I believe I am here to stay. I am slowly but surely getting settled in and acquainted with my town and Bamenda. Last weekend I had my first “dinner party” and it turned out really well. As with everything here, it was a hassle to prepare for and of course the cooking took ten times longer than it would have in the states, but it was well worth it and the food was awesome.
Market shopping here is a lot of fun. Each market is different and varies from village to village and town to town. Bamenda’s market is huge and occurs every day (except Sundays). You can find anything there from fresh vegetables, American clothes (that I think come straight from Good Will), plastic containers, pots and pans, meat (alive or already butchered) and so much more. If you are claustrophobic these markets are not the place for you. The experience is amazing but there is no doubt that you have to prepare yourself to be in the right mind set, which is patient and tolerant of others. There are always young boys walking around selling something (generally pens, cigarette lighters and so on) and they are constantly deranging you to buy something. They will actually follow you for a good little while. As you are getting harassed by these boys, each shop owner calls out to you to come in and look and whatever they are selling. The markets are crowded and the idea of personal space is often forgotten. The market in Bali is different, it is an outdoor market that occurs once a week and is rotating. For example, the market this past week was on Friday so this week it will be on Saturday. I actually love going, it is exciting, exhilarating and fun to try to haggle with the owners over price. I would definitely recommend not wearing any clothes that are easily pick pocketed and always keep you purse tightly on your shoulder.
Now, that I have described to you what the market is like. I have to describe what a hot mess Kristin, Tess and I looked like at the Bamenda market last Friday. Tess, Kristin and I agreed to meet at the Dreamland to get lunch and then head to the market. Tess was on her way to Yaoundé for a meeting and Kirstin needed to do banking. After lunch we headed to the market. So here we are, three white girls (which draws a lot of attention regardless), tromping down Commercial Avenue with packs, a rolling suitcase and a cat carrier. As we enter the market it begins to rain (I still can’t believe that I didn’t hear one peep out of Tess’s cat). At this point we decide to just go straight to the meat part and forget everything else. Once we find the meat guys, we have two arguing over who gets to sell us the meat, but Tess quickly squashes that by speaking to them in Pidgin and telling the other guy to calm down and basically get over it. Next, is the ordeal of finding a place to have the meat ground. The first place we are directed to doesn’t work for reasons that are beyond me, the boy just said that the machine was worried. I am still not sure what that was supposed to mean. Finally we find a man who will grind it by hand for us, I had to pay double what I would have for it to be done in one of the machines. It was well worth it because the meat loaf was fabulous, but I have a feeling that I will not be cooking meat very often.
On Saturday I went to get my kitten from Courtney in Bamenda. Her cat had had three kittens and I got the only one that lived. I was so excited to get a cat, not only for the company but to hopefully control the mice, cockroach and spider problems that are prevalent in this country. I already have a mouse but I have not seen it since she has been here (I am taking that as a good sign). While I am once again walking down Commercial Avenue holding a cat I keep having people screaming out to me, “Is your pussy for sale?” or “How much for your pussy?” In the pidgin language, cat is pussy and they love to use it with white people because they know that it has an altogether different meaning. I found it a bit disconcerting but pretty damn funny at the same time. One other thing I should point out is that different tribes in Cameroon eat dog and cat and a whole lot of other bush meat. This is a very big thing in the North West and especially my area. I really hope that I never eat either and if I do, I will never know it!
I named the kitten Pockets and she is absolutely precious. She is into everything, for example while I have been typing this she has attacked my purse, knocked over a glass mug full of incense (yes, it broke) and has been chewing on my cell phone charger cord. She is now curled up next to me dead to the world. On the other hand she does sleep through the whole night with me in my bed. Although she wakes me up in the morning by pouncing on my face, I still love her. She also likes to sleep on top of me or curled up right next to me. I am truly scared that one night I am going to roll over on her and seriously injure her.
Last week, I went with my counterpart and the other two employees of Nkumu Fed Fed for protocol. I met all the appropriate people and was pretty excited about it. I met three or four police guys who all promised to look out for me and other important people in the community. I am looking forward to starting working and getting to know them better. I was also happy to find out that the first deputy mayor is a woman. It is nice that the North West province has such strong, smart women in positions of power. It is not this way through all of Cameroon and I am extremely thankful to have been put in an area that women are already empowered. I will begin meeting all of the women’s groups next week and will hopefully make some great contacts. But for now that is all but I will keep you posted as things develop.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
August 29, 2009
I am not sure where to begin or if I can even do justice to my thoughts and feelings about the past week and a half. I guess I will say that life is, without a doubt, full of twists, turns and plenty of dead ends that you were not expecting. At these dead ends it seems best to stop, re-evaluate and then decide your best course of action or direction.
I swore in as a United States Peace Corps volunteer on Wednesday, August 19, 2009. The ceremony moved along fairly quickly with no major African disasters (except the inevitable rain). The U.S. Ambassador and the Country Director slipped out quickly and left us to celebrate. Our group, decided to spend some time at Chez Pierre, spending the last money that he will be getting from trainees for a long time. We then moved to the Hotel Cristal where we partied till the wee hours of the morning. Superlatives were given, with me taking three in all. I am sure no one will be surprised by what they were: Most likely to be broke in 3 months, Most likely to have the most visitors and Most likely to receive the most packages during service. As you can see, it did not take the other volunteers very long to get to know me.
Stanson, Gloria, Kristin and I left the next morning for the North West. The plan was to spend the night at the case in Bamenda and then go on to post from there. In previous blogs I have described traveling in Cameroon, as stated earlier, it is almost always packed and quite uncomfortable. We all were extremely anxious about how on earth we were going to get to post with our luggage, bike, trunk, and water filter. Luckily, Peace Corps rented the bush taxis for us so there was plenty of room for us and all of our stuff. Just outside of Bafoussam I saw the most horrid thing that I have ever seen in my 26 years of life. A man had been burnt to death. He was laying face down on the ground with his arms tied behind his back. The scene was so fresh that the ashes were still smoking. We guessed that he must have been a thief. Mob justice in Cameroon is no joke and something that I hope to never see again. We arrived safely and enjoyed a great meal at a restaurant called, Uncle Sam’s, where we all had cheeseburgers and split pieces of pizza. We were in Cameroonian heaven!
On Friday, I received word from home about Mark. To this day I am still in shock. I never imagined my life without him in it. He was always there was a smile, a joke or a willing laugh. I will always regret not being there to see him in the hospital, not being able to say good bye, to be at his funeral and most of all not being able to share the grief with all of his friends and family. I continuously remind myself what a great night I had with him before I left. We had planned just to grab some dinner at the Oyster Bar but in the middle of dinner, he casually mentioned that Kenny Chesney was playing at the Bi-lo Center in downtown Greenville, and that they had dropped the ticket prices dramatically. What did I think? At this point the concert had already begun but he thought we could at least make it before the second act finished. I thought, “What the hell, why not” and off we went. This is just one example of how Mark loved life and was always open to doing something fun whenever the mood struck.
I am thankful for all of the memories that I have had with him over the years including; church, plenty of concerts, the Peach Shed, Lander & Clemson, “the cut”, him being the ring leader in my first and only keg party, mountain weekend in Gatlinburg and so many more. I might have to talk Gage into going with me to retrieve the numerous bulletins that are stuffed in the chairs in the church balcony. Another outstanding memory was when I went with him to his formal in Columbia his junior year of college. After the “fraternity party” part was over we headed down to Three Rivers Festival where Outkast was playing. Mark refused to change out of his tux and told everyone who looked at him funny that we had just gotten married and were leaving for Tahiti in the morning. My cheeks were sore the next morning from smiling and laughing hysterically all night. I want to thank you Mark, for making my life better and richer from just knowing you. I count myself an extremely blessed person to have known you.
The same day that I found out about Mark, I was unlucky enough to get mugged while trying to get back to the case. It really was not a big deal and I want to apologize if I needlessly made anyone worry too much. I headed into Yaoundé on Sunday morning and had all of my papers redone and made it back to post by Thursday. I have since been cleaning my house, which at this point seems impossible. On the other hand I finally am finding my two summers of cleaning beach houses extremely beneficial!
I now find myself at the in between point where I am settling in and figuring my way around this foreign country and town. Before I left the South Carolina, Connie started a journal for me that a lot of people wrote in. Christa Emminger wrote a quote that fits how I feel right now perfectly. For now I will leave you with that, “It’s not so much that we’re afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but that place in between that we fear… It’s like being between trapezes. It’s Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There’s nothing to hold on to”.
I swore in as a United States Peace Corps volunteer on Wednesday, August 19, 2009. The ceremony moved along fairly quickly with no major African disasters (except the inevitable rain). The U.S. Ambassador and the Country Director slipped out quickly and left us to celebrate. Our group, decided to spend some time at Chez Pierre, spending the last money that he will be getting from trainees for a long time. We then moved to the Hotel Cristal where we partied till the wee hours of the morning. Superlatives were given, with me taking three in all. I am sure no one will be surprised by what they were: Most likely to be broke in 3 months, Most likely to have the most visitors and Most likely to receive the most packages during service. As you can see, it did not take the other volunteers very long to get to know me.
Stanson, Gloria, Kristin and I left the next morning for the North West. The plan was to spend the night at the case in Bamenda and then go on to post from there. In previous blogs I have described traveling in Cameroon, as stated earlier, it is almost always packed and quite uncomfortable. We all were extremely anxious about how on earth we were going to get to post with our luggage, bike, trunk, and water filter. Luckily, Peace Corps rented the bush taxis for us so there was plenty of room for us and all of our stuff. Just outside of Bafoussam I saw the most horrid thing that I have ever seen in my 26 years of life. A man had been burnt to death. He was laying face down on the ground with his arms tied behind his back. The scene was so fresh that the ashes were still smoking. We guessed that he must have been a thief. Mob justice in Cameroon is no joke and something that I hope to never see again. We arrived safely and enjoyed a great meal at a restaurant called, Uncle Sam’s, where we all had cheeseburgers and split pieces of pizza. We were in Cameroonian heaven!
On Friday, I received word from home about Mark. To this day I am still in shock. I never imagined my life without him in it. He was always there was a smile, a joke or a willing laugh. I will always regret not being there to see him in the hospital, not being able to say good bye, to be at his funeral and most of all not being able to share the grief with all of his friends and family. I continuously remind myself what a great night I had with him before I left. We had planned just to grab some dinner at the Oyster Bar but in the middle of dinner, he casually mentioned that Kenny Chesney was playing at the Bi-lo Center in downtown Greenville, and that they had dropped the ticket prices dramatically. What did I think? At this point the concert had already begun but he thought we could at least make it before the second act finished. I thought, “What the hell, why not” and off we went. This is just one example of how Mark loved life and was always open to doing something fun whenever the mood struck.
I am thankful for all of the memories that I have had with him over the years including; church, plenty of concerts, the Peach Shed, Lander & Clemson, “the cut”, him being the ring leader in my first and only keg party, mountain weekend in Gatlinburg and so many more. I might have to talk Gage into going with me to retrieve the numerous bulletins that are stuffed in the chairs in the church balcony. Another outstanding memory was when I went with him to his formal in Columbia his junior year of college. After the “fraternity party” part was over we headed down to Three Rivers Festival where Outkast was playing. Mark refused to change out of his tux and told everyone who looked at him funny that we had just gotten married and were leaving for Tahiti in the morning. My cheeks were sore the next morning from smiling and laughing hysterically all night. I want to thank you Mark, for making my life better and richer from just knowing you. I count myself an extremely blessed person to have known you.
The same day that I found out about Mark, I was unlucky enough to get mugged while trying to get back to the case. It really was not a big deal and I want to apologize if I needlessly made anyone worry too much. I headed into Yaoundé on Sunday morning and had all of my papers redone and made it back to post by Thursday. I have since been cleaning my house, which at this point seems impossible. On the other hand I finally am finding my two summers of cleaning beach houses extremely beneficial!
I now find myself at the in between point where I am settling in and figuring my way around this foreign country and town. Before I left the South Carolina, Connie started a journal for me that a lot of people wrote in. Christa Emminger wrote a quote that fits how I feel right now perfectly. For now I will leave you with that, “It’s not so much that we’re afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but that place in between that we fear… It’s like being between trapezes. It’s Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There’s nothing to hold on to”.
August 17, 2009
I am two days from swearing in, yes two days. After spending 74 days here I felt like it would never happen. For those who do not check Facebook or speak to my family regularly I passed my language evaluation, thank goodness! So far the best words that I have heard hear in Cameroon were, “You did it, it’s over. Start packing.” I have no idea what level I made, but at this point I really don’t care. I am just over the moon to be going to post on Thursday!
The past couple of days have been busy. A large group of trainees went to eat dinner in town on Saturday night. I had to pick up two dresses from the seamstress (which is another story entirely) so a friend and I made it to the restaurant before everyone else. We went ahead and ordered our food, thinking that it would help when the other 15 people came in. The fact that they probably had to kill at least 10 chickens also factored in. We ended up getting our food at the same time as everyone else but two people didn’t. By the time our bill arrived, our table had been charged for two extra chicken dishes. After some great French speaking by Gloria, we got it straightened out but we had been there a total of 3 hours. 2 of which were waiting on food drinking luke warm beers. This service is very normal in Cameroon and in all actuality probably better than in a lot of other places. I’m not sure how many times we reminded each other that we were not in the U.S. and to sit, relax and enjoy each other while we can.
Sunday brought another interesting trip to chiefdom near Bafoussam. This experience was incredible and although I probably should have been studying for my French exam, I do not regret going. When we arrived, we were greeted by groups of women singing and dancing. Then we were given a tour of the outside parts of the chefery. In my opinion, the best part was when we were shown the magical forest that the chief goes into before he becomes the next chief and when he is ready to die. Along the walk we saw the traditional guards who then walked with us into the palace. At this point, it has begun to rain and no one really seems to care. We continued on, to see the absurd amount of houses that he has for his wives (which number around 100) and then were greeted by even more groups of women all wearing the same pagne. Each group was singing different songs and then the sky let out and the down pour began. We were told that this was good luck and that now they were going to make it stop raining. I am guessing this was the opposite of the rain dance.
The past couple of days have been busy. A large group of trainees went to eat dinner in town on Saturday night. I had to pick up two dresses from the seamstress (which is another story entirely) so a friend and I made it to the restaurant before everyone else. We went ahead and ordered our food, thinking that it would help when the other 15 people came in. The fact that they probably had to kill at least 10 chickens also factored in. We ended up getting our food at the same time as everyone else but two people didn’t. By the time our bill arrived, our table had been charged for two extra chicken dishes. After some great French speaking by Gloria, we got it straightened out but we had been there a total of 3 hours. 2 of which were waiting on food drinking luke warm beers. This service is very normal in Cameroon and in all actuality probably better than in a lot of other places. I’m not sure how many times we reminded each other that we were not in the U.S. and to sit, relax and enjoy each other while we can.
Sunday brought another interesting trip to chiefdom near Bafoussam. This experience was incredible and although I probably should have been studying for my French exam, I do not regret going. When we arrived, we were greeted by groups of women singing and dancing. Then we were given a tour of the outside parts of the chefery. In my opinion, the best part was when we were shown the magical forest that the chief goes into before he becomes the next chief and when he is ready to die. Along the walk we saw the traditional guards who then walked with us into the palace. At this point, it has begun to rain and no one really seems to care. We continued on, to see the absurd amount of houses that he has for his wives (which number around 100) and then were greeted by even more groups of women all wearing the same pagne. Each group was singing different songs and then the sky let out and the down pour began. We were told that this was good luck and that now they were going to make it stop raining. I am guessing this was the opposite of the rain dance.
August 14, 2009
I haven’t written in a while and it’s because I keep waiting for a good story or something to say that will be interesting but tonight it occurred to me that by doing this I am not being fair to you or myself. If I don’t share with you what I am feeling along with the funny stories, what good am I doing? Stage is winding down and that by no means, means calming down. We, the other trainees and I, find ourselves consistently inundated with meaningless paper work, important ceremonies, final assessments and any other possible thing that has been missed in the past 11 weeks. We have been given instructions for getting to post, which is basically the do’s and do not’s, and what we are responsible for. A lot seems repetitive and the rest seems like common sense but if there is one thing I have learned here, it is that common sense is not a shared quality amongst everyone.
I passed my Independent Exploration Project with flying colors (a 95%) and all fives on my last TDA. It was a relief but I am still behind in French and have not had my final evaluation yet. Out of the 15 SED Trainees, 3 of us have not reached our target language level. In the past two weeks I will have completed close to 60 hours of one on one language training. This is actually a great thing but when you are the sole person receiving all the attention, it can be overwhelming and extremely exhausting. The test, which was supposed to take place on Saturday (tomorrow), has now been moved to Monday. The general opinion seems to be, “great, more time to study”, but for me, I just want it over and done with. It is basically like pulling off a band aid, do you really want to make it last longer than it has to?
I find myself becoming slightly anxious about the fact that I will be here, in Cameroon for 2 years. I already miss my family and friends to a depth I could not have imagined, but have never wanted to complete something more in my life. My reasons for being here are still driving me but they do not make me forget what I am missing at home. For me, please take today to be grateful for what you have. Even if it is as simple as picking up the phone to call a parent to say hello, it is a luxury that I do not have. I miss the most obnoxious things but what I miss the most is communication. Although I am extremely grateful for the level of communication that I have here, it is hard to adjust to not hearing people’s voices regularly. A cold drink and clean feet are very difficult to come by and doing anything quickly is near impossible. I love it here but it has definitely taken some getting used to and I believe that will continue for the next two years!
I would like to add a thank you for the constant thoughts and prayers. I really need them and greatly appreciate them! It means a lot to know you are there thinking of me!
I passed my Independent Exploration Project with flying colors (a 95%) and all fives on my last TDA. It was a relief but I am still behind in French and have not had my final evaluation yet. Out of the 15 SED Trainees, 3 of us have not reached our target language level. In the past two weeks I will have completed close to 60 hours of one on one language training. This is actually a great thing but when you are the sole person receiving all the attention, it can be overwhelming and extremely exhausting. The test, which was supposed to take place on Saturday (tomorrow), has now been moved to Monday. The general opinion seems to be, “great, more time to study”, but for me, I just want it over and done with. It is basically like pulling off a band aid, do you really want to make it last longer than it has to?
I find myself becoming slightly anxious about the fact that I will be here, in Cameroon for 2 years. I already miss my family and friends to a depth I could not have imagined, but have never wanted to complete something more in my life. My reasons for being here are still driving me but they do not make me forget what I am missing at home. For me, please take today to be grateful for what you have. Even if it is as simple as picking up the phone to call a parent to say hello, it is a luxury that I do not have. I miss the most obnoxious things but what I miss the most is communication. Although I am extremely grateful for the level of communication that I have here, it is hard to adjust to not hearing people’s voices regularly. A cold drink and clean feet are very difficult to come by and doing anything quickly is near impossible. I love it here but it has definitely taken some getting used to and I believe that will continue for the next two years!
I would like to add a thank you for the constant thoughts and prayers. I really need them and greatly appreciate them! It means a lot to know you are there thinking of me!
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