June 20, 2009

There are a couple things that I know now that I didn’t two weeks ago. A few of them are the following: you don’t realize how dirty your clothes get until you have to hand wash them all in a bucket; I am just as accident prone as ever; Cameroonians love soccer and clean shoes; and the one that is standing out the most to me right now is that learning French is hard as shit.
I have now officially finished washing all of my clothes (and a couple of things twice). To you at home this may sound like a simple task but believe me it is not. It is actually quite a time consuming ordeal! It has taken me a total of four days. It probably normally wouldn’t but figuring out the schedule hasn’t been simple. At first I figured that the afternoons would work best. I quickly learned that this is not the case. The area of Cameroon that I am in right now is in the short rainy season. That basically means it rains every afternoon and a good many nights, actually it feels very similar to a Lowcountry summer.
When I finally got an afternoon that it wasn’t raining, it ended up pouring that night and my clothes took a whole other day to dry! This is also a pain because I can’t wear my clothes for three days after they are dry due to a lovely insect called the mango fly. It lays its eggs in damp clothing and when you wear your clothes they get in your skin and grow into larvae. You end up having to squeeze a worm out of your body (depending on what item of clothing they got laid on). Every volunteer that we have spoken to has told us that it is guaranteed that we will get at least one (if not a few) in our 27 months in Cameroon. Yeah!
Washing clothes in a bucket is hard… you only place a few items in at a time and then you have to rinse them out and hang as you go. If you are doing a large amount you need to dump the water half way through and start fresh. I also am not allowed to hang my personables, I love calling them that, outside. It is a good thing that my mosquito net is multifunctional and that the pesky mango fly will not have a chance to do its business on my underwear or bras! In any case, I am very proud of myself and have learned the lesson not to let my clothes pile up (your back begins to ache from bending over for so long).
I am still as accident prone as ever! Thursday was our general meeting and sports afternoon. I was really pumped about playing soccer and had been looking forward to it for a couple of days. Within the first 2 minutes of the game I roll my ankle (I know no one is surprised by this). By the time I get home that evening it is swollen and hurts like Hades. I think my body just refuses to do anything athletic. It is absolutely ridiculous. The swelling is slowly going down but keeping it wrapped and wearing Chaco’s has been very interesting. I also don’t think that Cameroonians know what ice is…
This morning my gracefulness continued as I was heading to school. As you step out of the gate at the front of my house, there is an incline that stays pretty slippery due to the rain and mud. As I was working my way down out went my feet and down went my ass. Let me add (I want to make sure you have the full picture) that I was wearing a skirt and that my sister, Sandrine and her friend where standing right there watching me. After a few explicative words I got myself up went inside and changed. Unfortunately, I had no other clothes but ones that had been washed only two days ago. Looks like my odds for having a mango fly on my butt cheek and or legs just increased by 50%!
We went to the market today, it really is unbelievable to walk around and try to haggle with the vendors. They immediately jack up the prices when the” le blanches” come walking up. I find it amusing and it is a good way to practice my French. I ended up buying hangers, a scrub brush and a mirror (cintres, a brosse les chasseurs et miror). I had chickens shoved in my face along with a man trying to sell me a goat. I decided that I might end up with a goat for a pet right on the spot. Along that same line of thought, in the very near future, I might go back to being vegetarian!
After words, lunch took two hours – I truly think that they went and killed a chicken for Nick, Oliver and me. I also think that the chicken must have been anorexic! We would have been full if we had been up for the intestines that were served as the meal of the day. Kevin enjoyed them, although he commented they were a little chewy. On the way home it down poured on us, I couldn’t resist singing, “I blessed the rains down in Africa”.