June 17, 2011

Well the power is out again in Bafia so I think I will try and throw in a few other details that I recalled today while mentally editing my blog post:

1.       I have officially eaten bush meat. But Max what is bush meat? In the loosest of terms, bush meat is game that is caught in the bush i.e. jungle and sold. But Max what was the bush meat? It was porcupine my friends, or porcupin (kinda sounds like Porky Pig in French) I gotta admit it was pretty damn tasty. It is kind of like a roast beefy-type chicken. My host family also waited til about half way through the meal to inquire if I knew what the bush meat was. No sickness so far and I would totally eat it again.

2.       Traffic here is completely nuts. No stop signs, traffic lights, lines in the road, NADA! I also think motos, especially in Yaounde, try to see how close they can get to the Americans when they drive by. I have already ridden a few motorcycle taxis in Bafia and it is a blast. You have to wear your official Peace Corps helmet, or you can get sent home, and you have to get on via the left side so you don’t join the “Moto Burn” Club. You also need to pretty much get right up on your driver so it doesn’t throw his balance off. If you ever saw me and Tizzle joy riding on Mom and Dad’s scooters in Bucyrus you will know what I look like on the back of a moto. 

3.       I got some gnarly blisters on Sunday from playing soccer and basketball. I don’t see how it even happened because Dad got me some thick ass socks from the USPS so they could withstand the scrubbing of laundry in Cameroon, but I still got some silver dollar sized chunks of skin hanging off. I’ve been cleaning them pretty good and they are healing up well. I’m going on another run tomorrow morning so might possibly double up on the socks. If not I definitely will Dimanche (Sunday) when we play some more basketball and football.

4.       Getting water for drinking, showering, flushing the toilet is quite the adventure around here. If you need drinking water you have to go to le forage, get the key from some non PC American that locks it up? (Not sure what his story is) Le Forage is not close so you have to haul your giant yellow containers back to your house if you don’t want to boil the cloudy well water. The well water is used for showering, washing dishes and clothes, and other activities I’m sure. To get this you have to take your little bucket and tie a knot with some rope around it. Throw said bucket into well and pull back up.  To flush almost all toilets in Bafia you have to just pour a large quantity of water into the toilet and away your waste goes. Enjoy your plumbing folks.

5.       A lot of Cameroonian men in Bafia are craving some American women. Many of my fellow female volunteers have already been proposed to. One male volunteer was offered a child prostitute already. I actually had an interesting exchange with some guys at the bar yesterday. I had met Marciel (sp?) about a week ago and had talked to him about playing soccer, basketball, whatever.  Well I see Marciel at the bar with some of his buddies and start shootin the breeze with him. Pretty soon his friend is telling me I need to introduce him to some of my fellow volunteers. After I politely decline and say that he needs to talk to them himself, he tells me that he will give me one Cameroonian girl for an American. Again, I decline and say that it doesn’t work like that. He decides that he will offer me TWO Cameroonian girls for one American. Again, I decline and tell him that he’s got to prove to an American girl that he is a good person before he can even begin to think like that. I don’t think he got my point, but it was quite an interesting exchange for me. I feel even more inclined now to look out for my fellow female trainees. Despite this somewhat awkward conversation, the majority of Cameroonians I have encountered have been extremely friendly people and probably think nothing of the sort about Peace Corps females. There are a few bad apples no matter where you go. Gonna try and crash now so I can get up by 6 and go for my run. Never would be up this early in the states, that is a fact. Hopefully I can post this tomorrow. Comment me with any questions you may have or e-mail, I will try to check that tomorrow as well. Need to cancel Groupon before they fill up my entire Gmail. Love you all back home, drink one for me.

6.       My phone number here is 237-70-30-92-31. I think that is how you reach me. Ask my pops for more details if you try and can’t reach me.

MMM