American Culture in Cameroon

Hey everyone. There were two occasions in Cameroon I wanted to tell you about they were really cool. The first one was a cultural festival in Batibo in the northwest province. A few volunteers there put together a joint American/Cameroonian cultural festival. There were tables with themes like HIV/Aids, studying in the US, games for kids (I helped with that one), agricultural info, and Cameroonians set up tables for the different tribes, and various other things (I didn’t get around to a lot of them because I was working with the kids). Then they had a stage set up where Americans performed American songs and dance (hip hop dance was especially entertaining) and Cameroonian tribes did their traditional dances. After we ate a mix of Cameroonian and American food. There was supposed to be a concert that night but most people were too tired, me and about 7 other ppl made it to the place which was good because no one told the people there it was cancelled. We danced, one volunteer sang "no woman no cry" while we swayed and clapped in the background, it turned out alright. That was a long day.
The next weekend was Thanksgiving, and I decided to stay at post and invite some of my students to have a dinner at my house. We had 2 chickens (I killed my first chicken!), mashed potatoes, stove top, green beans and corn bread (corn bread was just ok but it all got eaten). We all said what we were thankful for, it was really nice. One student said he was happy that I wanted to share all this with "small people" because being a teacher I'm sort of a big man and big men usually hang with big men. One thing I'm trying to show them is that everyone is the same, so I was happy they noticed. Overall I've had some good cultural mixing lately.
I just had a friend visit who is leaving this week, it was really strange to talk to her. Whether its because 2 year sounded like such a long time or it was a defense mechanism, I never really imagined how it would be coming home. I thought about how nice it would be to see everyone and get a pizza delivered to my house, but not about actually living there all the time. It sounds pretty awesome. I've decided to come back to the US for at least a year, live in NYC hopefully and get a job or internship, then either go to grad school or something else in 2010. Ill be home in June or July of next year, and the time is flying. Ill see you all soon!
brad

Also I'm sorry I haven’t been returning emails lately…I haven’t forgotten about anyone its just been hard to keep up with it lately. I can't lie I don’t expect it to change but Ill be home soon!

Gobama!

Hey everyone! Great job electing Obama! I was lucky enough to be in the capital (Yaounde) for something else and got to witness the entire night on CNN with 20 other Americans. I celebrated by buying redbull knockoffs, fritos, beans and cheese. Yup, we found fritos! While we ate and drank we played trivial pursuit, talked about what we all had to do if McCain won (what I had to do is inappropriate for the blog, ill tell you if you ask and are not my parents or grandparents), and ran inside whenever cheers or boos erupted from the crowd watching tv (Obama or McCain respectively winning a state). When CNN finally called the election at about 3am (or was it 4? I don’t remember) dance parties began during commercial breaks, and we all hunkered down to listen to McCain and Obama's speeches. I dont know how people in the US were feeling but we were all inspired by Obama's speech. My eyes got a little watery..maybe some of it had to do with how tired I was. By the time it was over it was light outside and we went out for beans and beneits (not sure the spelling, but basically small oily doughnuts. you'd be surprised how good beans are for breakfast). People were on their way to work etc. and were all congratulating us on electing Obama. It was really nice to get OBAMA with a thumbs up rather than "le blanc" or any of the other names they have for us (the girls got Mdm. Obama which they much prefer to Mdm. Sarkozy). I have since returned to post and am in good spirits. I am almost at my six months left mark! The last six months have flown by I'm sure the next will do the same. There will be definite mixed feelings about leaving. Anyway hope everyones doing well, and again good job with the election.
Brad

Almost Dry Season!

Hello! Dear friends, family, strangers, all protocol respected…how are things (the usual Cameroonian introduction lists 5-10 special people who are in attendance before beginning). I shouldn’t even say it anymore but sorry for not writing enough, it's difficult to muster up the energy when I feel like I'm so far behind. It is 9p.m., my usual bedtime, and I am wired. I was expecting a call from the manager of a bike tour company in Paris, I am hoping to work there next summer (everyone should comment on how I would be a great tour guide in case he reads this). Alas, he was busy today and couldn’t call so I'm winding down the day with a blog and a lollipop. Time has started to fly and I'm worried it will be June before I know it. I'm not sure what I'm doing after Peace Corps. I know, Ill lay out my situation and you can all give me suggestions. Here is my deal: First, I know I don’t want to be a doctor or a lawyer. I know that whatever I want to do as a career will require more schooling but I'm not sure what that is and its difficult (but not impossible) to apply from here. I could choose something I might be interested in like International Relations but unlike the sciences (which I'm not so sure I'm meant for anymore) its not paid for which means more debt. My plan is to delay grad school at least another year so I can properly research programs. Meanwhile I'd like to travel more, preferably to France or China. I don’t know why China appeals to me, but I loved Paris when I was there and would like to improve my French. If anyone knows any way I can go there while not going into debt please let me know. As far as a career choice goes, I'd like to be able to travel and somewhat choose my own schedule. Being a consultant or working for a think tank both sound like things I would be interested in but I don’t know what exactly to do to get there. Any advice is appreciated. Anyway I still have 8 months to go, but since the only training group here longer than us is about to leave in December I'm feeling the pressure.

I am very excited for the next few months. I am finally feeling at home so much here it doesn’t feel like im anywhere anymore, I'm just here. I am enjoying teaching my classes, hanging with friends and my alone time. Every once in a while I get frustrated with my situation or bored but far less frequently than last year and not as badly. I also have some guaranteed good times coming up. I am going to Yaoundé in November and will be there on election night on which I don’t plan on sleeping. You guys aren’t letting Obama lose right? I was serious about not coming back if he does. John McCain is alright (actually he's right-center...oh! I almost deleted this it's corny I no but better than no joke no?) I won't be too upset however it turns out. In December I have IST (a week on the beach with a bunch of volunteers) then my dads coming in December. Toss a few other small events in there (searching for elephants??) and time will continue to fly till I leave. I'm thinking about building a sty and raising a pig to eat at my send-off party in May. The only problem is it's expensive. I may get a goat and some chickens instead. Anyone reading this is invited it's gonna be the biggest party my town has ever seen.

I am really struggling as far as blogging goes. I'm not sure what to write about anymore besides telling you guys I'm okay. If anyone wants to know anything, please leave it in a comment I will address it for sure. Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday, I had a good birthday and I'm sorry I didn’t respond to everyone but I appreciated the thoughts. I will try to get to everyone in time. If I have ignored an email of yours please its not on purpose and send me an email "beep" (just tell me to email you back and say whats up). I'm going to do better starting…now. Until next time…

brad

Hey Look! I Updated!

I was just about to start typing a blog when the power went out. I thought for a second I just wasn’t meant to write yet but it came on a few minutes later. Sorry its been so long I know some of you have been waiting SINCE and some of you have probably given up on it and aren’t checking anymore. I had a busy summer where it was hard to get a computer and get to an internet café. I've also as always been in somewhat of a transition. At the beginning I could tell you about all the crazy and exciting things that were happening, as I was here longer those things still happened but I didn’t seem interesting enough to talk about, I wanted to talk more about more complex cultural issues and other things that would be difficult to appreciate were you not living here (I tried a bit). Now frankly theres nothing I really want to talk about, life has become pretty normal and it seems the purpose for the blog will just be to inform everyone how I'm doing and what I'm up to. Maybe itll be interesting anyhow.

I'm gonna start way back when when I went on vacation in Europe. Thanks to everyone there, I had a really good time. I put on over 10 lbs. and had some much needed R&R. It wasn’t as strange as I thought it would be going to a developed country, after a few hours I felt right back at home. I'm glad I didn’t go back to the US or I might have felt too at home. I could have transitioned back but it might have been more difficult. I dreaded getting on the plane to come back, but as it turned out coming back wasn't all that difficult. I remember coming back I only had about 8000cfa (16 dollars) in cash and I had to give my taxi driver to the bus station a bottle of wine to cover some of the taxi fare. Gotta love that you can do that. It was almost a relief to return to the pace of life here…its very hard to be late for something. I remember being in Italy rushing a shower when I was dead tired and I'd just had my camera stolen and I thought: "If I wasn’t in Florence with an appointment to see the statue of David I could just take a nap like I want to". Sounds ridiculous but I hadn’t felt that rushed/tired/obligated since I'd gone to post. After Europe I had mid-service where they test you for every possible disease you may have picked up. I was hoping I'd get something exotic sounding and easily curable but unfortunately all my tests were negative. I went back to post for a week where I met my new postmate who lives about 30 minutes from me. She is also a teacher at a high school. It has been nice to have an American somewhat closer than before…I usually don’t go a week without seeing her at least once. I traveled back with her to the training site to help with model school. If you don’t remember model school is the name of the summer classes the Peace Corps runs to prepare new teachers to teach. It was fun to see how far I've come in being used to the culture and especially in teaching. I think students have a very precise confidence detector. I enjoyed watching them cause trouble for the new teachers while I watched from the back. One time I caught eye contact with some kids talking and gave them the finger to lips "shhh" and he got his friends attention and said "Mr. Bradford said to be quiet" and they were quiet for a few minutes at least. Felt good. I enjoyed relaxing with other Americans and seeing a lot of people from my training group that came out to help. I didn’t get to travel as much as I wanted but I'll get to before I leave. After training I relaxed a bit and got ready for the school year. This year will be much better than last year. For one I know what I'm doing, know most of the teacher and how the school works. Second I got most of the classes I wanted, I'm teaching Form 1 and Form 3 Physics (Form 2 had 250 students. I took them last year and refused to do so again this year). Because another physics teacher came this year I have only those two classes for physics and I took a Form 4 maths class. (Did you know they say "maths" in british English? I'm not sure if they actually pronounce the s in Britain like they do here). My schedule is a little lighter than last year and I have Wednesdays and Fridays off. Its gonna be rough getting back to the real world, I know. On my days off I do chores, cook elaborate meals, etc. I still get bored but it is not as bad as last year. We got a new principal this year (old one retired) which I was very happy about because he was keeping the students in class from 730 all the way till 3, but I just found out yesterday hes been changed. Not sure why I've only been hearing rumours but I hope the new ones just as good. I'm trying to get my basketball court proposal in but I have to wait to have this new principal sign off on it. Lately people have been asking when I'm leaving and I feel bad saying at the end of this year. It seems too soon. It happens less often but sometimes it doesn’t seem soon enough. After hanging out with the PCVs leaving in December I've decided its not going to be easy at all to go back to the states. Those thoughts will have to wait for another time. Sorry again the update took so long, I'm not going to promise to update soon but now that I'm at post its definitely easier. Hope everyones good.

brad

I'm Alive

August 10, 2008 - Sorry its been 2 months since my last entry, I havent had easy access to internet and I've been busy what with Europe and then helping with training. Im just letting everyone know I am still here and doing better than ever...when I get back to post in September Ill make sure to fill everyone in on how my summer has gone. Hope you all are having a good summer.
Brad

One Year in Country

June 5, 2008 - Wow. It's been a long time. How have you been spending these few months? Greet everyone for me…might be what I would say here. Anyway it has been a while, I've been busy with things and like other volunteers told me it gets harder and harder to keep up a blog and generally keep in touch with people. I hope everyones well and all of that. We just closed the school Saturday so I'm officially done for a few months. I have a project I'm working on (when the proposal finally gets going Ill send an email asking for money) and I will be taking some well deserved vacation. If any family and friends are reading this and thinking "wow I wish I could visit Africa and look around a little"…you can! You have a free tour guide here who will take you into the jungle, visit pygmies, see the desert, climb the tallest mountain in west Africa, whatever you want to do. We will spend at least a few days relaxing on the black sand beaches of Limbe, having ice cold beers served to us and eating roasted fish coming straight out of the ocean. Remember, the weathers always nice here. You have to pay your flight (about 2000US) and take at least 2 weeks vacation, but once youre here the exchange rate is very nice. I've seen Europeans traveling here with their kids, I assure you its safe. My village would welcome you nicely...I guarentee it would be the most eye opening vacation you've ever taken and will change away you think about life. Anyway, something to think about.
I know I had a whole speech before about how I'd turned a new leaf and would start to blog more often about different topics and I still have the list, but honestly I've been traveling and doing school work and just haven’t had the motivation. Hopefully I'll have some over the summer, but again I will be busy. The new training group arrives Saturday. Yup, that means Ive been in Cameroon for 1 year. It went fast no? Ill be helping them with training in a few weeks when I get back from my mid-service vacation which also starts Saturday. Unfortunately Im flying out of the other city in Cameroon so I wont get to see the wide eyed newbies coming in. Im looking forward to going to Europe but Im a little frightened of being overwhelmed. When I went to Yaounde for a conference the traffic itself threw me a little, especially when I saw it from the top of the Hilton. I cant imagine Paris. Anyway Ill let you guys know how it goes.
Let me give you one cultural tidbit that is annoying me at the moment. Everyone, mostly those who have never met another American, asks you to bring them things when you travel. Just now when I was going to the market a girl in my class said "what are you going to keep for me at the market?" I said "I don’t know Ill see whats there.."(I usually try not to commit to anything) What I want to say is "I don’t even know your name, what am I supposed to buy something for every kid in the neighborhood every time I go to get some pineapples?" I restrain myself of course and its usually alright if I don’t get anything, but its even worse when you tell people youre going to Europe. People have asked for computers, dvd players, cell phones... Im going to have to get some small things I think but it’s a lot of pressure. I have to remember probably 15 people, Im supposed to be on vacation! Now these people are not trying to take advantage of me, its just part of the culture that if you're traveling you bring back something, I think its usually to show that you thought about them. Just shows you that even after a year there are things that youll never understand.
Okay now a more positive story about the culture…I've discovered a strength I have in the Cameroonian culture that I didn’t know was there: my dancing. Now all my college friends who are reading this are snickering a little and thinking of how they so often imitated my dancing by rolling their shoulders and bobbing their heads. Cameroon has changed me and it comes down to two things: the freedom to express yourself and mirror dancing. First, the freedom. You can do ANYTHING here and people will accept it as long as you move with the music. My favorite game is choosing the most ridiculous dancer on the floor and imitating them, preferably if your partner is doing it too. Lots of fun. Also its not strange for 2 or 3 men to dance together, in fact they dance more exuberantly if its all men. Freaked me out the first time a guy came over to dance with me but now I'm used to it, its fun. So now to mirror dancing. In most of the night clubs here they have mirrors lining all the walls so that you can watch yourself or your partner dance. I don’t know how strange it sounds anymore because its pretty standard here and Im gonna miss it. If a person doesn’t have a partner he (usually the girls wont dance without a partner or will be picked up quickly) will just stand about 4 ft from the mirror and dance, watching nothing but himself. It takes maybe 5 minutes to get used to seeing yourself, but after 10 you get really into it. I hope it starts in the US. Anyway these 2 things have given me the confidence to be a little more creative when I dance. When my school colleagues saw me dance at the school closing I got tons of compliments, even won a free beer from the social committee. We had another occasion Saturday night called a burn house, which is a first year birthday party for a child. I was asked to open the dance with a few others…was a lot of fun. Im worried Ill go back to the US and look ridiculous, but Ill deal with that when the time comes. Hope everyone has a good summer, Ill update hopefully sometime in July.

We had a little trouble round these parts

I wrote as the blog was happening, more for my benifit than yours, but here you go:

26/02/08 4:00pm - So, my last blog was about safety in Cameroon. This blog will be about the riots that have broken out in some of the major cities over the raised gas prices. Since the new year, gas and consequently almost every basic product…vegetables, rice, drinks, etc. have risen, totaling in my estimation about a 5% raise. Monday morning, taxi drivers in Douala (called the "financial capital" of Cameroon as opposed to the real capital, Yaounde) started protesting. Not unreasonable, but the protest involves throwing rocks at any cars carrying passengers for money. That turned into riots and looting, and pretty soon all transportation at least in the central area of the country stopped. Other cities followed, and at the moment several cities are still in the midst of the riots. I have been talking to volunteers in a few cities and Cameroonians around my town, and this is what Ive gathered so far:

The worst city right now is Douala…there have been burned cars, a burned gas station, and several deaths. Almost every other city in the W, NW, SW, Littoral, and Center provinces has incidents of rioting and most shops are closed. Dschang which is close to me has had trouble at least 2 places that I frequent regularly in town, and 1 person has died. As for me, my town is business as usual. There was school today, there will be tomorrow, people are in the market, drinking beers, eating fish. No one is worried because rioting couldn’t really happen in our town everyone knows everyone else. Still if this were America people would be glued to the tv screen, here people tell me theyre not worried because it happens every once in a while and it will be over soon. Im hoping so because its been 2 days and as one Cameroonian told me "people have to eat". That’s when normal people (nonrioters) will be out during the violence and bad things could happen. Ill be hanging out here. Im really not worried except if it were to turn worse and I was to be evacuated, I don’t know how I would do it with all the vehicles not running.

26/02/08 9:00pm - I have just gotten back from town and it was interesting. I watched the 730 news while eating poisson brase, baton de manioc and drinking a beer and the first story wasn’t even about the riots, it was about the Saudi Arabians meeting with Paul Biya….maybe important but not as important as the riots. The story about the riots told of few casualties, some burning cars. My friend next to me then told me that in the town they covered several gvt. buildings were burned and the brasseries (beer factories) were also burned. I don’t know how much of that is true because most of the buildings in the country are made of stone, but I think there was more to the story than they portrayed. At the very least all the Cameroonians were suspicious of the report which shows me the distrust they have for things run by the government. A report "just in" later in the broadcast showed clips from at least hours ago (it was still light outside) saying that the official strike would be ended tomorrow, but the Cameroonians around me said they thought the strike would go on longer, until the prices were lowered. We will have to see what happens tomorrow. Unfortunately for me although my mind is elsewhere I have classes tomorrow, and plan on going in without a lesson plan because I don’t have the patience to make one right now knowing I might be going home.

28/02/08 – 12:20am – I didn’t end up going into school at all yesterday, I really just couldn’t concentrate on teaching with so much going on. Today they were a little bit more serious than yesterday, but Im getting ahead of myself. The 27^th was supposed to be the breaking point, where it would either die down or get worse. In the morning I was hearing that there were a few cars traveling, and it sounded like it was getting better. Then I talked to a volunteer in Dschang who said it was a lot worse than yesterday, police were throwing tear gas and shooting rubber bullets and someone was killed. The bakery that I buy yogurt at when Im in town was torn apart, and the bar which I usually go to may or may not have been burned down. I heard similar stories from other places and I sent some phone credit to a few friends who couldn’t leave their houses to buy it. I took a nap in the afternoon and when I woke up heard Paul Biya was going to address the nation. My friend brought some of his friends over and we played ping pong, I cut a Romeo and Juileta in half and we smoked it…a nice way to forget about what was going on. I went to the internet to watch the president's speech. The Cameroonians laughed most of the time, and though I didn’t get most of the French it was translated in English (Everyone here is bilingual or trilingual, most are quadralingual) and said the translation was very bad). Basically he blamed people for playing politics and generally it seemed threatened the people more than anything. It was definitely a Tipping Point (I just read the new book titled that I should be an expert). The Cameroonians at the internet and at the bar where I enjoyed poisson brase for the 2^nd night in a row were immediately saying it wasn’t a good speech, and the next morning a few teachers confirmed. People didn’t like the presidents reaction to the riots, and if people who weren’t involved at all in the riots were thinking he was wrong to address it like that, I didn’t think the protesters would either. I didn’t hear as many bad stories today (one story about 2000 children being held hostage apparently made it on BBC) but mostly it was the tone that I was surprised at. The bars in town were unprecedently(word says its not a word but I disagree) empty tonight. No one was talking about anything other than the riots, some were saying its war, and no one was saying it should be over soon. I am now facing a real possibility of evacuation, in fact with the difficulty they would have evacuating us when there is no public transport I don’t see how they can risk stranding us out here if this gets better only to have another incident happen in a few months. Tomorrow or maybe after I finish this Im going to start seriously packing and choosing what to take and leave. It sucks that its so sudden, Im holding onto hope that I don’t have to leave but I don’t see another option. Im taking my camera into school tomorrow to take pictures with my students. I am just starting to get used to life here, Im either going to change programs entirely or go home, both of which will take serious adjustment I am not prepared for. More pressing, how am I going to get out of here? People are throwing rocks at all the cars passing and both towns with an airport are the worst to be in right now. Now that I face the prospect of leaving I feel like I haven’t been useful and I'm wishing I had started more things than I have, I'm not sure I've accomplished anything meaningful (not that I necessarily would have accomplished much but I haven’t even finished teaching a full year…).

a week or so later….That was the worst day. The day after I wrote that things calmed and cars were able to pass in most cities. There were rumors that the strikes would start again on Monday, so all the volunteers stayed in consolidation but it turned out that things were peaceful and everything went back to normal in the next few days. There are still rumors that the strike may start again but at least for now its fine. My feelings on the strikes are:

- Im very very glad its over, it was even exciting at first but then brought only stress

- I fear they will come back, since not much has changed as far as prices go

- I think most of the rioting was actually caused by people taking advantage of the situation, not the protestors themselves

- I feel safe here, I have heard that no matter how awful the protests get they take the weekends off to give people a chance to move, to buy rice and those things and get ready for the next week of staying inside. At least I will be able to stay in village until a weekend and then be evacuated.

18 March 2008 - Welp, that was fun, but as I said the riots are over and theres no looking like theyre coming back soon, but we don’t know. Life is usual, Im getting ready for summer break (theres not summer here, they just call it third term break). I found out a few days ago that Ill be helping with training, which is a relief because itll give me something to do for our 3 months off (besides travel around Europe which im also excited for…Ill be there in 3 months, it feels like no time). Right now time is flying. It seems like every day is two weeks later on the calendar than it should be. I've officially been in Cameroon 9 months now. Looking back on it it does seem like a long time that I've been here, but training was the longest I think. Post is flying by. The head of the focalari movement (Catholic mission in my town) died today. I really respect those people who came here when it was just starting out, deep into the bush without water, electricity, a mailing system. I feel like Im cheating when I hear people describe it. I said this before but they saved this village, the infant mortality rate was something ridiculous, over 90%. Most of the people in this tribe are alive because of the focalaris (I don’t know how to spell it Im sorry). Getting ready to submit my basketball court proposal, everyone get your checkbooks ready!

Brad

Im OK

Hey everyone,
There have been some strikes in Cameroon and the country got a little crazy, Ive written about it but wasnt able to post it today. Ill do that later in the week, just know that Im staying, and Im ok.
Brad

Happy Valentines Day

...Which they do celebrate here surprisingly. Nothing too fancy like giving a valentine to everyone in your class, but people made them for people they had crushes on (I didnt get any). And now to my pretyped entry:

Howdy folks... oh I heard the first slang that was started since I've left, but I forget what it was…it was a version of "how you doing" but I didn’t understand it at all. Very strange. Also that computer world still going on? 2^nd life? I read about it in newsweek and it seemed like it was getting big but I couldn’t really tell. If anyone has any epiphanies about things that would be new to me that I might not read in Newsweek or about the elections (the elections are really all I read about online, takes too much time to surf) send me an email (or an old fashioned letter). My addresses again:
bradford.melius@gmail.com

for packages:
Bradford Melius, PCV
B.P. 215
Yaounde, Cameroon
Africa

for letters:
Bradford Melius, PCV
B.P. 217
Dschang, Cameroon
Africa

NOTE: do NOT send packages to the Dschang address, unless you want me to have to pay a rediculous amount of money to get it and risk having it already opened and searched through.

Also anyone who wants an email penpal here I have hundreds of students who would want one. Again, there would be no pressure you could write about anything and they would be interested to hear it, and would respond. Just send me your email address and Ill give it to one of my students.

So, I said I would give a talk a little more about life here. Let me start with safety in Cameroon, because right now I have a friend who wants to visit, but his parents think Cameroon is too dangerous. Is Cameroon dangerous…yes and no. There are definitely places in the country where if you walk alone at night, you are likely be robbed. That being said those places exist in the US too, and we avoid those places just like we do in the US. There have been many cases of volunteers being mugged (and this is mostly at night in cities), but I haven’t heard a story about volunteers getting hurt in any way. A lot of the time volunteers are pick pocketed and don’t even realize they don’t have their phone, wallet, until later. If you stay in populated areas, don’t put anything in your back pocket, watch your bags and don’t go out at night, there is very little that can happen as far as burglary.

The thing that I fear most is traveling. I talked about my traveling experience once but in case you forgot or missed it, they cram people in cars. It makes perfect sense to me now, because the people here would much rather fit 8 people (not including small children who sit on laps) into a small car than pay 25% more to travel. They always fit as many people who can squeeze in, which in cars usually means putting someone in the drivers seat with the driver. The cars are also not too well kept. You are lucky if you get in a car that has all its mirrors. All this being said the drivers are used to having another in the seat with them, not having mirrors, etc. and tend to drive very well considering. Also in some areas the roads are so bad that the car cannot go more than 15 mph, meaning even if there were an accident it wouldn’t be too bad. I estimate that my chances of an accident are 2 to 3 times more likely here than in the US, but since I take a car much less and I haven’t gotten in an accident in the past 6 years, so hopefully Ill be ok here. Also, not that I deserve it but I know that if something were to happen I would be the first to be taken care of. Whenever a car breaks down I am the first one the drivers find another car for. They may try to charge me more because I'm white, but I get service too.

As far as people breaking into my home, I have almost no fear of it. I lock my doors of course when I leave and at night, but my village is not too big and people just couldn’t get away with breaking in here. Very few people (especially those who don’t own the house) have their own room. If they show up with a camera or a computer or a lot of cash, people will know where it came from because news of the white man getting robbed would travel faster than a PK taken by eto'o (our star player. Not sure if you would have seen it because I don’t remember it, but the Africa Nations Cup was in Jan. Cameroon lost in the finals, very upsetting). I have a friend in a smaller village than mine and his house was broken into twice. They found the kids both times, and he got all of his things back. Im sure the kid was punished beyond what we want to know.

The final thing that reassures me is that people here are so nice. Most know that if an American is here its to help them, and they treat us with respect and kindness (they do try and charge us more, but that’s because they think we have the money…they have relatives in the US who send back money…but they don’t realize I have school loans and am on a Cameroon-set stipend. That being said I still do have enough money to pay a little more here and there, I argue mostly for entertainment. Shopping when you don’t really need something is the best, you can get very good prices.

All in all, I worry about transportation the most, but I travel maybe 2x a month maximum, and its not too bad. In other words you don’t need to worry about me, and if you want to come and visit (everyone should) youll be ok. If youre really worried about transportation we can depot buy the seat next to the driver or the whole car if you prefer, wouldn’t cost too much on an American salary.

If anyone wants to know anything specific, add a comment or send me and email and Ill write about it…remember things got less weird to me so I might not realize a certain topic would be interesting. Whutoh (means bye around here, sounds a little like ut-oh, somethings wrong)

Pictures from the waterfall, about 2 hrs away from my house. Its a bitch to get there, but so worth it.

Joefred about to jump into the water, I have a video too but its too big.

It was the right time to smoke a cigar sent from the states.

The waterfall is huge, couldnt get the whole thing in a picture. Rediculous.

Almost a Really Great Entry

February 9, 2007 - This was going to be my best entry to date; but alas i have to put in and take out my usb every time i want to insert a picture and Im not up for it; sorry. I think its still a good story Ill add the pics later:

Hello everyone, I've decided it will be too much of a pain right now to change sites, so well see how it goes slightly editing myself. Right now I'm a little upset because the fridge I bought on a whim isn’t working because of low voltage, which happens almost every night. Hopefully it will keep cold enough even if it goes off for 2-3 hrs a day? I don’t know maybe I can have an electrician come. Anyway I also bought a ping pong table which I'm more excited about, although it’s a little smaller than an official table it works just fine. Tomorrow (meaning today if I get to the internet after) I'm going to sand it and paint it with my friend and reinforce it early next week. He is down right now because his girlfriend got a few gifts from a wealthy gentleman around here which suggests they weren’t just friends. Hes not talking to her but hes having a rough time..he says table tennis should take his mind off her..well see. Anyway after we paint it I'm going to go to the internet and do a few chores and then go to Dschang, the city near me, for banking and to watch Cameroon in the semifinals in the Africa Nations Cup. We're playing Ghana, the home team and we haven’t played great in the tournament so we'll see. Would be great to move to the finals. Its on Thursday, Feb. 7th at 7 or 930 here (so 1 or 330 eastern). Look for it on ESPN2 if you don’t have a job.

**There is also the loudest bug Ive ever heard outside right now, I don’t want to open the door for fear its big and will get inside so I have to kill it. Im also in the middle of a minor cockroach problem and am feeling a little sick, hopefully a good nights rest and dousing the house with insecticide will make me good to go tomorrow. The fridge just came on for a sec and then off again…life must sound bad but it really isn’t right now.**

Last weekend I have a trip to tell you about:Lucky for you I wasn’t lazy and took my camera. My only regret is that I didn’t get a picture with the "father of jesus" but we'll get to that. The night before we were to leave, Marcellus (a friend I went with) went to talk to a guy who was going to show us to "elephant rock" a huge rock you can see in the distance from my post where supposedly elephants used to come and sun bathe. His motivation was that he was going to hunt for animals while we were there. He set a time for 800 when we would leave(gave him 500 francs for something, Marcel couldn’t say no he was doing us a favor), and then we bought food, fishing hooks to go with the line I had bought, and bait. We packed most of it that night. Marcellus and I woke up around 630, he was at my house at 7 we finished packing and cooked some eggs (for the guide too), ate some peanuts on our way to the guys house. We showed up at 5 to 8, and the guy wasn’t there. The kids wouldn’t even go look for him!(VERY rude to say no to anything an adult tells you) Here are the kids:


Anyway we wait around, and by 815 Marcellus is angry. Im used to having to wait for Cameroonians so I just sit, eat more, snap photos of the kids, and wait. The guy shows up around 830, apologizing profusely and says he will go get ready to go. We wait outside until about 845 and go in to see what the problem is. He says now that he cant leave until his wife gets back from wherever she was…Marcellus talks to him and the guy says ok its not far, 20 minutes, and we'll leave at 10 no matter if the wife is back yet (the neighbors would watch the kids, its what you do in Cameroon (I don’t watch any kids)).

We leave our bags at the house and go into town and get a drink (just juice, I thought about a beer though its not out of the ordinary here) and when I went to get some chocolate a guy who sort of looks like the guy says "are you ready?, lets go". Its only 945 so Im excited, were doing better then he promised. I thought it was him but it turned out it was his brother who looked like him. He was finishing a beer(see?) so we said we would meet him after he finished at the house. On our way back we see the guide on a moto towards town! He shouts "I am coming". We had nothing to do but wait at that point. At about 11 we finally got one of the kids to go look for him (we would have just left then but our bags were locked up). He comes back and says his father went to visit someone in the hospital, and we'll go tomorrow. This didn’t work for me, I had to teach the next day so we were out of luck.

Marcel was more pissed than I was, but his complaints which I generally agree with were:
1) we talked to him about this day about a month in advance
2) Marcel went by his house the night before to make sure
3) he still said we were going that morning, 45 mins after we decided to meet
4) the least he could have done was say we weren’t going or we might not go
Im not sure if he wanted to get as much out of us as he could and then not go or if there was an actual reason he had to go to the hospital then, but in any case he left us with our bags fully packed including some already prepared food, looking at hiking during the hottest part of the day if we wanted to still go.

On my our way back with our bags we go about 100 yds and see a man in a bubu (a formal dress around here) walking in the other direction. Marcel seems to know him and tells him the story about what happened. After about 30 seconds, the man shakes his head and says "No, come". We start to follow. This shows very well the two contrasts in Cameroon. Some people are always late, want to take advantage of everyone(This is going to be a long parentheses I have another story I probably wont tell unless I put it here..just know now that the guy in the bubu decided to take us, in contrast to the first guy and the guy Im about to tell you about. There was a teacher at the beginning of the year who was a pretty cool guy. He came over a few times and we talked about Cameroon, the government, philosophy of life, he seemed very intelligent and we had some very interesting talks. I was only about 1 month at post and he was probably my best friend at the time. One night he says hes thinking about starting a call box at the school(a call box is basically a pay phone except people sit with cell phones and you can call for cheaper because they buy in bulk, and you can also buy credit from them). It sounded like a good idea maybe students would use it to call their parents, etc. Anyway he wanted 20000fcfa (about 45 dollars) for help with the credit. I told him I didn’t have enough Id have to go to the bank, and he said that whatever I could give him by that weekend he would appreciate because he was going that weekend to buy the credit in the city. I decided to give him 10000, and before he took it I told him of what Peace Corps told us about Cameroonians trying to scam us. He said "in wine, there is truth" in the latin but I forget it (good thing Mrs. Griffin doesn’t know about the blog). I make him sign a receipt saying hes gonna pay it back by a certain time(what I was most worried about) and he said no problem. A few weeks later I realize I haven’t seen him since that weekend, and ask a colleague what happened. Apparently he didn’t tell anyone he was leaving, packed up all his things and moved out of town to take another job. He was completely lying the entire time. I was very surprised, and it was a good lesson to learn for only 10000 fcfa. Later while reading notes the last PCV (peace corps volunteer) left me it said "don’t trust _______ hes a mooch". Teaches me to read help that’s given too. I also discovered a white man store that apparently sometimes (not since Ive been here) has cheese and yogurt. If I get the fridge to work Ill go there more. Back to the story) and some people are the most welcoming people you could imagine. This guy had a plan of going into the field, working all day and meeting his wife in the evening, and decided to help us out instead (might sound nice to skip a day of work to hike around but hiking isn’t easy and farming is his only source of income).

We go to his house, he gives us some food, changes, and we head off around 1 oclock (the sun is sooo hot at this time). Heres a picture of the farmer's (Ernest, our new guide) view from his house). We start hiking, it takes about 1 hr and a half to make it to one of the rivers that surrounds the rock. I am told that the rock around it is part of the large rock, exposed here, covered by bush on the way and uncovered when we reach the place. This is where I take my favorite picture…Marcellus jumping to rock he was afraid to jump (all Cameroonians are better at hiking/rock jumping than me) but something must have rubbed off on me because I made it easily. I was practicing jumping on the side before I went an Marcellus was laughing hard, he said "if you don’t make it youll still have your life". That’s what I was thinking about when I jumped, in the picture I'm thinking "thank god I made it":

We look around, they think about swimming but the water is too rough and Marcellus insists theres a lot of magic around that place, and he wont go in. We start hiking to the rock, Marcellus realizes he forgot his machete and goes back to get it, Ernest and I continue on and make it to the rock.
Ernest:

Me on the rock:

The rock was like this all around, pretty cool not sure how it was made (any real geologists reading? Kaplan at least?)
We decided to eat the eggs we prepared there…the bread was too dry but eggs were good.

Here you can see where we left, my town in the distance. As we were leaving we saw a trap left. They had me pose getting caught in it(hurt more than I thought and almost whacked me in the eye) but the picture of Ernest resetting it was better:

This is where the trip started to suuuuck. We turned out to be going to Ernest's part of the other river, and there was no path. The machetes came in handy but still being 6'4" and going over and under brush is not fun, especially under the equatorial African sun in pants. Ok ill stop complaining for now, we made it to the open area and they decided to swim this time. I REALLY wanted to swim, but the peace corps says we cant because we can get schisto, a disease which is completely testable and curable (you do get worms in your eyes if untreated) but still, got to avoid it by sitting in the sun while they dip in the cool, brisk water. Batteries were low I think that’s why its blurry:

**I just took a break to talk on the phone to another volunteer for a little…if you call after 11 its almost free for however long you talk, really nice considering a 10 minute call is about 1 days salary normally. Anyway we got in an argument about whether a push cart is better called a trolley or a pulley. Im right saying it’s a trolley, right? You start to forget some of the vocab you don’t use here. Sometimes I say something like cake (they call the few cakes here gateaus which is French) and think about how long its been since Ive said that word.**
This is the time when they tell me that to get back to my village; we'd have to hike in the dark. The other option is to meet Ernest's wife in another village and spend the night there. By this time we were so far out our cell phones were out and I couldn’t inform Peace Corps, but I figured it would be safer to go to that village than to hike during the night. We made it there about 530, bathed in a nearby river they said was drinking water right before the spot we were at so I figured it would be safe (sorry ladies no pictures of that) and I took the two of them out for a drink while the wife stayed home and cooked the food we had on us (at least Ernest took the baby to the bar…right?).

The drinks were a little expensive but I was out of potable water and wanted a juice really bad, plus they had both helped me out immensely. It was the only bar in town, and on a Saturday night had 4 people in it when we arrived. There's no electricity in that village so we drank by lantern. We met some interesting people, a farmer there said his daughter was in my class…she came in and introduced herself and I didn’t recognize her. I asked if she was in my class and she said yes she was in Lower6th and took physics. I know both girls in that class by name, and she wasn’t one of them. She's never been to the 2 hrs a week that I teach of that class (many of them don’t come because the 2 hrs before and 1 hr after the teachers don’t come to class). I pretended it was my fault so she wouldn’t get in trouble and a little while she brought food for us to eat…very nice of her but I was so exhausted I wasn’t that hungry and I knew we were going home to food. I ate it all and hoped I wouldn’t have to eat that much at Ernest's house. I talked to the father a bit he was an interesting guy. The most interesting things he said:

1) He said he knows a place about 1 day out in the bush where hes seen elephants and chimpanzees. I would love to see them, and I'm planning on going with him…even if there are no animals it will be nice to make it far out and see what its like. Simon, you up for going out there? BUY YOUR TICKET.
2) He told a story about the only other white man to visit the village before me. He went to meet the chief, and while they were together the he kept "blowing gas"(Marcellus' words after he translated the story later). The Cameroonians near him asked the chief why he wasn’t upset, because if a Cameroonian did that in front of the chief he would be beaten at the least. The chief said the gas was not smelling so it was okay. The Cameroonians in the bar laughed hysterically at this story…apparently comedy translates across cultures(not sure if I'm sarcastic about that, depending on the telling it could have been funny).
3) He told me in English that the man across the bar (who later self proclaimed himself "the father of jesus" to the delight of the bar) used to be a spiritual doctor who could swallow a 22 oz glass bottle, or throw a bottle cap at the wall making it stick. In the end he didn’t keep up the requirements and lost his powers so he couldn’t show us, but he could do it before. The father of Jesus was drunk and spoke very broken English, I couldn’t understand most of what he said but he stared at me a lot, hope he was blessing me.
We left the bar, me regretting I didn’t bring my camera to get pictures of the folks inside, and headed back to the house. The stars were amazing…Im sure theres a limit to how good they can be but there were no lights around except candles and you could see a shitton of stars (sorry about the swearing but its necessary to get the feeling across). Inside Ernest's wife had prepared rice and fish that we had brought (she gave me the ziplock that held the rice back full of garri (yellowish ground…plant I think?)...I don’t like it much and don’t know how to prepare it so I gave it to Marcellus, but my point is they are poor and have a 7 month old baby and are still very generous to guests.
After the meal we played cards (something like UNO) which was a lot of fun, they all trashed talked in English. I have to admit I was a little uncomfortable when Ernest's wife started breast feeding in the middle of the game, Im trying to get used to it but women are not shy here. They also brought me a beer, again very generous.

**MY FRIDGE IS WORKING!! It was out for about 4 hrs…what do you guys think will it keep things cold? Maybe Ill have to move it onto a different plug but that would mean it would be in the bedroom, not convenient.**
By the time we decide to go to bed I am exhausted and ready to pass out. Good thing because turns out Im sharing a bed with Marcellus and Ernest. Im sure it was the only bed in the house, but Cameroonians give the guests nothing but the best. I slept pretty well, woke up around 7 and we ate leftover rice and after giving Ernest some money for helping us out (not sure if it was right to do but he accepted), headed out about 8. I realized that we walked almost all downhill on the way there and it would be uphill most of the way. I wasn’t disappointed. After climbing for about an hour I reached a point where I knew where I was, and about 10 oclock we reached the house. Us in front of my house:

It was a great hike, although I was exhausted and pretty sure I picked something up from one of the many cuts on my hands and arms (I took a Benadryl just in case and passed out after a while). Definitely going to keep exploring the area around me (I told some of you about the waterfall I went to…that was closer and more beautiful than this, if anyone visits we'll definitely go there). Its 1245 (only time Ive stayed up this late was 4am to watch the pats lose in the final seconds last Sunday). Cant say I was too disappointed, it was time for them to lose a superb owl (typed it right but word said it was wrong and suggested this, never realized superbowl=superb owl) and I like the giants. Anyway as usual hope you guys are great, Im doing alright here, keep in touch. Don’t expect such detailed blogs in the future but Ill do my best.

Brad

More pictures, other stuff

January 31, 2008 -

So, Ill start with my usual apology for going so long without writing. Sorry. Ive been getting into writing emails to people, its hard to keep writing to a wall and to not get any feedback. My new strategy is to start inserting sections of emails into my blogs. I'm going to change the blog though, for a few reasons. First I am going to be more organized. Now that Ive been here for a while I have somewhat of an outline of things I can tell you my general feelings about things. I am thinking about changing sites, because this site wont allow me to put a password...I can make it private but then everyone needs their own password to get in...if some google person reads this, this is why Id leave. Im going to see how it turns out and decide then, but ill make sure to post the new site and email the new password to everyone. Its not that I think a reasonable peace corps staff member (they do read our blogs) or future employer would judge me on what Ill say, but its like writing a diary entry knowing someone might read it…I want it to be what I really think.

Im doing well. I think changing my malaria medication was a good idea, I've been much more productive in school and I'm feeling better all the time. I still dream about the states (less about food also and more about company….I would love to be home for the super bowl). I'm going to try to be with Americans that night but might not be able to and might end up not watching it…If I do end up watching it itll be live, ill put it on my blog that ill be on so if you want to call and say hi you can.

I am working on a proposal to get a basketball/volleyball court built at the school. They have a foundation but no money to finish it, put up hoops, etc. Ill be posting that on the peace corps website this week, and putting a link on this blog. Help me out people.

Id like to give a shout out to the Mahars, thanks for reading the blog and getting something to my mom to send. I ate all the sour patch kids in 24 hrs, the Swedish fish the 2 days after. They were delicious. Let it be known if you give my mom something to send to me she'll get it here.

I bought a guitar right after Christmas, its been really nice to have…between things I need to do I practice…Im planning to be pretty ridiculous when I get home, or at least be able to play free bird and deuling banjos.

Heard its looking good for a democrat but we're not sure which one, I'm a little out of touch but just to let you guys know, if you want to see me in the next 5 years vote democrat, if a republican gets elected I may just wait it out. That’s all I got right now, Im going to try and figure out the password thing and then you should get an email…again if not email me. Everybody take it easy.

brad

My school from above. There are 1077 students.

Swearing in day...we all wore the same pattern. What Im wearings called a bubu, I havent worn it since.
Attacked by creachies! Nasty little buggers secret a poisonous juice, I have another rash on my shoulder now.
The fonts palace. The font is the head chief, pretty big dude. He wasnt there so I didnt get to meet him.

Ants eating a cockroach...I think its a cool picture.

Pictures!

Now that I can bring my computer to the cafe its much easier to upload pictures, and I like it more so Ill be on gmail more often (if you want to chat, If im on its usually around 10am-2pm Eastern time.) Here ya go:

My kitchen counter in my kitchen/living room.

My bookshelf/hallway to the bedroom.

Me and my view from my front lawn. Its better when its not cloudy (or more cloudy).

Me in front of my house. Nicer then you expected?

My Cameroonian host family. Really nice people I need to talk to them more.

We had an awesome thanksgiving dinner.

Sometimes in peace corps you have youre head over the toilet wondering why you ever decided to do this. Sometimes youre on a nearly deserted black sand beach in November with cold beer delivered to you for a dollar.

I made them RedSox fans. (the tatoos they have are redsox)

My favorite bridge in my town. Come visit well go over it its fun.

The first game of Suggestions. I might try and bring it back to the US.

Hope this satisfied some of the craving, let me know if you have any other specific picture requests.

...and a Happy New Year

January 4, 2008 - Just started my only full year in Cameroon, and for those of you that miss me (hopefully theres a few) Ill be home next year. I didnt do much for the New years just hung out and drank some wine and whiskey and watched arrested development. All of us had different times on our phones so we settled to count down according to the middle one. The people here celebrate New Years Day more than New years eve, and we went to a family gathering and ate and drank. There was an American visiting a friend there it was very interesting to talk to her and hear her views on Cameroon after 1 week, and it was fun feeling a little like we knew a lot more than her. I have a lot to do online so Ill leave you with that, a few older updates I never posted, and the picutre of one of my most relaxing times in Cameroon:

Sometime in November - Last night I was looking forward to getting to sleep early and having a nice rest after a long day, but then was reminded to take my malaria medication which I usually don’t take at night because it disturbs my sleep. Ended up having a terrible sleep because of that and a mouse that I could hear going through my spaghetti (wasn’t about to try and kill it I would have been up all night from the adrenaline, that light is out). Anyway I ended up sleeping in (til about 730) and didn’t feel rested when I heard a knock on my door, I had thought my friend who I was going to hike with would come late. I get my camelback together take some peanuts and my camera, and we go. First we climbed up to the cell phone towers that overlook the town it was a great view. On the way up we met a chief, then had some bananas at another chiefs palace. After about an hour and a half we reached the top and visited the chief we mets palace, but had been on his way to the funeral of a woman who died in a motorcycle accident. We (my friend) talked to his wife for a while (I really need to learn the local dialect). While I watched the kids. Kids here are amazing, they grow up really quickly. There are good and bad parts to this. They need to grow up quickly because there are so many of them and the parents are so busy they don’t have time to watch them all the time. Usually you will see kids watching their younger siblings. When I say kids I mean young kids…. the 6 yr old is in charge, the 4 year old will hold the 1 year old, etc. So the good parts is these kids wont play with knives or matches (more accurately they are careful with those things, one of the girls was playing with a razor blade while I was watching but no one was worried shed cut herself). Accidents certainly do happen, I once saw a boy who was hit with a moto and died…at first when I heard the crowd from 100yds away I thought they were cheering for something…but they were weeping, it was really sad (Im learning motos aren’t very safe but its they only way to travel sometimes). Anyway back to my day, we left that chiefs place and saw the cell towers, talked to the guy who cares for it. We went down a little bit to visit my friends grandmother but she wasn’t in. When we made it back to the main road we decided to go to Azi and visit the Font (the head chief of the area). We trekked about 30 or 40 mins there, ate some bush plums, (never had them before, kinduv like olives) and went to the palace. Turned out he wasn’t in either so we'd come for nothing, but on the way back through the market I saw a pineapple and decided we should buy it and relax a little bit. –my neighbor just dropped off some water fufu and fish sauce, mmmm-- I thought we were going to stay for 15 mins but we ended up hanging out, talking to people, talking about Cameroon and the US and differences, etc. for a good 2.5 hours. I realized I wasn’t acculturated when after about an hour I started getting ancy to leave, even though I had no where to go. When I relaxed it was one of the best feelings in the world, sitting talking with a 1.5 hour hike before I could get back to my cell phone in the event there was an emergency. The best part of our talk was when this guy came over to talk to us, but he couldn’t speak. He spoke in sounds and hand motions which my friend couldn’t understand, so a woman was translating to him in the local dialect, which he then translated to English for me. Very strange. Turns out he was inviting us to a party where there would be "beaucoup" drinks and food. It wasn’t his party I don’t think, because a little while later he asked me for 100 francs for food. He was a nice guy, but it always ruins it a little when they ask for money. Anway after a while we headed home, I barely made it at that the rest and the Guinness made my legs not want to work anymore. I bought some ground nuts and ground them (it makes sense) for peanut butter, and had a nice banana, pb and jelly snack and this fufu came just in time. Tomorrow Ive decided to go to church for the first time, its Thanksgiving mass I guess there's dances and singing planned. Maybe Ill write about it.

Guess Im writing about it. Just got back to mass, really glad I went. I think I'm going to try to be more involved in the community more, they are really accepting and grateful for just my participation in things, while at school I feel like they just expect things from me. Mass is nice here, there is lots of singing and dancing, but its loooooong. It starts about 945 and goes until 1130 or 12 usually, almost 1 today because it was Thangsgiving mass (not sure if it has anything to do with the American holiday, awfully coincidental since Thanksgiving is Thursday. I took a break and took a nap, read, talked to my neighbors about church, some students came by for help, and I was just about to cook myself dinner and work a little and…my gas ran out. About 5 minutes of thinking I couldn’t think of anything I could eat without a stove except for this coconut I bought, the problem is I bought one before and someone opened it for me and told me it was bad. I opened this one myself but I cant tell if its bad or not but its really tough and hard to eat. Basically every mother telling their kids that there are starving kids in Africa tonight are right. I don’t know if Ive told you guys about it but I have this lizard that comes into my window every night like clockwork. one night I didn’t close the window he came in, but since then if I forget he waits til I close it then comes in 10 minutes later. Ive named him Lou.

I think I need to write my entries a little differently. I was inspired by a Vanity Fair article I just read (theres a whole issue on Africa it was really good). It said how Africa is the “bad news continent” and its completely true. I’m sure if you search an internet news site the only articles you will get are about something sad, tragic, or about aid. I remember the Peace Corps telling me they would send me to Africa (this was back when I wasn’t really sold on the idea). I really had no idea where I was going. I knew they wouldn’t be sending me into a war zone, but that was the only picture I had of Africa. Since I’m here and some of you have fought through my lack of updating to be reading this now, I will try to paint a picture for you, maybe some day people will have a clear idea (and of course if anyone wants to visit and get the real deal, you are welcome (how they say it here)). Bringing African culture to America is actually one of the goals of the Peace Corps, so I’m just doing my job. First I have to warn you that I only know Cameroon. That being said, they call Cameroon miniAfrica, both because it has almost all the different climates of Africa and because it is so culturally diverse. It is amazing how culturally diverse it is. The cities are a hodgepodge of people from every place in every province, but when you go to the small provinces everyone has their own dialect (Im going to try to learn some of mine eventually, all I know now is good morning and good afternoon). If you travel about 40km you will find another dialect. They also have traditional leaders who are gradually being phased out I believe but they still have a lot of power in some communities. I’ve met two, and it was interesting both times. They have guards who go in before and make sure everyone knows the protocol…you have to stand, bow, bring gifts and other things. They seem to be pretty down to earth when you start to talk to them though. In the culture tradition and titles are very important. For every event there is a hierarchy of who shows up when. The smallest people will show up on time to half an hr later, then the important ppl will show up until the most important person shows up 1.5 to 2.5 hours late and the even can begin. Its really annoying I've started going very late to things sometimes after they’ve started, Im not good at small talk in the states Im not going to do it here for 2 hrs when I could be doing something else. The good thing I can say about the conferences is that they happen and important things are done. Sometimes I am annoyed at the slow progress or the repetition, but most of the time what is said eventually comes to a conclusion and it is recorded and saved for a meeting of higher ranked people. My favorite part about the meeting is item 11, the food at the end. They are always the best meals because they are free (usually come with a beer or two) and you are starving from not eating for about 6 hrs or so. I used to not like the traditional food they serve but its really good now. By the way Im going to return to the states a master cook. I never realized how easy it is to make things. Do you realize bisquick is just flour, baking soda and salt mixed together? Those guys are geniuses. Anyway Ive learned to make bread, tortillas, rice and beans, enchiladas, deep fried stuff, sauces for pasta and rice, peanut butter, other things I cant think of. Anyway it’s a good way to pass time here and then at the end its delicious. I complain about food a lot here but I eat really well, you never appreciate an enchilada until you go 4 months without it then shop and work for a few hours to make them. O yea Im killing a chicken this weekend and making sweet and sour chicken, I'm psyched. I meant to make this longer but Im tired and I still have work to do.

A little after thanksgiving - I have had a great past week or so. Its test time which is always a stressful time, but after giving all my tests I traveled down to Tico. There is an over 50 couple posted there (Peace corps is recruiting over 50 if you're over 50 and interested). They have a nice house, 2 extra bedrooms, 1 with a bed and the other with 2 extra mattresses. Their room just got air conditioning which is amazing but necessary there it is very hot and humid. The fridge was stocked with cold water and juice, and they had gotten 5 chickens, stuffing, had potatoes peeled for mashing, 3 cans of olives, 2 cans of cranberry sauce, and they made gravy and another volunteer brought pumpkin pie mix. 1 can of cranberry, 2 boxes of stuffing and brownie mix are waiting for Christmas (I think were doing Christmas on the beach too). O yea the beach. We arrived Saturday, went to a nice restaurant and went to bed early, got up around 730 or so, ate bfast (they had saved peanut butter from a care package), and went fo beach. We checked out a craft store and got draft beer before we went to the actual beach (this was about 11) and then headed to a secluded Peace corps hang out. The beach was awesome, its all black sand and nearly deserted, a few surfers, some people carrying things but we were mostly by ourselves. The waves were huge by the end, bigger then any id seen in the US, and we spent the entire afternoon drinking, swimming, playing Frisbee, and just lounging. Rediculous change from 2 days before when I was au village giving an exam to 80 students at a time. We left the beach and went to go get hamburgers, unfortunately the waitress informed us after 15 mins that they have the burgers but the ham was finished…so we got 6 plates of fries and got out of there. We ate the chicken, potatoes, stuffing, and cran sauce and drank wine (white wine even) and talked about how nice it was to have a holiday without all the advertisements, etc. Christmas is certainly going to be weird. I bet you all are starting to see television ads, billboards, my mom is certainly playing Christmas music by now, and we wont get any exposure to Christmas besides talking about what were going to do with other Americans (and about how weird it is that we don’t see ads). My new plan is to send my pictures home with a volunteer for Christmas, and have her mail them to my parents who Ill have buy the converter and send it back to me. Should be about 2 more weeks, but then youll have all the pictures I have. Its really hard to come back to post, but in 2 weeks Ill be back at the beach for training, where Ill get to see all the volunteers from all around the country…really looking forward to it. Apparently my address has disappeared from my blog, so if you want to send me something send me an email first Ill send you my addresses (ones faster and riskier ones slower and pretty safe). If you’ve sent me a package I haven’t gotten it yet, but Ill get it when we all meet in 2 weeks. Ill send texts to you that I got them (esp Kevin I know he thinks his is lost but I don’t think it is). Hope you all had a happy thanksgiving, and don’t worry about me I certainly did.

Be Well.
Brad