The librarian had told me several times that he was going to be very selective and only allow about 8 or 9 girls to participate, so that it could be a more intimate conversation. But my blanche celebrity status just did not allow this to happen! We ended up with about 30 students in the room, who were encouraged to ask me ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING - to learn about my country and practice English. Well, it turned out to be a ton of fun, because all the students who came actually wanted to learn and practice English. Plus, their curiosity about my culture went way beyond the standard small talk I encounter in village!
Some of the questions they asked, I expected :
- What is your name?
- Where are you from?
- How long have you been in Cameroon?
- Do you have any children?
- Are you married? Will you marry my brother?
- Can you tell me about the seasons in America? (Ah, this one made me nostalgic...)
- How is the government structured?
- How are American schools different from Cameroonian schools?
- Why do you Americans like dogs so much?
- Why do you always say "cheese" when you take a picture?
The last one had me cracking up, because I had to explain that we like it when people SMILE for pictures, unlike most Cameroonians who will sternly stare into the camera for every photo op.
The whole experience was fun for me, but I felt especially touched when the librarian made a little speech to the class about how he wanted them to see me as a role model. "You see how she speaks French and English? You can be like this too! You can be bilingual too! and she is only 23 years old but she has done all these things and come to live here in Cameroon, so hurry up with your studies so that you can also accomplish this much by the time you're 23." It put a lump in my throat. I spend a lot of time here feeling unqualified for the teaching I'm doing, undeserving of the "honorable position" I am often given, and like I'm just messing around having fun abroad while my friends are advancing their careers. He made me forget all that and feel pretty good about what I'm doing.
At the end of the day, after we ate some rice and drank some juice that the librarian generously offered, we took a group picture and everyone shouted "CHEESE" before breaking into fits of giggles.
It was awesome.
Another question: Do you have market day in the US?
ReplyDeleteGlad to see that you have settled, become acclimatized and life is good. Watch out, it will be over before now it.
ReplyDeleteyikes, a lump in my throat now.
ReplyDeleteOf course they don't say cheese - they say fromage, which causes their faces to look so stern
ReplyDeleteGood morning, how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because through them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Cameroon? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Cameroon in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez
Gosh, we thought you'd stopped writing completely, then this morning we find to our delight there are several 'episodes' that we missed! For some reason we have not been getting notifications of new posts.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny how we can view the exact same life events through different 'attitudinal lenses' and all of a sudden discover that what we have been doing has worth? I am sure you are inspiring many people and they will remember you for the rest of their lives.
Cheese!