Sunday, September 25, 2011

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!

Monday, September 19, 2011

9-16-11

9-16-11
Bon soir les humans.  C’est the end of week quatre of immersion!  I just got back from having diner with some hommies and I think I’m going to get sick.  The food was served cold because there was no electricity to reheat it?  They had electricity, but it wasnt enough to power a microwave?  It was left over from lunch.  I need to learn more words in french.  I ate my food anyway.  I had le plate de poission avec du riz et la plantain.  That is a very common dish around here.  It usually what I get down on during lunch.  Im going to be a strong fisherman with all the fish I eat now.  I think Ive lost 10 lbs, but I still eat pretty balanced here.  
Tomorrow is our mock language test.  We still have 2 days of real class next week which will probably be used to fix what we messed up on during the mock language test.  The test is just going to be an open conversation with a teacher.  Lemme tell you whats going down right now.  Shane is cooking an awesome meal like he usually does.  I’m writing on the couch.  The girls are talking about food they wish they were eating right now on the porch among other things.  A big storm is about to go down.  There is much lightning and thunder right now but no rain yet.  Its awesome when it rains hard here.  Maybe not awesome, but temporary canals pop up everywhere.  Vendors just leave there stuff at their stands, covered up of course.  Its interesting.  Their food does not get stolen.  Maybe it does, but its not enough of a problem for people to take their product home every night.  Some other dudes are still drinking before our 7 o'clock curfew.  OH a goat came into our house 2 days ago.  I didn't get to see it : (  This girl who gets up at 6 said the goat just walked up and through the door one morning.  Walked around for a bit and then left.  Our guard is watching the one channel we get on the TV.  There is this game show here that challenges contestants to driving questions.  Imagine the DMV being a game show for teens.  Everything you learned for your license is on this show.  They have a show like that because there is no DMV here or any education for that kind of thing.  I don’t know if people need a license here or not.  Driving rules are pretty laid back, especially with motos.  OH!  Last night at this courtyard area where I get chicken wings from a baby monkey was moving across from table to table.  Maybe not a baby monkey, but a small adult monkey.  A galago monkey or bush monkey.  This girl is great at identifying animals here.  
I got some more sugar cane today.  50 franc for 4 feet of cane.  I decided its like Africa’s sunflower seed.  I never thought how bad it might be to bite off the shell with my mouth.  I guess I’ll find out if I get sick.  I didn’t get sick from it the first time.  C’est tres bien.  Maybe it also doubles as some floss when I munch on it.  I was burned out on french today.  Our class is pretty much discussion on certain topics now.  We still do some of the book work, but its mostly dialogue practice.  Its interesting doing cross cultural exchange in french.  Like describing the octo-mom, the amish, or online dating to our teacher.  I always knew American culture was crazy, but I really get to appreciate it explaining certain aspects to someone who doesn’t really know.  Swamp people.  We always get our gataz.  Explaining cyber bullying, 16 and pregnant.  The other class talks about some pretty interesting topics.  Like what would you do if you had AIDs.  What would you do if you friend wanted to kill themselves.  What would you do differently if you were the opposite sex.  Today we learned about body parts and how to explain when we are sick.  That will come in handy over the next two years, or this weekend.  Our teacher told us about how common it is for vaginas to rip during child birth.  I didn’t get the whole conversation, but its like certain things are eaten that can make the baby come out faster.  Then it gets sown back up.  We talked about medicine.  How America is highly medicated.  Explained depression and other mental illnesses.  Natural remides are real common here.  There are quite a few street vendors who sell pills, I dunno what for.  Sometimes its just pill packages with no box.  Yesterday at lunch a girl tried to sell us some herbal pills?  She talked too fast for me to pick up what benefits she was trying to relay.  I’ve seen penicillin for sale.  Just straight penicillin.  Its common for people to rub tomatoes on their face for good skin.  Eggs in the hair.  Ginkgo biloba for the throat.  We brought up beauty pageants.  Actually, just talking about reality TV in America.  That can burn a lot of discussion time in class.  Also a good way to learn new adjectives.  
What else has gone down this week.  We have been having lunch at the TV station here in Ebolowa.  Its pretty rudimentary.  Its CRTV.  That is the one channel we get at the crib.  They have what you might call a restaurant.  The food is outstanding thought.  I always get the poission, du riz, and fried plaintains.  That only cost 1.000 franc.  Just over $2.  I also get a lot of peoples leftovers.  I feel like I’m stretching my stomaches capacity back out to where it was in the states.  I had someones left over n’dola.  That is a traditional dish to the west.  Its like greens, some kind of sauce, peanuts, and meat.  It have a very unique taste.  Nothing that is really enjoyable.  But our teacher said that dish was just probably not made well.  When its made well its bon goute.  I had my bean sandwich this morning.  Beans are called “la jazz” I found out.  It makes my bean lady happy now when I use that term to order my sandwich.  I have a bean sandwich with tomatoes and avocado like 5 days a week now.  Its my new cereal since milk is hard to come by.  I eat yogurt now during my break.  Our medical book tells us how to make yogurt here with dry milk and water.  I’m sure I will try that some time.  I’ve been reading through that book at night before I go to bed.  It tells us about all the things that could happen to us while we are here.  I will never get near any fresh water sources.  Google Shisto.  Terrible parasite you get get.
Its going to be an interesting change meeting up with the other stagiers.  Our small group has gotten use to some privacy and having space.  A week from now we meet 45 other people and go into host families where we really start our training.  It will be good to have medical/cultural/and technical training break up our french learning routine, but it will certainly require some adjusting.  I’m glad I got all my fly panya.  The patterns here are like butterfly wings.  I tried to get some more today, but the shop was close for Islam worship.  I don’t know the correct term.  I want to get this Paul Byia print they have since the election is so close.  I don’t support that human, but it sums up a good portion of Cameroon's history.  It not something I could wear here either.  I would probably get attacked by people have enough energy to dislike that human.  I just want it made to wear when I’m back in the states.  I already have enough outfits to use between whenever I do laundry.  I LOVE all the colors.  The few clothes I brought will be for when I go into the bush to do work.  Its about $30 for an outfit between the fabric and work, but its custom fitted and very unique.  My bou bou outfit doubles as a night gown.  Its like fancy beautiful pajamas.  Very laid back.  I don’t even wear underpants anymore.  Less to wash and makes me feel more free.  Out of the rainforest and into the prairie.  Breaking wind is more noticeable in that scenario though.  I’m going to appreciate the hotel in Yaounde so much more now.  Warm showers again.  GREAT food.  I’m going to get to eat what everyone passes up because they are either not hungry or somewhat sick from traveling.  Air conditioning.  It will be a little celebration for the end of immersion before home stays.  I guess nothing else for right now.  Its a trip getting able to skype.  The internet is so crazy.  Having free conversations with humans thousands of miles away with video.  Wild.  Nothing else is sprouting from my brain right now so I’m doing to depart.  Toodles for now. du courage!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

9-11-11

9-11-11
Two more months from now is going to make a cool date.  You know yesterday was nine ten eleven AND it was a full moon.  I hope something abnormal happened in your life.  It is the eve of starting the last week of our immersion program and I have quite a bit to do if I want to test out the Wednesday after next.  
This Sunday was better than most.  We all actually got to sleep without music blasting from some party at the rented out building and there was also electricity today.  Which also means we had water.  I asked my fish lady today why there is no electricity in Ebowlowa on Sunday but I couldn't follow her answer.  She said something about the market and snake.  I keep having these experiences where I realize how much I need to learn.  After getting up I headed to the market for some bean and bread sammich.  I saw the driver, Valentine, on the way and he hooked me up with half of his sugar cane.  Sugar cane is awesome.  Its like a grown up lolly pop.  It looks like a darker bamboo.  You take off the outer shell and then take bites of the inside.  Much all the sweet juice out and then spit out the fibers.  I like getting snacks on the way to food because I’m impatient.  On the way I stopped to talk with my phone transfer credit lady.  Thats Anita, I don’t think I’ve talked about her before.  Shes got some kids and has a small boutique too.  He daughter talks to me every time I’m there.  You know the thing white people used to play with in the 20s?  The push a circle/wheel with a stick activity? Thats pretty popular here with the kids.  Old tires are used more than circles made of wood.  Or the kids have something called “a push”  Its a CD or plastic lid tacked to the end of a wooden stick.  That girl i super cute.  The also have 3 dogs who always have flies around them.  Their ears are disappearing because of the flies.
So I get to the bean lady, Florence, and there is a fat line.  Mostly of older women and kids.  Some other hommie from the house already happened to be down there chilling at a picnic table.  The lady sells this milky breakfast kind of thing. Porridge-like.  I think its powdered milk, water, and orange juice.  Its interesting.  One of the girls didn’t want to finish hers so I killed it.  It was my first time to try it.  Ok, I just found out its corn powder, water, with citrus.  After that I just went back home and did French work.  Book exercises.  Then ironed my clothes.  Sundays have been consistently slow.  Most people watched V for Vendetta.  These kids that I talk to came up to the house and wouldn’t leave.  I kept hearing kids outside, which is normal, but then I noticed they were creepin and peeking in our windows.  So I went outside to practice some dialogue and see what they be gettin down in today.  They had two empty bottles so I did that water tornado science experiment things.  Never have the seen such magic!  After a while I just told them I had to study.  They just kept chilling outside until the guard told them to leave.  I always see those kids bringing back stuff for their parents from the market.
Justin was coming to take us out at 2 just to see how this program was going.  Lauren met us before that to chat because she was in town meeting another hommie.  I took a little siesta before we went out.  I’m still working on recording dreams.  We went out and got a beer to hear more about staging, and to hear funny stories.  I left after a short while to grub out on some fish.  I was lucky to get any because it poured down 30 minutes before I left.  Most vendors just cover their product or whip out a big umbrella to wait for it to pass, but this time quite a few people closed up.  My other fish lady didn’t.  Her name is Luerrr.  Thats spelling more for sound and not accuracy.  Then a “crazy” came up and just started at the fish for a while, went away 10 feet, then came back to buy half a fish.  I feel bad for the mentally handicap here.  They get treated like stray dogs.  There is a different interpretation of what it is to be mentally ill.  In the US is like, Oh you have a chemical imbalance or genetic abnormality.  Here is like your possessed or you get to that point because of age.  Friday in the market a dude came up to me with a naked plastic baby toy and started talking really fast.  I just walked away after listening for a while. I finally made my way back home to do some more studying.  No one was home so I chilled with the guard while I worked.  OH.  I’m getting 2 more outfits made.  Another boubou ensemble, 2 shirts, and some Aladdin pants.  Youtube Aladdin for the disney movie.  Thats going to be my new dance pants, if they’re fly enough.  We’re going to go out with Justin next Saturday to a dance club to celebrate.  I’ll go if I feel confident enough in my french.  I’m pretty sure I wrote about this but I count find it when I word searched for mirror.  Cameroonian clubs have mirrors on the wall so people can check out their dance moves.  I’ll be sure to get a video of what looks like.  One of the guards was also telling me that liquor gets people into the club?  If a person brings a handle of liquor that covers the admittance for 6 people.  Nothing more to share at this present moment.  I’m going to study some more before I pass out and start another week.  Our language test is pretty much an open conversation with a native speaker.  After the opening they give us a card with a specific activity, like asking for directions / buying an apartment / getting around with different modes of transportation.  To meet the requirements we just need to talk in the present, passe composse, and futur proch.  du corage!                      

Friday, September 9, 2011

9-8-11

9-8-11
Wellll welll, what it is computer keyboard and conscious.  This has been a tougher than usual week, but it passed by so quickly.  Tomorrow is Friday and then just have a day of class on Saturday.  I am so blessed in my life.  We got our perdiem for food and walk around money.  I don’t think I broke this down previously, I’m not going to go back and check.  We get 5.000 franc per day for food.  Thats a little over $10 a day for food.  1.000 for breakfast and 2.000 each for lunch and dinner.  If I utilized that all I would be eating like a king here.  I don’t think I’m meeting all my nutrient requirements, thats why I make potty once every 4 day.  Its not even that impressive when it happens.  We get that amount for food, and then 16.000 for 2 weeks of walk around money.  About $172 every 2 weeks to live off of.  I’m not sure how that changes once we get to post.  But that is a fat amount of money here.  Cameroon's biggest bill is 10.000 ~ $20.  They don’t have a bigger bill.  Why?  People don’t need it.  I get rolled eyes when i have to break 5.000 for a lunch that cost 1.000 or 1.500.  Its like I take all the change they acquired the last couple of hours.  Ill practice my french with the guards of the house and ask what they had for breakfast or lunch and more often then not they say nothing.  I’ll say Porquoi?  Then they say no money.  I know they get paid decently by the PC but their money goes to other things.  Asa gives most of his money so his daughter can go to school.  I dunno about John Michell.  He mostly speaks french.  I gotta pick up my game before I can find out.  Or the kids I talk to.  Most of them have coffee, bread with chocolate.  I used to be disappointed with cold showers, but now I really look forward to them.  I feel fantastic at the end of the day cleaning myself with cold water.  Its also a blessing to have running water in the house we are living in.  A lot of people have to get well water and take bucket baths.  That could be me at post so I am appreciating it all right now.  Thats an everyday breakfast thing.  Or at least when I ask them.  This 4 year old told me he had coffee.  I hook the kids up with fruit when I see them now.  But sometimes they follow me to lunch expecting me to buy them something, but I can’t.  Otherwise their friend would come another day because le blanc buys the food.  Next time someone calls me le blanc I will say Je ne suis pas le colour.  Je suis humain!  Je suis sempatie.  I don’t have my notes next to me so the grammar is probably bad on that.  I cannot wait to speak french specifically for the weird things I will say.  Those who have heard my voice know I strive to speak differently.  Maybe I’ll start spelling words in french too.  I’m trying to learn rap lyrics in french, but that will be later down the road.  Like my milk shake brings all the boys to the yard and there like, its better than your, I can teach you, but I have to charge.  The teacher got confused when I tried to say I make it rain in class one day.  
My room is turning into a classroom.  I have poster sheets of verbs and conjugation and phrases.  I must say this immersion is harder than any class I have ever taken in my life and it is in the most low maintenance classroom I have ever been in.  We sit in plastic lawn chairs for hours a day in a small room and just write on brown poster paper which is ripped from a big roll and tapped to the wall.  Its awesome though.  I have learned more french in these 3 weeks than I could imagine learning in a semester at a college level.  Probably because its 5+ hours 6 days a week.  It doesn’t get draining.  I just take each day as it comes.  I had my first real hard day yesterday.  I was so sick of french I didn’t want to say another word at the recap of our independent study.  I just got some sleep that night and was high on life the next day.  The teachers are so kick ass.  They do this year round for PCT.  They are very patient and creative.  At the end of training there is a big party with food and dancing.  I am VERY much looking forward to getting down in my bou bou.  
What was noteworthy this week.  We had an STD HIV and condom use medical session this week.  The PCMO was down with that session.  She allowed me to be silly with my answers for the case studies.  She also brought “her” wooden dildo.  She specifically said “her” rather than “the” wooden dildo.  You know 90% of PCV have had unprotected sex while in service.  That was a stat from the late 90s, but wow. Flesh on flesh.  We get to watch a video about RPCV who got HIV while in service during actual training next month.  That should be interesting.  STDs are terrible.  I don’t know why more people don’t get down with their hands if they are that much in heat.  OH.  They give us condoms and “dental dams”.  Have any of y’all heard of this?  Its a rubber tissue thing covered in baby powder and a scent its used for going down on someone.  Like a bathing suit for you tongue.  Wack.  Speaking of condoms I was going to leave mine at the cyber cafe and I was leaving the house with them in my hand.  Asa stops me and said “what is that.”  I told him it is a preventative measure to prevent seamen from entering a woman's vagina.  I think that was too scientific because he still didn’t know.  I gave him 2 and told him to utilize it during intercourse.  I also decided not to leave them at the cyber cafe because these condoms cannot be bought in town and I didn’t want them to stand out.  I may want some water balloons or balloon decorations later.  Condoms here are interesting.  They do have some name brand, but then they also have the local stuff.  Life a wrapper that has a black man making love with a white woman.  The white woman was clearly photo-shopped into the picture.  I also saw a commercial for a female condom on TV.  It was a cheesy commercial but how does that work.  From the commercial it looks like a flimsy upside down plastic cup.
Enough about sex and condoms.  I elaborated so much because it wasn't french.  No real plans for this weekend.  Study.  Maybe make some videos of what market is like on the weekend.  Or how I purchase my food.  Or what a business transaction is like for fruit.  I have got to wear crappier clothes to market.  I think I look like a cheap bass going to market in nice clothes and then bartering with people for food that is already cheap to American standards.  They already know I have money.  I only try to barter because I get charged a higher price due to the color of my skin.  I had a lady just walk up to me at lunch time, hold out her hand and ask for cent franc.  100 franc, like a quarter.  I said no and she said porquoi.  I was going to get into a conversation but I knew it would lead to a question or sentence I could not comprehend.  So I just walked away.  Its a hard place to be because yes, its not sweat off my back to give 100 franc that the peace corps provided me.  That could buy any of these items:  4 bananas, 4 small tomatoes, 5 mandarins, a loaf of potato bread, 2 individual packs of dish detergent, a big avocado, or 2 batons of manioc.  It can buy a lot.  But then I become more of a point of interest than I already am.  I can’t remember the expression, but Lauren says certain people will come up to her in her village and say “what do you have for me today.”  I’ll see what my experience is like at my final post.
After this weekend there is only 1 and a half weeks of class left.  Wild.  Although it feels like I’ve been in country longer than 3 weeks, it is surpassing to realize we are almost finished with this immersion.  Time is flying right now because we have full schedules, have to be back in at seven, and I pass out at 9 or 10.  Ooooooohhhhh i get to pop a mefloquin tomorrow.  I’m looking forward to some lucid dreams tomorrow night.  I’m trying to be more diligent about writing down my dreams right when I wake up do build up my dream recollection capabilities.  I believe that helps out with lucid dreaming.  Once I get into that I’m going to invest my nightly hours into learning how to control flight.  Or be a Sagittarius since that what I be.  Once I get enough detail about my dreams I’ll post some here.  I tried to catch a chicken in our yard today.  We have a group of them flock each day.  Did not work.  I’m going into it with no technique.  It made the guards laugh and I just said J’ai faim!  Or I like to watch them with this girls binoculars while I have my coffee in the morning.  Can you imagine moving your head back and forth everywhere you move?  Sometimes there will be a cockfight in our yard too.  We used to have goats come in our yard but they don’t come around anymore.  I’m pretty sure they were sold or slaughtered.  A male goat makes a very weird nose when it wants to get down with the female goat.  This post seems sexually oriented.  I’m going to bed.  A plus tard mes amie.  Get down with your life.  du courage!                                         
 

Monday, September 5, 2011

9.4.11

9.4.10
Today is Sunday, the second of our language immersion.  It feels like I have been here much longer than two weeks.  Starting Monday none of us will be allowed to speak english during the hours of language class. So from 8 to 5, not even our breaks.  Lunch is ok because we have to go into town for that.  We used to have a lady come to our crib with some pretty bon food, but she quit last week when only 3 people showed up for  lunch one day.  I was one of those humans.  Everyone else went out for one reason or another (sick/wanted something different/not hungry).  Her food was good and only cost 1.000 franc for a plate.  ~$2.  Whatevz.  Now we get to interact and check out different places in town.  Its a little more expensive for not the same variety of food on each plate.  School starts tomorrow here.  The market has been pretty wild this past week.  Ive seen over a dozen new stands pop up selling specifically school supplies.  Clothes and backpacks have also been popular. 
The week has been pretty routine being occupied with language classes and getting food.  I got my second rabies shot and hepatitis b shot.  You know the Peace Corps will pay for a volunteers doctor bills if she has a baby during service?  They pay for everything except for additional work due to complications.  When we got our shots we had a medical session.  We’ll get many more of those when we join the other group in september.  We only get like 3 this whole month because this immersion program is specifically for language training.  Malaria is crazy.  You could have the parasites in your liver lay dormant for years and then pop out at a moment.  We also learned about Shisto and Dungae fever.  Ill fastforward to Friday.  Friday is nice because we have an unplanned weekend to look forward to.  We are kind of kept in a bubble for our safety, but getting somewhat of a break from french se bon.  We got to meet Tiki Friday.  Thats the director of the agroforestry program.  He will have an ultimate say in where we get placed for post after PST.  That is one down ass human.  He took us out just to socialize and get to know who we are.  He brough a bag of chocolate, chips, and corn cookies.  The corn cookies sucked, but food is fuel.  I gave my chips to a human who would appreciate it much more, and had my chocolate the next morning for breakfast.  Not only did he give us snack, but bought our drinks for the night.  We went to a bar called “Play Boy”.  Bars here are nothing fancy.  Its just a designated place to drink, tables and chairs.  Nothing like bars in America.  Some have tvs.  There were ads on the wall for “Dallas” cigarettes.  They will make you fancy.  Tiki broke down his history of life, school, and travels.  He has been to Texas and it was interesting to hear his foreign interpretation of the state.  Out of all the places he’s gotten the opportunity to go to, one place was College Station to visit A&M.  He said he stopped liking country music after that.  That man has great energy.  We stayed out until about 7:30, past are curfew.  It was a new experience being somewhere else besides our house after dark.  I don’t know if I’ve already said this, but Cameroonian don’t sleep that much.  5 hours a night max, and they like to sleep with the lights on.  I forget what I write in letters and this blog.  I actually type in a word document and just copy and paste once I get into the internet cafe.  I’m hoping to get placed in the Northwest or Southwest region.  That would mean I would have to learn some pidgin on top of French, but its mountainous and has more rainforest.
Saturday started out with independent study at the linguistic center.  Thats where Cameroonians go to learn English and French.  I found a middle school french book thats pretty kick ass.  That went by and then we had our close of week review.  Thats where we share what we learned that week and what we will work on the upcoming week, in french.  We also divided into new classes with new teachers.  I’m with two other humans and one teacher.  Everyone gets their printed report card in french to use for improvements the next week.  After that everyone just went and did their own thing until the weekend.  I got to talk with ma future femme via skype: )  Thats when I loaded up my pictures and first blog post.  I found out I got to use the internet for free if I brought in my laptop.  Or maybe the dude was just confused, he only spoke french.  I’ll find out if it works next week.  That night we had our first house shin dig.  I went to bed early like I do every night.  I woke up at 2 am because of some wedding party jamming out and couldn't go back to sleep.  Even with ear plugs.  I would take like 3 30 min naps but always wake up.  They jammed out until 7 in the morning.  I have a feeling a party or wedding goes down in a building close to our house every saturday.  I was hoping the electricity would cut off earlier Sunday so I could sleep.
So I started today easy.  I grubbed out on mandarins.  The beignet lady wasnt out this morning so I didn’t get my bean and bread sandwhich.  Which by the way taste awesome with tomatoes and avocado in it.  Eating that not only taste good, but its a good way to block up my bowls when they get loose.  Today we had a brunch at Lauren’s, current PCV, post.  It was solid to finally get to see a PCV post.  During PST we will get to visit our selected post and stay there a week with the current PCV who holds it.  The menu at Lauren’s was banana and choco chip pancakes with eggs and pineapple pieces.  It was a pretty fantastic meal.  One of Laurens fellow PCV hommies was there visiting for her b day.  Her name is Andrea.  She lives 4 hours SW from Ebolowa in a pretty rural village.  I do not recall the name.  We just congregated and heard stories followed by questions.  We got to meet L’s African dog.  Super energetic.  I found out if you leave your dog outdoors here flies will eat their skin.  Like eat the fur, get through the skin, and then flesh.  Her neighbors ask her how her dog still has ears, and its because she keeps him indoors.  His name is peanut and she’s had him since he was a puppy.  She also got ringworm from him when he was a month old.  After food and the rain we went out for a walk in the village.  Her village is small compared to where we’re at.  We got to see where the “Comice” was held.  This was a huge agro carnival/festival.  It was the event of the decade here.  We missed it by a month.  Apparently it was planned for years in advance, but was pretty much thrown together at the last minute.  The show displayed all the technological farming capabilities available in Cameroon.  Along with different house structures, food.  Its kinda like a county fair.  When we saw the spot there wasn't much left.  There were some shipping containers holding tractors that were made by a nearby tractor factory.  There were some house structures left that are used in the north and some cattle roaming.  L said a lot of people just stole stuff from the show once it finished.  It was a week long.  Her neighbors stole two kiosks from the show.  We continued to walk down the main road to two lakes.  There was a demonstration at on of the lakes.  Something about a pig fish culture farm?  Thats another thing that was thrown together.  Rather than actually raising fish and utilizing what the demonstration was for the just ordered in full grown fish to show what it would be like.  But it was a manmade lake with a house/dock with 10 individual pig pens.  Each pig chills in their pen and poops, and their poop drops into the lake.  That was supposed to be food for the fish?  Or help algae grow and then the fish eat that?  The other lake was black like darkness and you could see bubbles coming up from the bottom.  Not from anything living of course.  There were 3 dudes washing there motos there.  We walked down a path along the lake to a swimming spot for the local kids.  They were swimming in the black water, all naked.  Swimming in any freshwater here can almost guarantee you shisto.  Google that.  They were having a grand ol time.  It probably tripped them out seeing the most white people they have ever seen in their life this Sunday.  They had some cool paddle boat thing.  Like Float ATX or Paddle ATX.  A hood version.  Logs nailed together.  We stayed there a bit to let her dog run around and get burned out.  Lush vegetation everywhere.  We walked in the forest a big and found a tree that was cut down whose diameter was around 6 feet.  After that we started to head back to her crib because the walk took a while and our driver was going to pick us up at 2.  He was also going to take L’s hommie to the bus stop in Ebolowa.  
When we got back to the house I was pretty hungry so I went and got a full fish with manioc.  The lady was nice and let me take her plate because I had to meet the tailer back at the house.  I got my first two tissue outfits.  A boobu outfit and then 2 shirts and pants.  That cost 19.000.  His work was good, but we could bargain down.  2 other dudes got there ensembles delivered today as well.  I only want these kind of outfits.  I plan on getting two more made before we go back to Yaounde.  Its cultural, colorful, and simple.  The simplicity helps me during laundry and ironing during the week.  I also got a hat with my boobu outfit.  That was a surprise because I didn’t ask for one.  Once that business was taken care of I went to town in my new outfit was Asa, the house guard.  I had to return the plate and then had a drink with him.  He is my new brother from another mother.  I came home, ironed clothes, and now I am writing.  I’m about to give my computer so the group can watch a disney movie.  I’ll be doing french work.  du courage mes amie!  Be so thankful for what you have in America.  I have Cameroonians tell me all the time how they want to come to America.  Just to have a chance.  Asa tells me pretty frequently like I forget.  That is another very solid human.      

Saturday, September 3, 2011

FIRST POST

8.25.11
I understand this was loaded up after I origionally wrote it, but finding an internet cafe where I could bring my computer safely was difficult.
Bonjour mes amie!!  The first entry.  This should be lengthy because so much has happened with me being here less than two weeks.  My experiences will also seem like they bounce all over the place because thats how my brain works.  We arrived in the capital, Yaounde, from staging for additional processing and more orientation.  The drive from the airport to the hotel was pretty wild.  One of the first things I noticed was a man on the side of the road with a 2 by 4 filled with nails connected to a rope that he was holding.  I found out that is used for shake downs on cars or motos.  He wasn't in uniform or anything.  That is how most of the road blocks are.  Nails coming out of 2 by 4s or in metal pipes.  We stayed at one of the better hotels in the area for 4 days and 3 nights before driving further south to Ebowala.  It is nice change to not have all the amenities of America.  Usually the unnecessary amenities in America leads to so much waste.  Our hotel was meager by American standards, but we had warm water and air conditioning.  Right next to the hotel were shack neighborhoods.  Not many people throw trash in a designated can or there just isn't one to use.  There is some kind of public works trash clean up, but I haven't found out the details of how that functions.  People urinate wherever and whenever the want to.  Women are a bit more discrete for obvious reasons.  People are selling things everywhere.  There are market areas, but children and adults are selling items all day.  There are many people who sell recharge minutes for phones.  
Most everyone uses pay as you go phones, and the phones are very cheap.  I got my phone for $22 with 1.000 CFA credit.  Its about 100 CFA a minute  CFA (pronounced “See-FA”) is a Cameroonian Franc.  A dollar currently gets me ~460 CFA.  When you want to add more credits to your sim card you give the vendor your number and say how many credits you would like to add.  Say I want to add 2.000 CFA.  He text me from his phone and I receive the text saying the minutes have been loaded to my phone.  A text is 100 CFA as well.  It is free for anyone to receive a call.  Using skype’s telephone service it cost 27 cents a minute.  It is WILD to receive a call on my weak cell from America.  The clarity is fair.  It is also possible to use different sim cards on your phone.  Why does that matter? It cost more to make calls from network to network.  To counter act that people just have sim cards with both networks and change them out when necessary to avoid that charge.  There are two main networks here: Orange and MTN.  I currently have MTN.
Back to the hotel.  It was also above average because they had a public computer with internet AND wireless for people to use.  The bandwidth is sub par, but internet is internet.  Malware and identity theft is pretty big here so I need to delete all history, cookies, and cache before leaving any computer.  The keyboards are subtly different to assist typing in french.  I’ll be able to get down on that one day.  Cyber cafes are interesting.  I have seen a few but only entered one.
The one I entered is in Ebowlowa.  Everything is old school and unkempt.  Old 90s desktops on homemade desks and benches.  Nothing is cleaned or kept in a fashion that would attract you to coming in.  Probably because internet isn't everywhere, so you wouldn't need to entice the public to use your spot.  You pay for time and 30 minutes cost 200 CFA.  you get better deals with the more time you buy.  I have also heard you get a discount if you bring in your own computer, but I’ll find that later on.  It all works with logon codes to track your time. 
The way I’ll be washing my clothes for the next two years is keen.  I fill up buckets with water and add a bit of powder detergent.  Mix that up and soak in my clothes.  The clothes sit in the bucket for about 30 minutes.  Next I’ll take a brush to whatever needs something scrubbed of or I’ll just rub clothes together to agitate it like a washer would.  After that I squeeze out the soapy water from the clothes and drop it into a bucket with clean water do get out any extra soap before I hang it up to dry.  Clean water is used loosely.  We are blessed to have water running into our house, but all the water that comes out is full of sediment and has a strong yellow tint to it.  Not to mention all the microbial dangers that lie within.  Water and electricity is sporadic.  Blackouts are almost guaranteed, but it comes back after a bit.  The water can turn off at any time.  I think a Walmart would make a lot of brains explode here.  
I got a little ahead of myself.  So we are currently at our new house in Ebowlowa.  We will be here for the next month.  Then we travel back up to Yaounde to meet up the other 40 volunteers to start PST.  Our group of 9 is actually experiencing a brand new program with the PC.  We come a month early to learn french.  Its a strong French emersion program.  Ebowlowa was selected for us because most everyone speaks french here.  At the end of week two there will be NO speaking english until its 7pm or on the weekends.  Its a lot of work but its paying off.  Our house is solid.  We have a main living area with furniture, a fridge, TV, and propane stove.  There are 3 huge bedrooms and we all get our own bed with a mosquito net.  Our bathroom has two toilets and shower heads.  The shower is literally next to the toilet and the water is only cold.  Thats refreshing before I go to bed at night.  Makes my feel cooler as I go to bed.  Theres also a good breeze and temperature at night.  There are 2 guards at night to watch the house while we sleep and one during the day who also acts as a janitor.  There is a lot more but its late and I need to study french.  We have french from 8 am to 6 pm with 2 hours of breaks, and then there is homework on top of that.  I stay more updated now that I’m logging everything in a word file.  
8.28.11
Today is Demanche.  Demanche for me involves a lot of free time, but I still use a couple hours to study french.  It is actually the one day where we have nothing scheduled for us.  I’ll put a picture of our schedule on facebook so you get an idea.  Right now its viengt heur (8:00 pm).  We just got done watching Robin Hood, the disney version, in our maison.  We watched Mulan the night before.  It is sureal watching a disney movie in Ebowlowa, Cameroon.  
But today started out a little hood.  No water or electricity.  No water because the pumps that move the water are electric, and there are no backup generators.  But I found out that this happens most every sunday.  The electricity gets shut off.  I don’t know the exact reason yet, but at least we’ll be able to prepare for it next weekend.  It also gave insight into what it will be like to be stationed at a rural post.  We don’t have a well for our use at this house.  
I went to market for bread, carrots, tangerines, bananas, and a bell pepper.  Bartering is getting to be interesting.  Most everything is initially double or triple cost for white people because everyone things your are super rich.  Market was also super busy which was surprising because a current PCV told us that no body works on Sunday.  Quite a few things were open though.  I ate 8 beignet for breakfast.  This mama also sells like a bean sandwich?  I’m gonna hit that up tomorrow.  Or you can get beans and beignets.  There was also this very liquid y porridge.  This mama has the stand though.  A lot of the locals eat there.  In fact!  I’m gonna have a bean sandwich with avocado tomorrow. Uhhhhhhh.  
So after market I came back and started French work.  Verbs...... conjugation...... blah.  While I was working we got a visitor.  It was another current PCV named Lauren.  Justin, the initially PCV (Peace Corps Volunteers) we met in Yaounde, told us about her.  He just said he had mad respect for her because she lives in the south, and that is difficult for women.  She dropped by specifically for the female PCT (Peace Corps Trainees).  *Side note, we are now watching a very funny African sitcom/ soap opera.  We only get one station, its called CRTV*  So Lauren dropped by to share her experience and basically answer our questions, mostly the female questions.  What do you do during feminine time of the month? How to you interact or get accepted with the other women?  What are have the high and low points of your experience been?  Lauren just finished her COS (Close of service) conference in Yaounde.  He two years will be over in December, but she requested an extension.  Volunteers can do that for up to 3 month, 6 months, or a year.  She requested a year.  Your extension work is usually in a more professional environment and it add more to the reestablishment pay.  She told us quite a few volunteers are trying to extend.  I can understand why.  If you have a good gig here, going back to America isn't that much better.  I’ve been out of the news loop for a while, but when I left things were not looking too bright.  
After showing her our crib we went to a boutique that sold beer, most places sell beer here.  Castel and 33 are the popular beers.  There are about twice the size of American beer, or 2.5. and 5% alcohol.  They all cost 500 franc.  Just over a dollar.  This boutique was out of a metal storage container on the side of the road.  On the way we past a big soccer tournament going on and some kids we played soccer with some days before.  I was impressed that these kids remembered my name.  I feel bad because I’m not remembering peoples names.  I introduce myself all the time to practice my salutations and common questions.  After a beer we said a plus tard and went back to the house while she went back to post.  Oh, Lauren is hood for what she has delt with in the south.  Its not my business to put it on here, but she is tough.  Much respect.  
Once we got back Will and I went out with Ryan to try out slack-lining.  I saw it a lot at A&M, like many human would on a college campus.  It is tres difficil.  We tied up to a coconut tree and some other tree.  Cool first experience.  I feel it will be a great way to pay the time and relax after french class.  Ryan is pretty skilled, but he said hes been doing it for a while.  There were a lot of spectators, but that because no Cameroonian has ever seen it (most likely).  We came back before our 7 pm curfew, I shaved, and then we started that movie while we were all looking at french work.        
Its like 8:40 right now and I’m pee double oh peeed.  It feels good to be tired around 8 like most humans should.  Or like they did back in the day without the use of a substance.  Another week of intensive emersion lays in front of us.  This one is going to be the real deal.  Last week was just getting settled in.  At the end of each week we are supposed to receive a report card with are strengths and weaknesses.  I need to hit up the boulangarie for some instant coffee tomorrow after class.  Its like 300 Franc for 60 grams of nestle coffee.  All coffee is terrible here.  I don’t care.  I view it for its function, a stimulant.  Bonne nuit por maintenau mes amie!  Du courage!