Final Countdown to Post

Sorry it has been so long – internet was out in Bafia for a week or so and we had the training equivalent of finals week.  Anyway, I hope I haven’t forgotten too much from the past two (and a half?) weeks…

First of all: the mouse is dead.  My feelings on the matter were surprisingly mixed.  I definitely felt way guiltier about killing that little guy than the chicken that I slaughtered with my bare hands.  It was just 24 hours after buying the mouse poison and sprinkling it in the corner that I saw her lying dead on my floor.  I had to pick up her body and bring her out to the trash, all the while feeling grateful that she didn’t die under my bed and start decomposing and smelling.  But I did seriously feel regrets – like, okay, sometimes she ate my food or kept me awake at night, but did I have to murder her for it?  Why couldn’t I live with the mouse in peace like every other Cameroonian??  Another drawback is that now when I hear critters scrabbling around my room at night, I don’t know what they are!  Cockroaches?  Lizards?  More mice??  The not knowing actually makes them way scarier.  Anyway.  RIP roomie.

Secondly:  the defining feature of the past two weeks would have to be Work Hard, Play Hard.  There was a ton of work and assignments but also a bunch of parties of all sorts.  Intrigued?  Read on!

Work:  Last I posted, Maureen and I had delivered our goal-setting lesson to the smaller group of students but not yet the larger group.  Well, we both figured that the first round was so difficult that there was no way the second time could possibly go worse.  Oh, wrong we were.  Our class was a true horror story of a hundred disrespectful students who were not only impossible to control but also outright disrespectful.  It took a lot of shouting to ever get their attention and even then it only lasted for a moment or two before everyone went back to their personal conversations.  They were flat out RUDE, too.  When our French was imperfect, they said things like, “just say it in English!” When they were all instructed to work independently, one student called me over and made trouble while another showed me a teeny, simple scribble which she jokingly claimed was her drawing of her future as a journalist.  At one point we asked for someone to share with the class and a boy stood up and faked a speech impediment, cracking up his classmates to no end.  After him, we called on a girl to read her answer, but when she opened her mouth to speak, a fistful of beads fell out.  They were all basically just awful brats and the experience was not really fun or encouraging.  

Also, a week ago was my IEP presentation.  This was kind of like our training “final project”, where each person chose a topic of Cameroonian culture and had to do a 15-20 minute presentation on it completely in French.  I did mine on Cameroonian weddings and marriages, which was a pretty interesting topic.  I explored different proposal and wedding traditions in various regions of Cameroon, as well as the subjects of dowries, polygamy (which is legal here, if you didn’t know), fidelity, arranged marriages, domestic partnerships, and divorce.  If any of you are dying to know about any of these topics, I will gladly inform you!  Anyway, preparing for the presentation took time and it felt oh-so-much like being back in school.  I had a dramatic(ally stressful) moment when, after hours of working on it and finally getting into the flow, with only thirty minutes left in the training day before I presented, my Open Office closed and lost the whole presentation I had been working on (which I had never saved, obvi).  Just before I had to resort to quitting the Peace Corps and returning to the US, one of our PCV trainers magically found it hidden deep in the bowels of my hard drive and saved the day.  When it came time for the actual presentation, I had never done a run-through and had no clue what my timing would be like.  Any presentations under 15 minutes had to be redone, so I was hoping I could stretch it to 18 or 19. Well when all was said and done, it took 34 minutes as I breezed through the last six or seven slides and skipped a few discussions and the final revision.  Whew!  Maybe should have done that run through after all.  Alas.

There was more work in the past week – an assignment for all YD volunteers to evaluate the needs of Bafia, and a mini-final exam for all of our YD training, so we all had that “finals week” feeling, and since the IEP training has become much more relaxed, with YD training taking the form of making play dough and playing mafia, and language class... well, not happening at all.  School is almost out!

Play:  Two Saturdays ago, I had a PARTAY day!  First, I went with my host sibling’s to the birthday party of Ericka’s best friend.  It was so much fun.  I haven’t been to a ten year old’s birthday party since I was, oh, ten years old, but I have been MISSING OUT.  A 6-year old girl named Tatiana instantly became my best friend as she dragged my too-cool butt onto the dance floor (/ living room floor) to show her how to shake it.  The whole gang – maybe 20-25 Cameroonian children plus four adult Peace Corps Trainees – danced until we were dripping sweat, but the absolute stars of the show were Fit and Ericka.  I was absolutely in love, in love, in love with my host siblings the whole time.  Michael was wearing the cutest little white sweater vest you’ve ever seen, and he was just plopped down in the middle of the floor binging on popcorn for most of the dancing time, until he wiggled around a little bit and then collapsed on the couch for the rest of the party.  Djiebril was just a baller as always in his super sweet, shy, but also totally goofy way.  And Ericka and Fit DOMINATED the dance floor.  I was non-stop bragging to all the other trainees about how no other kid at the party could hold a CANDLE to my siblings as they knew all the dances (coordinated) and performed them flawlessly all while smiling their perfect beautiful smiles.  They’re all so darn lovable and I was bursting with pride and affection the entire time.  I won the host family jackpot for sure.

            Immediately from the birthday party I went home to change into my costume for that night’s Halloween party!  We rented out a conference room at the local hotel and brought speakers and danced (dare I say it?) even harder than at the previous party!  Everyone dressed up and people had some really amazing and creative costume ideas, many of which were culturally relevant – including a banana tree, Maggi cube, Peace Corpse, moto driver, a break out session (of which we have 5 or 6 on a typical day of training), and a bunch of other good ones.  I went as an agroforestry volunteer, borrowing cargo pants, an earth day T-shirt, fanny pack, and sun hat from my dear agro friends, and filling a watering can with beer to serve to my fellow partiers.  After dancing ourselves to the point of collapse (and the point of why does my hair look and feel like I just took a shower), we decided to head to Bafia’s hoppin’ night club!  It was our first time going and it was actually really busy and cool!  Light shows everywhere, a wall of mirrors which was magically clear when we arrived and all steam by the time we left, and derangy* (*excuse my franglais, which is obnoxious but completely unavoidable in this environment.  PCVs/Ts only ever use the phrase “derangy”, never the English equivalent, which would basically be bothersome or, like, heckling.) Cameroonian men who were just a little too grabby and aggressive.  Just when you thought the night couldn’t get any better, it ended in a big heap of cuddles, bread crumbs, and jolly ranchers.  A good time was had by all!

            The following Saturday, I finally followed through on my big sister promise to Ericka and we joint-hosted a little picnic!  We invited over a small group of friends of hers who had trainees living with them or friends of mine who had siblings around her age.  She and I went to the town center together to buy supplies (namely, cookies, lollipops, sodas, rice cakes, and Pringles, which were stale, overpriced, and considered an absolute essential by Ericka).  It was super cute – we played Uno together, danced a little, all reached an inappropriate sugar high after several packs of cookies and multiple lollipops per person, etc.  Fun, fun.

            The next day, this past Sunday, was Diversity Day at the training center.  It was an event to celebrate the diversity of Cameroon but also include some American cultural exchange.  There was food from all the different regions of Cameroon, plus American food made by trainees such as fried okra, macaroni and cheese, French fries, and peanut butter and jelly.  The event began by all the trainees singing the American national anthem and the Cameroonian trainers singing the Cameroonian anthem.  Then the trainers all put on this skit which literally put tears in my eyes, where they all fake argued about different Cameroonian ethnic groups’ stereotypes and then all joined together to celebrate their differences in a heartwarming (if predictable) end.  They also put on for us a fashion show, showcasing styles from the different regions.  There were professional drummers and dancers doing traditional dances from the West and Northwest, and both Americans and Cameroonians performed songs, dances, skits, and talents for everyone.  Not going to lie… I got choked up at several different moments as everyone really did a great job performing and the whole thing was really touching. 

Many people have told me (before and since arriving in Cameroon) that your emotions are heightened during the Peace Corps and everything is just more volatile.  I have found this to be absolutely accurate for me, ever since day 1.  When I feel happy, it is the purest, most moving joy in the world.  I can physically feel it in my chest and cannot wipe the smile off of my face.  And then some days, for no reason or for a stupid reason that can crash into this intense crankiness, where every person and everything about training and every thought or fear or worry I might have is JUST SO ANNOYING.  And then it will swing right back!  Every day and week here has been an emotional roller coaster but never more so than during the diversity day performances.  I swung from absolutely joyful to intensely hungry to crestfallen and furious when I found myself at the very back of the food line, to suddenly WAY too full after only eating a few bites, to just feeling overwhelmingly touched at everyone who put their heart in their performances, and how great our Cameroonian trainers are, and how many people are so, so talented, and how we’ve only known each other for two months but the connections we’ve formed are so intense and important because we’re about to go live all alone in this crazy place where we are speaking a new language and learning a new culture and trying to help people (which, I mean, can we even help people?  Who knows!) and it’s all scary but also exciting.  And then missing home, and people from home, and then laughing my butt off at Elijah and Hannah’s skit that they performed.  So anyway.  Yeah.  Roller coaster!

I think that covers it in terms of work and play, but here are some more things I have to say:

-          I also randomly had a stomach thing in the middle of last week.  Felt crappy, threw up a few times, had a brief stint with diarrhea (on the morning of my presentation, just to keep things interesting!), ugh, gross, yeah.  Feeling better now and hoping that there isn’t anything out of the ordinary living in my intestinal tract.

-          Tuesdays we are supposed to spend with our families doing some kind of integration activity, which, for us, is always making dinner.  The Tuesday before this past one, my mom taught me how to make poisson braisé (braised fish).  It’s a popular Cameroonian dish that I had never tried but heard much about.  Anyway, it turns out to be really easy to make and absolutely delicious!  Excited to make it at post (and maybe even in the US?).

-          This past Tuesday, I finally prepared an “American” meal for my family.  I made what could basically be considered pasta alfredo with tomatoes and basil.  I thought it turned out pretty well and my family acted appreciative, although I’m not entirely sure whether or not they enjoyed it.  I tried not to feel offended when I noticed they all ate half-meals of Cameroonian food as I was preparing dinner, I guess just in case they all hated it.

-          Last week was our community host workshop!  Our community hosts are Cameroonians from our communities who are assigned to help us integrate and show us around when we first arrive.  For many people (including me) they are also supposed to be our counterparts who we work with in our youth development activities.  So this past week all of our hosts came and we got to meet them!  Mine is named Anne-Marie.  She seems nice and also happens to be the queen of Bafang, which was kind of a surprise.  When we were doing introductions and were supposed to share something about our culture, she explained the proper way to greet the chief.  About an hour later, I asked her what her husband does for a living and she revealed that, well, actually… he’s a chief.  Cool!  Making connections!  But besides that, I hope she and I will get along and become friends and co-workers.

-          Today we all went to Yaoundé to get a tour from current volunteers.  I am not sure if I can yet navigate my way around the city at all yet, but it felt SO good to get out of Bafia, and I got to eat ice cream, Cameroonian-version fig newtons, a delicious cheeseburger with avocado, and a margarita (!!!! I think the first cocktail I’ve seen in this country!).  We also had some fun bus rides full of laugher, good conversation, gorgeous “wow, we are actually in Africa” views, and hours of sing alongs.

-          There was this moment a week or so ago where I was sitting on the steps of our house and looked up and saw what can only be described as a perfect picture of what not to do in the US.  I think I’ve actually seen the exact image on a poster on my pediatrician’s wall.  My host parents weren’t home and I look out and see the 3 year old playing with a machete as the 10 year old lit a fire and the 8 year old swung around a bottle of toxic chemicals.  Meanwhile, in the background, I could hear the sound of an axe chopping something (the work of 14-year old Fit).  But here, none of that is bad parenting!  They were all doing chores and helping out with housework and it’s only the cultural context that makes it bad or good.  Well, except the three year old.  He definitely had no good reason to be dragging that machete around.

Little things about my homestay: The last time I described my typical breakfast, it was bread and butter plus hot cocoa.  That was only true for the first couple of weeks!  After a while the typical became a Cameroonian omelet (eventually prepared by yours truly, expert Cameroonian chef!) or beignets and beans, a combination that would never occur to me in the US but is inseparable here.  There is a beignet mama who operates just outside our house, so we have beignets and beans for breakfast up to four or five times per week!  And oh, they’re so delicious.  The first time I had one beignet and felt decadent taking another (as it’s literally just deep fried dough… how can you eat more than one in good conscience?), but by now I have fully integrated and a regularly eat four beignets per meal (much more standard and delicious).  Yum yum yum.

Also, we have these goats.  Two of them.  They’re both tiny and adorable and for some reason the family refers to them as one entity – “it” instead of “them”.  And they even have the same name.  It’s so weird.  “Did anyone bring in Manda?  Where is Manda?”  I don’t get it but it’s just one more lovable quirk of my host family.

Sorry it has been so long and that my entries have been kind of boring.  I’ll try to do better.  Once I get to post and have nothing to do each and every day, I think I’ll be able to put a lot more effort into each entry.  Until next time – when I will be a fully-fledged volunteer at my two year home!  Today I am packing, on Tuesday we all head to Yaounde, Wednesday we swear in as volunteers and by Thursday night I should be settling into Bafang.  Oh, also, my new Bafang address:

Antonia Lloyd-Davies

St. Paul's Bilingual College Banka-Bafang

BP 119

Bafang, Cameroon

Get those letters and care packages flyin!!  The previous address will still work but this one should be much faster.  Hoping to find some goodies in my mail box (other than from you, Mama...).

Oh and happy holidays?  Is it too soon?