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“there are lizards and bugs everywhere - but, we DO have hot water” |
Good morning - it is a GORGEOUS day here in Cameroon. It rained all night (my favorite way to sleep) so it will be beautiful sunny all day today!
I got about early and have already washed my clothes, hung them on the clothes line (gonna be weird getting used to everybody seeing my panties!!!! hee, hee!), washed dishes, burned my trash, swept my floor and am in the office now so that I can download this week's episode of LOST (thank you iTunes!!!!) and send Rickey this overdue email.
I began putting together this journal entry on Thursday night; however, the electricity went out so that was the end of that. It is rainy season now and we lose electricity just about every day. Once that happens, the email/internet server goes down and when it comes back up is anybody’s best guess!
There are so many wonderful things about Africa. My favorite is just how cheerful and loving the Africans are. Every morning, Hilda and Rebecca (the girls who help in the kitchen) give me a big hug. They think I'm hilarious and just laugh and laugh at some of the things that I say. Jonas is the "overseer" - he makes sure that everything works here at the training center. He is also available to drive me around wherever I want to go. I made a big mistake the other day and asked him to take me to the wrong place. As soon as we were pulling up to the front gate, I KNEW it was the wrong place and had to ask him to turn around and take me back. He laughed and laughed and then told everybody back at the training center -- it's a mistake I probably won't make again!!!! hee, hee! Everybody calls him Papa Jo. Just a wonderful, kind man.
My employees are really rich in personality!!! They all speak at least three languages and most of them four -- English, French, Pigeon (they call it CamFranGlish), and then their native village tongue -- I have two people from one tribe, two from another, and one from a village from way up North.
Joy - you were asking about my bathroom situation -- well, picture camp. That is kind of how I am living right now. I guess I will be here until at least the end of May - maybe even as long as sometime in July. I'm sending some pictures to everybody when I'm done with this email . . . so, refer to those. There are a bunch of rooms with beds in them - a little single bed with the worst mattress I've EVER slept on -- it is plastic and so, as soon as you lay down on it, it goes all the way to the boards underneath. Why even use a mattress???? I guess they figure it's something to put sheets on so that you aren't sleeping RIGHT on the boards! ha, ha!!!!
I have a little kitchen - my room is the only one like that - because I'm staff -- living on site. You'll love the picture of the fridge -- I have to hold it closed with a HUGE rubber band thing. I try not to keep anything REALLY perishable in it because the electricity goes off everyday for at least an hour.
There are 30 rooms total at the training center. At the end of each set of rooms is a bathroom with one toilet and two showers. I'm SOOOOO glad that I brought an old pair of flip flops to wear in the bathroom. It's kind of open - so, there are lizards and bugs everywhere - but, we DO have hot water which is nice because the cold water is SOOOO cold. It takes my breath away in the mornings when I am washing my hair without hot water! The toilets are made a little differently here - instead of a handle on the side of the tank, there is a string that comes out of the top of the tank that you pull to flush -- works pretty well and you never have to worry about the string coming off of the thing that attaches to the handle like we sometimes have problems with in the US.
There is one washing machine - no dryers . . . we have to weigh our load of laundry to make sure that it isn't too heavy, or too big. There is a sign up sheet - so every time you do a load of laundry, you have to write down your name. If you use the training center's detergent, then you have to sign for that as well.
The money here is VERY confusing - but, I'm starting to get the hang of it. It is called CFA - not exactly sure what that stands for -- I know that the "F" is for Franc which is French money. $1 US is worth 540 CFA. It is hard to find the small bills and coins like 100, 200 and 500 . . . but when you go to the market, everything costs like 250 CFA -- the taxis are 175 CFA - which is funny since it's almost impossible to find the 25 CFA coin . . . so, you usually end up just paying 200 CFA since they don't have change. A funny built-in tipping system I guess.
Part of my training was supposed to include taking me grocery shopping my first week here. Well, that never happened. For the first 5 days, people were having me over for lunch and dinner, so it really wasn't a problem. The last meal was Friday lunch. I hadn't really realized this - so, as Friday night came around. . . I have no phone, don't know anyone, I'm at the training center all by myself, have NO idea where to go for food, am not supposed to walk outside after dark by myself anyway, and guess what - don't have a thing in my fridge!!! Oops!!!! Earlier in the week, I had bought some fruit juice from a Cameroonian woman named Cici. She came by Friday night to drop it off. She and I were talking and I just asked her if she would take me to the market on Saturday so that I could get some food. She said that she would be HAPPY to!!!!!
SOOOOO - the market . . . this was an experience and it will take me a while to get used to some of it!!!! That is for sure!!!!! Most of it, I loved - the fruits and vegetables are WONDERFUL here just like in Colombia - although there isn't as much variety. For example, there is only one kind of bananas here unlike Colombia with its 15 different kinds. There are several kinds of pineapples though and ALL are YUMMY!!! and soooo juicey!!! Fruits and vegetables are VERY affordable here . . . they sell things by the pile. There are little piles, medium sized piles and big piles -- the price goes up in increments of 50 CFA or so. You don't get to really pick out your own fruits and veggies so you just hope that the bottom of the pile looks as good as the top of the pile does!!!!! It is very offensive to point with your fingers here - so, you kind of aim your chin at the pile you are most interested in. If they have change for your CFA, then you get to pay the actual price. If not, it's up to you if you want to pay the more expensive price - or do without the produce.
The meat market was the worst and I don't know that I'll be eating tooooo much meat here!!!! Beans have LOTS of protein, and they make fresh peanut butter here too -- so, just like living in the tribe - that's going to be where I get most of my protein!!!! In the meat market, they have big long tables lined up. They kill the cow, skin it, take the guts out and then lay it out on the table. They just start hacking away different cuts of meat. It's covered in flies and who no ones what else. No refrigeration - just lying there all day at the market. Cici wanted meat, so went over and she "pointed out" what cut she wanted from the cow --- wham wham went the very dirty axe and there's her chunk of beef. No way, no how am I eating that!!!!!
I'm stunned at how few cockroaches I've seen here - less than in the springtime in Austin. I think I've seen one in the kitchen when I had to go in there one night and one in my room. And, while the mosquitoes do carry a very potent malaria here - I have hardly had a problem with them either. Definitely not like in the tribe when there would be swarms of them at sunset or by water. The flies here are a problem - they carry diseases in their larvae - I can't remember what it is called, but if you don't let your clothes get SUPER dry after washing them, you get these skin worms that burrow in to your skin around elastic and snug areas. They actually recommend that in addition to drying your clothes in the sun that you should iron everything because the heat kills the larvae. YUCK!!!!!
Getting used to the various customs is going to take some time . . . . there are two that are such a habit for me that will be hardest for me to remember -- 1) you never, ever cross your legs. This is extremely offensive. In Cameroonian culture, crossing your legs is a sign that you feel superior to others. I kept catching myself crossing my legs in church last Sunday. This is the WORST as you are in the house of God.
2) I am a very demonstrative person -- when I talk I use my hands a LOT . . . however, no pointing is to be done here - even at inanimate objects. Which is hard especially when you are trying to ask someone at the market what something is that you have never seen in your life!!!!!! hee hee!!!!
It is against the law to take pictures in the capital city here – lots of government buildings, soldiers and police that the President does not want photographed. As I am able to travel outside of the city, I will be able to send more photos. However, in Yaoundé – you’ll just have to live with my written explanations.
previous travel blog entry
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