On Monday we went to Yaounde to
talk to some businesses. We went to
UNICEF and a micro finance institute called an MC2. The companies were interesting UNICEF was
more geared to health and education volunteers but something to consider as a
secondary project if I will be in the region that they are operating in, never
the less, it’s something to keep in mind.
Many of the CED volunteers will be initially matched up with a MC2 to
work with so we could very well work with them although it isn’t mandatory if we
want to do something else or if we find that they don’t need our help. After those two meeting we got to go to the
grocery story. They only gave us 30 min
so at first it was a mad dash that I didn’t even know what I wanted to
get. I ended up with a couple different
kind of chips, sour gummies, regular gummies, a chocolate bar, packaged cheese,
and body wash someone asked me to get for them.
I definitely wanted to get much more but I’m going to wait until I get
my move in allowance for my placed to purchase some key things like condiments.
After the grocery store we went to this really big bakery, where I got pizza
and a grilled cheese type sandwich with actual ham that I split with a
friend. I don’t think I’ve been so
happy, it was the best food I’ve had here bay far. Then on the way home I was stuck in the back
of the van which isn’t very comfortable with one of the language professors
that came as a translator for the meetings, so we had a little two hr classe
mobile (mobile class).
So I really need to mention the lack of cheese
in Cameroon, I can’t quite figure it out.
They have cows, they have goats, but they don’t have cheese or liquid
milk. But most of the stores have some
type of refrigerator. So I’ve tried to
ask around and I got two different answers; one, the locals don’t like
cheese. Which is crazy talk to me since
there are so many different kinds, how you can just not like cheese!! Two, someone else told me that it isn’t in
their culture to make cheese which also doesn’t make sense because Cameroon was
colonized by France and Britain (and at one point Germany) all whom have, eat,
and love cheese. So I had to get some
cheep packaged cheese which was imported vs. the actual blocks of cheese like
you would see in the cheese section of the grocery store because it was crazy
expensive. A block of cheese of any
kind, the size of a small cell phone (but thicker) is about $24 US dollars
where as in the US it would be about a dollar or less depending on the type.
In other food news I broke down and
tried to have another talk with my family about serving fruits and
vegetables. Actually I had someone write
a note for me in French saying that the doctor said I needed to eat more of
that. Which lead to a discussion about
what fruits and vegetables are. That
night they bought me some oranges, pineapples, and some strawberry jam (which I
didn’t know enough French to explain that this really don’t contain enough
fruit to count as a source). But I was
thankful for what they did get me. They
also said that they weren’t going to make me vegetables until they talk to the
home stay director which I was more than happy to include in this since the
only reason I hadn’t talked to her earlier was because I didn’t want to rat out
my family for not feeding me well. She
then explained to them that they can cook any vegetables Cameroonian style (she
gave examples) but that she needs to start doing that. That conversation was on Wednesday its Sunday
and so far I’ve only received one salad which is peculiar since they bought
vegetable but she still hasn’t made them.
Also last night another trainee came over for dinner since her family
had to go to Yaounde because their child is sick and she made it very clear
that she eats a lot better at her house.
It’s not a money issue since my family is fairly well off more so than
other trainees’ families yet they seem to be eating better. I will stay hopeful worst case I have to wait
another two months for good food when I can cook for myself. Also I tried one of the bag of chips I bought
which are lays poulet roti et thym flavor they came in the multipack I got but
they taste exactly like turkey with gravy which ordinarily I think would really
gross me out but last night after having dinner of pineapple and fried plantains
some turkey and gravy (flavored chips) were actually not bad.
French class hasn’t been going very
well. We have a new teacher that is
pretty younge and is use to teaching Cameroonian children French. Needless to say she doesn’t know how to
handle us or how to explain French grammar she just give us sentences and
somehow were suppose to figure out the rule.
Which is difficult especially when you don’t even understand the
sentence at which point she just repeats it to you 10times and when you still
don’t understand shell ignore you for about a half hour. Still no explanation or attempt to
rephrase. This has been extremely
frustrating sine in the last two weeks we’ve had about 3times as many French
classes as the first week and a half yet I’ve learned barely anything. In fact the only French I’ve learned has been
in tutoring sessions I set up with our old teacher, homework I do, and the
classe mobil. Which if added up is more
and 40hrs a week of French and I don’t have a ton to show for it. To make this matter worse we had our French
exam on Saturday the results will help determine where the CED’s get
placed. My fingers are crossed since I
really want to go to a French speaking region not an English speaking one.
Other things that happened to me this
week, I had a shirt made out of one of the pange’s I bought. I haven’t gotten the other two made since I
can’t decide what to make out of them.
Also I cut my leg on my rubber bucket on Thursday its kind of a long
gash but its not very deep. I’m posting
about this because after some of the health sessions we’ve had I have slightly
been lead to believe that even something so minor could lead to amputation or
death (although they have been fortunate enough not to have had either problem
in Cameroon YET). Not to scare anyone so
far it seems to be healing fine. Just a
heads up though in case that changes.
To answer some of your questions; Is
there public transportation? Yes, public transportation is primarily motorcycles
or “motos” they have taxis but they aren’t as common in Bafia. They also have buses and trains but they are
only for long trips and are much more expensive and aren’t used for daily
travel.
How much of the city have you seen? Hard to
say because I don’t know exactly how big it is.
Ive been to other trainees’ houses, to the central ville which is the
main street, to other schools in the area, and the hospital, but I don’t even know if the rest of Bafia is
residential or if there are more businesses or what’s on the other side of the
central ville.
Do you eat dinner with your host
family or does everyone eat on their own? It’s mixed. I haven’t completely figured out the norms for eating. Sometimes I eat by myself, sometimes I eat
with all of them even some of them at the table with me, but other times I get
the impression that the father eats first then everyone else, it varies from
day to day. But I never eat breakfast
with anyone.
Can you describe the house? The house
is pretty big, it has a living room with a couch and a couple chairs, a tv,
coffee table, a small dinner table. There
is also a kitchen inside with a stove, oven, and a fridge that really only
freezes. There are three rooms although I’ve
never seen the dads room and one bathroom.
What is it made of? The house is
made of cement.
Do you have your own room? Yes,
peace corps requires that I get my own room with a lock.
What's in it? In my room I have a
bed, mosquito net, a table which I keep my water filter on, a chair for the
table, my metal trunk peace corps gave me, and a closet that has shelves, and a
night stand I made out of my water filter box
Any pets other than the mouse? Nope
no other pets :(
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