish (even though I haven’t spoken Spanish since high school, I knew that what he was saying had NO relation to Spanish, in fact it was more Franglais) He kept trying to talk to me using anything he had, from saying that he was a handsome man, to trying to give me a dead porcupine. He kept waving the dead animal in my face, and for those of you who had any doubts, that is NOT the way to court me. He would not give up for a good 30 minutes, and kept trying to get me to leave the van with him. But the funniest thing was that when he finally left he fought with the charger over the porcupine, he succeeded in getting it, but then someone in the bus said “But the white is staying with us!” It was very funny. I think that this was honestly the funniest ride I’ve had in Cameroon, but luckily (I guess) I have 22 more months to see if that will hold out.

On Wednesday, school went back to normal (especially since no teachers or admin was there). But while I was teaching the sophomores, I heard this noise; I wasn’t sure if it was an animal or a person screaming in pain and looked out across the street, where the gendarmes offices are. And saw that it was a woman screaming and there was a crowd gathering. I asked my class what the commotion was all about and they told me that it was people being sent to prison, in ironically Abong Mbong, where I had just come from. The funniest thing about this was that they got a WHOLE bus to themselves, talk about comfortable! But I doubt the comforts of a prison in Cameroon…

Unfortunately in class on Thursday when I was doing roll call I found out that one of my 6^th grade students was one of the people sent to prison. Apparently he was taking bottles from the truck that had fallen on Sunday. That wasn’t the problem I guess, but that he argued with the gendarmes when they wanted to take the bottles he had taken. I am really distraught about this because he was a great student. He clearly likes English and is good at it and the fact that a 12/13 year old got sent to prison over such a bull shit issue sucks. I really hope he comes back soon, but I’m not really sure what the procedure is for this. The only thing I can is on verra…

Teacher's Day, Church and Amicale

Well as you can see since I have access to the Internet that Standfast is over a little earlier than expected, although as they love to say here on sais jamais (one never knows) so they could put us back on Standfast at any time.

A lot has happened since the last time I updated my blog. October 5^th was “International Teachers Day” (even though Cameroon may actually be the only country that celebrates it) and you would think that since it is a day for teachers, we should you know actually teach, but we all got the day off! Normally all the teachers wear the teacher day’s pagne because there is a big parade through all the towns with all the teachers. While since it is an election year, all the requests for public gatherings were denied (obvious they don’t have the American 1^st Amendment here, never thought I would miss it so much = ) ). So instead of the usual parade, I was told that I should just do house work or allez au champs (work in the fields). I did neither and decided to finally finish Les Mis. In the afternoon I was told to go to my high school because there would be a party. So all the teachers were there and we ate (even though I was told I didn’t eat enough comme d’habitude) and they drank beer, I had a Fanta =) When the teachers started to dance inappropriately I decided it was my time to go home, especially since they all wanted me to dance.

The day after, Justine called me and wanted to see if I would come to Bertoua so we could get some provisions to hold us over until the end of Standfast, I jumped at the thought  and after class we met up in Bertoua. We went to the Boutiques and grocery stores, bought apples(!!!) on the side of the road. And around 5PM we decided to go home before it got too dark and it started to look like it was about to rain HARD (Side note: When it rains here in Cameroon, literally everything stops. No one goes out, the streets are empty. You would think that the Cameroonians are made out of sugar or that it is acid rain. And the answer is neither, they just hate getting wet, kind of like cats.) Since it was so late and the weather was so inclement, I didn’t have time to call my usual moto drivers, so I chose one of the only guys there willing to go to Dimako. We gased up as usual for the ride and before we even left Bertoua we got in an accident.

Now I don’t want to scare any of you and before I tell you the story but this happened a week ago and I am OK! I didn’t bleed or anything, it was more of a shock than anything else.

We were cruising along and all of a sudden a car was trying to enter the road and we just ran straight into the car. Right before it happened I saw the car and felt the moto try to break, but I knew in my gut that something bad was just about to happen. Right when the moto hit the driver door of the car, both the moto driver and I fell off the moto and went in front of the car. Luckily I was wearing my Peace Corps provided helmet, so my head was ok. But when I got up I was disoriented I burned my fingers on the motorcycle. I was so shocked and amazed at what just happened, even when you see accidents, you think this can never happen to me ( I guess I am still young enough to think I am invincible). So I was standing in the road and literally 50 Cameroonians young and old started yelling at the moto driver and the driver from the car. I was in such shock I was just standing there and finally people noticed me and told me to sit down, but I was shaking so hard and couldn’t move. I tried to call my friend Sam, in the Southwest, to let her know what had happened, but unfortunately I ran out of phone credit. She called me back and I let her know what happened. This was all happening while the mob was still in the road yelling at everyone about everything.

After talking to Sam, I calmed down a bit and let Justine know that I got into an accident. Luckily for me, her moto was stopped because of the rain and her driver knew my driver and offered to take her back to me and then go back to my village. Unfortunately it was raining so hard and for a long time that I just had to wait at the bar. (Oh yeah the accident happened right outside a bar!)  

When she finally showed up about 2 hours after the accident, I wasn’t really thrilled with the idea of getting back on another moto especially as it was still raining and it was pitch black. No matter how “dark” it gets in America, here in Cameroon, there is almost zero light pollution so at night it is DARK and you can’t see anything! Also at night is when all the trucks are on the road, so the thought of a 40 minute moto ride in the dark, in the rain, surrounded by giant trucks, was almost the last thing I wanted to do right after I was just thrown off of a moto. Thankfully Justine let me sit in the middle, which is the “safest” place because you are just wedged in between two people. Unfortunately with every bump in the road just aggravated all the bumps and bruises I got from the accident, sitting down wasn’t so much fun, and it still hurts a little. And every time we passed a truck I was praying that we wouldn’t have another accident. Luckily we made it to my village an hour later, safe, but COVERED in mud. (I have pictures that I’ll put up later).

I am eternally grateful that I am OK, I realize that that accident could have been a lot worse. The only causalities were the motorcycle (the handles bars were no longer attached and the wheel was bent beyond recognition) and my computer (the screen shattered and now it is ungodly slow, but at least it works just a little bit…). I also really appreciate that everyone gossips in the Peace Corps and at the end of the weekend, many of my friends from Training had heard about the accident and called or texted me to make sure I was ok. This made me feel a lot better!

My first full weekend alone in Dimako was spent mainly at my house, since it hurt to walk, I think I bruised a bone in my foot in the accident. But on Sunday I did finally make it to the Catholic Church. For those who know me, this may seem like a surprise, that I willing went to Church on a day that wasn’t a holiday. But Cameroonians are all very religious and they don’t understand anyone who isn’t religious, so for integration purposes (and the fact that I don’t want anyone trying to convert me, I’ve already had Jehovah Witnesses come over to my house) it is just easier to go along with it. Unfortunately Mass in Cameroon is a little longer than the American Mass I am used to. In fact, it was 2.5 hours, even though the priest said he kept it brief (I am not looking forward to the day where he is long!) I talked with some students and teachers after the service, it was all very nice. So I am actually looking forward to going again, even though the “pews” are more like the things you kneel on without any cushioning, it wasn’t very comfortable. All in all the Church experience was nice, it is a little different because it’s in French and even the local patois, but it is interesting, so that helps with the whole 2.5 hours.

This week I had to give all my students (yes all 340 students) tests and grade them. The Cameroonian education system splits the year into 6 sequences and you have to evaluate the students at least once during the sequence to give them a grade for the sequence. This week marked the end of the 1^st sequence (which also means 1/6 of the school year is already done!). So I reviewed with everyone before the tests, gave them the structure and examples of questions that would appear on the test. And then I finally gave them the tests. Although I have only finished grading 3 out of the 4 classes I teach, I am really happy with the results. The average so far in all my classes has been passing. There have been some kids who really get it, and they seem to be the majority. Although there are some people who don’t get it all, there aren’t that many of them and honestly in classes of 130, 110, and 80 it makes it easier for them to slip through the cracks. I hope though with time everyone will do at least moderately well in my class. But it gives me hope that I am not a lousy teacher! My students have actually learned something despite the terrible teaching conditions.

On Wednesday the 11^th my school had their Amicale. I am not sure how to explain this because I am still fuzzy on what exactly it is, but essentially every month people cook food, all the teachers come together and put money into a Tontine (again don’t ask me, but unfortunately it’s not the cool animal in Star Wars) and talk about problems. I went and it lasted FIVE hours, I even showed up late, so I missed about an hour. Everyone had been drinking palm wine the whole time, so they were all drunk and arguing about I have no idea (as good as my French is, the accent here still gives me some problems, add to that slurring and every talking at once). Maybe next month I’ll tell you more about Amicale, because apparently I am in the group that is putting it on, we shall see how this goes…

Oh I had a really great conversation with my Landlord, from here on out Mamita, this week. She said how happy she is with my behavior and how people in the village have come up to her to let her know how respectful I am. Which I think is a major compliment! And she also said that she is going to clear some space in the yard for me to start my own garden! I am really looking forward to that. (PS She killed a mouse in her house, so maybe that was mine?? I haven’t seen it in awhile!)

School Speeches and Mix-ups, Life in Bertoua, and Politics

Monday morning bright and early I was at school at 7 15 for the raising of the flag and I got the surprise of my life. The principal of the school was actually there! I hadn’t seen him since the start of school a few weeks before then, and even when he does show up it’s not until 10 or 11 in the morning. (Now I know how my Dad feels when he sees me out and about in the morning!). Since he was there so early, he gave a speech to the students about showing up on time, being prepared, having their uniform, blah blah blah. And it wasn’t until 8 AM he finally finished his speech, yes a 45 minute speech, that cut into half of my class. All the while this speech was occurring, the surveillant generale was walking around making sure everyone had their hair properly cut, and if it wasn’t he would cut lines into their hair. (A week later, some of the students still have the lines in their hair) I think the point behind this was to humiliate them into getting their haircut.

My 6th grade classroom. There are about 120 of them and normally each bench has between 3 and 5 students, it's a little cramped =) 

Class this week went relatively well. Expect for the mix-up with my class schedule. They changed it without telling me. So now I teach the Freshmen, and they thought that I wasn’t going to teach the Sophomores anymore, but I wanted to stop with the 7^th graders. So another English teacher showed up in my Sophomore class and then come up to me and are mad because they thought I didn’t like them and was running away from them. I had a talk with the Surveillant Generale and it is all worked out right now. So after 4 weeks, my work schedule is finally done. I work until 14 on Thursday now and until 12 30 on Monday, but I only have one hour on Friday, which is better than the 7:30 to 8 30  class I had. So in general I like my schedule and my students, of course there are trouble makers but I think give it a month there won’t be anymore more problems. Like I had in my first class with the Freshmen, where one student said I was “his Michelle” and another said I was “his angel” I put them in their place saying I’m not YOUR Michelle nor am I your angel. I am ONLY your English teacher. I think it’s important to set these boundaries early and often =)

View of my school from the main road 

On Thursday we signed up girls for the Girls Club and I was also informed that I am doing the Journal Club, so helping the kids write in English. One student already asked me to help him with lyrics for a song he wants to write about our school. I also briefly talked with my principal about the possibility of doing a library at the school. I think it would be helpful especially for the kids who don’t have enough money to buy books, they can access them at the library. So I am going to be looking more into that later. But with my 2 clubs and teaching classes (oh and I joined the women government workers association) my plate is sufficiently full, so I just want to focus on making my work as good as possible, and not spread myself too thin, too fast in the beginning.

 My front yard view from my porch

Petit a petit I am getting to know the villagers more. Most people know my name and if not they know I am replacing Renee. It’s really funny because most of the time, people want me to buy things from them or what not. However, I had the weirdest encounter this week. I went to this new place to see if they sold bread, they didn’t but I wanted to have a soda. Normally in Cameroon, if you buy a soda or beer it comes in a glass bottle and they reuse the bottles, so you can’t keep the bottles. So normally I ask if I can buy it and then bring the bottle back the next day, sometimes if you have a bottle you just constantly trade, so give an empty and get a full one. Well I asked and the guy said no, but there was a lady who said no let her get the soda! I tried to tell him that I live right there and my school is there and the bar is on my way, he still refused. And the lady said she would give me a bottle so I could give it to him, but I told her it wasn’t worth it, I didn’t want to cause problems. The lady insisted again, and she questioned the guy as to why he wouldn’t sell me a soda. He answered with that is my strategy. So basically his strategy is to lose money or I guess my money wasn’t good enough for him… I then went to another bar next to my house, got a Coke and returned the bottle the next day and it wasn’t a problem!

 View on my moto ride to Bertoua

As this is my last weekend in Bertoua and most people ask what do I do here, I’ll give you a brief outline of mine and Justine’s weekends here. We get into the city around 13:30 after our classes and we eat lunch at the Omlette Shack. Which is literally a hole in the wall with a gas stove and they make omlettes or avocados salads (not so much anymore because the season is over =/) You can get what you want in the omlettes that is if you want tomatoes, pasta, or beans. Although we once thought chameleon was on the menu because on the next table there was a chameleon, I have no idea what they had in store for it but at this point nothing would really surprise me! We normally sit and talk for 2 hours about what happened during our week, what was bad, what was good.

After lunch we go to the grocery store, which is overpriced, but they have ice cream, so we sometimes treat ourselves (we often need it after the weeks we have!). Then we head to the CASE to relax, unwind, and check our e-mails. For dinner we normally have grilled fish at a bar or get biftek at the Muslim place (yes that is what we call it and the other Cameroonians, I hope one my Fulfulde will be good enough to order food in, but I am too scared most of the time). Grilled fish comes with either plaintain chips or baton de manioc (which is disgusting IMO). Biftek is like a stew of beef and assorted veggies, you can get it with pasta or rice, I get it with bread =)

Saturdays we dedicate to doing our shopping, so we get vegetables we can’t get au village and lots of canned veggies (because they don’t rot, we’ve already had a lot of bad experiences with rotten vegetables). We are still buying little things for our house,  sometimes we stop at the post office. We used to have to spend an average of 3 hours at the bank to get our money, but now with our ATM cards (that came 6 weeks late) trips to the bank are a lot less painful now! After our errands are done we go back to CASE and relax. Doing anything here can be exhausting, the constant yelling at us, staring at us, the haggling, all under the hot sun, it can get old fast, so it’s nice to just lay down and relax. Then we have dinner, usually what we didn’t have on Friday night, life here is really exciting no? On Sundays we get anything else done that we didn’t get a chance to do on Saturday and then we catch a moto to go home. 

Spaghetti Omlette with Bread. Yum Carbs!

As a PCV we are not supposed to participate in local politics or even give an opinion because we are also representatives of the US Government. This is the most difficult for thing for to do because of my Political Science background and in general I am just an opinionated person. The campaign season here in Cameroon only lasts 2 weeks. We are already 6 days into it and it ends on the day before the election. It appears that overnight all of Cameroon sprouted posters and Ads for Paul Biya, the incumbent president. My village has signs everywhere and literally one day they weren’t there and now they are everywhere. Apparantly, Paul Biya is the choice of Dimako (not surprisingly because he recently gave everyone in Dimako mosquito nets). I have only seen one poster for one of the 22 opposition candidates and it was tiny and on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, so I don’t think that guy has a chance! Luckily where I am there isn’t a revolutionary spirit, so things are pretty calm. However, earlier this week I found out that there was a riot in Douala, the economic capital of Cameroon. (For more info look here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15104866) I guess that is the upside of living in a relatively small village, nothing like that really happens, so I feel relatively safe in Dimako. But I guess that is why there is Standfast next weekend, on the off chance something happens (but don’t worry I let them know where the nearest place a helicopter can land in my village, yes they seriously asked us that). So no updates from me until the election results come out.  I hope they come out soon because I am invited to an engagement party at the end of October.

Ps If you have some free time check out my friends’ blogs. One even has a picture of me on my birthday on her blog. She’s in the East with me.