Everyone is wonderful on birthdays...I have some damn good friends and family
here’s my post
Another week passed! I spent the whole of last week in and out seeing a lot of other volunteers…which was quite a nice change. After leaving Yaoundé I visited another volunteer and we spent time doing crafts like old ladies while sitting on the porch and people watching. I finally got my cross stitch kit in the mail (thanks mom and dad :>) so I worked on that a lot while she knit…it was great. We went for a series of long walks (and I mean LONG…how else can one pass the time)and explored the forest, etc. She's always wonderful to spend time with and share stories about all the annoyances and happenings since we're at the same point in our service and because I swear she is the long lost twin of my dear WI friend, Jennifer Eileen. :>) She had a small short term invasion of grasshoppers in her latrine, and we spent further time watching lizards on the walls of her house hunt wasps (real life National Geographic, honestly now). She said these things don't usually happen when I'm not there and called me the Pied Piper of Insects,which I'm going to have to agree with. We went to a bar to watch the Africa Cup when Cameroon was playing, things were a little crazy. It reminded me of Badger games actually; when Cameroon scored a goal the entire town was screaming and running around. It was slightly sad to leave and come back to post to once again be alone in my big house! However, it was nice to see there had been no massive ant invasion while I was gone and the second I got home my neighbors got all excited and were very happy to have me back, kissing me on the cheeks and hugging me like crazy. The next night my landlady pulled out a massive jug of palm wine (complete with many floating deceased insects) and I sat on my porch with a whole bunch of my neighbors drinking it, pulling bugs out of my teeth, and hoping once again that cultural integration is really more important than the risk of intestinal parasites. I was once again nominated to the children's section, due to my lack of eloquence in speech, and learned Boulou (the patois in Ebolowa) with the 3 to 8 year olds :>. Learning a foreign language in a foreign language is interesting but the pure and simple fact that I am white, desire to learn Boulou, and can say "Mboulou, on nem voy" (Hello, how are you?) and "mmvoo" (dog) gets people very excited. I also just learned how to say "You weren't raised right" and am extremely looking forward to using it for the first time when the situation presents itself.
My birthday was yesterday, thanks everyone for the emails, calls, and messages. It started off pretty interesting since it's kind of weird to have to go around telling people "hey, it's my birthday today" without feeling like you are asking for something, I didn't really bother with that too much (which I subsequently got yelled at for). It started off with me going for a walk which my two neighbor girls decided to join me for, for the first time (they wanted to "do sports" like I do), we walked about 3 miles, I bought a roll of toilet paper, we visited one of their grandmothers and I got handed a baby again, and then we took a motto back home (4 people on one!). Once we got back people started asking me for things, which here I guess is kind of seen as ok, but I was a little angry (aka: it's MY birthday, why should I give you stuff mentality). So after giving out a banana, a packet of my precious Crystal Light drink mix, and 1/2 a bottle of my cooking oil, I am at the front door and hear a loud crash in the kitchen…unusual. I went to check. Nothing less than a massively fat male goat is on my counter eating my baton (mashed up manioc wrapped in leaves)!!! I had seriously left my back door open for no less than a minute and apparently this goat had a very fine tuned sense of smell… So that was pretty hilarious. For my birthday night I went out with my postmate, her neighbor, and his friend from the university. The friend was informed that he could not hit on me, under no circumstances, with punishment of severe injury and he didn't! Also, since we were with 2 guys, all the other guys stayed away and not once did someone yell "white" at me or say anything to me, or grab me or hit me in any way. It was WONDERFUL!!! We ended up at a bar/dance place and danced for quite a long time, which I have not yet been able to really do in this country (due to the aforementioned common occurrences. I also got a bunch of text messages from people that had been in my training group with me, and 3 of the girls that I'd gotten close with called me (after 11 pm you get unlimited talk time for only 180 CFA~40 cents!!! WOOHOO!!!). I got to catch up with them for a long time. Overall it was definitely a very good birthday, I hand the turning point to the goat. :>)
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Photos of Kate's New House
Kate on her front porch of her new house.
Kate's custom-made bed.
Kate's livingroom.
Kate's bathroom.
Peanuts to eat.
Kate's ant invasion.
boredom jabbers
Hi all. It seems like I've talked to a lot of you recently, so I'm sorry for any story repeats, but it's been good to catch up with people via email/messages/whatnot. I'm definitely in a "I'm missing people a lot" sort of mood lately, so it's always wonderful to know what everyone is up to and that you all still exist!
I'm currently in Yaounde, I came here to get a vaccination, and will be heading back south later today. It's been good to be here with 2 other volunteers from the south and just watch TV, eat pizza, and take hot showers (TWO!!!)...so yeah, not really roughing it right now (or ever for that fact) :>) The past week was the same old same old in Ebolowa...lots of time spent reading, hanging stuff on my walls (i've put up every single picture and old calender page i own now...so i started DRAWING artwork for my walls, i got so bored :>). I even started reading the French dictionary (i do not recommend this to anyone as a hobby) and let's see, I'm probably somewhere around what "armadillo-armistice" (ok, i made that up...but haven't made it past the a's, that's for sure)...i'll let you know how my progress on that keeps up. :>)
I went out to the field one day last week with Obam. We visited about 3 farms that were way out in the bush, so we did a lot of hiking. The guy that lead us around was very impressed that I could hike through the woods, he told me I must be very habituated to their way of life. It's always interesting how they think white people are the...weakest link... Obam always has to defend me, clearly by saying that "she does sports every morning, she is strong". Obam has also started telling everyone who wants to marry me that they are required to sign a contract for a limited term 2 year marriage and that marriage is conditional upon one's ability to speak fluent English (clever...) In order to get to one of the farms we visited we had to cross these 2 rivers...now one was ok, it was like 8 feet across and a log was laying directly on the water, and I had a walking stick. The next...oh man...it was a log just a bit wider than my foot, about 10 feet high, over at least 20 feet of rushing stream. Obam held my hand and we went step by step, but that was pretty intense (especially with my nice new non-water proof camera in my bag, obviously my thoughts at the time, along with, I think i'm going to die)...apparently next time i'm to do it with basket on my head and baby on my back like the women here...we'll build up to that intensity level. Speaking of Obam, I LOVE HIM. He is wonderful...really. (sorry if i already raved about him, but it'll continue) We get along fantastically and he's incredibly patient and generous with helping me constantly. He's also just hilarious, and it's great because i feel like i actually have a sense of humor in french when i try to joke with him (and that hasn't been easy to come by here). We also had a very "in depth" discussion about things like land tenure, slash and burn agriculture, and leguminous tree species. Interesting as all hell, I know. I was proud of myself.
My neighbors are still wonderful (with a few exceptions as I will explain...) My landscaping neighbor guy is keeping up with watering the plants he put for me on my porch, and even made me a gorgeous flower arrangement for my house randomly the other day (see pictures!!!) He's also helping another volunteer in the south look for a dog, which is nice of him. His 8 year old daughter, Michelle, is my water getting buddy...we walk about a quarter mile to get water from a spring and then carry it on our heads back. I've done this about 4 times now and the last time was the first my arms didn't completely fall asleep and feel like they were absolutely positively going to fall off. It's also fun because cars come flying around corners at you, and then get super stunned/excited to see "white girl carrying water" and start honking and waving and making like they are going to hit you, and you have to master the quick move off the street so as to not be run down but also not spill a drop of water (because then passerby will laugh at you and call you weak white girl, you spilled water) I pay back Michelle with things like scraps of bubble wrap (which i explained how to use by laying it on the ground and jumping off a step onto it) or little tacky plastic hair clips I brought from home. :>) My landlady came back from her place in Yaounde for the weekend and brought me this massive bag full of bread (which 5 days later I still have not been able to finish)...and then after she was all nicey nicey looking at my photo album with me she whips out all this Jehovah witness reading material and goes into a LOOOONG spiel about how to read it correctly. And (how thoughtful) she even brought me a bible in english. It's such an awkward situation...she's so nice to me and then she gives me stern talking tos because i'm not as religious as she wants me to be, and i can't be "culturally insensitive" (or downright rude like sometimes i just wish i could be)...so i have to listen to this...and don't know what to say to get out of it! AHHH...I just wish this would never come up here! She also (while looking at the photo albums) finds a picture of me, which I actually thought was just fine, and says "You used to be fat?"...THANKS... I tried explaining maybe it was just the clothes or whatever and she says "No, you used to be fat like this". I changed the subject. !
My house has been great, I really like it and I like my plants and the colors, it makes me happy every day. And I might get running water in the next few months, Obam said he saw the pipes somewhere (i'm not sure where, but i guess they are destined for me and he could tell) But...then things happen like...ANTS. I had 2 more invasions. One was fine, it was just outside again like the last time. But one morning I walk into my kitchen to find my sink FULL (i mean FULL) of ants. Ants in big lines/packs all up and down the counter top...everywhere. I, of course, first things first, ran to get my camera to take a picture of the sink (which Obam thinks is hilarious and mentions daily). I then took out my trusty bottle of petrol and threw it all over them and so began the 3 hour process of ant killing/ant cleaning mayhem (without paper towels or running water this can be a bit interesting...), pretty sure the kitchen will never smell the same again and that I lost a few hundred brain cells with all those gas fumes. I also got bites up and down my legs and back, even one in my armpit?! And those things can BITE, I killed one and examined it pinchers, ow, pain. I don't know what it was that I had eaten and (shoot me now) accidentally washed down my sink drain...but the ants were down the drain as far as I could see...attracted to something. Since this time I do not pour any food scraps or dishwater into my sink, I have no desire to wage the war again. I'm actually petrified that when I return after Yaounde my entire house will be full of ants. Which is quite likely... I do wake up every morning to even find my toothbrush covered in the little benign (that's debatable) ants. Maybe for my next blog post I will have compiled some anatomically correct drawings of the different ant and spider species in my house for your independent study?!
alright, that's it! you know i'm long winded when i can make my blog posts this long and i'm really doing a whole lot of nothing :>)
hope all going great for everyone everywhere
I'm currently in Yaounde, I came here to get a vaccination, and will be heading back south later today. It's been good to be here with 2 other volunteers from the south and just watch TV, eat pizza, and take hot showers (TWO!!!)...so yeah, not really roughing it right now (or ever for that fact) :>) The past week was the same old same old in Ebolowa...lots of time spent reading, hanging stuff on my walls (i've put up every single picture and old calender page i own now...so i started DRAWING artwork for my walls, i got so bored :>). I even started reading the French dictionary (i do not recommend this to anyone as a hobby) and let's see, I'm probably somewhere around what "armadillo-armistice" (ok, i made that up...but haven't made it past the a's, that's for sure)...i'll let you know how my progress on that keeps up. :>)
I went out to the field one day last week with Obam. We visited about 3 farms that were way out in the bush, so we did a lot of hiking. The guy that lead us around was very impressed that I could hike through the woods, he told me I must be very habituated to their way of life. It's always interesting how they think white people are the...weakest link... Obam always has to defend me, clearly by saying that "she does sports every morning, she is strong". Obam has also started telling everyone who wants to marry me that they are required to sign a contract for a limited term 2 year marriage and that marriage is conditional upon one's ability to speak fluent English (clever...) In order to get to one of the farms we visited we had to cross these 2 rivers...now one was ok, it was like 8 feet across and a log was laying directly on the water, and I had a walking stick. The next...oh man...it was a log just a bit wider than my foot, about 10 feet high, over at least 20 feet of rushing stream. Obam held my hand and we went step by step, but that was pretty intense (especially with my nice new non-water proof camera in my bag, obviously my thoughts at the time, along with, I think i'm going to die)...apparently next time i'm to do it with basket on my head and baby on my back like the women here...we'll build up to that intensity level. Speaking of Obam, I LOVE HIM. He is wonderful...really. (sorry if i already raved about him, but it'll continue) We get along fantastically and he's incredibly patient and generous with helping me constantly. He's also just hilarious, and it's great because i feel like i actually have a sense of humor in french when i try to joke with him (and that hasn't been easy to come by here). We also had a very "in depth" discussion about things like land tenure, slash and burn agriculture, and leguminous tree species. Interesting as all hell, I know. I was proud of myself.
My neighbors are still wonderful (with a few exceptions as I will explain...) My landscaping neighbor guy is keeping up with watering the plants he put for me on my porch, and even made me a gorgeous flower arrangement for my house randomly the other day (see pictures!!!) He's also helping another volunteer in the south look for a dog, which is nice of him. His 8 year old daughter, Michelle, is my water getting buddy...we walk about a quarter mile to get water from a spring and then carry it on our heads back. I've done this about 4 times now and the last time was the first my arms didn't completely fall asleep and feel like they were absolutely positively going to fall off. It's also fun because cars come flying around corners at you, and then get super stunned/excited to see "white girl carrying water" and start honking and waving and making like they are going to hit you, and you have to master the quick move off the street so as to not be run down but also not spill a drop of water (because then passerby will laugh at you and call you weak white girl, you spilled water) I pay back Michelle with things like scraps of bubble wrap (which i explained how to use by laying it on the ground and jumping off a step onto it) or little tacky plastic hair clips I brought from home. :>) My landlady came back from her place in Yaounde for the weekend and brought me this massive bag full of bread (which 5 days later I still have not been able to finish)...and then after she was all nicey nicey looking at my photo album with me she whips out all this Jehovah witness reading material and goes into a LOOOONG spiel about how to read it correctly. And (how thoughtful) she even brought me a bible in english. It's such an awkward situation...she's so nice to me and then she gives me stern talking tos because i'm not as religious as she wants me to be, and i can't be "culturally insensitive" (or downright rude like sometimes i just wish i could be)...so i have to listen to this...and don't know what to say to get out of it! AHHH...I just wish this would never come up here! She also (while looking at the photo albums) finds a picture of me, which I actually thought was just fine, and says "You used to be fat?"...THANKS... I tried explaining maybe it was just the clothes or whatever and she says "No, you used to be fat like this". I changed the subject. !
My house has been great, I really like it and I like my plants and the colors, it makes me happy every day. And I might get running water in the next few months, Obam said he saw the pipes somewhere (i'm not sure where, but i guess they are destined for me and he could tell) But...then things happen like...ANTS. I had 2 more invasions. One was fine, it was just outside again like the last time. But one morning I walk into my kitchen to find my sink FULL (i mean FULL) of ants. Ants in big lines/packs all up and down the counter top...everywhere. I, of course, first things first, ran to get my camera to take a picture of the sink (which Obam thinks is hilarious and mentions daily). I then took out my trusty bottle of petrol and threw it all over them and so began the 3 hour process of ant killing/ant cleaning mayhem (without paper towels or running water this can be a bit interesting...), pretty sure the kitchen will never smell the same again and that I lost a few hundred brain cells with all those gas fumes. I also got bites up and down my legs and back, even one in my armpit?! And those things can BITE, I killed one and examined it pinchers, ow, pain. I don't know what it was that I had eaten and (shoot me now) accidentally washed down my sink drain...but the ants were down the drain as far as I could see...attracted to something. Since this time I do not pour any food scraps or dishwater into my sink, I have no desire to wage the war again. I'm actually petrified that when I return after Yaounde my entire house will be full of ants. Which is quite likely... I do wake up every morning to even find my toothbrush covered in the little benign (that's debatable) ants. Maybe for my next blog post I will have compiled some anatomically correct drawings of the different ant and spider species in my house for your independent study?!
alright, that's it! you know i'm long winded when i can make my blog posts this long and i'm really doing a whole lot of nothing :>)
hope all going great for everyone everywhere
Monday, January 14, 2008
Guess who's been productive?!
Guess who's been productive?! MEEE! Well…productive for here.
Last Tuesday Obam took me out "en brousse" (into the bush) to go visit a bunch of tree nurseries and farms/farmers. Clearly he told me we were just going to "see" them, so I wear a dress and sandals and then we end up hiking all over half the country through the forest…it was pretty neat though. I met a lot of people, everyone is related to Obam, and I like to make fun of him for that. My favorite part was this palm plantation (they grow palms like crazy here to use the fruit/nut for palm oil…which was my staple food in Bangangte with my family). The plantation was enormous and tucked back away from the road…it was beautiful actually…just all these lines of palms and moss and ferns covering the ground below, reminded me of Jurassic Park. We walked all the way through it and came out on this hillside that had been completely cut down and was just a mess of fallen trees and brush. From the plantation, as well as everywhere else (my bedroom) you hear nothing but chainsaws day in and day out. I'm not sure if it's picked up recently due to the dry season…but it's interesting, as Obam said "this is truly deforestation". I even got woken up one morning around 4 AM by the sound of an obviously enormous tree cracking and crashing to the ground. On Friday, we went out to Obam's village and started pegging (setting out sticks to represent where the trees will go) in the forest for a banana farm. We hacked off two raffia fronds with a machete, guesstimated 3 meters, cut them, and then used them to create equilateral triangles and place trees at the corners. The definition of "doing what you can with what you have" as the Peace Corps likes to preach. I asked a lot of questions about the future farm, and Obam said they will just clear the whole area in order to plant the trees. Now call me a romantic…but I am not comfortable with this idea…coming from a country where all I've learned my whole life in school is that "cutting the rainforest is b-a-d bad". Especially when I saw this huge Baobab tree that I fell in love with. Which Obam told me the wind would knock over onto a nearby house…if you've ever seen the base, and most likely roots, not one of these, that isn’t likely…add to the fact I've felt nothing but a light breeze in this country to date. So after these 2 excursions I'm starting to get a little bit confused about what an agro forestry volunteer is doing in the rainforest. Agro forestry is suppose to be about PLANTING trees in and around fields to improve the soil, prevent pest damage, etc…and here in the South people are at the point where they feel the forest is doing more harm then good and it's a constant battle against it (it's not a problem in the West where most volunteers are, and the forests are already gone). Thus, not sure how some young kid from Wisconsin is going to do anything somewhere where everyone clearly knows more than I do! Ahh…the internal struggles of a Peace Corps Volunteer.
Everything at my house has been going very, very well! My neighbors are excellent, even the girls my age (which is usually the group that hates me the most here), and the little kids have finally stopped looking in my windows. As much…now they knock on my door several times a day to bring me fruit. One day I got a papaya, 2 little green things I gave to someone else (sh..that's a secret), a cassmangue (I have no idea in English), and TEN bananas! They just didn't stop! Now in addition to my landlord, and the neighbor right next door, the man across the street calls me his daughter. And random things occur, like him and my neighbor "father" coming to my house in the middle of the night drunk and yelling at me for not letting them see me before I went to sleep, and telling me they only know I am alive and safe if they see me with their own eyes…(Luckily, having just left Madison, WII can handle drunken men better than the average Jane). Going to and from Ebolowa and my house can be an experience. You either have to wait out front for a motto by the police barrier…where I swear everyone within 5 miles congregates…or walk in until you find one. I usually choose the later…I like to avoid feeling awkward at all costs, which does not come easy here! The last 2 times I've gotten a cab have been adventures in themselves. First time we turn the corner and come across a motto accident, and pack 4 bleeding, yes…bleeding, people into the cab with the 4 of us already in it to take to the hospital, cab a.k.a ambulance. Then I get picked up by a cab with a lady driving, I'm pretty sure, the first time. From experience, the first time driving a stick…oh what a ride. Today I chose to walk into Ebolowa, to "put myself out there", as they say. I have to pass through a small town called Nubelle, which is just one stretch of road packed with people all the time. I get harassed when I'm in a car…but I decided to buck it up and just walk through. I survived. I've also started running again, and I'm going to do the same route for about 4 weeks until I've seen everyone on that stretch of road and I won't be bothered (so I think). Since I've started running my neighbors and Obam talk about it all the time. "Kate, I saw you doing sports this morning at 6." "Kate, you were up so early." "Kate, you are very athletic"…They also know everything else I do at all times, practically before I even do it. "You left last night to eat dinner in town, and then you came back this morning at 6:30 on your bicycle." In case I didn't know or forgot anything I did on any given day, I have at least 20 other memories to help me out!
Furniture wise…I got a bed! I had ordered it 3 weeks ago and it was finally finished. This is how to transport large items works here. I go to the carpenter, there is my bed, assembled on the front lawn. He disassembles my bed. He says he will go find a cab. He disappears for 15 minutes. I stand on the curb being yelled at by passerbys. He returns in a cab. I make cab stop at gas station to get change for my large bills. We drive 5 minutes. We get stopped at a police barrier (think, board with nails) for 2 minutes. I am told 1).I am white, 2). I am pretty, 3).Would I like to marry him? No. We drive 5 more minutes. Me and the driver hold the bed frame through the windows to the roof of the car. We stop at my house. Driver and carpenter and small boy child carry my bed parts into my house. Carpenter assembles. Carpenter asks “Are you married?”. I need to buy myself a fake wedding ring. THE END
Lastly, on a personal note I know some of you will appreciate, some of you will hate me for, and some of you will wonder who is this random girl in Africa who would take the time to write about this. My feet are amazing in this country…I wear shoes constantly (think, ant/cockroach killers, hookworm/chigger protection) and I have never seen my feet so beautiful. Those of you who know them…you would not be able to pick them out of a foot line up. Alright, I leave you with that! Thanks for reading!
Last Tuesday Obam took me out "en brousse" (into the bush) to go visit a bunch of tree nurseries and farms/farmers. Clearly he told me we were just going to "see" them, so I wear a dress and sandals and then we end up hiking all over half the country through the forest…it was pretty neat though. I met a lot of people, everyone is related to Obam, and I like to make fun of him for that. My favorite part was this palm plantation (they grow palms like crazy here to use the fruit/nut for palm oil…which was my staple food in Bangangte with my family). The plantation was enormous and tucked back away from the road…it was beautiful actually…just all these lines of palms and moss and ferns covering the ground below, reminded me of Jurassic Park. We walked all the way through it and came out on this hillside that had been completely cut down and was just a mess of fallen trees and brush. From the plantation, as well as everywhere else (my bedroom) you hear nothing but chainsaws day in and day out. I'm not sure if it's picked up recently due to the dry season…but it's interesting, as Obam said "this is truly deforestation". I even got woken up one morning around 4 AM by the sound of an obviously enormous tree cracking and crashing to the ground. On Friday, we went out to Obam's village and started pegging (setting out sticks to represent where the trees will go) in the forest for a banana farm. We hacked off two raffia fronds with a machete, guesstimated 3 meters, cut them, and then used them to create equilateral triangles and place trees at the corners. The definition of "doing what you can with what you have" as the Peace Corps likes to preach. I asked a lot of questions about the future farm, and Obam said they will just clear the whole area in order to plant the trees. Now call me a romantic…but I am not comfortable with this idea…coming from a country where all I've learned my whole life in school is that "cutting the rainforest is b-a-d bad". Especially when I saw this huge Baobab tree that I fell in love with. Which Obam told me the wind would knock over onto a nearby house…if you've ever seen the base, and most likely roots, not one of these, that isn’t likely…add to the fact I've felt nothing but a light breeze in this country to date. So after these 2 excursions I'm starting to get a little bit confused about what an agro forestry volunteer is doing in the rainforest. Agro forestry is suppose to be about PLANTING trees in and around fields to improve the soil, prevent pest damage, etc…and here in the South people are at the point where they feel the forest is doing more harm then good and it's a constant battle against it (it's not a problem in the West where most volunteers are, and the forests are already gone). Thus, not sure how some young kid from Wisconsin is going to do anything somewhere where everyone clearly knows more than I do! Ahh…the internal struggles of a Peace Corps Volunteer.
Everything at my house has been going very, very well! My neighbors are excellent, even the girls my age (which is usually the group that hates me the most here), and the little kids have finally stopped looking in my windows. As much…now they knock on my door several times a day to bring me fruit. One day I got a papaya, 2 little green things I gave to someone else (sh..that's a secret), a cassmangue (I have no idea in English), and TEN bananas! They just didn't stop! Now in addition to my landlord, and the neighbor right next door, the man across the street calls me his daughter. And random things occur, like him and my neighbor "father" coming to my house in the middle of the night drunk and yelling at me for not letting them see me before I went to sleep, and telling me they only know I am alive and safe if they see me with their own eyes…(Luckily, having just left Madison, WII can handle drunken men better than the average Jane). Going to and from Ebolowa and my house can be an experience. You either have to wait out front for a motto by the police barrier…where I swear everyone within 5 miles congregates…or walk in until you find one. I usually choose the later…I like to avoid feeling awkward at all costs, which does not come easy here! The last 2 times I've gotten a cab have been adventures in themselves. First time we turn the corner and come across a motto accident, and pack 4 bleeding, yes…bleeding, people into the cab with the 4 of us already in it to take to the hospital, cab a.k.a ambulance. Then I get picked up by a cab with a lady driving, I'm pretty sure, the first time. From experience, the first time driving a stick…oh what a ride. Today I chose to walk into Ebolowa, to "put myself out there", as they say. I have to pass through a small town called Nubelle, which is just one stretch of road packed with people all the time. I get harassed when I'm in a car…but I decided to buck it up and just walk through. I survived. I've also started running again, and I'm going to do the same route for about 4 weeks until I've seen everyone on that stretch of road and I won't be bothered (so I think). Since I've started running my neighbors and Obam talk about it all the time. "Kate, I saw you doing sports this morning at 6." "Kate, you were up so early." "Kate, you are very athletic"…They also know everything else I do at all times, practically before I even do it. "You left last night to eat dinner in town, and then you came back this morning at 6:30 on your bicycle." In case I didn't know or forgot anything I did on any given day, I have at least 20 other memories to help me out!
Furniture wise…I got a bed! I had ordered it 3 weeks ago and it was finally finished. This is how to transport large items works here. I go to the carpenter, there is my bed, assembled on the front lawn. He disassembles my bed. He says he will go find a cab. He disappears for 15 minutes. I stand on the curb being yelled at by passerbys. He returns in a cab. I make cab stop at gas station to get change for my large bills. We drive 5 minutes. We get stopped at a police barrier (think, board with nails) for 2 minutes. I am told 1).I am white, 2). I am pretty, 3).Would I like to marry him? No. We drive 5 more minutes. Me and the driver hold the bed frame through the windows to the roof of the car. We stop at my house. Driver and carpenter and small boy child carry my bed parts into my house. Carpenter assembles. Carpenter asks “Are you married?”. I need to buy myself a fake wedding ring. THE END
Lastly, on a personal note I know some of you will appreciate, some of you will hate me for, and some of you will wonder who is this random girl in Africa who would take the time to write about this. My feet are amazing in this country…I wear shoes constantly (think, ant/cockroach killers, hookworm/chigger protection) and I have never seen my feet so beautiful. Those of you who know them…you would not be able to pick them out of a foot line up. Alright, I leave you with that! Thanks for reading!
Monday, January 7, 2008
I'm all moved in!!!
I'm all moved in!!!
Best news ever!!!
My house is very nice, but very, very empty. I currently own a mattress and a shelf for furniture. Oh yeah; and a plastic floor mat thing, if that counts!? However, my landlady gave me 3 dining room chairs to use, although I almost like sitting on the floor better and using the chair as a table.
One thing I have learned incredibly quickly...my house is an insect paradise. Bug stories always come first on this blog! In the 3 days I've been there I've gained a new pet spider at least every hour. I don’t like to kill them, they are too big to be smashed and besides, they eat all the evil mosquitoes, so we are currently coexisting just fine! Then, I opened my trunk, which I had moved into my house a week prior to my installment, and holy man, I was dumb, I put a bunch of food in there: nuts, dried fruit, etc. Double plastic bagged AND sealed in my water filter...but alas; when I opened the trunk, what do I find but 3 cockroaches (who had pooped all over everything---necessary detail) and thousands of little tiny ants. The ants thankfully didn't get into anything that was still in its original package, but I had a whole bunch of nuts I was saving and let me just say, ants enjoy almonds. They were eating them from the inside out...which was kind of cool to see, but made me really mad and I went on an ant killing spree. THEN...something even more ridiculous. This morning I was in my room reading and I hear my counterpart yelling about something outside my door...I go outside and the porch, roof, ground EVERYWHERE is covered in these big ants, which I stupidly step into while not paying attention; and get bitten on the feet, and one crawled into my dress and bit me on the thigh...evil. It was one of the most incredible things I have seen, honestly...rivers of ants, literally, everywhere. My counterpart found some gas (I'm not sure how, since there is a shortage still here) and sprinkled it all over the outside of my house...it kind of worked.... more or less, I'm just going to smell like gas for several days :^)
Although I was initially a little irritated with my landlord for being so putzy with my house. I've realized that they are excellent people. I mean, they provided me with curtain rods, screens in the windows, and light bulbs...which in this country is pretty much unheard of! My land lords sons get me water...way more than I can actually use in fact. And I just met my landlady for the first time last night and she gave me a big pot (which I think I’m supposed to use for a bathtub) and a TON of peanuts from her farm. She told me they were my new family (people here really like to say that I think) and I have a good feeling anything I need will be taken care of. The other family that lives (pretty much in my front yard) has 9 kids, which can be a curse at times, like when they come looking in my windows when I'm trying to change, but also a blessing, like when they help me light matches (because matches here are ridiculous and I swear created for only Cameroonian use). The flower/landscaper guy I mentioned before really came through...he is in the process of filling my front porch with plants...I think when I left this morning there were about 8!
Lastly, I had to mention cleaning my house...talk about easy! The floors of my house are slanted towards the front, so I filled a big bucket with detergent and water, threw it all over the house, and then took a big squeegee and push it all out the front door...it was fun, and I think my floors would make an excellent slip and slide. Ill have to repeat this process to get rid of all the dead ants. :^).
Love, Kate
Best news ever!!!
My house is very nice, but very, very empty. I currently own a mattress and a shelf for furniture. Oh yeah; and a plastic floor mat thing, if that counts!? However, my landlady gave me 3 dining room chairs to use, although I almost like sitting on the floor better and using the chair as a table.
One thing I have learned incredibly quickly...my house is an insect paradise. Bug stories always come first on this blog! In the 3 days I've been there I've gained a new pet spider at least every hour. I don’t like to kill them, they are too big to be smashed and besides, they eat all the evil mosquitoes, so we are currently coexisting just fine! Then, I opened my trunk, which I had moved into my house a week prior to my installment, and holy man, I was dumb, I put a bunch of food in there: nuts, dried fruit, etc. Double plastic bagged AND sealed in my water filter...but alas; when I opened the trunk, what do I find but 3 cockroaches (who had pooped all over everything---necessary detail) and thousands of little tiny ants. The ants thankfully didn't get into anything that was still in its original package, but I had a whole bunch of nuts I was saving and let me just say, ants enjoy almonds. They were eating them from the inside out...which was kind of cool to see, but made me really mad and I went on an ant killing spree. THEN...something even more ridiculous. This morning I was in my room reading and I hear my counterpart yelling about something outside my door...I go outside and the porch, roof, ground EVERYWHERE is covered in these big ants, which I stupidly step into while not paying attention; and get bitten on the feet, and one crawled into my dress and bit me on the thigh...evil. It was one of the most incredible things I have seen, honestly...rivers of ants, literally, everywhere. My counterpart found some gas (I'm not sure how, since there is a shortage still here) and sprinkled it all over the outside of my house...it kind of worked.... more or less, I'm just going to smell like gas for several days :^)
Although I was initially a little irritated with my landlord for being so putzy with my house. I've realized that they are excellent people. I mean, they provided me with curtain rods, screens in the windows, and light bulbs...which in this country is pretty much unheard of! My land lords sons get me water...way more than I can actually use in fact. And I just met my landlady for the first time last night and she gave me a big pot (which I think I’m supposed to use for a bathtub) and a TON of peanuts from her farm. She told me they were my new family (people here really like to say that I think) and I have a good feeling anything I need will be taken care of. The other family that lives (pretty much in my front yard) has 9 kids, which can be a curse at times, like when they come looking in my windows when I'm trying to change, but also a blessing, like when they help me light matches (because matches here are ridiculous and I swear created for only Cameroonian use). The flower/landscaper guy I mentioned before really came through...he is in the process of filling my front porch with plants...I think when I left this morning there were about 8!
Lastly, I had to mention cleaning my house...talk about easy! The floors of my house are slanted towards the front, so I filled a big bucket with detergent and water, threw it all over the house, and then took a big squeegee and push it all out the front door...it was fun, and I think my floors would make an excellent slip and slide. Ill have to repeat this process to get rid of all the dead ants. :^).
Love, Kate
Thursday, January 3, 2008
"Bonne Année!!!"
Happy New Year!!!!
Or as they say here "Bonne Année!!!"
Can’t believe it's already 2008, hey, I return in 2009...time is flying no?
This past week has been relatively low key (aka: no work!) but it's expected here around the holidays, no one does much of anything! I spent New Years with fellow volunteers and had a wonderful time. We hung out with a volunteer's counterpart who is 25 and absolutely hilarious, and we had some of the most in depth conversations I've had in French thus far (read: politics, history, perceptions of other cultures...). We ended up attending a wedding, where we were for the New Year's countdown. This was my favorite wedding I have been to thus far, since we only did the reception part of it, we just ate and danced. Playing token white people at anything official in Cameroon we were the most popular people there: having a camera to take pictures, being the most awkward dancers. After New Year's Day I left Ebolowa to come to Cameroon to have a dentist appointment. Everything went fine and the dentist spoke English, which was kind of a relief to me. I don't know too many words to say "Hi, I chipped my tooth, I think I have a cavity, my gums hurt...etc...". Ah French vocabulary...everything turned out well, she sanded my tooth and then had me come to her office so we could "chat"...and imagine what was comes flying down the wall, under the desk and at my feet...a cockroach!!! Seriously, these guys love me, everywhere I go.
Other things: I was told that I smile too much at all the wrong times...and I thought people here were just rude a lot...apparently I'm just too nice! I had to describe how Americans are taught to smile and brush things off so as to not get upset and display anger to people we don't know very well. This wasn't understood and I was told that for people to take me seriously I need to stop being so smiley...I don't want to! :>) Ha-ha
The volunteers who come to shop in Ebolowa, and I have become friends with a lot of the random people in the market...it's kinda nice...2 of the girls got gifts, and one guy got me a gas bottle for my stove for about 10 bucks less than the going rate...good connections! It's crazy how even in a larger city like Ebolowa so many people know our names already...and aside from the "la blanche, le white, and ntangyan" (all terms for white person) that I get called several times a day, Kate is now being added in, which is nice.
I started going for walks around my post mate’s place right before it gets dark (the only relatively cool time of the day) and had a pretty wonderful time when I got accompanied by 2 of the neighborhood kids. I'm not sure who started it, but we spent 45 minutes showing each other all the tricks one can do with their body: cross your eyes, wiggle your ears, spread your fingers apart keeping the outside two together...etc... You would be AMAZED at the number of thing Cameroonians do not know how to do...cross their eyes?! I spent at least 2 years of my childhood doing that alone.
My counterpart is getting excited to start working, which makes me happy...since all we've done thus far even slightly related to work is go visit the Prefet and the Governor's office. When I return to Ebolowa I hope to have him help me finish moving into my house and then do nothing but productive things for...at least a day...big goal, big goals, got to reach high. He did come over one day and scold me for not telling him I was moving my stuff over the first time, he told me it bothered him very much....whoops. He then invited me and 2 other volunteers out for drinks and that was the longest I've ever talked to him for. He's such a cute old guy, and he made me start thinking. He said if I got a dog, he would take care of it for me when I left. I WANT a dog...a constant friend and something living to sleep next to my bed that I trust to help me avoid malaria medicine paranoia...tempting, tempting...I'm going to have to evaluate how Obam cares for animals (all I know so far is he taunts the monkey in the cage outside my house...not a good start Obam...)
Alright, HOPE HOPE HOPE I move in tomorrow...PLEEEEAAASE!!!!
Hope everyone had a great new year! Kate
Or as they say here "Bonne Année!!!"
Can’t believe it's already 2008, hey, I return in 2009...time is flying no?
This past week has been relatively low key (aka: no work!) but it's expected here around the holidays, no one does much of anything! I spent New Years with fellow volunteers and had a wonderful time. We hung out with a volunteer's counterpart who is 25 and absolutely hilarious, and we had some of the most in depth conversations I've had in French thus far (read: politics, history, perceptions of other cultures...). We ended up attending a wedding, where we were for the New Year's countdown. This was my favorite wedding I have been to thus far, since we only did the reception part of it, we just ate and danced. Playing token white people at anything official in Cameroon we were the most popular people there: having a camera to take pictures, being the most awkward dancers. After New Year's Day I left Ebolowa to come to Cameroon to have a dentist appointment. Everything went fine and the dentist spoke English, which was kind of a relief to me. I don't know too many words to say "Hi, I chipped my tooth, I think I have a cavity, my gums hurt...etc...". Ah French vocabulary...everything turned out well, she sanded my tooth and then had me come to her office so we could "chat"...and imagine what was comes flying down the wall, under the desk and at my feet...a cockroach!!! Seriously, these guys love me, everywhere I go.
Other things: I was told that I smile too much at all the wrong times...and I thought people here were just rude a lot...apparently I'm just too nice! I had to describe how Americans are taught to smile and brush things off so as to not get upset and display anger to people we don't know very well. This wasn't understood and I was told that for people to take me seriously I need to stop being so smiley...I don't want to! :>) Ha-ha
The volunteers who come to shop in Ebolowa, and I have become friends with a lot of the random people in the market...it's kinda nice...2 of the girls got gifts, and one guy got me a gas bottle for my stove for about 10 bucks less than the going rate...good connections! It's crazy how even in a larger city like Ebolowa so many people know our names already...and aside from the "la blanche, le white, and ntangyan" (all terms for white person) that I get called several times a day, Kate is now being added in, which is nice.
I started going for walks around my post mate’s place right before it gets dark (the only relatively cool time of the day) and had a pretty wonderful time when I got accompanied by 2 of the neighborhood kids. I'm not sure who started it, but we spent 45 minutes showing each other all the tricks one can do with their body: cross your eyes, wiggle your ears, spread your fingers apart keeping the outside two together...etc... You would be AMAZED at the number of thing Cameroonians do not know how to do...cross their eyes?! I spent at least 2 years of my childhood doing that alone.
My counterpart is getting excited to start working, which makes me happy...since all we've done thus far even slightly related to work is go visit the Prefet and the Governor's office. When I return to Ebolowa I hope to have him help me finish moving into my house and then do nothing but productive things for...at least a day...big goal, big goals, got to reach high. He did come over one day and scold me for not telling him I was moving my stuff over the first time, he told me it bothered him very much....whoops. He then invited me and 2 other volunteers out for drinks and that was the longest I've ever talked to him for. He's such a cute old guy, and he made me start thinking. He said if I got a dog, he would take care of it for me when I left. I WANT a dog...a constant friend and something living to sleep next to my bed that I trust to help me avoid malaria medicine paranoia...tempting, tempting...I'm going to have to evaluate how Obam cares for animals (all I know so far is he taunts the monkey in the cage outside my house...not a good start Obam...)
Alright, HOPE HOPE HOPE I move in tomorrow...PLEEEEAAASE!!!!
Hope everyone had a great new year! Kate
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Christmas in Cameroon
Before anything else let me wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, wishing I could be there to bake you all cookies and decorate gaudily and wear Christmas socks and knit mittens…thinking of everyone, very often. Well…let me qualify this blog post by saying that I have had quite the streak of bad luck in the past two weeks and am a little bit…shall we say…displeased with all that has transpired. Christmas here is apparently one of the most dangerous times of year because all the kids are home from school with nothing to do, and lots of crimes take place. So I was told, and have begun to witness…
I think I complained enough about my house situation throughout the past few weeks, but I did get my keys today and am told I will possibly be able to move in tomorrow…however tomorrow being Christmas eve day it may be a little tricky. BUT my house is hopefully finished.
Secondly, 2 days ago my postmate, myself, and 2 Cameroonian friends were out for the night…we went to a bar, had one drink and went home around 10 pm. I went via motto with the Cameroonian girl but my postmate wasn't feeling well so decided to walk home with the guy, her neighbor and close friend. They got to the lake in town and were approached by 5 young guys with machetes and knives! The guy she was with tried to tell them to back down but they weren't leaving so he yelled for my postmate to run. She took off, but was wearing highheels and didn't get very far before they grabbed her shirt sleeve and demanded that they give them her cell phone, which was pretty much all she had with her. At this point the guy friend had reached the nearby town hall and was coming quickly back with a night guard…so my postmate yanked away and took off running again and by this point the guard was close enough, so the 5 guys took off the other direction. By the time she got home she was a little shaken up but the adrenaline was still pumping and since she was totally unharmed everything ended up well enough. They went back the next day and spoke with the police, and they found a knife down by the lake that the guys must have tried to stash… So a little scary, eh?
Thirdly, SIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK. And then this…last night after talking to my parents on the phone, my battery was dead so I plugged my phone in to charge in the front room. I went to bed and my postmate and her friend were in the living room. The light in the front room got left on until about 4 am, when my postmate went to bed…and sometime before then someone somehow from the street THROUGH the window (bars, screen, window panes and curtain) noticed my phone plugged into the wall, hooked it SOMEHOW and pulled it through and took off with it! I woke up this morning to see the charger still plugged into the wall, with the phone nowhere to be found. We attempted to call it, but the SIM card (all the info for the phone) had already been removed and the number was no longer in service. This is also after I JUST bought credit for my phone about 2 hours before I went to sleep. So (here's my list of negatives before I do the positive…bad news first because then only the good sticks in your mind)…due to the fact I'm trying to move, I have absolutely nothing for my house, I have no income, I'm not to keen on the idea of having to spend another 50 bucks I don't have to buy a new phone…this is a lot of money here. Add to the fact it's Christmas time and no stores are open to do this in the first place…But the thing that makes me the saddest of everything is that my family is suppose to call on Christmas eve, and I will most likely not have a phone or anyway to get in touch with them. I know this is long and rambling, and nothing but a list of my frustrations…but what a Christmas. :>( I know things will turn around…first you step in shit, then you fall, and roll around in it a bit before you're able to realize how dirty you are and get up and wash it all off. Moving to my FINISHED house will be a very positive thing and from that point on I'll be able to start getting my things in order and actually start to do some productive work, which I am very excited to do, I get my new camera soon, I have a cross stitch kit coming in the mail (what could be better, right?), and today I ate some M&Ms…so with the light at the end of the tunnel…bring it Cameroon. I'm not posting this till after Christmas…that way it's not TOO much of a downer and by that point everything will hopefully have changed!
Alright, I decided to just leave everything I wrote last time and add on, it's the day after Christmas now. Everything with my phone got straightened out, my postmate was in Yaounde, got me a new phone, lent me the money for now, and spent a lot of time to get me the same number and had her neighbor bring it back to me, and I even got it a few hours before the family phone call!!! So that went about as well as it could have, AND my phone is blue now woohoo The other volunteer who lives 45 min away came down and spent Christmas eve and Christmas day here with me, and she knit ME a pot holder…which was exciting. We made no-bake cookies (no oven required!) and watched movies on her laptop. My postmate's neighbor even brought us some of the Christmas dinner she had made. This morning we decided to go into town and get my mattress and a shelf for my clothes and then take all my stuff (trunk, backpack, and other small bags) out to my house. It's an interesting process hailing a taxi and trying to explain that you need to take this here, get this other stuff, then take all this stuff to the other side of the city…but we got this older guy who drove nice and slow and helped us carry everything…and I don't think ripped me off too bad. My house now has some glass in a few of the windows, the painting is finished and the floors were all done and cleaned, and the electricity worked! Which was a big surprise…but…I still can't live there because they aren't done with the septic tank yet…still just a big gapping hole in the back yard…and since there is no outdoor latrine (and I, being myself, could clearly not live sans toilette)…AHHHH! It was actually a major comfort though to go out to my house and talk a little with my neighbors, and just get the majority of my stuff there. One of my neighbors does almost all of the landscaping in Ebolowa and is excited to do my front porch area and take me on a tour of his work…which sounds wonderful to me! My supervisor, Hans, and another guy who's always with Hans, showed up at my house when we were there, so it's good to know they are checking on the progress of the work. I'm back at my postmate's house again, alone for tonight and then the 2 volunteers from Mvangan are coming tomorrow morning, then 3 more on Friday to spend the weekend and have a huge white people new year's party…what could be better? Everyone might be stuck here for a while, since rumor has it there is no gas available in the entirety of the South Province…!
Alright, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
I think I complained enough about my house situation throughout the past few weeks, but I did get my keys today and am told I will possibly be able to move in tomorrow…however tomorrow being Christmas eve day it may be a little tricky. BUT my house is hopefully finished.
Secondly, 2 days ago my postmate, myself, and 2 Cameroonian friends were out for the night…we went to a bar, had one drink and went home around 10 pm. I went via motto with the Cameroonian girl but my postmate wasn't feeling well so decided to walk home with the guy, her neighbor and close friend. They got to the lake in town and were approached by 5 young guys with machetes and knives! The guy she was with tried to tell them to back down but they weren't leaving so he yelled for my postmate to run. She took off, but was wearing highheels and didn't get very far before they grabbed her shirt sleeve and demanded that they give them her cell phone, which was pretty much all she had with her. At this point the guy friend had reached the nearby town hall and was coming quickly back with a night guard…so my postmate yanked away and took off running again and by this point the guard was close enough, so the 5 guys took off the other direction. By the time she got home she was a little shaken up but the adrenaline was still pumping and since she was totally unharmed everything ended up well enough. They went back the next day and spoke with the police, and they found a knife down by the lake that the guys must have tried to stash… So a little scary, eh?
Thirdly, SIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK. And then this…last night after talking to my parents on the phone, my battery was dead so I plugged my phone in to charge in the front room. I went to bed and my postmate and her friend were in the living room. The light in the front room got left on until about 4 am, when my postmate went to bed…and sometime before then someone somehow from the street THROUGH the window (bars, screen, window panes and curtain) noticed my phone plugged into the wall, hooked it SOMEHOW and pulled it through and took off with it! I woke up this morning to see the charger still plugged into the wall, with the phone nowhere to be found. We attempted to call it, but the SIM card (all the info for the phone) had already been removed and the number was no longer in service. This is also after I JUST bought credit for my phone about 2 hours before I went to sleep. So (here's my list of negatives before I do the positive…bad news first because then only the good sticks in your mind)…due to the fact I'm trying to move, I have absolutely nothing for my house, I have no income, I'm not to keen on the idea of having to spend another 50 bucks I don't have to buy a new phone…this is a lot of money here. Add to the fact it's Christmas time and no stores are open to do this in the first place…But the thing that makes me the saddest of everything is that my family is suppose to call on Christmas eve, and I will most likely not have a phone or anyway to get in touch with them. I know this is long and rambling, and nothing but a list of my frustrations…but what a Christmas. :>( I know things will turn around…first you step in shit, then you fall, and roll around in it a bit before you're able to realize how dirty you are and get up and wash it all off. Moving to my FINISHED house will be a very positive thing and from that point on I'll be able to start getting my things in order and actually start to do some productive work, which I am very excited to do, I get my new camera soon, I have a cross stitch kit coming in the mail (what could be better, right?), and today I ate some M&Ms…so with the light at the end of the tunnel…bring it Cameroon. I'm not posting this till after Christmas…that way it's not TOO much of a downer and by that point everything will hopefully have changed!
Alright, I decided to just leave everything I wrote last time and add on, it's the day after Christmas now. Everything with my phone got straightened out, my postmate was in Yaounde, got me a new phone, lent me the money for now, and spent a lot of time to get me the same number and had her neighbor bring it back to me, and I even got it a few hours before the family phone call!!! So that went about as well as it could have, AND my phone is blue now woohoo The other volunteer who lives 45 min away came down and spent Christmas eve and Christmas day here with me, and she knit ME a pot holder…which was exciting. We made no-bake cookies (no oven required!) and watched movies on her laptop. My postmate's neighbor even brought us some of the Christmas dinner she had made. This morning we decided to go into town and get my mattress and a shelf for my clothes and then take all my stuff (trunk, backpack, and other small bags) out to my house. It's an interesting process hailing a taxi and trying to explain that you need to take this here, get this other stuff, then take all this stuff to the other side of the city…but we got this older guy who drove nice and slow and helped us carry everything…and I don't think ripped me off too bad. My house now has some glass in a few of the windows, the painting is finished and the floors were all done and cleaned, and the electricity worked! Which was a big surprise…but…I still can't live there because they aren't done with the septic tank yet…still just a big gapping hole in the back yard…and since there is no outdoor latrine (and I, being myself, could clearly not live sans toilette)…AHHHH! It was actually a major comfort though to go out to my house and talk a little with my neighbors, and just get the majority of my stuff there. One of my neighbors does almost all of the landscaping in Ebolowa and is excited to do my front porch area and take me on a tour of his work…which sounds wonderful to me! My supervisor, Hans, and another guy who's always with Hans, showed up at my house when we were there, so it's good to know they are checking on the progress of the work. I'm back at my postmate's house again, alone for tonight and then the 2 volunteers from Mvangan are coming tomorrow morning, then 3 more on Friday to spend the weekend and have a huge white people new year's party…what could be better? Everyone might be stuck here for a while, since rumor has it there is no gas available in the entirety of the South Province…!
Alright, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
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