10.12.2011

10.12.2011

Bonjour tout le monde.  I’m half awake on the couch at the case in Yaounde.  I left Bafia yesterday and am now in route to Bertoua.  Left it because the PST est complete!  53 people swore in yesterday and pushed Cameroon's volunteer number over 200.  The swear in ceremony induced a sureal feeling in my corps.  It wasn't super fancy or anything, but it was interesting sitting there knowing it was the event waited upon after PST and right before post.  Everyone was looking super fly/ beautiful in their panya.  We got to hear many speeches.  Three were given from the new volunteers about their experience in PST.  One in French, Fulfulde, and Pidgin.  The director of training, country director, and ambassador spoke.  Its got to be a unique experience to work for the PC and get to see groups of enthusiastic Americans going out into Cameroon after training and see how their doing a year, or at COS.  Human interaction is interesting.  There was boucoup de photographs that day.  So many cameras.  Serving in the Peace Corps in the new millennium is a very different experience than all previous decades.  From what I could assume.  Internet, Computers, Instant pictures, Facebook.  Its a trip.  Its a trip being in the case and seeing over half the volunteers on their laptops using the internet to skype or fb.  Its a blessing to have that connivence to keep in touch with loved ones rapidly, but its just different.  There are a lot of old school pictures here from volunteers in the 70s and 80s. Back to the last day in Baifia.  After the ceremony we had a homestay family appreciation lunch that was delicious.  My mom got super dressed up and even put on a weave to have straight hair.  I didn’t recognize her at the ceremony when I was searching, but everyones family got super dressed up.  The CD went around to each family and gave a certificate and took pictures with them.  Then anyone got a picture with the Ambassador that wanted one.  My mom had to peace out early because she had to get back to work.  My dad was sick and couldn’t even make it to the lunch.  Ensuit people started going to the hotel for the big shin dig that went goes down at the end of every stage.  I went early to take a nap to have energy for all the dancing that was gonna go down.  That was the first night after 4 months where we didn’t have a curfew or get one extended.  The party that night was a lot of fun.  There was so much dancing.  People could wring out their shirts and some people changed into new clothes throughout the night.  Our formatures and formatreces where there.  The people who have been teaching us all throughout PST.  I went to bed early compared to most, but I had to say peace out to my family the following morning before loading up to come to Yaounde.  It was nice walking through Bafia at 6 in the morning.  That was the first time I’ve done that.  The sun was barley up.  The air was real cool and there was fog everywhere.  The roads were pretty empty, not many people or motos running.  It was also quite.  No school children.  No deranging.  It was a nice atmosphere for my final promenade in Bafia.  When I got home mama told me my dad slept at the hospital because of work.  My sisters were in different, the 8 year old didn’t want to give me a hug.  Mama was nice and gave me a speech that I didn’t completely understand, but I got the gist.  I gave my last hugs and before I left on the road I turned around for one last goodbye they were just back in the routine of morning chores.  

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Okay, this is another entry where I changed locations and let a lot of time pass before I finished.  I am not in Bertoua staying at the East case waiting for 2 more volunteers to come in for the night.  We arrived yesterday, but stayed today to get some things in the regional capital for our new homes.  All I needed was a stove and gas tank and there is currently no gas in Bertoua.  There are also 2 visitors here from the SW region.  A SED and ED volunteer.  Their school is on break so they are traveling to the East and then to the North.  Its lucky that we even got into the case.  We were given keys, but the one for the outside door didn’t work.  Although the cleaning lady just happened to be there that day and at the time we arrived.  It only cost 200 CFA to stay at the case per night.  Thats less than 50 cents.  Its cheaper than other cases because it gets less traffic.  The one at PC headquarters cost 500 CFA a night.  That place is more like a frat house.  A majority of people don’t clean up after themselves or come home at 5 in the morning because the gates close at 11. 

Jessica and Jupiter will be at the agency to meet us tomorrow, but they depart the following day to head to Yaounde for their wedding.  Once I get to post it will be another welcomed change.  “Nassada” is the word for white person in Fulfuldie.  That spellings not correct.  Its what the Muslims call us.  Side note, I was right about that Amanda homegirl getting the star trainee award.  Hommies just arrived now.  The cost of the trip was 4.000 and we paid 5.000 to get all of our property on the bus.  So like $20 to go over 300 km with all the stuff I’m moving with.  Its gonna be like 4.000 cfa to get from here to Batouri.  First thing I’m doing when I get to post is changing my locks.  Theres not much I need to do with my crib.  Get a mattress.  I’m going to be pretty frugal like I am in the states.  There is already a good amount of furniture and other household supplies waiting at my crib.  I lucked out with that.  I’m distracted.  Im trying to write and talk at the same time and I know will just end up making another break in this post.  Toodles for now.                            

5.12.2011

5.12.2011

Today is awesome!  I am high on el eye eff eye.  It is a Monday afternoon at the training house and I am relaxing in the main chambre listening to De La Soul.  Its a very laid back day today because we swear in on Thursday and peace out to our post on Friday.  I’ll probably get to Batouri around Tuesday because I have to do banking in the regional capital on monday.  Agros have a presentation to give tomorrow about something you would possible present at post.  I’m sharing the benefits of improved cook stoves.  We only have one language class today and the rest of day is preparation for the presentation tomorrow.  Thats the final thing  Its wild to know we are gonna peace out at the end of the week.  I will miss the freedom of getting to see all these people that I’ve gotten the opportunity to meet.  We would have never met under any other circumstance.  Maybe two of these human who were from Texas.  This stage group is a solid bunch of humans.  It sucks that the Agros and YDs were kind of separated from the Sante volunteers, but theres 2 years of possible visits.  There have been quite a few dance parties in the recent past since we are all leaving.  We are also going to have a grande party the night of swearing in.  There were multiple times where I just sat and watched everyone interact.  I did the same thing because I said peace out in the US and got to hang out with some people.  It can seem pretty creepy from an observer, but we wont have that at all in a bit.  Soon we will all be alone at our post building our own schedules and trying to communicate with the local languages.  Some people have other Americans as post mates, but some are au village.  There are big clusters of volunteers in the Western part of the country.  I have 3 other volunteers in my town.  I’m ready for the next change.  I’m ready to get to my crib and interacting like an amebia in a foreign solution.  Making new friends.  Filtering through the snakes.  But you can’t blame the people for looking at Americans, or people of different colors, as a hand out.  More often than not they recieve hand outs and have come to expect it because they don’t necessarily differentiate between all the organizations here.

I’ve got a lot of plans for my crib.  Many are probably not feasible, but time is something PCVs have.  I wanna make a shawshank redemption hole.  That wont work because it would fill up and be destroyed during the rainy season.  I plan on making all my furniture out of bamboo.  Theres a lot of that for free in the east.  I want to make a structure to hang my bed from so it dangles like a swing.  I’m gonna see a fence of moringa.  Moringa doesnt grow freely in America, but it is an amazing tree.  Google it.  I wanna get some chickens and goats, once I’m sure they won‘t get stolen from my crib.  I want to paint murals on my walls, but I think coming across quality paint would be difficult.  There is a PC project called the World Map project.  You basically break down a world map into tiny squares to make it easier to draw with accuracy.  Speaking of painting, there is a dude here in Bafia who does these amazing oil paintings from photos.  You just bring in a photo and he turns it into amazing artwork.  I dunno how much it cost but I really want a ridiculous picture made.  Like me riding a polar bear on Mount Cameroon with a bunch of plantains on my back.  I also wanna get a painted picture of my host family and me.  I’m sure we will get a nice one on the day of swearing in.  

I’m also sweating happiness because I got mail today!  I got 2 packages and 3 letters.  Magical.  One package was from my awesome human in Carrollton named KIM!    No last names because theres a lot of creepers. If you know a solid human in your life write them today.  There is a good chance you have more than one, but just take the time to write one.  It really illustrates the message if you take them time to do it, je ponse.  Boucoup de hygiene products and some books.  My grandmother wrote me too!    I also recieved letters and a packaged from my el aye dee why in Colorado : )  I’ve gotta get down on some letters ASAP.  Since I’m going to post I would love picture of humans from back home.  Cameroonian love pictures of the people American’s know.  It blows the minds of certain people when they see that there are blacks, asians, and anyone whose not white in America.  They also are just curious as humans are.           Anyone whose got the time it would make my month.  Address be:

Mike Burbidge

Corp de la Paix

B.P. 215 

Yaounde, Cameroon, Africa

C/O U.S. Embassy Cameroon

My address isn't going to change once I go to the East because I’m not going to trust the post to the East.  If it makes it to Yaounde no problems I’ll trust it with PC.  Volunteers traveling back and forth to Yaounde pick up each others stuff for the East.

I wonder what little kids think when they see me.  I’ll be getting water at the well or forage and little kids just stare.  I can stare back and it doesn't phase them, but when I speak to them in French most don't respond and look away.  But whats going on in their head.  How do they precieve white people.  For some people au village a PC volunteer is the only American they will probably ever see.  Its also interesting to observe the expression of really old people au village who see Americans.  Some are amazed because they’ve gone that long in their life and finally see one.  I don’t think its that frequently since the PC has been in Cameroon for 50 years.  

Side story.  I got home last night and drank palm wine with my dad and his friend.  Then they whipped out some i dunno what from village.  I think it was bark.  But they rubbed it up in their hands and then licked it off, or put it in the palm wine.  I dunno what its supposed to do.  I thought I was going to hallucinate for a bit, but I think it was just a spice that compliments palm wine?  Palm wine is alright.  Then my dad started saying how he was going to hook me up with a Cameroonian.  He went into detail but I didn’t pick a lot of it up.  Then I got to meet the sister of my mom whose married to a chief of a village.  Apparently if my mom here dies, my dad gets to have her little sister as his new wife.  I dunno how that works out of she's already got a husband?  I finally comprehended why my family is getting a second house built here.  They are building a second house for their family.  They have a bunch of extended family in Bafia or close by and they just wanted to have a house built so they could all live together.  I still havent seen it.  I probably will when I come back to visit.  

I shaved myself except for a mustache today.  For those who have seen me with a mustache know how giggly it is.  I think its gonna trip out my family when I go back home tonight.  They already told me they are going to get me pimont and a gourd to drink out of.  My hommie, the first hommie I encountered on this journey, is going to be giving a speech at swearing in au francais.  There will also be a speech in Fulfulda and Pidgin.  If you don’t know anything about Pidgin google it.  Its hilarious.  Oh, there is also going to be a “trainee of stage”.  Stage is what training is called here.  I think I mentioned it earlier, but I see how it might be confused as reading it in the english context.  No voting by the trainees, just a choice from the teachers based mostly on integration.  I found out a dude who is in Bokito started up a boys and girls club during PST.  Wild.  Boucoup kudos to him.  I think its a Sante named Amanda.  I think they’re going to announce it at swearing in.  I wish Paul Biya and his wife would come to swearing in.  That would be mind boggling.  I’m gonna miss these human.  Miss the frequency of seeing their faces and interaction.  But it will also be good to have the rare experience of seeing them months after this to see how different or not different they will be.

I wanna give a verbal salutation to the superbe parents of Lauren Ayers : )  I got to very briefly meet these humans through a computer from the catalyst called Skype.  But I have heard multiple stories about how amazing these two people are.  I’m shoutin out because I know its going to get read : )  I wan’t you to know I’m very protective of the females in my life and Lauren is one of those females now. 

I don’t know if I’ve said this yet.  90s music is awesome in Africa.  Awesome for me.  I liked 90s music in the states, but it feel fantastic getting down on a decade old music with Africa in the background.  I dunno how the gens au Cameroon like it, but I bet it would be popular in the club.  Speaking of which I love the clubs here, or the one I have gotten to visit in Bafia.  Something you wont find in America, a hard boiled egg sales man outside the club door.  Why is he there?  Because Cameroonians get ripped when they dance and need the protein.  I love mirror dancing.  I love dancing in Cameroon in general.  There is no judgement.  You do something weird and the usual reaction is “wow, creative dance move”.  Or they just find it funny to see Americans dance.  I wish I knew how to pop and lock.  That would blow le gens away.  They like the bernie dance.  Don't know what that is.  Google it.  An homage to the classic 80s film.  I’m gonna go play volley ball matena.  A brain break before I run over my presentation.  We just have presentations and a bridge to post session tomorrow.  I think we also get to learn about what makes a lock good here.  How to tell the difference in quality and what things should cost.  Tres important.  Dude, 2012 is less than a month away.  No one forgot the world is going to end in a year right.  A day after my birthday.  Better make this year of the chain.  If the world doesn’t blow up you can always count on the stability of governments and economies today. Je bloge, about the world blowing up.      

23.11.2011

23.11.2011

It is hard to believe Thanksgiving is tomorrow.  I will not experience many things “cold” over the next two years, especially with the weather.  All of the trainees are getting together this weekend for a pot luck Thanksgiving in Bokito.  A host mom here is killing, cleaning, and preparing 3 chickens for us at 500 CFA a head.  Everyone is bringing a dish, side, or drink on top of that.  There is only 2 weeks of training left.  Not even that, but I don’t know the exact day count.

This week all trainees had their IEP presentations.  You had to pick a cultural topic and present it in french in front of the other trainees and a panel of language trainers.  Mine was on bush meat and the impact on the sustainability of the jungle here.  Some other interesting topics were: marriage in Cameroon, breast ironing, and sorcery.  Everyone has to do an “animation” 2 days before swearing in, which is a longer presentation.  Something that you would probably share with a community group at post.  Actually, its only Agro that has to do it.  Youth Development doesn’t have to and Health has been doing group Animations with different community groups during training already.  

Originally I was going to write all about my site visit once I returned, but that obviously didn’t happen.  That was two weeks ago.  I’ll give a synopsis and not get too much into detail because once I get to post thats where I will be having my experiences.  The East is awesome though.  Super duper awesome.  I’m in Batouri, which is a pretty large city, but its surrounded by jungle.  Cameroon, Congo, Guinea, and the DRC have the most rainforest in the whole continent of Africa.  Cameroon has most of it.  There are people in my neighborhood with pet monkey.  My post house is nice because it was owned by catholic missionaries before PC started renting it out for volunteers.  There are 3 other volunteers at my post, a YD (Youth Development), an ED (Education), and a SED (Small Enterprise Development).  The SED volunteer is getting married to a Cameroonian in December.  I won’t be able to go to the wedding because I will have just arrived at post at the beginning of the month.  There is tons of possible work and I appreciate that I have other volunteers to do collaboration projects with.  But it will really all depend on what the needs of the community end up being.  Or what they are motivated to do.  The best honey comes from the East, and thats great because I like apiculture.  I didn’t get to visit the community of my host country hommie because that was another 3 hours from my post.  I didn’t have enough time just over site visit, but I’ll be going out within the first week of getting to post.  The only thing I know about his village is its en brousse and is about 7000 people.  The guy has two GICs (Community Groups) One for the men and one for the women.  Another thing I like about Batouri is there is a large Muslim population so I’ll get a fair sense of the Islamic culture over the next two years.  There was actually a big festival the first Sunday I was on site visit where a goat gets sacrificed and eaten.  People go from house to house and just eat.  

I got my outfit made for swearing in.  I’m addicted to panya.  Panya is the cultural fabric here that is amazingly beautiful and original.  I’ve talked about it multiple times before, but I’m reiterating.  Its like this Ed Hardy parrot design, but no where near as crappy, with green trimmings.  I’m actually going to centre ville tomorrow to get some more panya for 1 more outfit before I leave and 6 yards for my sisters and mom here.  Matching panya.  

I hope I get the opportunity to teach at a PST after I get to post.  PST is the training all of us are going through before we swear in as volunteers.  Its seems like a very unique experience.  To get to see all the ambitious trainees going through training, getting to see where they get posted, watching them struggle with the language like most of us do.  It will also be cool to reconnect with other people from my stage and see whats changed.  Or whats gone down at their post.  One thing I forgot to say about site visit is there are more jaded volunteers than I thought.  I didn’t come across any personally, but after talking to other trainees I found that out.  Volunteers who are really just over their service.  Over trying to continue any kind of development effort.  I know things will be very difficult at times, but thats what you signed up for.  This experience is what you make of it.  It was disheartening to hear people are using the rest of their time to travel and see Africa or remain here since America doesn’t have any more opportunities since they left.  You know Cameroon has the lowest ET rate of any country in Africa that PC is in?  ET is early termination, when people leave for personal reasons.  I don’t know the exact statistics behind that fact.  On site visit I also got to talk to quite a few ED volunteers here.  If you think you’re a good teacher, try teaching in Africa.  These are some of the most difficult environment and situations I could imagine.  Class sizes from 75-180 kids.  In the North and Extreme North the classroom is always over 100 degrees.  Some school systems just have 1 test for the quarter that determines if a person continues or repeats.  You could have 25 year olds in your 8th grade class.  The age varies so much with each class.

Just today the Agros were at the “middle school” here in Bafia to give a presentation to the environmental education club and I swear I saw a dude who was low 20’s.  But I’m not good at guessing African’s ages because they usually look much younger than they are.  There are discipline masters at the schools whose job is self explanatory.  When we entered the school today that guy just had a leather whip attached to a wooden stick.  Another way to punish kids is to have them crawl across the floor on their knees.  Why? Because when the go home and their parents see their outfits are dirty they will know why and then get disciplined at home.  There are different education systems for the Anglophone and Francophone regions.  There is much much more on the education system on Cameroon, but thats enough for now.

Volleyball has gotten popular at the training house.  We have a very small makeshift court, but its been a lot of fun.  The teachers and guards play with us now.  One girl’s IEP was about volleyball so they got to play during their presentation.  Mary, the volunteer who welcomed the big group of new trainees in Yaounde, is now a trainer for us this week.  She's teaching mostly about the theory of teaching, the education system, and Agros 3rd goal of Environmental Education.  She teaches in the Extreme North.  Very solid human being.  It was here and a dude named Carlos who welcomed us.  Carlos is also in the North.  

Last weekend we got to go to Bokito for the afternoon and spend time with the Health volunteers.  They have a nice set up in that town.  They school house is in a compound with another family.  The most ripped old man I’ve ever seen lives there.  They were showing him how to slack line.  He's ripped because he's been working in a farm all his life.  We had some drinks and then danced beaucoup.  After 10 minutes of dancing word got out in village and the next thing I knew there were a dozen little kids dancing with us.  There was one kid who stood out.  This kid must have had access to a TV and music videos.  He was trying to do pop and locking and gave very skeptical looks when someone tried to challenge his dance skills.  Later that night I went with a couple people to the local “club” here in Bafia called Hotel New Palace.  Its a hotel with a club next door.  Beaucoup du mirrors.  I finally got to witness the phenomenon of mirror dancing.  Locals are very serious when they dance with themselves in the mirror.  Or freak dance with a lady in the mirror.  People here love Rihanna.  Those were the only songs I recognized.  All the other jams were local and are just a continues rapid beat.  Oh, theres a song called “Chop my money” which is about spreading your seed.  There is also a song here called “I want you my wifey”.  Both of which are VERY popular here.  The club was weird in some ways.  The only sold liquor by the shot or bottle.  Its also hood liquor, like the stuff in sachets.  No one touched that.  I don’t know if I talked about liquor sachets, but simply, they will make you crazy.  Crazy because there is nothing like an FDA here to verify was goes into that product.  Its not distilled liquor.  There is also the belief by some mothers that giving your child a sachet of liquor does the job that vaccines would normally do.  Guys at the club derange too much.  Another wierd fact here, its not common to hold hands or kiss in public, but being upfront with how you want to insert your penis in someone is very common.  Oral sex isn’t common either.  People just get to the point here.  Theres also no such thing as “returns” with purchased items.  Maybe in big name stores in the largest cities, but I don’t think I will ever experience a “return” situation here.  Then again, I’m wont be buying many items.

Another quinky dink.  My future post mate, the SED volunteer, had the same host family as me.  Its really random that 2 volunteers from different programs in different stages would get sent to the same region and city.  Its even more rare since very few volunteers get sent to the east.  Maybe like 5% of all volunteers are in the East. 

It’s time for sleep.  I saw a terrible movie this week called 13.  You can watch it to find out for yourself, but 50 cent is in it and the dude from the transporter.  Just a terrible movie because of the plot.  Bonne Nuit mes amie.      

29.10.11

29.10.11

It is 20:45 on a Saturday night.  I got back home from the field trip to the north west around 7 and it was a wonderful vacation.  I came home to brazed fish, baton de manioc, frit du pomme (french fries), and some carrot/bean salad.  It was fantastic.  Since papa wasn’t home I got to have second.  I just got situated don ma chambre and I’m going to type on this keyboard por un momont.  Petetra plus que une momont.  I know my spelling sucks.  My brain thinks more now in french.  Its weird taking a field to an anglophone region and not having much of an opportunity to speak french, besides other trainees.  But that didn’t happen often.  

I’m going to back up to Monday last week and share a “real-life” experience of what we have read about under the “cultural notes” section of our language book.  Physical punishment is very common in Cameroon, it doesn't have to be your kid.  I woke up at 5:20 monday morning to do my wash from the first field trip so it could dry while I was at school.  I woke up to my mom and grandma yelling at my sister.  I didn’t know what it was about at the time because they were talking to fast.  My sister was screaming and crying like a pig does when you grab it and hold it tight.  Then I heard whipping, like the sound of a switch slapping skin.  I don’t know where, but it happened like 40 times.  At one point my mom made my sister go out into the little bit of rain that was still coming down that morning and stand there, then get her something.  I thought this would be a good point to leave my room and make it to the front porch to do my wash as to not get involved.  Right when I opened and closed my doors Epifany came running in crying to her room and my mom followed soon there after.  (This was during a period of no electricity so we were using lanterns).  Mom comes around the corner through the darkness with a lantern in hand and goes “Bonjour Sampson.”  We were told by our language teachers that the families might sometimes but putting on a show or not acting as they normally would because they are hosting an American.  That was not the case.  So I said Bonjour and went out to the porch to start wash.  My mom came out and then started to explain why she had to discipline her daughter.  I didn’t catch the complete details, but I’m pretty sure Epifany was asked to clean the bathroom that morning and she said no.  Mom does not accept that answer.  So after her punishment she did that with other chores and then left for school with no food.  I don’t know how my little sister interprets all of that besides do not go against what her mother says.  

I saw a 8 year old kid get whipped by a lady when I was waiting outside and talking with my tailor.  This was last wednesday, he was finishing up my overalls so I just waited and talked with him.  This lady was trying to get this kid to leave for whatever reason.  He wouldn’t so she initially came at him with a long flat rod, like a meter stick in shape.  He grabbed another piece of wood and backed up against a wall trying to fight off her stick.  She wasn’t that aggressive initially.  I thought the boy was her son and that was her tactic to get him to go home.  Eventually she grabbed him by the hand, brought him to the mango tree and broke off some branches.  Then she started to whip his calfs and he started crying and yelling “Tu n’a pas ma mama”.  He left around the corner of this shop block and the lady followed him to continue.  Everyone could hear it from around the corner but no body though anything of it.  There was also a girl who just came up, squatted, and went number un in front of the hair shop next door to my tailor.  My tailor told me he would like some help starting a tree nursery in his compound for caco plants.  Coco plants.  I told him we could check it out next week and see whats possible.  I have a feeling he will change his mind once he sees how much time, money, and energy it will take to have a successful nursery.  I know he's already busy with work and family.  I would like to see where this human resides.  The last things this dude made me were another boubou ensemble, overalls, a vest, and a book bag.  All of that cost 18.000 CFA.  Like $35.  The boubou had embroidery so thats what made it more expensive.  If it was a normal boubou it would be around 12.000 CFA.  This was the first time I did business with this guy.  My mom brought me too him.  I think he does my dads clothes.  Its pretty amazing what this guy does with simple equipment.  He uses sowing machines from the early 1900s with a foot peddle.  Takes measurements real quick, puts them down in a book with a simple hand drawing of what you want, and comes out with great work.  He makes simple things all the way up to custom fitted suits.  I don’t know how much that cost here.  Before I leave I’ll get a photo of him at his work station.  He has been doing it since he was 16.  Work seems pretty solid for him.  He chills outside his shop and sows chaque jour watching and greeting people all day.  I’m going in this Wednesday to get my swearing in panya made.  I’m brining some other humans with me who want a book bag made and some other stuff. 

I learned a common phrase in Cameroon last week. “Nous sommes ensemble”  Its a common fare well that means we are together.  I kept using that this weekend with the natives in the anglophone area and remembering after the fact that they don’t know what I was saying.  We saw quite a few other white people this weekend.  I think they were dutch.  I say that because I only got to say whats up to one dude and heard his accent.  The rest we just saw walking across town.  Its weird seeing other white people here, more so when I know they are not other volunteers.  I think its how black people might feel at A&M but not a parallel metaphor.

This upcoming week is another “short” week.  We only have 1 language session each day, find out our posts Wednesday, and then Thursday and Friday we work with “community hosts” to prep for our site visit the following week.  Community hosts are either work counterparts or people selected by PC to help us get to our post and show us around next week while we are there.  People who are opening up posts usually stay with other PCVs who are hosting a PCT.  Je’spaire I get to open a post in the east.  Health trainees found out their post last week on Wednesday of last week.  They did the work shop last week and are now in route to their future posts.  When they return after next week Agro and Youth development will just be leaving.  I think there is a lack of connect between the health group with us.  Its too bad.  Maybe that will change in the last 3 weeks before we all depart over the country.

Crazy story.  The tone changes here.  Last week Monday night health trainees came to Bafia for a medical session with us and stayed in town a bit so we could all hang out.  They grouped up and left here around 5:30 back to Bokito.  The are in two PC vehicles. A van and land cruiser.  On the way back there was a car right in front of the leading PC vehicle that lost control and went head on with on coming traffic, crashed, and then rolled into a pedestrian.  The trainees knew it was a drunk driver because they were commenting on how he was driving as they were all heading back.  After the accident happened PC pulled off the road and 4 trainees got out to do what they could at these scene.  These were people who were EMT certified or work as paramedics in the US.  I’m not going to get into the details of what happened after the crash with the victims, but it was terrible.  They were in a spot where no local health officials were going to make it out in time to do anything.  Ambulances in the small towns cannot provide much life in route to the hospital.  3 of the 4 volunteers who went to the scene made contact with blood and had to go to Yaounde the next day to start a PEP regimen just in case the victims had HIV.  I found out about this Tuesday morning through a text from a health trainee friend.  I haven't heard anything since and I won’t get to talk with anyone from there for a while.  I think I’ll call up Joe sometime this week while he is at site visit.         

Matena, the field trip.  We left thursday this time since it would take 6-7 hours to reach the north west region.  I really don’t want to get into details now after writing about that tragic experience.  I’ll keep it short.  We visited more GIC’s with tree nurseries and other agroforestery practices.  Like piggeries, fisheries, and apiculture (bee raising).  PCV Lauren set up this trip because she works with all the people we went to visit.  Pidgin is hilarious.  I most enjoyed learning about apiculture.  One GIC would take the pig dung and put it in the fish pond with other plants.  The fish eat the poop and leaves, grow up, and get sold.  The water from the fishery was used as a compost tea for the plants and trees.  Thy feed the pigs some of the plants, a wheat meal, and palm seeds and continue the cycle.  Many sustainable relationships were displayed.  The last GIC we saw works with honey, teaching apiculture, and researching other medicinal plants.  I bought a liter of honey for my family.  Some of the best honey I have come across.  Harvested without toxins or processed by killing a lot of the natural goodness.  It was 2000 CFA for a liter ~$5.  We had a crazy driver.  We had to stop in Bafousam because our breaks went out.  They went out probably because our driver would break suddenly before a speed bump, and then speed right back up once it was completed.  We got there and back safe-fully so I am thankful for that.  I also remain in good health which is another blessing.  I’m going to wrap it up now.  I apologize for a lack of detail on this trip.  I will load up numerous pictures with explanations on fb.  Its really nice not seeing advertisements and cascades of marketing for holidays that keep the economy afloat to some degree.  Especially this time of year with halloween, thanksgiving, and Christmas.  No advertisements for the sale of products with no relationship to the holiday.  Not even being in a culture that celebrates those holidays has been wonderful because I avoid seeing the exploitation holidays with lost meaning.  I love the memories I had the opportunity to make when I was growing up, but certain aspects of the American culture are ludicrous.  As an American its possible to appreciate that.  Its why satire is such a predominate and popular form of comedy.                  

23/10/11

23/10/11

            The field trip was awesome, but before I elaborate on that experience I have some random inputs.  My grandma here is hood.  I don't know if I’ve talked about her yet.  Her name is BIC.  I don't know how its spelled, but thats how its pronounced.  I don’t know hold old she is either.  Last week she was poppin Cortam, the malaria med you take after you think you have it.  She didn’t finish the regimen because she's hood.  BIC has glasses like popular rappers.  You know the ones with thick rounded square frames that are usually black.  I saw a video with Jumaine Dupree wearing them.  She wears those.  She put into action why I like concrete floors.  After food time she's washes her mouth and spits on the floor.  Then she utilizes a spent match to prick food out of her teeth.  She stays here on the weekends.  Maybe I’ll get a picture of this woman before I depart homestay.  I need my french a little better, especially since she's hard of hearing.  I wonder how she interprets white people. 

            I passed my language test last Thursday.  The first LPI in PST.  I got intermediate high which means I will not have to test out again to get placed anywhere in Cameroon.  The tester was pretty generous with everyones level.  A dude who just came in a month ago, with no french experience at all, only spanish, went from novice low to advanced mid.  We met two PCVs who are leaving in december who tested out at advanced low.  They tested out at advanced low after living here for 2 years.   A trainee needs intermediate mid to get into anglophone and intermediate high to get into francophone.  Cameroon is 4/5th francophone.  That just means french speaking.  Anglophone is english/pidgin.  There are other languages spoken in the francophone areas, but the main language is french.  You know how Texas has things in spanish everywhere?  You would not find that here.  Its hard for people born in Anglophone areas who want to go to universities or take care of personal business.  Most of the state universities are located in francophone areas and most personal business is taken care of in Yaounde.  We went over this in our last cross culture seminar.  Oh, Biya was elected for a 4th term.  7 more years.  That dude has been serving as president of this country since 1982!  Imagine that for a minute.  If he lives through this term that will be 36 years.  Cameroon has only been independent since 1960.  He has already been president for the majority of Cameroon’s independence.  Our CC session was on the physical makeup of the ten regions of Cameroon and its history.  Cameroon is very interesting due to its diversity environmentally, socially, and political past.

            I found out I might be going to the east for my post.  We had a second interview with our PM.  He wanted to know if we had any additional input where we would like to get posted after being here for a month, or 2 months for the people who got to experience Ebowlowa.  Most everyone put that they were completely open to where they get posted.  Tiki wanted something more specific, but no one wanted to give that so they wouldn't get their hopes up.  After asking me how I was doing and how the program was going he said, “How do you like the east?  Rain forest, jungle, working with a catholic group starting tree nurseries.   Its got the best house, best house.  3 rooms, a fence.  I stayed there last week.”  I said I was alright with wherever he wanted to put me.  Well, originally I said I would like the west or littoral so I could have the opportunity to speak french and pidgin, but he said that wouldn't happen.  He said it would be one or the other and I picked french.  After my interview  I went back and told him I’m very interested in the East to remove any doubts.  The east is isolated from any other post.  There are 2 post there, 1 already open and 1 would be opened.  I hope I get the opportunity to open my own post.  Post circulate around.  After 5 volunteers a post closes so another community can get the opportunity to host a PC volunteer.  The posts are in Batouri.  That would be in the middle of the most rain forests in Africa.  There is a problem of slash and burn cultivation in the rainforests.  I’m going to give a presentation on that in like week 7 or 8.  All Agro’s have to pick a tech topic to give a presentation on in french.  We all find out for sure November 2nd where we are going.  These next 3 weeks are going to go by fast.  This whole training has gone by fast.  We have another field trip this week from Thursday to Saturday.  The week after we find out where we are going and then get ready to leave to post.  3 weeks from now is site visit.  After site visit it will be week 8.  I’m excited about this week because I’ll get my new panya.  Another boubou ensemble with the PC 50 year panya, overalls, and a vest.  That should be ready tuesday.

            So the field trip was awesome.  We left early Friday and Arrived in Feutap to check out a GIC called APADER.  A GIC is a government community group.  Kind of like a CO OP in the states, with the exception of receiving some support from the government.  That all depends.  Cameroonian’s love acronyms by the way.  Google that and see if anything comes up, I don’t remember the name in its entirety.  We walked around to check out their field, demo plots, demonstrations of: contour bunds, water catchments, alley cropping, intercropping, and their gas dryer.  Agroforestry is kick ass.  One of my favorite classes in college was Ecosystem Management.  Learning how to work with nature to reach sustainable goals for utilization.  This is exactly that.  We walked through a jungle like environment to see their water catchment.  A snake fell from a tree right on PCV Richard.  I didn’t get to see but I heard the verbal commotion about it.  OH there was this crazy lady with us the whole time.  Not really crazy, more a mental disorder.  She literally talked the whole time, 8 hours, we were there.  She was nice and friendly.  I think she was under the impression she was giving all the tours.  I’m impressed with her skill.  she went into the jungle with a kabba and sandals on and came out the cleanest of all of us.  Word is she's the wife of someone high up in the community so she gets to do what she wants.  After lunch we all practiced vegetative propagation. Grafting, marcotting, and cuttings.  Then we loaded up and left to our hotel to drop off stuff and then get some dinz in town.  A table of people got jacked that night.  A dude came up and jacked the money on the table that was being piled to pay for everything.  I was eating somewhere else.  Where I was eating this young man kept coming up to our table with 50 CFA.  He didn’t talk at all but I think he was trying to buy food from us, but we just had the bones from our fish left.  He only had pants and look like he lived on the street.  Like 15.  The owner of the outdoor place kept shooing him off but he would come back.  Its instinctual to have sympathy for a human like that, but its hard to have a “right” solution.  No one was going to give their bones to him.  What does that say about the white people in Cameroon.  We give our scraps to the poor?  For any new situation I sometimes go to what the natives do as guidance, but thats not the best thing either. 

            Saturday was packed with activities!  We visited COFTRAKOL in Bangante.  This a women’s cooperative that produces shea butter.  We got a complete breakdown of its history, dynamics, and how everything is made.  That was really interesting.  I bought some of their shea butter.  I don’t use moisturizer, but I got it for my feet since I wear Chacos chaque jour.  Almost chaque jour.  These women are hard workers.  It is quite a process when all done by hand with the help of some machines.  They also made some home made insect repellent.  A 250 ml jar was 1500 CFA.  Like $3.50.  It’s hours to get from seed to jar.  They work with people in small villages to educate the importance of non-timber forest products to curb deforestation.  Also to show how they can generate income for themselves rather than just use the bark of the tree for medicinal purposes. 

            Next we went to Bandrefam to visit a GIC that works with soy and has a bakery.  They make soy milk, tofu, and soap.  Getting women to sell tofu is a hard thing to do from what I observed.  We got to meet one lady who has been there since the beginning.  The milk was fantastic.  She makes tofu and sells it on skewers like every other kind of meat.  The tofu was mixed with Magi (boulion cube), pimont, and fried like most things and had pieces of onion in between the cube.  They call it viende de soja to market it.  That means cut of soy.  Por example viende de beouf is cut of beef.  They just say viande so people assume its meat.  After the frying and minor changes it taste like chicken.  Inside the home of this lady there were 6 guinne pigs running around.  guinea pigs are commonly eaten here.  Apres la we went to another GIC where they did pig and rabbit raising.  They also raised snails, but we didn’t get to see that for some reason.  The use the feces of pigs for the soil and the urine and feces from rabbits as an insecticide for their okra.  They get quite a bit of money from both animals.  They had the healthiest corn in village that we saw.  Rain started coming down heavy so we had to go to the PCVs house for lunch and to chill.  It calmed a bit so we went to visit a farmer who has been working with the PC for 8 years.  He did pig farming, live fencing, fruit trees, and bee keeping.  Thats another thing that was for sale.  Some fantastic honey.  A wine bottle full for 2500 CFA.  just under 5 dollars.  Straight from the hive.  This guy was very friendly and informative.  Live fencing planting fast growing trees to outline your property so no one tries to gank it.  We went through things quick there because it was raining off and on and we wanted to be able to get home, which didn’t go as planned in the end.  We had 2 cars, the PC Land cruizer and an Amigo van.  Amigo vans are what people take to travel around Cameroon.  We work on unpaved roads most of the time and things get pretty sloppy after a rain.  We couldn't make it up one hill, took another route and ended up almost tipping the van.  We got caught in a ditch that stopped us at 45 degrees.  Cameroonians are skilled with situations like that.  We had people run up the road to us to help out.  We had a dozen people pushing the roof back up while the driver moved the can forward and the van got out of the ditch on the first try.  Another cool thing about the back road we took was we ended up in a chieferie village.  There was this huge wooden hut with wooden carvings where the chief stayed.  I didn’t get pictures because thats not good or welcomed.  Our tech trainer had no problem going out and getting photos.  People told her they would disappear from her camera magically because she took them of the chief’s hut.  We got home and did the same thing again.  But this time when we came back we had a piece of cake with icing for a girl whose b day is tuesday.  That cake was fowel.  cake mix from the dollar store tasted better than that.  The icing was like straight butter.  It was an interesting cake.  I’m not complaining about it, I’m just describing how terrible the taste was.  It was only 50 cents for a piece.  I’m always down for new experiences.  We woke up the next morning and shared our feelings about the field trip.  Gave feedback on everything and left.  When I got back in Bafia I did laundry and went with other trainees to hang out with the YD trainees who stayed here all weekend.  I did my homework, grubbed, and now I’m here.  Electricity is out again.  I enjoy that.  Things are quite and dark.  Start are new language classes tomorrow.  I’ve only got one other human in the class, so learning should be swell by golly! Oh 2 girls from Bokito got malaira over the past 2 weeks.  Bokito is where the health volunteers stay.  They’re fine now, but had a couple poopy days.  I make sleep now.  I need to be up at 5 to finish my clothes before I go to school.  Have I mentioned everyone in my family is up by 5:30 every day?  HEY any human who are “bored” in America.  Write a letter or even a simple post card!   Mail is gold here and I need pictures or photos for my barren walls. I know things are so “busy” in America but come on.  Get in touch with you 1920’s self.  It literally makes my week on top of life already being great here.  How about if you ever catch yourself fb creeping, just go write a letter.                         

11/10/11

11/10/11

Yesterday I saw a dead money attached to moto going somewhere with 2 dudes.  Big monkey.  It made me wonder how close that wild life is here in Bafia.  Tonight I ate porcupine and it tasted interesting.  My first, but not last, taste of bush meat.  I don’t think too much about what I eat.  Food is fuel.  I’m trying to find a vocabulary word to describe the taste.  Its like a musky leather taste.  luckily my mom is a great cook and most of that bush meat taste was covered up with a tomato / veggie sauce.  I also had it coated with some fresh pimont sauce.  When I was eating it I just had the image in my head of eating the guy that put prickers in the dogs face from homeward bound.  I’ll reenforce the fact of how beautiful the clouds are here during the rainy season.  When I walk home from school I get graced with an amazing view more often that not.  I wish I could load up the videos I am making on fb.  No point in loading them up in two places.  Sorry if your reading this and don’t like chapter books.

The third week of PST is coming to a close.  We have mountain bike training this saturday instead of language class.  Some new volunteers came in yesterday to help with classes and I believe two of them are skilled with bike mechanics.  They were making any necessary adjustments to the bikes we will be receiving this weekend.  I found out my sister did take money from me.  After I told my brother he investigated and found the money in her backpack.  There was an awkward family meeting one morning.  Awkward because the whole family was there and papa pimont was trying to tell me that his daughter stole from me.  Since my french was not up to par for the situation I asked my brother to translate for me so there was nothing lost in translation.  Nothing is awkward in the house though.  I don’t act any differently with my family and the daughter doesn't act any differently around me.  I dont hold it against her.  I stole at her age.  I learned my lesson through the experience because knowing theft was wrong was obviously not enough.  I have to lock my door whenever I am not in my room which makes me feel awkward.  Whenever I take a shower I have to lock the door, and my room is literally right next to the bathroom.  So there is just always the sounds of the door locking when I go into the living room, bathroom, or outside to help my mom cook.

Shane and I are going to interview a farmer for an Agro assignment.  We came up with the questions today.  All of the agro trainees paired up into groups to go out and find farmers in Bafia to discover their practices.  A farmer is anything from a father who raises food for his family to someone who works for a government agency.  I think this is a great assignment because It will be a large portion of what we will be doing once we get to post.  Just talking to people to find out what they have been doing for their lively hood, and then identifying the needs that we could help sustainably develop.  We got the grades back for our tree nursery and demo plot, everyone failed except for 1 group just just barley passed.  I think the tech trainers were too critical.  From what I have gathered from current volunteers it is difficult to transfer the technical knowledge to the natives.  I strongly believe if we implemented a formation on how to make a demo plot or build a small scale tree nursery the natives would not see any reason for the specifics.  I feel the same way.  But all of PST is a long lesson in patience.  Patience is also something people say for everything, if your sick, frustrated, whatevz.  Today we also learned how to create malaria smears.  Its what we are supposed to do if we think we have malaira, but before we take the coartum.  Coartum are the pills we pop if we think we have malaria.  These slides go to PC HQ to see if we actually have it or not.  I saw a dead snake in the road on the way to the tree farm.  A big snake.  Like a meter long, black, and it was venomous because we opened the mouth with some sticks and saw the fangs.  This snake was dead.  Someone before us cut it up with a machete.  I’ll finish this after le dejune.

I’m finishing this much later than after lunch.  Its monday night of next week and immersion has started in Bafia.  English is no longer allowed at the school house during school hours and preferably on the weekend.  Our first LPI is wednesday, which is the language test to see if we changed levels at all.  There is an “open house” tomorrow where all the formatters have different tables representing different situations we might encounter at post.  The stagiers get to walk around and simulate each experience instead of having language classes. Last week on Thursday we saw a video on return PCVs who got HIV.  None of them were from freak accidents, they were all from having sex with natives who had it.  This video was made in the late 80s or early 90s based on the quality and clothing.  Watching that video was interesting.  It was also after our STDs and STI talk.  Hearing these volunteers talk about trusting the counterpart that gave them HIV or making the decision to have unprotected sex was interesting.  I don't have a better vocabulary word.  Then listening to their advice they give to trainees.  This video has probably been watched by thousands of PCV.  I cannot remember the exact stats, but approximately 100 volunteers have gotten HIV during service and 4 have died since 1986 I believe.  There were also some stats about PEP use.  Google PEP.  I didn’t do much this past weekend.  My brother left for Yaounde to start at the University again.  He only left with a backpack and a sack of plantains.  It was actually the sac I bought my mom this weekend.  There was a PCV who came to PST to give a presentation on diversity.  She brought some sacs that prisoners in her village made.  So I bought one for mama here.  I also went with my mom on Sunday to some interesting meeting.  People kept coming in and giving money and recording numbers in a little book.  The people dropping off the money all had this same little notebook the size of a passport.  There was one dude with a large accountant looking notebook.  I think its like a community lottery.  Where everyone chips into the pot and then the money circulates so one day everyone gets a fat stash one day to use on important things.  Like sending your kid to school or having something necessary for the house, or the house.  I’ll find out when my french improves.  This girl who lives across the street from me, another stagier, had her mom peace out to Yaounde for 2 weeks.  Her mom works for the election committee as a computer programer.  Its akward for Molly, because in the house its her mom and her roomate who is a dude she knows from college.  So now its the dude room mate and Molly.  Molly is chilling at my families crib on the weekends, but I’ve got super cool field trips the next two weekends.  Luckily my brother just happened to leave so she has a room to stay in rather than on the couch.  These field trips are super cool.  The agro volunteers get to visit current PCV post and see what they've been doing.  This weekend we are visiting Richard’s post.  Richard has been teaching some tech sessions last week and this week.  He works with a couple NGOs.  We get the opportunity to have some hands on action with the tech training we've been getting and learn how to make shea butter.  I’ll have more details apres le field trip of what we actually do, but its going to be super.  Oh yea, I got a weave put into my hair so I could have corn rolls.  That looked really creepy.  Like a pedifile coke dealer.  I have on super creepy picture thats going to go up on fb.  The braids are out now.  My hair was too short and slick to keep them in.  In 3 weeks I’ll try again.  I’ll pause for the next post since this is so long.  4th week of PST almost done.  I will find out where I’m going to be posted at the beginning of November.  December 8th is the swearing in.  WILD.  Toodles.      

05.10.11

05.10.11

It has been a week in Bafia, so its time for an update.  Cholera is now present in Bafia along with other communities.  We were intructed to wash our hands frequently and continue to treat our water.  My gums near the back side of my molars on the bottom jaw are pulling away from the teeth.  The nurse just said to keep brushing and flossing.  She said she would write a prescription for mouth wash?  Someone ETed (early termination) yesterday.  We started off today reading the note he wrote for everyone before he departed.  We don’t know why and he asked that be revealed once he left.  None of my biz.  We have progressively working through our agro curriculum.  

I just got back from our field where we broke up into groups to start a seed bed, test plot, and small tree nursery.  We use a small metal hand hoe and machette.  Pictures on fb.  I have 5 new blisters on each hand that should turn into what my heel looks like soon.  Oh my gum thing also makes my breath smell like poop because food gets caught in there.  It was swollen this morning, but its gone down.  I just chew on the left side for now.  French classes have been good.  Its nice to have them broken up with cultural/saftey/technical information.  The lunch lady we have makes bomb food.  Its the mom of another stagier.  I havent encountered leaky roofs, many bites, or sickness like some of the other stagiers, so I feel blessed for that.  I’m also now making my own breakfast in the morning since I’ve watched mama do it enough.  It usually an omelet sandwich.  Omelet with basil, tomato, onions, and pimont.  I have my cup of coffee in the morning with this chocolate powder mix, kinda like Nestle Quick.  I plan on buying some weave hair and asking my sister to weave it into my hair so I can have some corn rolls.  They probably won’t last long because no one will take me seriously here.  Imagine me, with corn rolls, wearing panya, speaking french.  It addition to a unibrow.  I’ve been letting my unibrow grow out here because no one cares.  I wanted to see how bushy it would get.  One of my glasses covers it up, the other lets it be free.  It will produce a giggle worthy picture though.  I don’t even know if thats how weave hair works, or if I just need to wait for it to grow longer.  

My mom showed me up in chopping wood yesterday.  Although they have a stove most of the cooking is done over a fire for two reasons.  Gas is expensive, so they only use the stove to reheat meals.  Two, the cook in this smoke house so the smoke from cooking also dries out the corn above and they use that for cous cous.  So mama was chopping wood yesterday and I asked if I could help.  The ax is home made.  Its a metal pole with one end flattened to the ax head can fit on it.  The ax wedge is also kind of warped.  But she made it work much better than I could.  We were just splitting wood for the cooking fire.  Last night I had steamed cassava with this vegetable fish casserole mix.  Bones and everything.  The small bones I could chew up, but the larger spine bones I had to take out.  That was not the case with my family and their friends.  The stray dogs and cats in our neighborhood eat the scraps that get put out anyway.

I finished reading a great book that my el-aye-dee-why sent to me called “Legacy of Love” by Arun Gandhi.  I read it twice this week to let the main points resonate in my brain.  Its a short book.  I highly recommend it to anyone who reads this sentence.  Besides that I’ve only been reading my technical books and french books.  I stay pretty busy now that there is a routine.  So my new routine.  I wake up at 6:30 because my family gets up an hour before that.  I don’t want to look lazy.  Next I get dressed and my things ready for school, make coffee for everyone, and my breakfast.  I was reading in the morning, but now I just head up to school early and read there if I want.  From 8 to 4:30 I have school.  Grub out good and lunch and eat peoples left overs.  Once I get home from school I change into lighter clothing and fetch water for the toilet/shower tub from the well out front and do any sweeping.  I take a little break where I sit/read/write.  Do homework or study french and then its din din time.  After din din I do the dishes suel, shower, and then go to bed to do it one more gain demain.  I like the busy days.  Time goes by faster and I’m pretty tired around 9 so I pass out quick.  Or if I don’t pass out quick I take a sleeping pill and have weird dreams.  I haven’t been doing a good job of keeping up a dream journal.  I have 2 years for that.  My first weekend here was really laid back.  My parents haven’t made me go to anything yet.  They work on the weekends as well or attend social events.  There have been Paul Biya rallies almost every day from what I get to see.  I study, wash clothes, and take naps on the weekend.  Explore Bafia.  Wiffle ball and frizzbe time is popular between the stagiers.  I thought I had more to write about but it is not in my brain right now.  A plus tard mes amie.  Du courage.  

Now I remember.  I think someone who came into this house took 2.000 mil from me.  I know I am missing 2.000 and its not because i spent it or lost it.  I’m not making any accusations.  I’ll see if the act replicates itself over the next 3 months, at which point I’ll bring it up.  My little sister loves Angry Birds.  I brought my iphone to use as a video camera and make videos, but it also comes in as an arcade to mes soeurs.  I don’t know if I’ve said how beautiful clouds are here.  In texas, during summer, there are usually blue skies tout le jours.  But here during the rainy season the clouds are amazing.  When I go to get water from the forage in the evening its awesome.  Like sky mountains on top of land mountains.  I can’t take a picture because there are usually always people at the forage in the evening.  I don’t whip out anything of attraction when I’m out.  If I find another high point that gives the same view I’ll be sure to get some pictures, but its fantastic on top of being surrounded by nature.  Another thing.  I’ve started to take the moto to town.  Its 100 francs for any ride in town.  It reminds me of my scooter.  They only get the cheapest stuff from China or thats all I’ve seen.  Top safe speed of 40.  We have to use a helmet here.  So when I walk around with my helmet natives as me where my moto is, and then they don’t understand when I respond that it is for safety.  Children, as young as 5, just sit in the lap of the driver.   

I just got a call from the language coordinator to head back to school for my prescription and medication for my mouth.  I have returned from that and its called Hextril, some kind of fancy mouth wash.  The Dr. told me she would write a prescription, but I wasn't planning on going out and buying it.  But much to my suprise PC bought it for me.  Double plus was I didn’t have to pay for the moto ride to school.  I forgot to pay because I was in a hurry to get home before cerfew, but the dude didn’t ask me for it either.  He just rode off.  I am now watching my little sister feed toothpaste to these other neighborhood kids.  Its the same toothpaste I use.  Colgate “Herbal”.  I think its not as effective as regular Colgate.  If anyone was $10 to spare send me toothpaste!  Please!  Of quality.  All I would ask to get sent is books and hygene products.  Din din is being served now. Now I will really peace out.            

29.9.11

29.09.2011

Howdy!  I am NOW in the house of my home-stay family.  More specifically I am sitting at my desk in my room.  It is almost 10 pm, I am fresh and clean, and have a full tummy of delicious food.  I am very blessed with the family I received for the home-stay.  We are allowed some input for preferences (smoking / animals / children)  But for the most part one human decides where we will be for the next 3 months and I got lucky with this loving family.  I feel even more blessed after hearing some of the input from other stagiers and their families.  Ill describe the humans I habitate with in a minute.

So there is the NEW youth development program and agroforestry living in Bafia, Cameroon.  The health program trainees are residing in Bokito, Cameroon.  A much smaller village 20 km away from Bafia.  That is where most of the new families are.  New, as in have no hosted a PC trainee before.  Last Wednesday when we arrived in Bafia we unloaded all of our stuff in front of the “school house”  where we will spend our days during the week.  At that point all of us started to get matched up one by one with our families.  On one side were the stagiers and on the others the new families.  It was an interesting feelings.  Starting at the natives of Bafia wondering who I was going to live with for the next 3 months.  I was one of the last called, so I got to see humans combine and keep guessing who I would get.  I was hoping I got this papa who was wearing some fly panya, and ultimately I did.  Across the street from my new house is Molly’s home-stay.  I am lucky she speaks more french than me because I messed up something right off the bat.  We got in the car and I tried to tell my papa and new brother I am funny and ended up saying I was a muslim because my pronunciation sucked.  I found out at dinner what I said because I was offered meat and my brother said “No, Sampson cannot eat that because he is a Muslim.”  I also got my family to call me Sampson.  That was another request you could put on the paper.  I use the name Sampson to order pizza in the states as a homage to Half Baked.  I just wanted to hear Sampson with a french accent for the next 3 months.  My papa said that would be ok, but I had to call him “papa pimont” and call my mama “mama pimont”.  Pronounced /Pee-mont/.  OH, there were quite a few parents who said they saw us dancing on the Monday Night Show.

The Monday before arriving in Bafia we got the opportunity to be on the “Monday Night Show”.  That is a show we watched quite a bit in Ebowlowa.  It plays on the National Station CRTV.  Its in English and is an hour variety show displaying anything and everything.  Apparently all a person has to do is e-mail the TV stations Yahoo account with and idea.  They explicitly said “no bible verses, no facebook attachments, and no soliciting”.  PC Trainees got the opportunity to appear on the show because David set an appointment.  A lot is going on in Cameroon.  The election is 9th of October.  The 50 year anniversary of independence is coming up.  50 years of PC in Cameroon is this year.  There is a new PC program debuting this year: Youth Development.  We have the largest group of trainees EVER to come through.  So David and another volunteer were being interviewed about what the PC is and why the do what they do.  The host was practicing before taping and  said “You people make me nervous, so many white faces.”  Aside from the PC bit there was a representative from the UN.  A reggae music group, a traditional african music group from Cameroon, and a complete breakdown of Cameroons history after independence.  At the very end we all got to get up and dance!  I have a short clip on my FB page.  We had to pay 2.000 franc to get a copy of that episode.  It will probably take a month to get it, then I’ll figure out if I can load it up online.  That was a really solid experience.  That is also a brand new experience for PC Cameroon.  David has done interviews about the PC, but never has a whole stage group been part of the filming.  At the end I was shaking the hands of all the guest to thank them for their new music and dance moves and one dude, dressed in a cheetah print golf hat and dress shirt, gave me his bone necklace.  It was plastic, but I felt special.  I was wearing that with my panya when I met my papa au Cameroon and he said “You look Afrique, but you are the blanch?”

Back to my new family.  I am blessed with a loving and wonderful family in the states, and I luckily received the same thing here.  The father is a surgeon at the local hospital, the mother is a nurse at the same hospital and works with HIV patients.  The son is a student at the University in Yaounde studying Biology.  I believe he wants to be a Dr. as well.  Ma grand seour is 14 and goes to school.  Ma petit seour is 8 goes to school.  My brother leaves to start the semester 19th October.  OH! Just today my mom bought and gave me slippers for the shower.  I offered to pay for them but she insisted I do not.  I’m gonna buy some Nutella for the crib.  I bought some in Yaounde before we left to save for a rainy day, but after I felt SO welcomed by this family I have it to them.  Specifically for the girls so they can put it on their bread for breakfast.  I am fed so very well here.  On top of that ma mama is teaching me how to cook Cameroonian food.  Shes pretty much showing me how to do everything around the house.  I have actually gained weight here at this present moment.  Most dudes loose weight because of the lack of a steady protein source.  Girls usually gain weight here.  I eat tout le jours.  I eat everyones left overs at lunch and also get a meal for breakfast and dinner.  Breakfast is nice.  Egg and spaghetti omelet with onions, tomatoes, green onions, fresh basil, and garlic.  I put all that in a french baguette so I can eat it to school.  I also get cafe avec le lait.  Powdered of course.  They also have this chocolate mixture.  I used to not have any of the powder but use them both in my coffee because of the added nutrients.  We have lunch brought to us at the school because its convenient.  Actually one of the girls moms cooks the food.  It is delicious.  Great mixture of carbs, protein, and veggies.  My mama au Cameroon is hood.  She works all day, comes home in her fly panya, changes into shorts and a tank top and gets to work on making an amazing dinner.  Then cleans, sleeps and does it again.  Shes also a big mama.  Thats also how my papa described her when we both me.  I help her with the cleaning after dinz because she cooks.  She wont let me do it all by myself, but I think she said that will be later after I watch her do it a bunch.  The brother is awesome.  He helps cook and helps his sisters with their homework.  Oh Awkward moment for the day.  When I finished doing wash and getting water I was watching music videos with the girls.  I don’t know what artist came one, but that video was all dancing.  Girls dancing with a lot of rump shaking.  A lot of promiscuous rump shaking.  After that they put on theses music video DVDs?  A compilation of random music videos, like Michael Jacksons - Tiger.

I have no complaints about my awesome family here.  I feel I will have french down pretty good in a month since I have to utilize it every morning and night outside of class.  The youngest daughter creeps on me a lot.  Not in a bad way.  I would do the same.  She will just stand at the door and stare at me when I’m doing something like reading or organizing.  Ill try to talk and its 50/50 if she decides to respond or just look at me like a diva.  This family is also well off because of the parents professions.  They have fridge/freezer/stove with oven/tile/a moto/ shower/and a well.  EVen though they have all of this they don’t utilize it.  The fridge just holds some fruits and vegetables and water the collect from the pump.  I don't know whats in the freezer yet.  I usually have a very noisy characteristic when it comes to peoples homes.  They sometimes cook on the stove, but also have a smoke house outside with a wood stove.  There is a sink with running water, but we clean the dishes in buckets outside.  They have the shower head with running water but all take bucket baths.  The moto is parked in the living room but it has yet to be utilized.  The toilets are different in Bafia.  They use a system called the bucket flush.  After you make potty, you fill up a bucket and then pour it quickly into the toilet.  That is the flush.  2 buckets if you made big potty.  No flushing for number 1.  

There is a whole lot more I could write about the program and how training is going but I’m tired and have another day of class demain.  Our “school house”  Looks like a mansion that was never finished being built.  Its cool.  Getting to come to school to learn all the technical stuff on top of the lang, but also hear funny stories from everyone about home stay. I’ve gotta go nappy bed now.  Until soon.  A Plus.   

9.25.11

9.25.11

Been a month in country and two days until Bafia. We all just got back from the dinner at the Country directors house where we got to meet more of the PC staff and the American ambassador. The CDs house is the fanciest home I have been too yet. Compound with a big wall and barbed wire. Gate with a guard. Two generators. A quaint garden. Tons of space for entertaining. Its a PC home. I have finally gotten to meet all the other volunteers! 45 more came in Friday night. The groups are agroforestry, community health, and youth development. Youth development is a brand new program for Cameroon this year. I think its super solid 14 people get to christen it on PC 50th anniversary. Bunch of SOLID humans. Many have world travel backgrounds, impressive academia accomplishments, friends who are PCVs. But all solid humans. I’m excited to develop friendships with all of these people and then tell them a year from now in French how happy I am the universe brought us together. It will also be great to have places to stay all over country when I get the opportunity to travel. I’m rooming with a dude, in the hotel, named Stephen. From New York and Jersey. He reminds me of Chris Farley. A very energetic large comedic man. I have been comparing a lot of people I see here to humans on tv. I think the Training director looks like Jamie Foxes dad or Mike Tyson. Theres a girl here who looks like Amanda bines from Nickelodeon. Stephen like Chris Farley. Someone told me tonight I look like some dude off burn notice. I forgot his name. I was going to google it when I got home.
Quite a bit has happened since my last entry. We left Ebowlowa for Yaounde last friday. When we were leaving a guy who lived behind us, who also worked at the tv station, came out with a carton that looked like milk but ended up being wine. He also had a glass and was giving it for someone to hold. I gave him a can of ham that was left over in the fridge. The can was in the shape of a cat food can. He took it and gave me the glass and started to pour. Once I found out it was in fact wine he got it back and tried to give it to someone else, and no one took it because it was 7 in the morning. I’m sure it was a bon voyage toast. The lady who has a boutique at the end of the road, Anita, just happened to be riding by on a moto and told the driver to stop so she could wave good bye. I found out this lady is 22! I could have sworn she was mid 30s. She was always with a little girl, who I later found out was her niece. I found this out from Shane, who Anita wanted to get down with. She called Shane once we got to Yaounde and was like “Why did you leave without saying good bye to me?”
Quick fast forward. We got to Yaounde and our first stop was HQ. We had to drop off all of our extra stuff so we wouldn't have to bring it into the hotel. We just grabbed what was necessary. We got the opportunity to eat at this restaurant across the street that serves burgers, pizza, and other uncommon dishes. We all got some form of a hamburger which was pretty tiny, but was beef and cheese and tasted fantastic. Ensuit we went back to HQ and saw the place where PCV can pay to stay, like a PC hotel. Sign paperwork for internet use, and those who wanted things out of the safe got it. Popped my Malaria pill and then we headed to the hotel. Then it was just relaxing until the other group came that evening. This place got very hectic with 45 new people coming in with multiple bags of luggage. We had a good dinner and each meal after that has been awesome. Awesome because its continually getting to meet people or new aspects about them. Its also cool to observe these humans fresh off the plane and in country. Even if they have traveled outside the US they have never been to Cameroon. Many of them are disappointed about being locked down in the hotel, none of them have left further than the front door. I keep telling them you have 27 months of exploring, relax if you have to spend 4 days in a hotel. Esp the women. They are not missing great things in Yaounde. There are about 5 or 7 people who are good at french. Most everyone else is starting from scratch. Even the ones who are good will have to make adjustments to certain things they say, the speed at which they say it, and their accent. There was a bunch of processing, paper work, and shots that took place this weekend. Tomorrow is supposed to be a busy day. Luckily the few who were in Ebowlowa get some free time because we did all of it last month. Cameroon ID cards. Getting things locked in the safe. Getting water filters. I cant remeber exactly what we have to be a part of. I’ll find that out tomorrow. We have a broken down schedule for our next 3 months in PST. OH! We are the BIGGEST staging group Cameroon has had. Mostly because of the new addition of the Youth program. That is SOLID. I feel a synergy with these people. It was awesome getting to hear the CD and American Ambassador talk. I wont get into the specifics, but its one of those moments that releases excitement inside of you. A moment that you pull back up during hard times to realize why your doing what your doing. Oh, we also had interviews for home stays and post preferences. I left most all of that open. I figure where I get placed is where i will get placed. I will make the most of it and deal with problems at any post. I know being in Agro I will most likely be rural and wont have electricity or running water. I also believe things work out a certain way for me and I wont get anything I cannot handle. Tiki, the agro PD, says he has had 3 Michaels since he has been in charge and they are all highly motivated. I’ll keep that going. Its good to have an open mind and patience here.
We had african dancers last night! We had to pay 2.000 mil each to get them there and the main dancers is a wife to one of the trainers. IT WAS AWESOME. I don’t have pictures, but I’m going to mooch of someone who got them that night. They went off for a while. I must say they would all be great at tybo and yoga. These humans moved super fast. Not only the dancers, but the people playing the drums too. They have traveled over the world displaying traditional African dance from Cameroon. At the end they started inviting up, more pulling people up, to dance individually and then everyone got down at the end. I was getting down and realized how hard it was to do the moves they were doing. By the end of 2 minutes of dancing my thighs felt like they were going to collapse. I decided If I wanna get ripped here I just need to eat a lot of fish and dance like that. FOOD has been fantastic here. I have been eating a lot of left overs and expanding my stomach back out. I found out we had goat last night for dinner. It tasted like tender beef. We have 2 solid PCVs here directing our movements. They both serve in the north. Mary and Carlos. Carlos had a slick silk bou bou on with some awesome embroidery. He said it was a gift from a wealthy friend in his village.
Not much else is entering my brain right now. I’m in the hotel hallway with 4 other people typing on a piece of machinery with an illuminated screen. The hallway smells funny and I hear sirens in the background. I hear tapping of keyboards like accountants. People are swapping movies and tv shows. Has anyone here hear of Where there is no doctor? Awesome book. A girl in the immersion group has it and I was going to ask someone to send it to me, but I got it on PDF from another trainee. Along with some other great PDFs about sanitation, engineering in developing countries, rainwater harvesting, water treatment, and bee keeping. Oh yea, there was a wedding last night and it creeped out a couple people. Apparently some women were being followed to there rooms, or people were getting knocks on their door at 3 am. Ashley had a kid open her door but get stopped by the chain, then he was trying to undo the chain. The wedding went on until 5 in the morning. It was the subject to start off the safety meeting today with Ruth. Just the introductory one, we will have many in PST. Nothing else for now. Tomorrow breakfast is at 6:45, I’m going to bed. I think I’ll write in shorter gaps so I don’t feel like I miss the good detail. Bafia Tuesday. Meet the home family. Excitement!