Grub from Grubs

Happy St. Patty's Day and Easter all…weird weird weird with every passing holiday!

First and foremost I HAVE RUNNING WATER IN MY HOUSE!!! Granted there are a few problems: toilet doesn't work, no bathroom sink, water is nasty brown color…but hey…I love it! SOOOO exciting to wash my face from a faucet instead of a cup, and I haven't yet used my shower (the water's been cut 2 of the 3 days I've had it) but am very very excited for my first non-bucket bath in my house! I'll be honest though I'm going to miss going to get water, it was always at least something to do and gave people a better opinion of me as the not so weak white girl. Plus I will miss the bonding time with my dear water buddy Michelle.

Secondly, I wanted to preface this post by saying that I am feeling sort of at a lack of stories. My life here has become just that, my life, not as interesting to myself as you all tell me it is and not something I myself always deem worth writing about…and although I've always been good for the telling of pointless stories, I don't want to be boring to all of you! Therefore I wanted to ask if you have any questions about stuff here. Things I haven't included that you've been wondering about, things you want to hear more about, etc…You can also tell me to stop repeating myself so often and that you are sick of stories about insects or whatever if you feel the need. :>) If so it'd be great if you could post them as a comment to this post, and I'll periodically check and progressively respond to them all. If you don't want to post it on here, email me: kate.legner@gmail.com.

Last weekend I spent a bit of time with the volunteer a bit north of me, we did some research for my soy presentation (which, by the way, has been postponed till next week….of course, but I made a pretty sweet poster and game) and I enjoyed my time with her as I always do. Her counterpart forced me to eat Fausse (not sure how to spell this)…which are grubs on a stick. Horrible horrible texture, to all those of you who say the texture of tofu is bad, eat a grub. Also horrible horrible texture when it gets stuck in your teeth and re-enjoyed 2 hours later…gross gross gross…definitely gave me credibility when I told my neighbors about it though and now they have offered to also prepare me crickets, because oh, I love eating bugs.

Here in Ebolowa, I've started taking Boulou classes with the counterpart of my postmate. I've had 2 now, and they are quite intense. I have difficulty with language always and taking a one on one class in French to learn Boulou is tricky tricky. I used my knowledge to tell my neighbors I was going into town and they were SOOOO happy, cheering, etc…but now they think they can speak to me in Boulou at all times, which causes some interesting conversations:

neighbor: "blah blee boulou blah"
me: "eh?! Ma ké sicolo." Translation: "what? I'm going to school"
neighbor: "Téké. Bleh bloo blah" Translation: "no. Bleh bloo blah"
me: "bye" Translation: "oh my gosh I don't understand anything you say ever I'm leaving"

Other things in village: I was forced into an hour long conversation with my landlady about Jehovah…I was honest with her and shared with her my feelings on things, etc…but she's still convinced she's going to change my mind and wants to sit down and read the bible with me…even though I told her several times I really didn't want to. This was even after I tried to buy her love and forgiveness by knitting her a potholder with a heart on it. Haha… I've also been cross stitching like a fiend, and still finding it awkward that within 5 minutes of me sitting out on my bench on my porch I have an entire gaggle of children standing around me just watching me with great interest. A few days ago though one kid brought over his own needle and thread and was fixing shoes on my porch with me… I have officially named the youth soccer team the Wisconsin Badgers, and my neighbor Billy is checking into getting jerseys made…that say "Wisconsin Badgers", though I forgot to tell him the appropriate colors, I requested one also. The Ngalane men's soccer team had their first game yesterday…I ended up going. It went something like this: little neighbor girl asks if I'm going, I say "sure, a soccer game, what the heck else do I have to do" (I say this in Boulou obviously, haha, JUST KIDDING), Michelle my water buddy screams, jumps up and down with this news, and then proceeds to be my constant companion all night, half the village piles into 2 vehicles, I clearly get the place of honor in the front of the car while about 30 people pile into one van…we go to a village a half hour north of Ebolowa, watch the game, I get mauled by mosquitos, the people who don't know me yell things at me, I back talk, we pile back in the 2 cars drive 3 minutes, get out, everyone gets handed pieces of sugar cane at some random house, I of course get an ENTIRE cane which is far taller than me, we go into the house, I have to sit in a chair, everyone gets a spoon and eats something out of a big pot, 2 minutes later we all run out, pile back in, and off we go!

It was pretty fantastic however since everyone we were with from my village did the utmost in protecting me and making sure I wasn't left behind…it was really really nice and I felt like not so much of an outsider…no matter what I looked like to the other village there. I had a similar feeling when I was coming through the village where the volunteer lives north of me on my way back from Yaounde a while ago. We had stopped at the barrier and I was in a big bus next to the window. I heard someone yelling my name over and over…and way up on a hill next to the road was one of the little girls in the village who always comes to talk with the other volunteer and I. It's such a good feeling to be known by name and recognized like that, instead of just always being the anonymous white girl.

The rainy season is in full swing, and this means power and water cuts constantly. Oddly enough, I have come to look forward to the power being cut around 7 most nights because this means no Cameroonian pop music blasting behind my bedroom until 2 AM and picking back up at 6 AM on the dot. I light my candle, read a book, then go to sleep to crickets instead…quite nice. The rain also means my running has taken a bit of a blow. Now my route choices are as follows 1)harassment on pavement into town or 2)scenic forest with 20 extra pounds of mud on my feet. So far I've chosen the mud, but almost killed myself sliding down hills, and have almost wanted to kill myself from the extra mud stress! Don't take that seriously. I also took a really muddy back road into town one day just because I had heard that that's where it went…I told Obam this and he thought it was hilarious that I would do something like that just because, and he himself had never been down this road (even though it is about 1/4 mile away from his office and right near his village)…I always think it's crazy how people here think I'm so crazy for doing things like: going for walks, finding things outside like cool rocks or whatever, and even reading…
Work has been as usual, I worked with the soy "group" on Wednesday and we finished clearing the field, and now will be planting this Wednesday. I have a meeting with an organization in Ngoulemakong (where the girl is north of me) this next Thursday and am really interested in what they do and hoping (with all my fingers, and toes if possible, crossed) that I'll get to work with them…they really have their stuff together and the woman I've been in contact with is Anglophone. Other than that, Obam's been getting a little bit too laid back about stuff in my opinion, and I created these calendars that I'm going to force him to sit down and fill up with ideas of things we can do…hoping this will spark some kind of work…

Thanks for reading as always and post me questions!!!