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!)