Mt Cameroon

Mount Cameroon was really beautiful, but definitely A LOT more difficult then I had been expecting. I guess I should have known that climbing the highest mountain in West/Central Africa would be more difficult than hiking the Adirondacks with my family, but the guidebook made it seem like anybody with a relative amount of fitness could handle it. We started off in the more jungley climate last Thursday morning. Then when we hit the treeline, it became really sparse and the hike all of a sudden became 100% vertical. It was difficult even to get your footing because the trail was really just following these volcanic rocks that kept slipping out from underneath your feet. Of course our Cameroonian guide and porters are all wearing jellies and running up and back down the mountain, while holding all our gear. Actually, my porter won the Race of Hope in the year 2000. That is an annual race up Mt. Cameroon which he completed in about 3 hours! (While we were scheduled to hike the same route and back down in 3 days, Pretty nuts.)

We spent the night at "hut 2" on the mountainside but really we brought tents and sleeping bags since the huts themselves are pretty dirty. My sleeping bag zippered down the middle of the front, and it was broken. This made for a very cold and miserable night sleeping on the mountain. When we woke up I had snuggled so close up to Janelle the two of us were in this one tiny corner of the tent. This was Christmas morning, and we were both like hmm this is not actually very much fun at all. So, we decided we'd start our return trip down instead of continuing upwards. Going down was probably worse than going up though, especially that steep part and our legs got sooo sore. But we listened to Christmas tunes the whole way down which boosted spirits a bit. Then we showed up on the doorstep of Janelle's family friends who were in Buea town working at the hospital. They graciously took us in for Christmas. They had a real house with a real Christmas tree and decorations and ornaments and peppermint bark and cheesy old Christmas movies and it was delightful!

I've spent the last 3 days in Yaounde... I was pretty bummed at first to be here instead of down south with the sea turtles. But, its actually pretty nice here so we've started referring to it as "vacation Yaounde".... there's hot showers, washing machines and good food, so really things aren't too bad. And I've gotten most of my stuff sorted out as well. We also went to happy hour at the Hilton... it was like walking into a different planet. The bar is on the 11th floor, definitely the highest building I've been in since coming here. Everything was decorated for Christmas and realllllllly nice.

I also randomly ran into my host dad from training right after getting my new cell phone. All of a sudden, i hear Claire, and its Francois! Their village is a couple hours outside of Yaounde, but he's a teacher, so he probably came in to get his paycheck. Still, it was a pretty weird coincidence to see him on the side of the road like that.

I'm leaving this morning for Buea, from there we'll start climbing Mt. Cameroon tomorrow morning! So we'll be on the mountain the 24th-26th. I'm hoping our trip to Buea today is rather uneventful. We had a terrible time traveling back from Kribi last Sunday. We had decided to spend the morning at the beach and come back to Yaounde in the afternoon since its supposed to be about a 3-4hr bus ride. But it took us 12 hours.... noon to midnight to get back, it was such a disaster... "A three hour tour," Gilligan's Island Style. The bus broke down on the side of the road. The company sent another bus after about 2 hours there, but it was only about half the size and everybody swarmed it when it arrived. So then it was a while longer before the next one came. Fortunately there were about 7 of us traveling together and we had a deck of cards and lots of American candy so it really wasn't too bad. We then convinced the bus driver that he needed to take us directly back to the Peace Corps house in Yaounde, which he did, so that was good. However, we're getting a much earlier start this morning hoping to avoid that situation.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!
<3

Just returned from Kribi! We got there last Sunday and celebrated Claire Kihn's birthday a la plage. Then in-service-training lasted Monday thru Sat. Morning. We each invited our counterparts from our villages to come down with us. So, the principal of my school came down adn we had a bunch of workshops together for the first few days. Then all the counterparts left and we had more volunteer-related material.

The hotel was really pretty, right by the beach. We ate a ton of delicious fish, crabs, shrimps etc. all week which was a delicious change from the fare in the extreme north. There's this huge fish market right by the harbor where you can walk around and pick out all the fresh fish and then you bring it over to one of the mommies and then they grill it up in their special sauces. Then the whole fish... head, tail and all gets served on a platter to eat with your hands. We stayed over an extra day/night and visited some waterfalls that were just outside of the town. We took a dug-out canoe ride and went swimming.

...I'm back in Yaounde now, trying to get my self organized for Mt. Cameroon... more stories to come.

Hey everybody, its been a long time since my last blog update. I'm finished with classes until January and currently on route south for training to be followed by some traveling. This last week was a little stressful getting all my exams and trimester grades done in time since we actually had to miss the last week of school for the training. I also wasn't getting much sleep because of the puppy.... I got my puppy! Butternut! She's pretty cute... when she's not whining or having accidents in my house or climbing into my bed in the middle of the night. Turning out to be a lot more work that I had thought it would be. First of all, getting her back to post was a bit of an adventure. I had ridden my bike into Maroua for the day for Thanksgiving so clearly couldn't return with the bike and the puppy. So I sent my bike back on the car (where somehow it got returned to me the next day with the bike lock missing which makes zero sense). Then I took a 2 hour moto with the puppy in my lap.... and I got peed on. She was being so calm and then all of a sudden was trying to jump off of the moto and I was trying to hold on to her. Turns out that was why. But, worse things have happened babysitting....

Anyways, our training is in Kribi, on the beach! Its for about a week starting Sunday (which is also Claire Kihn's birthday so we'll get to start celebrating). After the trianing we're going to travel around the area and visit some other less touristy beaches. Apparently theres some sea turtles and a wildlife reserve. After that the plan is to climb Mt. Cameroon. It's the highest mountain in West Africa but apparently not a very strenuous climb. We're going to have a 3-day expedition with the hopes of being on the top on Christmas day!

I've got a new computer on the way (thank you mom :-)) so hopefully when I get back to post in January I'll be able to get on the internet more regularly. I also just got a new telephone since that broke too. I might be able to get online a few more times en route. But, if not, Merry Christmas everyone!!! I miss you all and can't wait to hear all about fun holiday things!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
I'm here in Maroua hoping to have a makeshift Thanksgiving with the other volunteers.... I'm making pumpkin pie!!

Unfortunatly my computer is broken! It survived flying out the trunk of a bushtaxi only to just spontaneously combust the other day while I was listening to music :-( Soooo in the meantime I'm borrowing my friend's here in Maroua but I can't access internet from my village. So there won't be many new blog posts for a while.

I'm hoping to talk to the Kellys tonight and my Summit girls pre-reuninon tomorrow... if the internet holds up!

Eat lots of turkey for me :-)

The pizza was not good.

I mean, I ate it… but it wasn’t everything that could have been hoped for. For starters the sauce/cheese ratio was all wrong, but I don’t think I’m ready to discuss the details yet, it will just make me upset. (Philly pizza, I miss you.)

In other things frustrating, I’ve discovered something common to both American and Cameroonian culture: volleyball ball-hogs. I played a game of volleyball with some teachers and students (all male). Turns out that men all over the world like to jump in front of girls every time the ball is coming toward them. They do this 95% of the time, and then duck out of the way at the last minute one random time when the ball comes and then they’re like why didn’t you get that? I was so annnnnnnnnoyed. I didn’t survive 4 years of what I won’t hesitate to call borderline Olympic-level volleyball competition in the SHS holiday volleyball tournament to get jumped in front of during a stupid match over a soccer goal. I’m not putting up with this. I got the girls club playing on Saturday (well 3 members + me and the gym teacher) but we were pretty good. My inner arms are really sore from all the bump-passes though. And everyone at the lycee has commented on me “faire-ing les sports” all weekend.

The home-owner’s (or rather renter’s) update: Moussa at the musinerie has bought my screening and once the wood-cutting machine starts to work again he can start replacing my broken window screens. A neighbor came over and started to take apart the overhead light in my bedroom. So, while I don’t have functional screens or a bedroom light yet, I’m hoping they will be fixed soon. There’s been no progress with the wall or water tank. I don’t think either endeavor is very promising since my landlord is avoiding me even after I tried to entice him with the idea of coming to pick up the rent.

Hmmm the updates about the house were supposed to end the blog on a positive note but now I’m just thinking about all the work that needs to get done in this house. This is positive, my friend Martine’s younger sister is coming tomorrow to help me with stuff around the house… aka cleaning. I’ve characteristically managed to spread my stuff out onto every available surface/the floor. I’ve managed to rally and straighten up a little but I have zero energy for sweeping, mopping, etc. You probably wouldn’t either after you did your laundry and dishes in buckets. I’ve convinced myself that I’m really not that bothered by the spider webs because they kill any mosquitoes that come in (through the broken screens) and therefore are practically malaria prevention. Anyway, my friend Rose popped by on Tuesday on route to the hospital. She admitted that the cobweb situation in my kitchen is “kind of gross” and then she left me a note which I didn’t unearth until Saturday afternoon. Basically it’s every reason why Maureen refused to go up to the third-floor back home.

I went on my first extreme north bike excursion on Thursday morning. I rode my bike to another nearby village, about 2 hours away, to observe another volunteer teach her English class. My friend in village went with me since I didn’t know the route, but you really just keep going straight. My village is sort of at the bottom of a bunch of mountains while Meri is up in them. So the way there was pretty difficult and we had to walk our bikes in several spots. The way back was quicker, but less enjoyable in the afternoon heat. I took some pictures I’ll be able to post in a week or two. It was cool to see another village and see Melanie’s school. I hurried back for an afternoon girls’ club meeting that only one girl ended up showing up for so that was pretty frustrating.

Friday night was my first “amicale” meeting. All the teachers got together for a dinner party type deal at someone’s house. I got there “early” aka right on time, so I helped get the food ready. Deep frying patates and plantains. Fortunately I had learned how to fry the plantains with my host mom during training so I sort of looked like I knew what I was doing. There was also chicken, but it’s pretty impossible to eat because I’m not sure that there is even actually any meat on the bones. Before dinner, everyone shared what was going on with their families. I have to say this was a little bit morbid because most of the news was regarding who was sick. I wasn’t really sure what to say when it was my turn, so I told them that my belle-soeur was expecting a baby and I hope that brightened the mood!

I ordered pizza for tonight, how crazy is that? Last week I ended up going to the bakery to see how the bread is made. They bake it in this huge oven, its super hot and super delicious. It had been difficult to actually buy the bread though because they don’t make it every day and it’s always at a different time. However, I think I’ve got the schedule down now. The boys (my students who make the bread) mentioned that on the days they make bread, their dad makes pizza in the evening. So, I put in an order and I’m trying it tonight, super excited! Additionally, the boys stopped by my house today on their way home from the bakery with bread for me which I thought was really sweet. I’m hoping the pizza will make my Saturday evening of grading quizzes by myself a little less depressing.

Scenery!

I know I've been a little mia this week, I lent my computer to the French family since their's broke. I was so happy there was finally something nice I could do for them considering I've been showering and eating dinner over at their house... all the while they're super nice about my French progression. Then just when I got it back, the power went out again! But things have been pretty good and quiet here. I'm legitimately sore from attending the teacher's Saturday morning workout session. I watched the local kids' theater performance Saturday night.

There’s this really good juice here made out of these red leaves called fulfulerra. I impulsively picked some up at the market and I decided I was going to try and make it. Thank God my friend took a look at the little baggie I bought first. Turns out what I bought was a traditional Muslim incense, not the juice-making leaves. You do put this in boiling water too, but you don’t drink it! So, now my house smells like a mosque and I have no juice. Maybe next week.

Today was sooo hot I insisted on having my language lesson over a cold drink at the bar. However, the power was out all day and there were lots of people in town because of the market so the only thing cold to drink was non-alcoholic beer! They have this combo beverage here of vitamin enhanced Guiness, sort of like a quasi-energy drink. Anyways it was cold so I drank it.

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

Saturday I visited my friend in the next town over for their market. I’m very excited that she (and by extension me) has a new friend! Louise, she is a VSO volunteer from England.

Sunday I prepared patates and peanut sauce with Mariam, my neighbor. Patates are pretty similar to potatoes but for whatever reason the potatoes are no longer available and I had been a little hesitant about preparing them… mostly I wasn’t sure if I wanted to incorporate another starch into my diet. But the French family served them to me incorporated into an omelet and turns out, patates are definitely way more delicious than potatoes. They’re sweet, not sweet potatoe sweet, these are still just as bland, but just with the addition of sugar. So, I’ve got another entrée to add into my rotation of couscous/lentils, spaghetti and tomato sauce, peanut butter on Nigerian “coasters” (biscuits) and eggs. It’s getting pretty deluxe over here. Meanwhile my attempt at making Guava juice was an absolute disaster. Putting fruit into boiling water does not transform it into juice… but I’m not ready to give up on that one yet.

Today I rode a donkey down my street. All these kids were chasing after it and I’m still not sure what happened.

The workers have been coming rather consistently and I’m hopeful that my wall will actually get completed…. When my landlord stopped by, I asked him about the arrangements for the door. The wall covers about 95% of the yard, but then the driveway/entrance is just open. He seemed shocked/appalled that I would want a door in addition to the fence. I tried to explain, what is the point of fixing the wall at all, if for example ,the kids can still run up to my house and mess up my electricity. I didn’t mention how the puppy, which is most definitely coming my way, needs a place to run around/poop not in my house but not get lost.

Football

I’m currently sitting at home holding a bottle of pineapple juice to my head since I managed to collide with one of my students during the world cup football extravaganza that ensued this afternoon. How do I get myself into these situations? Today was the opening ceremony of clubs. This involved a parade and a teachers vs. students football match. Of course nobody explained any details to me and there was sketchy weather so everything started a couple hours late.

Anyways, everyone kept asking me if I was going to play in the football game. Turns out it was much more intense then I could have imagined. First of all, there were matching jerseys and shorts with our school logo on them. Apparently no female teachers had ever participated before and there were no girls playing on the student team either. So, just me. They insisted on “starting” me. It was pretty funny to realize that people were cheering for me when I heard “madam, madam” from the sides. Anyways, I was doing okay and kicked the ball a couple of times. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself for being open so much… then I counted the players on the field. They had totally just added me in as an extra person! They figured they’d just let me run around a little bit, lol, and somehow I still manage to get hurt!?!

So afterwards there was a reception. You know how when you chew and it sort of moves your whole head? So that’s when I realized I had quite a bump developing. When I got home I called my friend Liz who was in the middle of talking me through the symptoms of a concussion when my phone ran out of battery and refuses to be charged. So I thought shoot, now Liz thinks that I’ve passed out and I’m lying here so I ventured out to the call box to tell her that I was okay. And then I got some cold pineapple juice… bringing me to my current situation of one handed typing…. Blurgh! But I’m not nauseous or dizzy or have weird pupils so I should be in the clear.

Great Success

Today I found avocados, apples, limes and bananas at the market, here in my village, I am beyond jazzed!!! Unfortunatly, I think I have heat rash. Its definitely been over 100 degrees these last couple of days.

Teacher's Day

We celebrated Teacher's Day in Mora, the regional capital, so I got to meet up with Liz and Rose there!
This is me with Monique and Beatrice, the two other female teachers at my school. Monique is actually from the South while Beatrice is from the extreme north but not from my village originally. You could choose between orange and green for the Teacher's Day pagne!

Happy Columbus Day America

Friday it hailed. The kids like to chew on the ice particles. I don’t understand temperature wise how it can go from burning hot to ice falling from the sky?

Sunday I got sick, the lightbulb in my bedroom burned out and my cell phone died and refused to charge. I’m starting to get used to over-sharing my health issues with my boss.

Columbus Day was not celebrated here. I’m unclear about whether that was just a holiday at Georgetown or if that counts in the real world too. But then this morning the principal took what I assume was a student’s confiscated cell phone, and split it open with a hammer in front of all the students during the weekly flag ceremony. It was pretty awesome, I stopped feeling sorry for myself about Columbus Day and kept trying to picture Mr. Achey doing something like this.

Additionally, I feel better now and my neighbor lent me her extra cell phone battery so I’m back in business. Another volunteer is popping by tomorrow afternoon for the market and I’m giving my first English Exams.

Teacher's Day!

The power was in fact out for most of last week after a big storm we had. So when my lights went out Sunday for no apparent reason I was pretty annoyed but not really surprised. I lit some candles and went to bed ridiculously early. But when I brought this up at school on Monday, the other teachers looked at me quizzically, turns out nobody else had their power cut. So then I thought maybe this was because I haven’t paid any electricity bills yet. I found my neighbor Mamoudou to ask about how one locates/pays their bill. He walked over, clicked the switch in front of my house from off to on. Apparently the kids had been playing with it and just flicked off my power.

Needless to say, I am looking forward to this wall getting built around my house. My landlord brought over the guys who will be building it. And they’ve been a couple times ridiculously early in the morning, but it’s not like they’re waking me up. My yard is actually a pretty happening place because Mamoudou has taken on the project of building a “donkey” in my yard as well. This is the Fulfulde word for four tree branches shoved into the ground with a roof. So, you can sit outside and have a little shade. He suggested it because I can also put some mats/stick furniture etc. out there and then it can turn into a place where you can have people visit but don’t necessarily have to invite every single person into your house.

I have secured a giant tub of peanut butter! There are tons of peanuts here, and you can find what’s called pate d’arachides in the market. But, it comes in these little tiny plastic bags. I have no idea how they get it in there but I’m sure you can imagine the sticky mess that ensues as you try to actually use it. Or at least when I try. Usually the Cameroonians use this to make their traditional booya drink. For that, it ends up getting heated. I however had been using it to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Which I would always eat with a little apprehension, wondering if there might be cholera in the peanut butter but then not really caring enough to not enjoy the peanut butter. Anyways the market wasn’t really underway by the time I needed to head out on Tuesday so Mamoudou offered to pick up the rest of the things I needed. He had the whole idea about just buying a ton of peanuts and then getting them ground because then I’d know that they were clean. My little neighbor Fati turned up at my house later with a huge pot full of it and I’m very pleased!

At least it’s one more thing that does not require its own separate plastic bag. I usually bring my own market bag with me but nobody understands the concept when I say that I don’t want a plastic bag. They are all such poor quality with holes and stuff so they break and they get thrown on the ground and there’s no recycling! For example, the other day Mamoudo brought me a sac of petit poids. I’m not sure what they are exactly. At first I was worried that they were cola nuts which the Camerounians all love but I’ve heard from everyone are gross. I was told to wash them and then boil them for 30min or 1hr for bien cuiller. Then I take off the shells, to eat the nut that it is inside. I think he said something about eating them with tomatoes? Tbd. Anyways, of course all these petits poids were jammed into this paper thin plastic bag. And I walk about 5 steps down the street, and the bag breaks and its petit poids everywhere, right in the middle of the street. It was pretty classic. Of course all the little kids who tend to just follow me around anyways were right there to help clean it up and everything was ca va in no time but it was a little embarrassing.

So, Teacher’s Day was Tuesday. I guess having this day off sort of made up for classes starting on Labor Day? First of all, everybody was shocked and appalled that Teacher’s Day was not similarly celebrated in the U.S. They were like, but its International Teacher’s Day. I must say it would be a pretty entertaining thing to bring back. All the teachers from a couple towns gathered in Mora (in our matching Teacher’s Day pagne…pictures soon) and marched in a parade. I don’t know that I’ve ever been in a parade before. I realized halfway through that everyone was trying to match their steps to mine as we were supposed to be synchronized and I was just cruising. There was an interesting reception afterwards where they shuffled Liz, Rose and I around very awkwardly. At first someone decided that we were important enough to sit in the special room with the “grands,” the government officials, principals, etc. Then just when we were about to get food we got pulled out of line and sent back to the ordinary teachers. Nobody knows.

Later that night, back in my village, all the teachers went to a bar for a more local celebration. I was pretty excited as it was one of two times I’ve been out after dark here. There were some teachers there from the neighboring smaller villages and the Catholic mission school so that was cool. I was horrified to discover that we were supposed to eat again as I had been eating all day. But they had chicken and these French fries things that were delicious! The French fries actually weren’t potatoes, they were patates. I’m not exactly sure what a patate is. I don’t think we have them in America. But they have pomme de terres which are in fact potatoes here, and I think that the patates might be slightly more of a special thing, unclear. Bottom line, just another white startch that I’m eating like it’s my job and actually starting to enjoy (eek!)

We had a huge rainstorm last Saturday and the power went out and stayed that way through Thursday!

I came into Maroua for a meeting with the CDC about the Cholera Epidemic in the Extreme North. Last year there were about 700 cases, but this year there's already been over 7000. Over 200 of those cases have been in my town- but not in the towncenter where I live. They count all the surrounding smaller villages around my town together with the center. We're going to work with the local medical officers to distribute oral rehydration salts in our communities.

There's another volunteer who's dog is about to have puppies any day now! Two have already been promised but if she has 3 puppies than I'll get one!!! I'm so excited.

The library at my school is finally open and I'm in charge of it! So, I'll be spending some more time at the school doing that and hopefully I'll be able to do some extra English help there.

The rainy season is coming to a close. This is very good news for me. Basically, no work gets done in the rainy season because everyone is working on their farms and the roads become impassable. But, my landlord has promised that once it stops raining he'll clean out my water tank so I can get it filled up and have quasi-running water. Also he'll start building the fence around my house.

I've officially started the Fulfulde lessons! I told my neighbor/moto driver this on the way into Maroua and he decided he was going to teach me Fulfulde during the 1 and 1/2 hour ride into town. I have a difficult enough time understanding him when he's speaking in French, on the moto, not facing me, me having my ears obstructed in the helmet. So I didn't really grasp a ton of the Fulfulde that he was saying... but he was pretty impressed by the words that I already had learned...

It was so nice to hear from all you gtowners during Homecoming

My house

My backyard
Cornfield and mountains behind my house

My house!

Braided Hair

Stick bed/ book shelf
The new curtains!
Make-shift coffee-maker

Braided hair

Week 2 at school

One day left, and I’ll have completed the first two weeks of school! They were made a little more complicated because I got sick. (A 24 hour fever which was not malaria, although the medicine made me sick, followed by a weird eye situation.) I’m all better now, and more prepared since I know all the hospital logistics. Turns out it’s just like the United States, if you come in crying like I did with my fever, they will see you right away. If you’re composed and tell them it’s just your eye that’s irritated, you have to wait with the masses. It was during the fever incident that I found out my landlord is actually a doctor at the hospital. I had met the man once the first day I came, never heard from him again, and then the day I have a fever he pops out of nowhere, in a totally different context, and can’t understand why I don’t immediately recognize him. Meanwhile, another doctor decided that this was the appropriate time to take me for a tour of the hospital. I told him I’d come back later because I needed to rest. When I didn’t, he turned up at my house, told me I had missed viewing his surgery and tried to get me to go have a drink with him.

However, it was my third (and hopefully final for a long time) trip that I met someone good! I was struggling to figure out the hospital procedure and out of nowhere this girl, Martine, says to me, in English, you look like you need some help. Basically you have to stand in line to pay for the visit, then you put your slip in a box and wait for your name to be called. Then you see the doctor, who in my case prescribed a completely worthless solution. Then you stand in line to pay for the treatment. Then you put your new slip in a different box and wait for someone to give you the medicine. It’s not exactly efficient or intuitive, but all the waiting around gave me time to make a new friend. Martine is 25. She’s from my village, but right now is studying to become a teacher in Maroua. I was very excited to meet another girl my age, especially one who speaks English quite well… more on that later. Because so far everyone here is either a man, very old or very young.

Martine and her family promptly adopted me. She took me to the market with her on Tuesday and just walking around with her was so fun because she knows everybody! She showed me where I can buy popcorn! I had dinner with her and her family that night. They fed Martine and I off of this big silver platter covered in macaroni. I thought I did a good job on that, but I drew the line after I had eaten one ear of corn and said I absolutely could not eat a second. The corn here is a totally different consistency though. At first I thought it was really overcooked because it was really chewy but now I’m wondering if it’s actually just a different variety. I’m a pretty slow eater as it is, but with all this chewing, it took me about forty minutes to get through this whole ear of corn. I think I even decided I liked it by the end. They insisted on sending the other ear of corn home with me saying I could have it for breakfast. And you know what I did? I had it for breakfast Wednesday morning! An ear of corn and an omelet (I’m still working on those eggs.)

Wednesday we had our first staff meeting, it started at 12:30 and went until 6pm!?! I had no idea that something could possibly go on that long, but it just did. I drank two sodas during that time, the huge Cameroonian style ones, but I couldn’t leave to go to the bathroom because I didn’t know where it was (now I do!) Then they brought out all these plates of chicken and the proviseur kept trying to get me to eat more of that.

I was supposed to have my first Fulfulde lesson with Martine’s sister on Wednesday afternoon. But after the most epic meeting of my life, there wasn’t really time to have it. By the time I returned home, Martine had already tried to track me down. I texted back apologizing, saying I felt so bad to keep her sister waiting. She responded, “I hope it wasn’t something you ate at my house, do you want me to come over and take care of you? “ I didn’t know where in the world this message had come from. (It was further complicated by the fact that my phone refuses to tell me who is calling/texting even though the numbers are already saved, blurgh.) I finally figured out that she thought “I feel bad” was “Je sens mal,” as in “I am sick.” Unfortunately I had run out of phone credit and it was too dark to go out searching at this point so I couldn’t even write her back that night, I felt so _____ je ne sais quoi! I’ll have to work on a more precise word for bad.

I ended up having my first Fulfulde lesson today. Martine’s older sister used to be a teacher but doesn’t have a job right now. I’m so happy to have finally found someone to do lessons with. After the lesson, I went back to their house with Jeanette. The family was in the process of viewing a major music video montage, so I probably just observed more American pop culture than I did in America. The highlight was probably when they asked me what “smack that” meant. Anyways I thought I had planned my visit perfectly to not coincide with any meals. But, when I tried to leave at 3:30, they were like you can’t leave until after you’ve eaten! And the carbohydrate parade continues…

Mom, if you could see the deterioration of your former food policewoman you’d be shocked. Anyone who watched Mrs. Gray’s “Danger Zone” video in home-ec class would be quite naturally terrified of anything that has set out for more than one hour. That’s when the germs start to grow and then you can get sick. I just made tuna salad – with full knowledge that both the tuna and the mayonnaise were past their expiration dates. (Hardly by much, and next time I will remember to check before I buy them.) I don’t even really like mayo that much, but here it’s got a certain appeal for being American. Worse yet, I’m not even refrigerating it. The mayo and my eggs, just chilling on the counter.

Somehow I wound up buying 3 dozen eggs at the market last Tuesday. I’m not sure why, it all happened so fast. I was just so excited that they had eggs, something I knew how to deal with and my mind was already on scrambled eggs and hard boiled eggs and omelets (all without the addition of way too much oil and msg cubes like during training) and I didn’t realize that I didn’t necessarily have to buy the whole tray. (My friend Liz stood next to me during this whole interaction and never suggested that perhaps I only really wanted a half dozen). Apparently most of the things that we refrigerate at home, they don’t really need to be refrigerated at all. For example, jelly, mustard, ketchup, they should all be just fine on the counter. It’s weird to eat these things and not have them be cold though. I sort of miss having stuff be cold a lot. Anyways, I heard it on good authority that eggs can last three weeks if kept in a coolish spot (like underneath my counter?). I test them before I use them by putting them in a dish of water. They’re supposed to sink to the bottom. But, if they float to the top it means they’re filled with gases and have started to go bad. So far so good, except for whatever consuming 3 dozen eggs in 2-3 weeks will do to my cholesterol level.

As far as the teaching itself goes I think I’m off to a good start. I had all my classes write about their summer vacation. I collected these to get an idea of where everyone was at. I was a little confused when I had two kids writing about becoming priests, and then realized that they had confused the words vacation and vocation… who knows possibly due to my board handwriting.

The head of the English Department is still in Yaounde searching for his paycheck. But there is another English teacher who just surfaced today. He’s actually not an English teacher; he’s just an Anglophone who is working for the Department of Health, right across the street from the lycee. I’m pretty sure he’s the only Anglophone in this town so it’s easy to see how he got recruited. Anyways I was just making an exit from school when he came running after me. He’s got the sixiemes and the cinquiemes, the two youngest grades (definitely not jealous of that situation.) Anyways, apparently he’s taught older kids before but didn’t know what to do with these little squirts. So after lunch I went over to his office and brought him the plan pedegogiques and sample lesson plans from Model School. I tried as best I could to explain the concept of first planning out the school year, and then each week, and then each lesson. Then I explained the 4-mat, which is the particular way we learned how to plan lessons. First you get the kids interested, then you present the information, then they practice it and apply it. He didn’t seem like he was too enthused about the idea of singing songs with the children as warm up, but I wasn’t sold on that either until I actually tried it. Anyways he seemed pretty pleased with the stuff I gave him and said he was going to work it out this weekend. I feel like this was my first unofficial “teacher training.” It’s also nice having someone I can speak English with here in town!

There is a new French family here to work at the Catholic mission and it turns out they’re practically my neighbors. The mom is teaching and the dad is a carpenter and they have two adorable little girls. I saw their house the other day and got pretty jealous. They are all settled in already and it is so cute. Their running water works and they have a fridge! She did say that I could come over and take a shower/put things in their fridge which I thought was really nice. I would bring the eggs over there but I sort of feel like I’m committed to this experiment now, we’ll see.

I have another furniture addition! On Tuesday, my friend Bello knocked on my door. He was there with his dad carrying a large stick bed. He goes, you wanted one of these, right? I think that is pretty much the way things are going to happen here. I’ll just keep talking about all the things that I need for my house. Everyone keeps telling me “doucement, doucement” as in white girl, relax. And then, eventually the stuff will just turn up. Regardless, I’m pretty delighted cause I can turn it sideways and lean it against the wall… and then it’s sort of like shelves. Or at least it’s someplace to put some stuff that’s not crumpled up inside my suitcase. Every time I stick my hand in I’m terrified I’m going to run into a lizard. They are definitely all over my house but they’re not too big and they don’t bother me so much as some other things would. I’ll try and take a photo but they’re pretty quick little guys.

First Day of School!

My bike is fixed so I rode it to school this morning. I got there around 6:45 since my proviseur said to arrive before the flag raising ceremony at 7am. Not a person in sight for about a half an hour. I was beginning to wonder if this was a big joke and school was going to start the next day. But then the vice principal turned up around 7:15 and by 7:30 most of the teachers were there. Classes were supposed to begin at 7:30, but there were no students at all. Then they rang the bell (banged on a huge rusty pot, that is wedged in a tree) and a bunch of kids materialized. So finally they got the flag up, sang the anthem and the proviseur gave a speech … but by this time it had started to rain. Fortunatly my first class was supposed to be two hours, since we ended up just starting an hour late I just had them for one hour instead but still got to meet with them.

All these stories about classes full of upwards of 100 students, I had 8 kids in my premiere class and 9 in my seconde. I just went through the program today, made class rules, discussed grading etc. The kids were absolutely delightful and definitely knew some English. I’m guessing that’s cause these are the 8 that took the time to show up, they’re probably the most interested. Apparently more and more kids will continue to show up each day as they return from vacation, so we’ll see.

Additionally, my curtains are up! Liz had extra stuff in her house that the previous volunteer had left so she gave me a rug, a mattress and a seat. I also moved my trunk into the living room so it could be a little table. So I’m much happier now that my house is becoming inhabitable. Let’s see, I had a pretty interesting weekend:

Saturday, I thought I was going on a walk with Agnes and Majoua at 9am. We ended up hiking up the side of a mountain, making and eating couscous and braiding my hair. I’m not really sure how all of this happened, I thought I was supposed to be working on my lesson plans. It poured rain all morning, so they turned up around 11. Then we followed this route, weaving in and out of yards/compounds etc. until we got to this mostly dried up river bank. There we somehow jumped across the puddles, trekked through a cornfield and then started legit rockclimbing. It didn’t look so big at first but it certainly tired me out. I guess I don’t have the energy of these fifteen year olds… made me feel kind of old. It was a really beautiful view from the top, I’m so mad I didn’t have my camera with me. Going down was borderline terrifying. Their strategy was to all hold hands, which I think they were doing to support me cause I was wobbling all around and I was in sneakers while they were wearing flip-flops, I don’t know how they did it.

After that they brought over some flour and were like let’s make couscous. Couscous and sauce is a traditional meal here. Before I would have said it was just water and flour, but now after having made it, I can definitely confirm that that is all it is. The sauce actually has lots of ingredients in it, tomatoes, onions, meat, piedmont, salt, ginger, garlic, a special ingredient that the importance was stressed but I forget the name of. Anyways it’s sort of an elaborate procedure to make this whole meal and the couscous is pretty much like glue so it sticks to the pot and it’s difficult to clean so somehow during this whole cleanup process the hairbraiding got started. They wanted me to keep it in for school starting but I took it out this morning cause it got kind of messed up after sleeping on it. Then Saturday night I broke fast with my Muslim neighbor by drinking booyay (this is definitely spelled wrong but that’s how it sounds). It’s sort of like hot milk with ground up rice meal and peanuts in it. It was really good.

The girls told me that church started at 7am on Sunday. I thought this was pretty early, but figured I wasn’t doing anything crazy Saturday night anyways. But then my neighbor said no it starts at 8am. So I went at 7am to check it out and there was nobody there so I went home. I returned at 8 and there were some kids chilling out in the seats. The church is actually outdoors , there’s all these stone stools that face a big stone wall that hides the sun and has the alter in front, its very beautiful. Finally around 8:30 a bell rang 3 times and then everyone turned up and processed together from the entry way to the “inside” of the church. It was really cool. They said the mass in French and translated it into at least 2 other languages during the service. There was a choir singing really nice songs. And everyone decked out in their best outfits or a Cameroonian football jersey. There’s a French couple who just arrived to teach at the grammar school in the mission and they brought their two little girls with them. I think they’re actually sort of my neighbors but I didn’t really get a chance to talk to them because all the teachers from the school found me right after the mass. Turns out, there isn’t really a start time, its just whenever the priest is ready, they ring the bell three times and then everyone comes. So, I’ll need to get used to this whole bell system.

So I just returned to post after spending a weekend in Maroua. It was really nice to be reunited with the rest of the extreme north crew as we were all a little shell shocked/malnourished from the first couple of days at post. I was so hungry I ate sphagetti Bolognese, brochettes, a cream filled donut and ice cream upon arrival and I still wasn’t even full.

Food wise, things are much better now because I got a frying pan, eating utencils, plates, bowls, glasses to actually be able to cook with. Then today was the market day here in town. I went with Madame Denise to buy some fabric for curtains. She is my proviseur’s wife and she said that they raise the prices too much when they see a white person. It wasn’t so much picking out a curtain fabric as it was finding something that they had enough of to make several curtains out of. And fortunately its pretty cute. I’ve pretty much gotten over the idea of things matching here since pretty much anything goes in terms of household and outfit combinations. I’m just happy that soon I will have something to cover up the windows with so my little neighbors won’t be peering in at me all day long.

Liz rode her bike in for the market so then the two of us walked around a lot. As far as buying food stuff goes, the prices are pretty much set and if it sounds expensive, you can just say “c’est trop cher!” and then they smile and give you a lower price. When I visited the market when I first came it had been pretty overwhelming. But this time, I knew where all the different sections were and I found macaroni, rice, tomatoes, onions, coconut, dates, eggs, bread, salt, garlic, potatoes and cucumbers. I had brought some lettuce back from Maroua so Liz and I made salads for lunch which was delicious. It took her a lot longer to ride here then she thought so she took the bush taxi back to her post afterwards. I can’t wait to get started riding my bike but it got a flat tire during transport here. I have the book and the tools to fix it but I have to find them and its pretty difficult cause I’m basically still living out of my suitcases since there is nothing for me to put anything in.

Returning from Maroua Sunday night was a bit more of an adventure than I had planned. The car didn’t leave until almost five, and then stopped en route for the evening prayer since its Ramadan. So it was pretty dark by the time we finally got back au village and there had been a lot of rain over the weekend so we were taking a different route then the one I knew. So then we went over a big bump and the trunk flies open and all my stuff goes flying out the back since I had about 8 bags of all the stuff I bought for my house. So we stopped and the guys got out and helped me pick up my stuff and I spent the rest of the ride hoping that my laptop didn’t die since it was in my backpack in the trunk. Then we got back to town and they loaded me onto a moto with a ton of stuff and they put the rest of it onto another moto. So, I’m wearing my backpack, one big market bag is in front of the driver, the two giant (empty) water bidons are sort of on my lap and I’m holding this 3yd long curtain rod in my hand, seriously looked like I was going into a jousting match and had anyone been in the street I think they would have been lanced. The big white moto helmet already makes me look like Darth Vader but this was just out of control. Anyways the road in front of my house is really uneven so the moto driver took a different way to go around it and then I got really confused about where we were and where my house was and the other moto with the rest of my stuff was nowhere to be seen. But then those two girls who had been helping me so much when I first came, all of a sudden come running out into the street screaming Claire, Claire. And I was like, “Ou est ma maison?” And they picked up my stuff and turned me around and we all went back to my house. And then my proviseur kept calling me during this asking when I was coming back and then he arrived at my house and said you’re having dinner with us tonight because you’ve just returned from your trip. So, I was a little frazzled to say the least but was definitely happy for some good food & it was super nice to feel like people in the village were expecting me and taking good care of me.

There are 3 bedrooms in my house but they are all about the size of this bed. So I chose the one in the back corner because it has 2 windows instead of just one and the lightbulb works.
This is the view when you walk in the front door. Two girls came over the other day and they fixed the curtains in my bedroom that I had done a pretty shotty job on. Then they washed the really dirty curtains that were hanging in the kitchen when I arrived and some of my clothes. Then they washed the floor with the rain water and the dirty curtains and then washed the curtains and hung everything on the clothes line we made out of dental floss. I was pretty impressed.
This is the my kitchen and my front door. The lock is pretty tricky but so far I haven't gotten too stuck. The yellow container is called a bidon, it gets filled from water from the forage which I then put into my fliter. Except my filter has been leaking when I fill it more than halfway up so that might be a project for later today.
This is my bathroom before I cleaned it, pretty scary.
Its pretty much a combination of mud and dirt that is all over the walls so its mostly come off after I've scrubbed it with a bucket full of ajax. Definitely missing moving into a new place with mom and dad and a bucket full of environmentally cleaning supplies and a toolbox. But this has definitely been a job for bleach. I had to stop cleaning the bathroom halfway through because none of the water was draining out of the shower drain. I told my proviseur that it was clogged and he came over to help, turns out, there was just a lid covering it up which he was able to remove and then all the water went down. I was feeling pretty silly after that so I decided to show him my mosquito net which I had hung up myself, but when we walked in it had collapsed :-( I fixed it with the ducktape I brought. I also collected all the nails that were just nailed into random walls in my house and put them all in a line on the wall in my bedroom. Then I covered their rustiness with ducktape and hung all my clothes on them, voila a closet!

The shower is pretty much a big joke anyways because the water does not work. There is a huge tank/hole in the ground next to my house that apparently I can get a water truck to come fill up. Then I can wind a pump and then I could potentially have running water. But, the guy will only come do this during the dry season which is next month. I'm pretty skeptical about all of the logistics involved in this one.

A goat wandered up my driveway and was eating some leaves in my front yard

Liz got a kitten to bring to post. Pets are supposed to be good for keeping away bugs but so far Oreo has just peed all over her room.
The Claires matching again
Our arrondisement from training
The Extreme North Crew

I really liked Timothy's host family's coffee set, it was just like a tea party!
The model school closing ceremony only began about 2 hours after we thought it was going to so we went over to Timothy's for some coffee first. Cameroon is supposed to be known for coffee beans but everyone here drinks nescaf all the time. Timothy brought a grinder with him and it was nice to have some real coffee!
Giving out prizes at the model school closing ceremony.

The last week of training was pretty much a whirlwind. We had the closing ceremony of model school where we gave prizes out to the students. The internet broke at the training building which is why I sort of dropped off the map for a while. But it was nice because everyone just spent a lot of time together before going our separate ways in Cameroon. The graduation ceremony was really nice, everyone got a big kick out of our matching outfits which was fun. Then we had a luncheon with our host families. And all us brand new volunteers spent the night together at a hotel in town and left early the next morning (last Thursday) for post. It was pretty sad to say goodbye to the other volunteers, my host family and the trainers. My host family printed out some pictures they had taken of me with the family & Pascaline made me a cake which was really sweet.

After lots of travelling we made it to Maroua where we spent the weekend at the Peace Corps House. We did lots of shopping for our houses but I didn’t manage to buy anything practical whatsoever. That’s because on site visit there was this one locked bedroom in my house. We peered in the window and saw lots of boxes but no one could tell me what it was. Some helpful friends suggested that it was probably dead bodies or the beginnings of Mummy III. But, I was holding out hope that it might be some useful items left by the former volunteers. We planned to film the breaking down of the door when I got to post. So I was disappointed to get into my house and find the door unlocked and completely empty, still a mystery.

The household items that I did buy in Maroua were a marmite (big pot), some tye dyed buckets and a matching set of ceramic dishes straight out of the 1950s, these are everywhere, … all of which turned out to be available at the market here in village. I was able to buy some tye dye bowls that match my buckets. Unfortunately I was left without utensils or glasses, details like that.

Someone from Peace Corps’ brother came and picked up Rose, Liz and I and all our stuff to take us to our posts. We were very impressed to be riding in a CRV with air conditioning… and were just referring to ourselves as “Posh Corps” when the fasten seatbelt buzzer came on and persisted beeping for the entire trip. Then we were reminded that we were actually in Africa.

I was the last one to get dropped off, which I’m pretty sure makes me the last volunteer to actually arrive at post. My proviseur (principal) is also my community host. He came right over with my keys to let me into my house. I had been a little nervous at first when I found out that my proviseur was going to be my community host since we had learned in training that Cameroonian society is very hierarchical and male dominated, especially in the north. So I was pretty worried about how our interactions would go. But he has been more welcoming than I could have possibly imagined. First thing he did was change the lock on my front door and then he started installing new lightbulbs all over the house. He took me home with him to have dinner with his family the first two nights and keeps telling me that I’m his daughter. The first night we had macaroni and the second we had couscous and gumbo (neither are anything like what you are probably thinking) which we ate with our hands which was pretty fun.

At post!

I made it to post in one piece!First I have some pictures from the final ceremony from model school (pink dress) and then I have the graduation pictures (matching brown ensembles) and then I'll write about getting to post, it has certainly been an adventure so far... I can not believe that I just ate dinner out of a measuring cup and now I am somehow connected to wireless internet, this is totally nuts.

Post today!

I'm going to my village today!!!!

The Extreme North

I made it up to Maroua, the regional capital of the extreme north. We took an overnight train and then a 9 hour bus ride to get here. But, since we had so much stuff, the 12 volunteers coming up depoed a whole car to take us up. This was so much nicer because we could spread out instead of being squished together like they usually pack you in. Unfortunatly our driver played the same tape on repeat the entire time, so I now have "Can't touch this" stuck in my head after listening to it about 5 times. I'm trying to buy some items for my house and then going out to post Monday morning!

Officially a volunteer!

We all got sworn in as volunteers on Wednesday, so now I'm official! It was a really nice ceremony and I have some great pictures of all of us in our matching outfits that I can hopefully post soon. Right now I'm in Yaounde, the capital, I just had a hamburger and french fries and I'm getting on the train tonight for the North. I'm spending the weekend at the peace corps house in the extreme north since we won't be able to go to the bank until Monday. Then we're trying to figure out what is the best way to actually get our stuff to post. I have a gigantic hiker backpack, a regular backpack, a rolly duffle, a trunk and a bike... so I think that we might try to take each other to the posts so help carry all this gear. So hopefully I will be at my post early next week, I'm very excited!

The Run for Fun

Saturday afternoon the Running Club put on a 5k race for the kids called "Run for Fun." I was on bike patrol which involved yelling "doucement" at the motos who like to drive really fast. I also put lots of clumps of grass in the middle of the road which is some sort of warning for drivers to slow down, surprisingly effective. This is a picture of me in one of the new tye-dye shirts! (The orange thing around my neck is my rape whistle, its so handy).

Matching Panges!

In front of the SED Training house in our matching panges!

Claire Pange!



These pictures are from Desiree's Bar where we like to hang out after training. The plastic tablecloths are covered in bizarre inspirational quotes in French...

There are officially just 10 days left of training! On Aug. 18th we will have a big Swearing in Ceremony that the Ambassador & the Country Director & all our host families will be coming too. Perhaps more exciting, all 43 of us trainees will be wearing the same matching panges. I'm not exactly wild about the design but I think it'll be an interesting effect. My host mom took me and my Friend Lindsey to her tailor to get this one made so I think its going to be really good. I also asked her to make a tunic style dress similar to an outfit my host mom has so it'll be African style. (The Claire Pange was made with a photo from Anthroplogie and my other two dresses had jcrew models I think.) My host mom also had me measured for a two piece ensemble which I think will definitely be more African in style as well.

We're finally off for our bike ride this afternoon!

ps- In case anyone was wondering, matching is definitely a cool thing to do here.

Tye Dye

Last Sunday morning we tye-dyed! Emily's mom specializes in "la teinture" and she showed us how it is done. She is dying a pange (piece of cloth that you can get made into something) for each of us. I also brought over all these white t-shirts I had that were getting increasingly dirtier everytime I do my laundry in the well water. So hopefully they will become beautiful and tye-dyed and spice up my wardrobe a little bit.

In other news, I got my first package! Lots of bike gear from my mom. I successfully attached it all to my bike using my swiss army knife so I was officially ready for this big bike ride we were going to go on. But then they ended up rescheduling a canceled session for right smack in the middle of Saturday afternoon, ruining the biking excursion. However, we're going to try and go tomorrow. Hoping to see some hippos!

My mom also sent Dr. Bronner's peppermint wash, this stuff is amazing! You can use it for shampoo, toothpaste, laundry detergent or tons of other uses as well. It creates some suds in my hair, unlike the crazy African shampoo product I found at the supermarche that I had to buy a half gallon of. The Dr. Bronner's sort of makes you smell like peppermint though. I figure this is okay since it reminds me of when Cady gave Regina the peppermint footwash to use as facewash in Mean Girls. Bucket baths are also way more fun since I bought a "gant de toilette." This is a washcloth that is shaped like a large mitten...we've spent countless hours discussing their superiority to American washcloths in every French class I've ever taken.

Martial Arts

We had a martial arts specialist come teach the girls club some self defense. (Apparently karate is pretty big here.) Anyways, Lindsay had met the instructor at the bar so given that piece of information plus “Cameroon time” I wasn’t expecting him to come. However, he showed up (on time) and taught this great class. He was super good with the girls and I thought I learned a lot of sweet moves as well. I really wish I had taken a class before coming here but maybe I’ll be able to find one here.