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!
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