Saturday, September 1st,
2012
So that whole updating regularly
throughout the summer thing was a bit of a flop huh? My apologies.
Part of the reason is probably that life here now just doesn't seem
as weird to me now where I feel like I have to run to the laptop and
tell everybody back home. Part of the reason is that I got out of the
habit of writing blogs when my laptop got fried so I need to get back
in the swing of that. Another part is just laziness. It's been much
easier lately to watch a movie, read a book, go play basketball or go
grab a beer to unwind than try and put my thoughts to words. I do
feel like it helped my mental health a lot during training though so
I am going to try and be better at writing down things, even if it
doesn't turn into a blog post. But hey, we're all here so let's get
this shin dig started...
June was a great month in my Peace
Corps service. Some of the Littoral (my region) volunteers decided to
make our regional project a 10 day kid's camp in Ntolo, a small
village just outside of Nkongsamba, which is where those beautiful
waterfalls are that my parents and I visited if you've seen the
pictures. My trek into camp was pretty sketchy. I got dropped off at
the market where the other PCVs who were already there told me I
should drop. It was raining and I hadn't eaten much at this point so
I decided to get some ndole and a beer at a small diner across the
road. After my early dinner, I put on my rain jacket and asked the
locals at the bar which way the Centre Social de Ntolo was to make
sure I was heading in the right direction. I tried to flag down a
moto but when it's raining this is not always a simple task and the
price is usually increased. I waited for about 20-25 mins on the side
of the road with no luck so I decided to walk for a bit and see if I
could find a spot where motos were waiting. During my walk I
encountered an old man walking the opposite direction. We exchanged
greetings and passed each other. Not really knowing where the hell I
was I asked him if he know where Centre Social de Ntolo was. He said
yes and that I had just past it. So I walked with him for a few
minutes to a dirt road that he said would lead me to the Centre. I
thanked him for the help and he told me it's not a far walk only
about 50 meters. I started the trek getting some odd looks from the
people in the houses along the road, wondering why this white man
with the giant hiking pack, filled with every football, basketball,
and frisbee I had in my possession since I plotted to be the fun
sports/recreation counselor, was walking down their road. I dodged
the trenches and mud puddles as best I could but the road wasn't up
to American standard you could say. I was slipping and sliding all
over the place. At one point this nice silver Range Rover passed and
as I stepped to the side of the road to let them through I was hoping
they would open the door and ask to give me a lift. No such luck.
They didn't floor it and cover me in mud either though so I'd say it
went 50-50. I encountered some others walking along the road as well.
One boy offered to walk with me to the centre social but I declined
after making sure it was still just up the road. After a half hour
thinking I had to be close I came across another 2 guys walking down
the road. They said that I was, just another 50 meters and I was
there. Is 50 meters just the standard distance that you tell somebody
regardless if you know or not in this place? After another 30 mins or
so and just before complete nightfall set in I finally made it to the
social centre. The kids were very welcoming and I think some of the
boys were happy to see a guy since all of the other counselors were
female PCVs. I ate a 2nd meal of spaghetti, watched some
kids play UNO, and eventually crashed like a rock. The camp went
pretty great I would say. We covered reproductive health,
environmental education, life skills, gender roles, money management
and many other topics. I can't remember the total number of kids
there but somewhere around 40 sounds about right. They enjoyed asking
me questions about my life back home, my tattoos, etc. I wasn't able
to stay the entire time as some PCVs were flying out of the airport
in Douala and needed a place to stay close by so they could make
their flight in time but I was generally sad to leave the kids
behind.
June was great for another reason
because at the end of the month a lot of my training group came back
together in Yaounde for our Mid-service Check up. Basically a teeth
cleaning and a physical or discuss any health problems we may have
had. Oh, and we all had to poop in a cup. Most of them were then
transported in brown paper bags so you really wanted to make sure you
didn't brown bag it for lunch that day. I somehow had no cavities
even with all the candy I usually request in care packages but I also
think they didn't check too thoroughly. Dr. Henize in Bucyrus is
gonna prove whether or not I am correct when I come home this winter.
It was good to see a lot of friends that are too far away for me to
visit. I also brought the PS2 for this week of debauchery so a lot of
Mortal Kombat and Madden 2012 was going down as well. To my
knowledge, Eriika was the first to do a fatality, for those of you
who know what that is, in this country so props to her.
July 4th was a blast as
well. Thanks to the Chesterfields for sending me some awesome
Amurrica gear to represent the stars and stripes. It was pretty much
acknowledged that I was the best dressed at the party. Ironic since I
also won Worst Dressed in training. We bought a bunch of brats, beef,
and hot dogs and I was grill master for awhile until I passed the
torch (tongs) on to the next. The night was filled with dancing and
condom water balloons. Most people enjoyed the first part, not so
much the second except for those of us doing the tossing. We also had
our fantasy football draft this month. Feelin' pretty good about my
team again this year. I am the defending champion so gotta defend my
honor. I'm thinking I need to get some type of sweet machete trophy
made back in the states that will be kept by that year's champion. As
we get older, I can see a lot of wives refusing to allow the FFB
trophy to be the centerpiece of the mantle. That's gonna be in my
pre-nup. I rounded out the month by visiting another volunteer to
play some basketball and winning my first ever game of Settlers of
Catan. If you don't know that board game, prepare to learn when I
return.
August was the last month I had before
school started back up so I pretty much just took it easy. Made a
beach trip to hang out with some other PCVs, looked at some of the
pictures from the Bratwurst Festival, and followed some of the
preseason NFL games. It's been raining pretty much every day so I've
become a true Cameroonian refusing to go out until it's nothing more
than a slight drizzle.
One travel story you might enjoy: I was
riding a long bus back to the capital next to 2 women and 2 small
children. Somehow I always manage to placed next to a gigantic mama
overlapping onto myself and my seat or next to screaming infants. The
woman next to me was breastfeeding most of the trip. I've got no
qualms with that. The problem I had was with her digging her elbow
into my ribs every time she did it. So I would shoot a glance over to
see why I was being impaled, see said boobage, and try to squirm to a
comfortable position. I also remembered how another volunteer has
been shot in the face with breast milk accidentally so I tried to
steer clear of the splash zone.
I came down with a pretty bad cold by
the end of my trip back to post, but luckily I met a very nice lady
at the agence who said she was a pharmacist and gave me some
mentholatum to rub inside of my nose that finally let me breathe and
clear my sinuses for a bit. She didn't want anything for it and also
made sure my bags got marked correctly for the bus before we left.
It's easy to get discouraged and angry when a Cameroonian overcharges
you for something or won't stop hassling you because you are white
but, in my experience, for every 1 Cameroonian that wants to derange
you there are 10 Cameroonians willing to help you or take care of you
and make sure you get to where you are going safely.
School “starts” next week but all
that means is that the students are going to start showing up to pay
fees and it actually won't start with any regularity until a week or
two after that. I'm hoping this year goes better than last, but all I
can do is my best and go from there.
I think I posted this on Facebook when Sargent Shriver passed away but I read an article about him recently and thought it was worth mentioning again:
“No matter how many bombs we drop, no matter how skillfully our soldiers fight, we are not responding to the ultimate challenge until we show the world how and why we must all learn to live in peace—until peace becomes the only permanent alternative to war.
“Peace is much more than the mere absence of war. Peace requires the simple but powerful recognition that what we have in common as human beings is more important and crucial than what divides us.”
My neighbors just brought me over some herro and cous cous (green veggie stuff soaked in palm oil and a giant white glob that resembles playdough, I can't taste anything right now though so it should be delicious) that is pretty messy and I need to eat with my hands so I think it's time to bid farewell. Again, sorry for the absence between posts. I'm not making any promises, but I will try and be more active on here. It's nice to hear that people are still asking my parents about the blog and when I will post again so thank you to those of you that still care.
The Buckeyes open the season today so GO BUCKS!
MMM
