Hard to believe that at the end of this week I’ll have completed my 5th month in country!!! Time is actually going relatively fast when I look at it that way! This past week was full of little odd events so it felt busier than most…oh don’t worry, you’ll hear about them!
Work: Last week Tuesday Obam and I went out to en brousse, again with the goal of meeting with a set group of people and yet again being forgotten about. Thus our “work” consisted of once more driving around the villages stopping every 50 feet or so to talk to someone! We visited 2 different medicinal plant ladies and continued to prod them about starting a potential garden, but they were full of excuses as the woman last week had been. It’s slightly frustrating…these women live within less than a mile of each other and refuse to work together (to make their plant collection easier in my opinion) or share their knowledge with anyone to pass it on (I asked Obam and he said they’ll die with their secrets…slightly romantic but what a pain to everyone who could benefit from what these ladies know!) We did convince one of the women to work with us to make tapioca and that was about it! We visited a banana/piment plantation which we had seen before as well. I always do a lot of standing around thinking (kind of :>)intelligently in English but speaking like a 6 year old in French…I always feel as if everyone must wonder what I am doing there. However, I had a shining moment when Obam asked all the guys at this plantation why potatoes couldn’t grow in the South and I raised my hand…ooo..ooo…pick me pick me… and knew the answer!!! So maybe I gained some credibility?! Haha… Lastly, we stopped by to talk to the chief of Obam’s village…who was a really cool guy, we talked about elections in America (Obam felt special because his namesake was doing so well) and Obam told the chief how I was going to cut off all my hair and give it to all the village men that bother me as a consolation prize…
Other random, slightly productive “work wise” events took place this past week also. I made a trip up to my neighbor’s farm…which is absolutely ridiculous. Up the face of practically a cliff to get there (won’t mention DOWN…) through the forest, and the field itself, on a pretty steep slope, was just in the process of being cut down…it looked like a tornado had just come through and thrown gigantic trees everywhere (cut by machete only mind you)…giving me reason to see why the “burn” phase of “slash and burn” is always necessary. I can’t believe the amount of work that goes into a farm like that, and it will probably only be used a year or two at most. I ended up carrying down a big jug of palm wine down…no matter what’s going on in this part of the country, you can always count on the palm wine!
I also was invited by a neighbor to attend an agriculture meeting of some sort (I’ve made it a rule to usually just say yes when invited to anything) but tried to go and couldn’t find anyone…seems to be the going trend! Then a man came by (I’m never quite sure how people always figure out so easily where to find me at all times) and had a big argument with me, telling me I should find him funding from organizations in the states, and me telling him I will work with him only because I’m not here for solely that.
Other random visitors have included 3 policemen in one day…beat that…
House: There was a lot of excitement early in the week, my land lady was around and really gung ho about getting me running water, so I was getting psyched up about it. 3 plumbers later, 3 days, lots of mud and water all over, and she tells me the water will start that night…so I wait…and wait. I get tired and just decide to go to bed…5 minutes later I hear the telltale trickle, and excitedly rise to find a leak in my shower and a massive and growing lake in my kitchen. The pipe in the kitchen wall was leaking nonstop (rapidly)…so I had to call me landlady in the middle of the night, make her walk way down the street to turn off the main, as I stood guard in my kitchen with my trusty squeegee flinging water out the door for an hour. Needless to say, no running water :>( I was so looking forward to actually having enough water to flush my toilet fully and completely for the 2nd time (I did so the first last weekend when it rained enough to fill my buckets RIGHT outside my door!!!) I also had a gigantic spider (as big as my hand and a very quick runner) on the loose for most of last week until last night when it decided to enter my bedroom and make it’s way toward my bed did I make my neighbor girl come in and smash it (I just can’t kill something that large! Like killing a mouse with my hand…) The goat that entered my kitchen has been lurking around (sadly I recognize him), he likes to walk around my house on my porch, leaving droppings as he goes, and relax in the sunny spot next to my front door. He decided to pay me a visit once again as well, but this time walked into the living room from the front door like he owned the place, and looked at me questioningly until I jumped up and chased him out.
I’ve also renewed my popularity with the neighbor kids by sharing my nail polish. I’ve given at least 12 pedicures and an equal number of manicures to children ranging from 1 to 21, including 2 little boys. For which I received some thanks and the compliment “The house of Kate is pretty and her teeth are clean”…thank you small child!
Other: I ran into my supervisor and his nephew in town at the end of last week (it’s always amazing how this happens) and was convinced by them again that they have a lot of work to do with me and we will start making a schedule soon…heard that before too…but it’s always nice to be “reassured”. Lastly, Cameroon played in the Africa Cup finals against Egypt and (don’t tell any Cameroonians) I voted for Egypt with my phone company’s text messaging game…and I won over 3000 CFA (which is A LOT of phone credit …last time when I voted for Cameroon I won 9). Phone companies in the states should take a hint from those here…they wish me a merry Christmas via text message, have half price text messaging in February, and have betting on soccer games…I don’t see how things can get better than that!
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2 comments:
5 months??? wow, time has gone by fast! glad things are still going well for you, i just have two questions for you... 1. who's the puppy in your facebook picture? and 2. can you PLEASE get a picture next time the goat makes it's way in your house, i have a great visual but i think a picture would really help! :)
What's your goat's name? I think it's awesome that you have a pet goat. :)
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