Hello home for the next 3 Months!
We left yaounde with all but one who had a bad case of travelers diarrhea (something we are all experiencing to some extent). The bus ride, 42 (dressed in bis-cas.) crammed onto an old 1970s ish bus with no air condu and few windows that opened made for an interesting trip. Nonetheless, the ride was our first glimpse of life outside the hotel and yaounde. Driving through the rural countryside, the lush earth and small villages tucked away in the hills, I could only think about how weird it was that this is my home for the next two years. Crazy to go from nyc to this! 3 hours, several road blocks, one FUN pit stop later (pit stop meaning girls go on one side of the road and boys go on the other) we arrived to the grande ville of Bangante. Welcome to the land of beaucoup de boue i.e. MUD!
We arrived to our families just in time for the heavens to open, which it does everyday around 5pm or so. and when I say rain, I mean downpour with thunder and lightning. My mother Sylvie greeted me (as did all of the other host families) and helped me retrieve my bags that I am now wishing were not so plentiful and heavy. My first impression of my homestay mother was of her carrying my water filter in one arm, my bookbag in another and my suitcase (that I could barely lift with two hands) balanced on her head. Not only this, she managed to walk down a steep slippery hill with mud up to our ankles with out blinking an eye.
My homestay family is unbelievably kind, patient, and welcoming. My pere is an English teacher at the high school and my mere works at the peace corps training building (cleaning the floors after we track in all the mud). I have 3 kids in my house. Livingston is the oldest, eight years old that I think is smarter than I am. He speaks much much better English than I do French and is very helpful. Stephen is 6, SUPER cute and also an amazing artist. I gave him a little notebook and a pen to draw with last night and he has already filled half of it, the pen however mysteriously disappeared. American BICs are hot commodity items around here. Lastly we have Esther the four year old. She is also very cute but also very much the baby. She loves attention and doesn’t always know what her boundaries are, but Augustin and Sylvie (my parents) are amazing parents and are very good at teaching the kids to behave and take responsibility for their own actions. According to my homestay dad, they now consider me the newest and youngest member of the family (even below the 4 year old that still wets here bed!).
MY NEW HOUSE. It is a humble abode. There are 3 bedrooms a living room a tiny kitchen (with no oven, only a gas top, and no draining system for the sink), tiny bathroom, and back hall/work area. We have electricity but it cuts out often (usually at night and when it rains). There is plumbing, a bathroom with a toilet, shower and cold running water, but that too cuts out and today I opted not to play soccer with mes amis because the water is not on and that would mean getting sweaty and dirty and having to bucket bathe with my reserve water (in big jugs in my room). Honestly I don’t mind the electricity going out, its somewhat romantic to do my French homework by candle light/lantern, listening to the rain. you only run into problems in the middle of the night when you have to use the bathroom. I have my very own (small) room equip with a double bed, a mosquito net aka a princess net, a desk, about 3 feet of space around the bed, a hanging rod for a closet/clothesline, and a metal trunk to lock up my valuables.
FOOD. Well lets just say, if I don’t start playing soccer everyday and doing hard manual labor soon, I will not be loosing 30 pounds in Africa. Granted everything had been going right through me, I imagine it is only a matter of time until I start packing it on. Dr. Atkins and South beach dieters stay away. I eat carbs for breakfast lunch and dinner. Beans and potatoes for dinner, porridge like dish for breakfast or bread and coffee, baguettes with egg cheese and avocado for lunch, cookies and bananas for snacks, beer, and more carbs for dinner. The other night I ate an entire pot of French fries and half a grapefruit. tonight was way better though, swiss chard sauté and fried plantains. My homestay mom is trying to teach me how to cook with local foods so I wont starve when I go to post. She also thinks that Americans don’t eat enough, Cameroonian women like to be shapely (it means you are well fed). We made crepes the other day and she is supposed to teach me another local dish soon with corn (it resembles polenta). There are not many greens around here which is a little tough, and no refrigeration which also makes things un peu difficile. Most africans generally cannot afford to eat anything other than bulk rice and corn with sauce.
There are so many things to tell!
- there is a muddy soccer field entitled “le stad”. If you go there at any given time of the day there will be kids kicking around a football(soccer) that are happy to start up a game.
- When women wear pants especially jeans it is considered sexy, so whenever people where jeans they are having “sexy time”.
- The malaria pills so far aren’t as bad as they could be. In fact many people have started having sex dreams. Way better than night terrors in my book!
- Pooped in my first hole in town on Saturday It was an emergency! If you know what I mean. It went way better than expected but I did have to beg the guy for extra tp. People don’t seem to use it here at all.
- My family is very religious so I Went to a Pentecostal church with my host dad on Sunday. The service was three and a half hours long and they made me stand up and introduce myself to the congregation with a microphone in French. (everyone laughed at me). I think I might be curiously ill or have a lot of homework next Sunday morning.
- We met the mayor who is surprisingly a stunning woman, and the super fet the head of the town (has a glass eye and felt a little out of a movie). It is protocol to introduce yourself in a village when staying for a long period of time.
- Haven’t gotten my hair braided yet although its only a matter of time….. two girls have had it done (not really by choice) one with extensions (meant for black women) and one also got a rhinestone glued to her tooth. BLiNG!
- On a sad note, had my first encounter with death the other night. A collegue of my host dads died at a very young age (I can only guess what from) , a group of teachers gathered at midnight to take the body back to her home village and my dad was in charge of writing the eulogy speech in english. He asked me if I would mind proofing it for him. And of coarse I was happy to help in any way possible. It was both touching and incredibly sad.
- On a happy note, peace corps Christmas happened again today! Received my machete, a watering can, a hoe, some other kind of digging tool with a long stick, a file to sharpen the already really sharp machete (please pray I don’t cut off my arm), and a bucket. American gothic pictures to come.
- I may have lifesaving cute farming boots, but I AM SO UNPREPARED TO BE A FARMER!
Overall things are going well. Training is a lot of information and homestay is even more draining at times. It really feels like a 24/7 job right now. Everyone has had their ups and downs, today I was crying and laughing at the same time.
Petit a petit (little by little) as everyone keeps saying……
I miss everyone at home more than you know!
And btw no marriage proposals yet!
Ps. Just to let you know. Internet is not easy as are me making phone calls. These two things are very expensive and the volunteer salary is not. I will be checking email probably once a week. I would love it if you called me!
