The morning was spent repacking and Geoff organizing his peace corps things to return to the East (where Kentzou is). We left for the bus station around 11, the bus was scheduled to leave Yaounde at 12. The bus didn't leave until 1. We spent a lot of time on the old, run down coach bus. It took about 6 hours to get to Bertoua and the ride was pretty uneventful. Geoff said that this leg of the journey is the easiest because the roads are paved and we each get our own seat. Drivers in Africa don't really abide by many laws...lanes are more of a suggestion than a rule and if someone is driving to slow, you honk and go around them. I was definitely more comfortable in the city in a vehicle but the ride was not bad. In the city, drivers cannot get their speed up very high as they can on the country roads. I think that Africans drive the way they speak, which is very vocal and involved. When one tells a story, everyone else is a part of the story telling. Listeners are active, responding and asking questions. Cars or taxis are also very vocal, constantly honking at each other saying things like "I'm here" "get out of my way" "speed up or let me pass". Without the honking, there would be many more crashes I think.
In Bertoua, we are staying at the "case" (pronounced COZ) or the peace corps station. We met his post-mate (the other PCV who is stationed in Kentzou), Julia. She is very nice and accommodating. I can tell that she is ready to get back to the US, however. Her patience with Cameroonians is nonexistent. She has had a very challenging stay I think, teaching difficult children in a difficult region of Cameroon. We went to a shack called Secret Fish for dinner. We each got a whole fish (the type of fish the Cameroonians didn't even know...some kind of white meat fish) which were delicious. Fortunately, I have experience eating whole fish from Ghana so I did not spear my esophagus with any fish bones. The fins were really good, crispy from the fire. I ventured to eat the fish eye, since I'd never done that before. The worst part is the pop of the eye in your mouth, but I accidentally popped it in my hand when I was removing it from the fish head so I missed out. The eye tasted very oily without much flavor. Probably not something I'll do again soon. From Secret Fish, we went to a bar to watch the Germany vs. Greece game. I love that every time I come to Africa some sort of big soccer tournament is happening. Africans love soccer just as much (probably more) than I do.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Last Night in Yaounde
I met the US Ambassador to Cameroon. How cool is that? So last night after Geoff was done with his meetings, his fellow peace corps volunteers invited us to the US Embassy to play some ultimate frisbee with the "embassy kids". The taxi was not allowed to let us out in front of the Embassy, only up the street. We were not allowed to bring in any phones or cameras and had to walk through a metal detector, show our id's AND in order to have even been allowed inside, we had to have been previously invited by someone inside the embassy. Luckily, one of the PCVs (peace corps volunteer) had a friend who invited us all. Frisbee was fun, intense and sweaty. I had to play in jeans because all of the shorts I brought to the country are too short to wear in public and we had to travel a ways to get to the embassy from our hotel. Behind the embassy was a beautiful hotel and absolutely stunning manicured landscape. We weren't allowed to play frisbee on that lawn.. The embassy certainly was a reprieve from Cameroon, nothing looked anything like the rest of the country, which I think is the point. During our game, the Ambassador rolled up in his Tahoe complete with US and Cameroonian mini flags on the hood. He waved to us and we waved back, hence, I met the US Ambassador to Cameroon.
After the game, we (about 10 of us le blancs) went back to Bastos for smoothies and shwarme (sh-waar-may). The smoothies were amazing, fruit in Africa is indescribably better than whats imported to the US. Especially pineapple. Shwarme is similar to a gyro, with meat and vegetables wrapped in a thick pita. It was reallly delicious. We took our goods to a bar to watch the Czech vs. Portugal EuroCup game. The bar was really nice, cushioned seats, flat screen TVs, liter sized beer and a pool table. I feel lucky that Geoff's peace corps friends were in Yaounde at the same time as us. They all had to come into the city for their "mid-service" which is their half way point of service in the peace corps. They had to fill out paperwork, have a psych eval and get medical check ups. It is very interesting to see the different types of people who join the peace corps. I hadn't really thought about it prior to meeting the PCVs; I'd just assumed they would all be similar to Geoff. Three stuck out to me as different. Jack, is 27 and married. He and his wife joined the peace corps together. I learned that you can apply as a married couple and be stationed at the same post. His wife was waiting for him back at his post while he was in the city. Jake (25 maybe?) was very put together. He wore a suit to the bar and was easily the nicest dressed out of all of us. He said to me, when I asked him why he was dressed like that, that people treated him with more respect when he dressed nicer and he didn't get hassled as much from children and people begging. There is a secure social hierarchy here, as in all African countries (and all countries really) and Jake wanted to be on the top of it. He's been trying to get a job at an American electric company here who has a monopoly. He seemed to me to be the type of person who would stay in a less developed nation so that he could be one of the elite. I had never expected to find a personality like that in the peace corps. The final anomaly was Christine, who cared so much about how she looked that we had to wait an hour for her to get ready to play frisbee. She was very particular about her make up, clothes and how her hair looked. For me, if I'm going to be in an African country for 2 years, I don't think I could care about that. What you see is what you get. But I do respect her ability to preserve her American nature while in Cameroon.
After the game, we (about 10 of us le blancs) went back to Bastos for smoothies and shwarme (sh-waar-may). The smoothies were amazing, fruit in Africa is indescribably better than whats imported to the US. Especially pineapple. Shwarme is similar to a gyro, with meat and vegetables wrapped in a thick pita. It was reallly delicious. We took our goods to a bar to watch the Czech vs. Portugal EuroCup game. The bar was really nice, cushioned seats, flat screen TVs, liter sized beer and a pool table. I feel lucky that Geoff's peace corps friends were in Yaounde at the same time as us. They all had to come into the city for their "mid-service" which is their half way point of service in the peace corps. They had to fill out paperwork, have a psych eval and get medical check ups. It is very interesting to see the different types of people who join the peace corps. I hadn't really thought about it prior to meeting the PCVs; I'd just assumed they would all be similar to Geoff. Three stuck out to me as different. Jack, is 27 and married. He and his wife joined the peace corps together. I learned that you can apply as a married couple and be stationed at the same post. His wife was waiting for him back at his post while he was in the city. Jake (25 maybe?) was very put together. He wore a suit to the bar and was easily the nicest dressed out of all of us. He said to me, when I asked him why he was dressed like that, that people treated him with more respect when he dressed nicer and he didn't get hassled as much from children and people begging. There is a secure social hierarchy here, as in all African countries (and all countries really) and Jake wanted to be on the top of it. He's been trying to get a job at an American electric company here who has a monopoly. He seemed to me to be the type of person who would stay in a less developed nation so that he could be one of the elite. I had never expected to find a personality like that in the peace corps. The final anomaly was Christine, who cared so much about how she looked that we had to wait an hour for her to get ready to play frisbee. She was very particular about her make up, clothes and how her hair looked. For me, if I'm going to be in an African country for 2 years, I don't think I could care about that. What you see is what you get. But I do respect her ability to preserve her American nature while in Cameroon.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Yaounde, Cameroon
Bonjour, mes amis! I have finally arrived in Cameroon. I was a little nervous getting here; I'd never traveled internationally before by myself completely. My flights were fine, I slept all the way to Paris and then got to watch movies from Paris to Cameroon. On the second flight I got my reintroduction to an oh-so-missed aspect of African culture: no personal space. Africans love to touch each other, it is a big part of communication. What results from this is no regard for personal space. The older gentleman to my left on the flight took up (or attempted to...I have elbows too) half of my seat with his arm/elbow. It didn't really bother me except for when I fell asleep for two minutes before his elbow kindly reminded me of his presence. Geoff was waiting for me with a taxi driver friend at the airport (I was so relieved to see him) and we went to our hotel. After dropping of all my stuff and giving Geoff his presents, we went to the peace corps headquarters (next door to the hotel) so that his friends who were there could meet me. They were drinking beer and watching office space. Not a bad night on the job I'd say. We then took a taxi to Bastos, a neighborhood in Yaounde, for some street food and beer. We ate pork with some spicy sauce on a baguette. The food was really good, albeit very spicy (which Geoff informed me is mild). I forgot how much Africans love their spice. My stomach hasn't spontaneously combusted yet, thankfully, but really its too soon to tell.
This morning we indulged in spaghetti omelets (yes, spaghetti omelets) which were amazing. The little shop (and I say shop loosely, this was more akin to a picnic table with the table portion replaced by the cook and his stove) was clearly a local hangout and I felt for the first time at a loss for my limited French. I can remember being bothered by not speaking the main language when I was in Ecuador, something I never had to contend with in Ghana. Here, it is not so bad because I can speak French but I am rusty. Cameroonians also speak an African version of French, which fortunately is focused less on grammar than French French. My vocab is pretty good and solely coming back to me but I would be lost without Geoff. It takes me too long to process what someone said and then formulate a response. I've been letting him speak for me, but I know I won't have that luxury in his village (or the "vil" as cool peace corps volunteers call it). In the vil they speak fulfulde, which is similar to Swahili (again, fortunately I can speak a mild Swahili).
We walked Yaounde today for a few hours and then decided it was nap time. I'm not really feeling the effects of jet lag just yet, I think because my adrenaline has been pretty high since I've got here. At lunch, I had plantains and chicken, which I haven't has since the last time I was in Africa. Change is hard to come by, at lunch we waited about 30 minutes for it. Africans run on their own time and since there is no tipping, servers give you what they want to give you and will and do take their time about it. C'est d'accord.
I can't stop comparing Cameroon to Ghana. They are very very similar. Everything looks pretty much the same in the city: bumpy streets, insane driving, stray dogs, vendors, make shift houses. The mannerisms and way people speak is the same, accounting for the obvious language difference. Geoff says that the tourist industry suffers because Cameroonians (especially men) bother white people so much. We didn't get bothered that much on our walk, a few cat calls and winks. One boy, attempting to impress/amuse his friends I assume, latched himself to us but Geoff shooed him. The call the white people LeBlanc, which is funny since that is my name. Geoff's peace corps friends didn't believe me until they saw my passport. There is no end to their amusement of me being legally dubbed "the white". This afternoon we are going to the US Embassy to play frisbee with some of his friends and then possibly meet up with his host family brothers (when he was still in training he lived with a host family, now he has his own compound). I'm excited to go to Bertoua tomorrow, the halfway point between here and Kentzou (Geoff's vil). I think Geoff is too, he is more comfortable in Bertoua as he knows more people and it is smaller. I'm going to get clothes made while we are there and do a little shopping. The next day is to travel to Kentzou (its about an 11 hour total trip from Yaounde to Kentzou) and finally see his vil. I'm realllyy excited for the vil since many of the villagers are awaiting my arrival (and throwing me a party...awesome). I'll have internet in Bertoua but not in Kentzou. The plan is to be in Kentzou for a week and then go back to Bertoua. I'll try to update as much as I can while I have internet.
This morning we indulged in spaghetti omelets (yes, spaghetti omelets) which were amazing. The little shop (and I say shop loosely, this was more akin to a picnic table with the table portion replaced by the cook and his stove) was clearly a local hangout and I felt for the first time at a loss for my limited French. I can remember being bothered by not speaking the main language when I was in Ecuador, something I never had to contend with in Ghana. Here, it is not so bad because I can speak French but I am rusty. Cameroonians also speak an African version of French, which fortunately is focused less on grammar than French French. My vocab is pretty good and solely coming back to me but I would be lost without Geoff. It takes me too long to process what someone said and then formulate a response. I've been letting him speak for me, but I know I won't have that luxury in his village (or the "vil" as cool peace corps volunteers call it). In the vil they speak fulfulde, which is similar to Swahili (again, fortunately I can speak a mild Swahili).
We walked Yaounde today for a few hours and then decided it was nap time. I'm not really feeling the effects of jet lag just yet, I think because my adrenaline has been pretty high since I've got here. At lunch, I had plantains and chicken, which I haven't has since the last time I was in Africa. Change is hard to come by, at lunch we waited about 30 minutes for it. Africans run on their own time and since there is no tipping, servers give you what they want to give you and will and do take their time about it. C'est d'accord.
I can't stop comparing Cameroon to Ghana. They are very very similar. Everything looks pretty much the same in the city: bumpy streets, insane driving, stray dogs, vendors, make shift houses. The mannerisms and way people speak is the same, accounting for the obvious language difference. Geoff says that the tourist industry suffers because Cameroonians (especially men) bother white people so much. We didn't get bothered that much on our walk, a few cat calls and winks. One boy, attempting to impress/amuse his friends I assume, latched himself to us but Geoff shooed him. The call the white people LeBlanc, which is funny since that is my name. Geoff's peace corps friends didn't believe me until they saw my passport. There is no end to their amusement of me being legally dubbed "the white". This afternoon we are going to the US Embassy to play frisbee with some of his friends and then possibly meet up with his host family brothers (when he was still in training he lived with a host family, now he has his own compound). I'm excited to go to Bertoua tomorrow, the halfway point between here and Kentzou (Geoff's vil). I think Geoff is too, he is more comfortable in Bertoua as he knows more people and it is smaller. I'm going to get clothes made while we are there and do a little shopping. The next day is to travel to Kentzou (its about an 11 hour total trip from Yaounde to Kentzou) and finally see his vil. I'm realllyy excited for the vil since many of the villagers are awaiting my arrival (and throwing me a party...awesome). I'll have internet in Bertoua but not in Kentzou. The plan is to be in Kentzou for a week and then go back to Bertoua. I'll try to update as much as I can while I have internet.
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