The Daily Grind

I myself am interested to know if I will ever be able to describe a typical day! Having gotten over initial frustrations, I am getting more comfortable with my life and the way of things in Batouri. However, no one day is the same. This as you can imagine presents many pros and cons. In training we often said that our day starts when we undo our mosquito nets to get out and ends when they are tucked in at night. During this time period it was definitely true as one of the first people we faced everyday was somebody from our host family, thus French in your face first thing in the morning. This still holds some truth as each day one doesn’t know what to expect. A morning can be great, but an afternoon horrible. Sometimes it even comes down to moments. It’s this constant fluctuation in which I find myself currently living. These are the days when I find myself continually saying, “well, just another day at post!” Here is just a little summary of Sunday February 6-Saturday the 12th, to give you some idea.

Sunday: 4 km outside of Batouri came across an unfortunate accident. Everyone was surrounding the back of a camion (large trucks that transport fuel, logs, etc.) so when I was able to get to it saw they were surrounding three people on a moto that the camion had just run over. Moto was disintegrated and the people died instantly. Sad to say that was first thing in the morning and that marked the rest of the day for me. Another volunteer from the East was in for a visit. We were shooken up about it, but I enjoyed having her for the rest of the day. We chilled, watched TV shows, had fish dinner, and went out for drinks.

Monday: Was up and ready for my first run ever here, but it decided to rain. After taking volunteer to the agence (place where you grab a "bus" when traveling), ran back home in the rain just to crawl into bed and go back to sleep. Spent the rest of the morning at my bank studying french. Spent few hours in afternoon at internet then grabbed some food at the market before heading home to make dinner. Highlight of the evening was talking to my dad for the first time since coming back from London.

Tuesday: Went running for the first time! Intended to spend day at bank, but went to get a sign painted for our girls club so they could use it for the upcoming youth day parade. The Minister for Small Economic Development called me over to his office. After chatting for a bit (not on projects as I had hoped), he took me out to lunch. Upon returning to the bank, found Abdoulaye the accountant and good friend on his way out to do errands. I asked him what he had to do and he said that the moto driver in the accident was his cousin and he was going out to gather death certificates for him to give to the insurance company of the camion (btw driver has yet to be found, he fled into the bush directly after it happened). He asked if i wanted to accompany him and I said yes. It was an interesting afternoon learning how information such as death certificates is gathered here and learned a bit on Muslim beliefs and practices as far as death is concerned. Broke into my cereal that I brought back from London. Its such a treat that here it has become dinner food :) So tired, into bed and asleep by 8:30.

Wednesday:Second day in a row giving it a go at running. En route to bank when I got a call by my anglophone friend Jupiter. Electricity was finally stable enough after being on and off repeatedly last couple days to be able to call a technician to install my satellite! Spent all morning get it hooked. It was a success, but only for a few minutes as electricity was cut again until evening. Went to girls club where this week we were watching 50 First Dates dubbed in french with english subtitles. Dinner at Jessica's was one of my favorites here in Cameroon, Cabbage and peanut sauce over rice.

Thursday: Arrival of rainy season will soon be upon us. Woke up in the middle of the night to a strong downpour. After 8 months in Cameroon, i'm finally starting to find rain on a tin roof somewhat calming and not something that keeps me up the whole night! Spent afternoon getting hair braided by girls in our girl club for youth day the next day. We are not all wearing the same clothes but they were very particular that all our hair be braided the same way. Mmmm, had our weekly dinner of bifteck again. Each thursday is bifteck night with postmates. Bifteck (steak in engligh) is cut up with tomatoes, sometimes peas, and mixed with some sauce/broth and of course this is African/Muslim cooking so the oil content must not be anything but alot! Oh and its served with a scoop of mayonnaise. Go figure. Add some good hot powder they make from dried peppers serve it with rice and call it a good meal. The owner where we eat the bifteck is a good friend, so he always gives us chai tea with it. Bifteck & Chai tea is a very muslim thing here.

Friday: Happy youth day! They love anything to celebrate here. Youth day is big as all the local schools come together to march in front of the local level of the government. Showed up at 8:30, however big mistake as I did not take Africa time into consider and thus waited 4 and 1/2 hours before parade actually started. We marched with girls club. We waited so long to literally walk 300 yards and everybody when they reached where the local authorities were sitting stuck out there right arm out to salute them. So much waiting for so little parading. But this being a fete day meant everybody was in town eating or drinking the rest of the day.
Spent the evening watching a movie with my postmate Jackie and our Cameroonian friend Jupiter. Also good thing about being a fete day, electricity was on the whole day! Popcorn with the possibility of a cold drink, something I don't take for granted anymore!

Saturday:Went for a run in the morning then lounged around as I partook in some TV time :) Good to feel connected with the world in some way. Hosted one of my Muslim woman neighbors Hadijatou at my place for a bit. Been making the effort to get to know more women! Electricity holding so was able to go for internet two days in a row! Since the American, Ed Nader, who owns a local tobacco company where I get my internet, was coming for a visit his employees cleaned his pool. So we take full advantage of that! After that continued with my goal of having more woman friends as I went to a friends house where the woman there showed me how to make eggs wrapped in beef. I have since gone back several times to get henna painted on my hands. They are teaching me a lot about hospitality, even invited me to Muslim wedding! Woman,if not in particular Muslim women, have turned out to be such gracious hosts.

So there is just one week in a nutshell. The days are always different and there are constant fluctuations and a roller coaster of emotions, but what I have learned most from my experience thus far is how important it is to face everyday with a positive attitude. I have lots I could be negative about, but the motto I have chosen to live by for my time here is that, "nothing works, but everything works out." I'm very grateful for the experiences i've had that remind me where I am in the world. Two years in my life will not be forever, so when things are difficult I just try to appreciate what this all is teaching me. So...African hospitality, some of the best i've ever had. Positive attitude a must.

Ah, Vacation!!!

Yes, it is several weeks after my actual return from vacation, but it was very noteworthy as this vacation was to the first-world! As a sidenote, I should mention after Kribi I did make an attempt to climb Mount Cameroon on Christmas. I feel accomplished enough to say I spent christmas eve on the side of it at a altitute of around 3000 meters. However, bloody heels and being miserable coupled with an altogether sentiment that I wanted to revive some christmas spirit/cheer made me decide to tourn around. The descent was just as difficult and it led to any small step downwards (even with my by then acquired walking stick) the slowest and most painful descent I have ever done. Christmas was revived at Bill & Trixy's with great food, christmas lights/music, excellent company, and a christmas movie. All more to my liking :)

Onto London. It was awesome! Having already been too London several times, it was really just a chance to see my parents and get some R&R. I could regale you with all the adventures, but I will leave all that to hopefully pictures that I can one day post (internet here is too slow for that :( ). After living in Cameroon for almost 7 months at this point, it was definetly weird to be back in such a civilized world. More, to even feel like a visitor in this world I used to know so well. I did have my list of things to eat, as I had told my parents I was trumping them on all food matters. Not every choice was met, most unforunately, but I did go above and beyond my expectation where cheese is concerned :). Body may have said slow down a couple times, but I have no regrets. So let me sum this up by saying what was very noticeable to me coming out of my third-world life for a quick breath of air. I was thankful for: great customer service, reliable/on-time transportation, retail-therapy as I know it to be, great food, and anonymity. The anonymity was really the breath of fresh air. Not being watched wherever I go/whatever I do, being called white in every language around here, hearing I love you's and requests to take them back to the U.S., and not just so blatantly standing out. It went by too fast. It was a nice way to enter into 2011, coincidentally the entirety of which will be based here in Batouri, Cameroon. Hard to adjust the first couple days back just from the extremes from which I transitioned. Though, it must be said that it was an easier transition than first thought. Since by then it was a break from post, yet I knew more the way of things when I did get back. London trip = success :D. oh and p.s. to this post. Treated myself to a haircut and came back to Cameroon not only with a real cut but alsot as a brunette!

A week in paradise! um, okay maybe not

Ahhh, vacation, finally! The peace corps requires that we stay at post for the first three months of our service. This helps us in getting to know our community. After in-service training which I just finished, volunteers are free to take vacation and travel elsewhere in country. My travel/vacation plans this month are Kribi (meetings all day with beach in the evenings), climbing mount cameroon in Buea, and (most exciting) New year's in London with the parents. By the time I make it back to Batouri, I will have been a month away from post. I have no complaints as to the timing of this vacation.

So Kribi. I got there a day and a half early with three others just enjoy being at the beach before everyone else arrived. This was probably my favorite time of the week. We found a secluded beach 15k down the road of which we had to wade through jungle bookesque streams and crab-filled beaches to get to but worth all of it! This is where I can say skinny-dipping off the coast of Africa if it was ever on my check list of things to do, it is now checked! It quickly ended as a volunteer swimming close by was stung by a jellyfish. That put a quick stop to things. And yes, I now know several ways to treat jellyfish stings.

As the week continued, it was nice seeing all the volunteers that I did training with as well as being introduced to a lot of other volunteers. Being in the east where we are small in numbers it was a treat. During presentations, we shared pictures or stories of what our different posts were like. As soon as 5:00 came and we were dismissed it was a mad rush to the beach. However as the week dragged on, there was a fair amount of us that were falling sick. Of course the hospital diagnosed them with malaria, since its the catch-all when they are unsure. The ones still sick at the end of the week went back with the medical officers to Yaounde for further testing. The saying by the end of the week was that those robbed were the healthy ones.

And so that leads me into the end of the week. Yes, we were robbed and by gun-point most unfortunately. I share this not to freak anybody out, but to be honest about the experience. However, because of my audience I will be vague in some details. I believe it was caused for two main reasons: we were a large group of white people who had been hanging out at the same beach for several days at this point and it was around 10 at night. 21 PCVs in total were involved. We had made a bonfire earlier that night and at the point when it happened half had decided for a late night swim while the rest of us were at our bar/local hangout for the week at the beach. Three men entered firing warning shots in the air. We did nothing but hit the ground while they went around the table grabbing all of our bags. Within less than a minute it was over. Those watching from the ocean could tell more what went down. They walked away with my purse, wallet, & sadly my camera. We immediately called Peace Corps. When they arrived, the compliment we all received from everybody was how calm under pressure we were. And thus it came to be that it was not with the saddest of feelings that I bid adieu to Kribi.

Now I am in Buea staying with Bill Colwell and Trixy Franke, a couple that run the Buea SDA hospital. It has been some great R&R while I gear up for the trek up Mount Cameroon. Best moment of the week: walking into their house after a long day of travel to see a christmas tree and lights with christmas music playing. How comforting to the soul. Who knew it could be such a mood-lifter or how much I've missed it. :)

World AIDS Day

Probably not really publicized in the more developed regions of the world, but in a country where it is prevelant there was a lot more acknowledgement of it. Specifically at the high schools. Jackie & I started a girls club at the local Lycee Bilingue (bi-lingual high school). Thus named for it following both the french & enlish school systems. We have a pretty consistent number of girls (knock on wood) that have come so far. The plan is that we teach a topic for three weeks and then the fourth we have a fun day. Our first fun day was an exchange of dance. I taught the girls salsa dance and in turn they were supposed to teach me a Cameroonian dance. Were is the important word in that last sentence. There were too shy too.

But let me bring things back on topic. We just finished discussing AIDS/SIDA so when the administration organized a panel discussion for the day they incorporated our already organized plans for the day by inviting some girls to come up and speak to the whole school on the specifics they learned about the symptoms, contraction, myth/facts about the disease, etc. After this, Jackie & I got up to demonstrate to the whole school how to correctly use both the male and female condom. The female condom because of its little use or knowledge of caused some intrigue, but you could only imagine how much high schoolers would get riled up when these two white girls brough out a wooden penis to demonstrate the correct usage for a male condom. Oh how I wish internet access here wasn't too slow to attach pictures. May we all celebrate to be in good health!

Dude...I'm Sick

Well there we have it. In terms of things i've accomplished thus far in Africa, falling sick, check. The whole following post will be discussing my recent bout on the sick side, but know that antibiotics do wonders and restored me to health! I've done pretty well at avoiding sickness as compared with other people I trained with. I was almost six months in. What starting with a little cramping turned into a full blown fever and passing my day prostrate on the counch or enjoying countless trips to the bathroom. While I can't pinpoint what specifically I do know that it was something I ate. [yes, mom I know you are in your head telling me i need to be more careful with food] Hospital exams blamed it on too much bacteria in my system, or officially put...bacterial dysentery. On their records I did have "a little" malaria, but they are overly cautious with that disease and will over diagnosis. PCVs have no qualms about having a "poop talk", but for my first-world friends/family who might be a little more squeamish, let's just say there was no doubt in my mind I wasn't healthy.

So what's a trip to a third-world hospital in Batouri? Surprisingly,not so bad. Waiting, which one comes to expect, on the other hand not fun. Here is when receiving prefential treatment for being white was to my advantage. The doctor is the supervisor of, Jackie, the health volunteer here so he took me in soon as I arrived. Next came lab tests. The lab should open around nine but of course with the Africa time factor nobody came until 10:30. Luckily Jackie was there so I could pass the time with somebody. She was working in the women/children ward and I unfortunately passed the time watching women bring in their malnourished kids. One pays for their own needle and antiseptic swab thingie so that quelched that fear. Now for stool sample? At this point, I had been having horrible cramps every twenty minutes since 3 A.M., so stool sample on command was unfortunately easily obliged. But what did I use for a stool sample you ask? Well among my choices given were to find mango leaf or plastic bag. I chose the latter. Pretty thankful to have received a negative for Typhoid. If you are curious enough, i'll let you google what you've eaten if you test positive for it.

I fell sick with fever on a friday and it was better/worse, better/worse, until I woke it up with severe cramps Tuesday morning and my only direction for the next 5 hours was bed to bathroom and back. A weeks worth of antibiotics have brought me back to health. I have decided to de-worm myself for precaution sake every three months and lets pray/knock on wood there is not many more sickness to come!

Halloween!

I am feteing American style this weekend. All nine of us Easties are in Bertoua this weekend for a regional meeting. During which we each discuss what has been happening at post and address any concerns of the region we want to take to administration. Its refreshing to see all of us together. I get the chance to see how everybody is adjusting to post and discuss ways we are all coping. It helps putting things in perspective, even something simple as having a market everyday. I feel lucky, lucky, lucky, to say I have access to a SWIMMABLE swimming pool (just as long as there is electricity to clean it with)! Only other possibility is the ocean.

Okay, back on topic. Tonight is our halloween fete. Where other regions have more people and maybe can make it a big party, we will probably just be sitting around chatting, BUT some will be dressed up! Me included. East theme this year is Cameroonian. My take on that is food. I will be dressed up as piment (P.MA.NT.) Its a hot pepper here that is served with almost every dish. Did I mention its hot? I'm quick to grab the bowl when it is served on the table so that I can skim just the oil off the top before it gets mixed. People can have spoonfuls of it, I can manage only about 3 drops. Other highlightable moments on this trip: stocking up on some food, eating fish dinner (its a break from eating only beef and chicken here is expensive so that rarely happens), banana pancakes, baked macaroni & cheese, good bread,...okay i'm hungry.

Frustration

So its been almost two months in Batouri now. Except for weekend trips to Bertoua, I cannot leave. It is required of volunteers to spend their first and last 3 months at post. The title for this post comes from the fact its the main feeling i've felt since arriving. Frustration for my language, for the culture and living here, and for figuring out what real sort of work i'm supposed to be doing.

The language will come, i'm sure of that. Slowly but surely. Not to mention the prescence of many ethnice languages, of which i've been learning a bit of Fulfulde here and there. My days usually consist of getting to the bank around 9 AM. I'm really not obligated to work my first 3 months, but merely supposed to observe and integrate into the culture. With this I use my time at the bank merely for French. To study it and pratice conversation. I've started trying to think of work I can do with a SED volunteer here in Batouri. I'm starting a girls club at one of the local high school's with my health postmate Jackie and there are plans for condom demonstrations on worls aid's day. My french is not quite there for business classes and the East is the least-developed region here, which is proven so to me by some mentalities of people I have encountered. This hasn't made thinking of projects and their prospect of success the most easy.

Having just said the East is the least-developed, with that it is also the most aggressive. As a volunteer you are always on the job 24/7 and I feel that here where it is like I'm on American Idol when I leave my house and everybody watches me as I walk since it is not so common to see many white people in this neck of the woods. Buit (pronounced like Bwe), Nassara, La Blanche, are all names I am frequently called as I walk the streets. It annoys me to know end when they call me that stating the obvious, but if I turn and all they want is to get my attention for a wave or to come up and greet me with a handshake thats okay. What has been bothering me the most is the stigma that white people are all rich. And sometimes here even with my Peace Corps salary and living in a house that sticks out like a sore thumb in my neighborhood only proves the stigma true. I've been asked for money, to give them things I'm wearing, a young girl coming to my house to give me her sob story again saying she needed $, and for me the saddest/hardest is being asked for food. Of course that doesn't even take into account the "i love you's." I was pulled into a conversation by a guy wanting just a word. He asked me in English so I relented. As soon as I sat down, he offered his love to me and asked to see me often. I immediately stood up shook his hand and wished him a good day saying that is not the way to start a conversation with a blanche. With that i'm sometimes asked if they can go back to the states with them. I just say "we'll see." It stops the conversation easier than saying no. I've got replies to all these scenarios save for the asking for food, to which i've only been able to hang my head and keep walking. Its frustrating the days when I feel everybody wants a piece of me and even more so I feel so on guard with anybody trying to befriend me. This makes me feel bad when intentions can totally be innocent.

Sticking out when walking around can have its rewards. One day I can feel its a spotlight and the next I can be grateful. Walking home one day my sandal broke and as I was hobbling along I eventually had about 15 people crowd around me and try to fix my sandal. They refused when I said i'll just walk home barefoot. They were starting to go to some lengths when I was just trying to give my sandals away saying i'll just throw them out when I get home. Several pairs of sandals were brought forth of theirs to choose from and of course everybody knowing where I lived the girl I took sandals from just said she would pick them up later at my place.

What really is frustrating is the constant on and off of both water and electricity. Its good when I have them both for 3 complete days and then I know i'm pushing my luck. Which is funny to say that as I'm writing this, yep for sure electricity just went out. I'm getting quite used to cooking by candlelight. I will after 2 years learn to appreciate cooking since all of it as to be down by scratch. One of my many where in the world moments was cooking on my gas stove by candlelight and sewing curtains by hand.

But I digress, while there as been a lot of frustrations most of which probably won't go away, its all part of this big adjustment period. What makes Batouri for me is the friends that I have made here. It helps to find things that make you happy. Ed Nader who I get my internet from has been in town this week. He owns a tobacco company here and comes for a couple weeks every few months. When he is in town his inflatable pool is cleaned and i have taken very much advantage of that! Hot season is coming and I do not look forward to sweating anymore than I am and I never thought I would say but I don't want my face and arms tanned more than they already are.

P.S. Oh i didn't even talk about the frustration of my computer. It has been down since i got here. Trying my best to get it fixed. Looking like i'll have to do a system recovery where i'll loose everything since i'm in middle of nowhere Africa. With a computer broken here its like i'm up a creek without a paddle with a hole in it being chased by a hippo (incidentally which are here in the East and one of the most dangerous animals in the world). After not having internet for over a month, I am finally borrowing my Education postmate Jessica's computer. Crossing fingers next post will be with my own....