Dec. 28, 2007 - I hope everyone had a good Christmas and will have a good new years. We made a fantastic dinner, chicken, mashed potatoes (cheesy garlic), stuffing (real stove top), gravy and apple pie for dessert. I made the apple pie myself, and I have to say it was delicious. I tried to kill the chicken, the kid who was helping kept saying cut until it was bleeding all over and the head was limp and he said it was dead, but when i let go it sprang to life and started squaking, so he swung it around a little and eventually cut the head better....ill get it next time. I have been on vacation forever, we just got back from training in Kribi (beach town) and it was almost the 2 week xmas break. Ill write about Kribi, but for now heres a picture of me enjoying the only waterfall to fall directly into the ocean (or thats what the guys who had the boat said). Ok email me if you want the picture its not working. Merry Xmas.
Brad
Friday, December 28, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Merry Christmas Everyone
December 20, 2007 - As usual I have updates I have written and the wont load onto the computer. Maybe sometime in the next week. Anyway Ive been getting seriously homesick for the first time, both with it being Christmas time and with the death of my grandfather (Grandpa, my dads dad to those who knew him). To my family, I wish I could have come back for the wake and funeral, but it would have been too difficult. I had people here to talk about it with, but I still think it doesnt feel real yet, not sure when it will hit me. I heard the cerimony was nice. Even though its sunny and warm everyday and I was at the beach all week, I miss the cold (or maybe the shelter from the cold) and the whole Christmas time. Im not sure what Im doing yet for Christmas, was thinking of travelling but kinduv miss my post. Ill try and get another update up soon, I promise no more than a week.
Brad
Brad
Saturday, December 1, 2007
3 Months at Post
December 1, 2007 - Wow I didnt realize it was December until I looked at it on the computer. Time is going fast and slow at the same time, its a strange thing. I have a bunch of updates to put up but as usual my usb isnt getting along with the computer. I found out I can bring my laptop to the center and hook it up so Ill do that assuming theres lights and internet. I didnt have electricity for the past 2 days or so it was rough, read a lot but was very happy to get music back. I went to a crusade last night which is a traveling preacher who comes and they have a band, singers, and the preachers and singers lead the group in song and prayer, it was cool to see everyone together, and of course everyone was glad to see me there. Besides Thanksgiving I've just been hanging at post still getting used to teaching and life out there. Thanksgiving was amazing I went to a beach town and it was so close to an American Thanksgiving it was amazing...but I have already written about that so youll have to wait. Hope the US is still well and gas isnt 5 dollars/gallon. Ill post again soon.
brad
brad
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
The Most Vulnerable I've Ever Been
November 13, 2007 - Things are going well...but a couple of nights ago I had the worst experience of my trip so far. The day started out well I went on a hike/run to the top of a mountain that overlooks my town, didnt make it to where I wanted to go but Im going to have a guide next time. Got back to town, bought a big pot at the market for baking, and made a really good dinner and chocolate cake for dessert. Went to bed happy. A few hours later (no idea what time because when I tried to look at my phone it was finally fully broken, wouldnt even turn on) I started feeling crappy in my dream and my pillow was made of chocolate cake so I was turning so I couldnt smell it, etc. but eventually I woke up and couldnt go back to sleep because my stomach felt so bad. The next 5 hours consisted of me going to the bathroom every 15 mins and having terrible diahrea, forcing water down after even though I usually puked it up soon after. I didnt fall asleep, just laid in bed listening to what I knew couldnt be mice because I hadnt had them in my house before (but no, Id left my door, with the key in it, wide open). Laying sick in Africa with no phone and my door wide open will be hard to beat in terms of vulnerability (dont worry I always lock my door especially now...and my town is very friendly...not that people wouldnt steal). I got one mouse out a few days ago but I know theres another because it broke into my pasta last night. O yea for those of you who know about "the club" or might be able to guess what it is I joined it that night. Twice. The laundrys still soaking. I have other updates but my it wont let me use my usb. Ill figure it out soonish or come back and update.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Aaand Im back, sorry
August 28, 2007
I’ve arrived in my village. It is small, and now that I’ve finished Harry Potter this morning, Im not sure what Im gonna do for the next few weeks. I got my class schedule finished, Ill be teaching Forms I-III (the smaller kids, the most work) but it shouldn’t be too bad. Ill also be giving some staff computer classes and looks like I might be the head of sports. The good news is I made my own schedule so I don’t teach Fridays, and I don’t teach Mondays until 1030 so I can travel on the weekends. Its been interesting having the community get used to me, but word travels FAST here. The first day I was hear I got a lot of "Hello white man" and strange looks, but after about 4 days people are already ignoring me (or not openly staring and gaping). I am not the only white man in my village, theres a woman finishing her masters from Oxford (American from the Midwest). When I was running by she yelled "WHITE MAN" and I thought it was just another call so I didn’t stop, when I ran by her a second time she was taking a picture of me. I stopped and said hello, it was nice to talk American English. By the way I said my English would suffer living in Francophone, its only going to get worse here in Anglophone. They speak their local language as their first language, and it comes through in the English. I have to find a Pidgin and French tutor, which shouldn’t be hard here because everyone the local language, Pidgin, French, and English almost fluently.
After finishing making the schedule today my VP took us our for a drink (1pm). I was a little skeptical but all the teachers were going I wasn’t sure if they meant a beer, and Id been up for 6 hrs, why not. I wish the others had ordered first because after the VP ordered a beer I did, and then everyone else got juice, guess drinking at 1 isnt very culturally acceptable here either. When I came back to my house my landlady came to say hi to me, we talked about rent, she has 3 daughters away at school, howd shed been to the US once, and then after she said goodbye she turned and said "are you married". I was flustered so responded no…I wish Id said yes or at least that I have a girlfriend, not that that means much to them. Hm so my house, its 1 living room, 1 bedroom, and a bathroom. The kitchen is basically half in the living room half in the hallway. The light in the bedroom doesn’t work, the toilet is broken, I don’t have a sink, and I find about a cockroach per day, but Im really happy with it. The last volunteer left all her stuff so I came with a stove, tables, chairs, bed, and most awesomely all her class notes and books. Cooking has been interesting. I think she had someone cook for her and Im starting to see why. There is absolutely nothing that you can buy in the market or grocery store that you don’t have to cook besides fried dough, cookies and chocolate. Ive been eating a lot of those but it cant be a meal (at least not all the time). Thank god for parmesan cheese. A lot of pasta, eggs, beans, and potato fries have gotten me through. Im gonna have to start branching out though because that’s about all I know how to make. Oh the prunes here which aren’t really prunes are good too. Funny thought from yesterday when I opened a can(with a hammer and a knife). Never did I ever think I would open up a can of what I thought was just tomato sauce and be glad that there were sardine chunks in it. It was delicious. Also popcorn with Maggi ™ and parm cheese is very good.
September 19, 2007 – It has been a looooong time since Ive updated, and I’m sorry. There is no internet in my town and my usb has been acting up, and the internet is so slow I only have time to type a few emails and see how the red sox are doing and I have to go…those are all my excuses, I’m lazy too. It’s been almost a month at post now. Time is going to fly. Here’s what life is like most of the time. I wake up, brush my teeth, make some coffee with ovaltine, and either just relax or plan lessons. I go to school whenever I have class, some days I can come home for lunch sometimes I eat there (made the mistake of drinking the spring water they have there, payed for that for a few days). On Tuesdays and Thursdays I play soccer, and on Wednesday afternoons they "do sport" after school. Today we played volleyball I think its soccer next week. Volleyball was fun, it was students vs. teachers. The teachers take a little bit of an advantage but its all in good fun, they just don’t want to lose. Other then that I read, cook, do laundry, dishes, clean my house, study French, plan lessons, watch the 6 arrested developments I have on my computer for the nth time, and visit with neighbors. I teach forms I, II, IV and lower VI, roughly equivalent to 7-8th grade, sophomores, and seniors. It is in no way like a school in the US. Lets start with the ways its better. My school is at the bottom of a valley, in every direction there are mountains and it’s without exaggerating its one of the prettiest place I’ve been and definitely the prettiest place I’ve lived (sorry Hamilton). Also teachers are always right and you can make your students kneel on the ground if they derange(gonna try and stay away from that). The classrooms are in individual buildings, with no glass windows…its not uncommon for birds to fly in and somewhat more rarely a chicken will wander in. The classes are big, anywhere from 60 to 80 students in each class. Makes it difficult to teach when they talk, but I’m lucky because they all want to learn from me so they are pretty good most of the time. School starts a little differently too, most of the teachers don’t show up until the 2nd week and some haven’t come yet, it’s the middle of the 3rd week. I teach 16 hours a week which might not sound like a lot but it is tough, especially because it’s mostly concentrated Tue-Thu. I have Fridays off which is nice for traveling. On my days off, I try to get things done like laundry, stocking up on water, cooking good meals, running, going to the tailor whatever random things come up. Every 4 days is market day so I buy my rice and veggies there. The food here is pretty good they have a lot of variety, I’ve had fun experimenting, although I’ve bought ginger by accident and haven’t figured out how to use it yet. Oh about the jogging there are amazing trails. Unfortunately there aren’t 2 roads to many places, so you usually have to just turn around and come back at some point. The only down side is it makes for a lot of laundry. I think I’m going to get some help with laundry and keeping the house clean. Hm I cant think of anything else, I’m enjoying it here, still miss everyone. Send me some emails.
NB: I wrote the second entry without remembering what I wrote in the first one, so you can see how I changed a little.
October 5, 2007- I am exhausted from grading, I accidentally assigned homework at the same time I had to give a test so now I have 2 papers from each of my 500+ students. Im through about half of it and its tiring, but its good to be busy. I don’t have any great stories at the moment…but pictures are coming! Im going to mail a memory card to Simon (Simon if I forgot to tell you this sorry but you offered to do something like it so I’m taking you up). So anyway the pics should be online somewhere in 3-6 weeks plus however long it takes Simon to get it together. I’ve been learning how to cook, slowly expanding my "things I can cook" list (theres actually a list on my wall so I remember things if I feel like changing it up). Think Im gonna make some fried vegetables and couscous when Im done typing this. I have 1.5 months down now and am really looking forward to the 3 month mark when PC will let us travel again. There are plans in the works to climb a mountain on thanksgiving and come back and feast. It might not be too late to fit in a package with some good food…After Thanksgiving we have IST (in service training) where all the people from my training get together and have some more training sessions and hang out in Limbe(really nice beaches). It’ll be good to see everyone as Ive barely seen any of them since August 23rd.
I’ve arrived in my village. It is small, and now that I’ve finished Harry Potter this morning, Im not sure what Im gonna do for the next few weeks. I got my class schedule finished, Ill be teaching Forms I-III (the smaller kids, the most work) but it shouldn’t be too bad. Ill also be giving some staff computer classes and looks like I might be the head of sports. The good news is I made my own schedule so I don’t teach Fridays, and I don’t teach Mondays until 1030 so I can travel on the weekends. Its been interesting having the community get used to me, but word travels FAST here. The first day I was hear I got a lot of "Hello white man" and strange looks, but after about 4 days people are already ignoring me (or not openly staring and gaping). I am not the only white man in my village, theres a woman finishing her masters from Oxford (American from the Midwest). When I was running by she yelled "WHITE MAN" and I thought it was just another call so I didn’t stop, when I ran by her a second time she was taking a picture of me. I stopped and said hello, it was nice to talk American English. By the way I said my English would suffer living in Francophone, its only going to get worse here in Anglophone. They speak their local language as their first language, and it comes through in the English. I have to find a Pidgin and French tutor, which shouldn’t be hard here because everyone the local language, Pidgin, French, and English almost fluently.
After finishing making the schedule today my VP took us our for a drink (1pm). I was a little skeptical but all the teachers were going I wasn’t sure if they meant a beer, and Id been up for 6 hrs, why not. I wish the others had ordered first because after the VP ordered a beer I did, and then everyone else got juice, guess drinking at 1 isnt very culturally acceptable here either. When I came back to my house my landlady came to say hi to me, we talked about rent, she has 3 daughters away at school, howd shed been to the US once, and then after she said goodbye she turned and said "are you married". I was flustered so responded no…I wish Id said yes or at least that I have a girlfriend, not that that means much to them. Hm so my house, its 1 living room, 1 bedroom, and a bathroom. The kitchen is basically half in the living room half in the hallway. The light in the bedroom doesn’t work, the toilet is broken, I don’t have a sink, and I find about a cockroach per day, but Im really happy with it. The last volunteer left all her stuff so I came with a stove, tables, chairs, bed, and most awesomely all her class notes and books. Cooking has been interesting. I think she had someone cook for her and Im starting to see why. There is absolutely nothing that you can buy in the market or grocery store that you don’t have to cook besides fried dough, cookies and chocolate. Ive been eating a lot of those but it cant be a meal (at least not all the time). Thank god for parmesan cheese. A lot of pasta, eggs, beans, and potato fries have gotten me through. Im gonna have to start branching out though because that’s about all I know how to make. Oh the prunes here which aren’t really prunes are good too. Funny thought from yesterday when I opened a can(with a hammer and a knife). Never did I ever think I would open up a can of what I thought was just tomato sauce and be glad that there were sardine chunks in it. It was delicious. Also popcorn with Maggi ™ and parm cheese is very good.
September 19, 2007 – It has been a looooong time since Ive updated, and I’m sorry. There is no internet in my town and my usb has been acting up, and the internet is so slow I only have time to type a few emails and see how the red sox are doing and I have to go…those are all my excuses, I’m lazy too. It’s been almost a month at post now. Time is going to fly. Here’s what life is like most of the time. I wake up, brush my teeth, make some coffee with ovaltine, and either just relax or plan lessons. I go to school whenever I have class, some days I can come home for lunch sometimes I eat there (made the mistake of drinking the spring water they have there, payed for that for a few days). On Tuesdays and Thursdays I play soccer, and on Wednesday afternoons they "do sport" after school. Today we played volleyball I think its soccer next week. Volleyball was fun, it was students vs. teachers. The teachers take a little bit of an advantage but its all in good fun, they just don’t want to lose. Other then that I read, cook, do laundry, dishes, clean my house, study French, plan lessons, watch the 6 arrested developments I have on my computer for the nth time, and visit with neighbors. I teach forms I, II, IV and lower VI, roughly equivalent to 7-8th grade, sophomores, and seniors. It is in no way like a school in the US. Lets start with the ways its better. My school is at the bottom of a valley, in every direction there are mountains and it’s without exaggerating its one of the prettiest place I’ve been and definitely the prettiest place I’ve lived (sorry Hamilton). Also teachers are always right and you can make your students kneel on the ground if they derange(gonna try and stay away from that). The classrooms are in individual buildings, with no glass windows…its not uncommon for birds to fly in and somewhat more rarely a chicken will wander in. The classes are big, anywhere from 60 to 80 students in each class. Makes it difficult to teach when they talk, but I’m lucky because they all want to learn from me so they are pretty good most of the time. School starts a little differently too, most of the teachers don’t show up until the 2nd week and some haven’t come yet, it’s the middle of the 3rd week. I teach 16 hours a week which might not sound like a lot but it is tough, especially because it’s mostly concentrated Tue-Thu. I have Fridays off which is nice for traveling. On my days off, I try to get things done like laundry, stocking up on water, cooking good meals, running, going to the tailor whatever random things come up. Every 4 days is market day so I buy my rice and veggies there. The food here is pretty good they have a lot of variety, I’ve had fun experimenting, although I’ve bought ginger by accident and haven’t figured out how to use it yet. Oh about the jogging there are amazing trails. Unfortunately there aren’t 2 roads to many places, so you usually have to just turn around and come back at some point. The only down side is it makes for a lot of laundry. I think I’m going to get some help with laundry and keeping the house clean. Hm I cant think of anything else, I’m enjoying it here, still miss everyone. Send me some emails.
NB: I wrote the second entry without remembering what I wrote in the first one, so you can see how I changed a little.
October 5, 2007- I am exhausted from grading, I accidentally assigned homework at the same time I had to give a test so now I have 2 papers from each of my 500+ students. Im through about half of it and its tiring, but its good to be busy. I don’t have any great stories at the moment…but pictures are coming! Im going to mail a memory card to Simon (Simon if I forgot to tell you this sorry but you offered to do something like it so I’m taking you up). So anyway the pics should be online somewhere in 3-6 weeks plus however long it takes Simon to get it together. I’ve been learning how to cook, slowly expanding my "things I can cook" list (theres actually a list on my wall so I remember things if I feel like changing it up). Think Im gonna make some fried vegetables and couscous when Im done typing this. I have 1.5 months down now and am really looking forward to the 3 month mark when PC will let us travel again. There are plans in the works to climb a mountain on thanksgiving and come back and feast. It might not be too late to fit in a package with some good food…After Thanksgiving we have IST (in service training) where all the people from my training get together and have some more training sessions and hang out in Limbe(really nice beaches). It’ll be good to see everyone as Ive barely seen any of them since August 23rd.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Almost a Volunteer
August 21, 2007 - After 2.5 months of language technical and cultural training I get offcially sworn in tomorrow as a volunteer. It is very much time to leave, Im going stir crazy here and ready to start workin g at my post. Im excited that i have a have almost a fully stocked house, I need to get a matress but that just means I have to stay a night in a bigger city with some voluneers to buy it. Sorry I cant update you guys more but after about a week of settling in I imagine Im going to have a lot of time to write emails.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
They call me Mr. Bradford
My students that is. I cant go by Mr. Melius yet. Their exam is Friday and I know half of them will fail because thats the way its supposed to be here, and failing is 10/20. Im liking the teaching its getting easier every day. I also like my club, I played basketball in the rain today...stopping in the middle of the game to explain how he would be percieved in the US if he cherrypicked like he was doing. Tonight theres a soiree im invited to, I think its kinduv a big deal should be fun being one of two white people there. Hopefully better then the last party where they sat in a circle deciding whether I or another Cameroonian was fatter. On that subject I think Ive lost about 15 lbs, Ive heard most people gain it back when they get to post and can eat what they want again (sort of). Sorry about the lack of pictures, it just takes way too long. Ill be sure to get one of me infront of my house up when I get to post because its beautiful. To all those in Cheshire my condolances, I cant imagine what its like there.
Old Posts:
July 5, 2007
Ive never appreciated the fourth of July as much as I did yesterday. It was our first holiday in country and the only one we have during stage, and it we made the most of it. In the morning me and another volunteer volunteered to buy the food for the party so we went to the market. Buying meat works a little differently here than in the states. It arrived at 8 very fresh (parts were still pulsating) and we walked through a hall of carcasses looking for good meat at a good price. After we had to wait for it to be ground which took forever and we were very late for class. We payed the "le blanc" price but it wasnt that expensive especially for the amount of enjoyment it would bring. We had several swinging meat and blood spirting incidents and had to occasionally escape the smell by going to hang out by the eye socket outside. It definitaly made me appreciate what happens before I go to the supermarket and pick up a nicely wrapped pound of ground meat. We bought potatoes for fries and avacados for goacamole (if you havent realized yet my ability to write coherent sentences and spell in english is falling drastically, lets hope its getting replaced by some french). We spent the afternoon slicing potatoes and making burgers, and I let some others cook while I stepped out to the bar. I came back to a mountain of burgers and fries which were all delicious. It was rough going back to white rice and fish again today but as they say here: On va faire comment? (Whadya gonna do?) There was some dancing but generally just hanging and talking about how lucky we were to be in Africa eating cheeseburgers with Uncle Sam picking up the tab. Thanks taxpayers.
I picked up my first African clothes today, 2 shirts and a pair of pants. The pants look kind of rediculous but I think I can pull them off here. Tomorrow I find out my post, which will decide which volunteers I am going to see frequently for the next two years so its exciting. Im not making it to the cafe tomorrow, so you dont have to wait. Im going to....
July 6, 2007
I honestly cant remember the town right now. Since Ill know tomorrow Ill put it in here ___actually i decided to leave it out__. I dont really know anything about it buts its a smallish town about 1 hr from the big city. That 1 hour is only about 10 miles and I think it would be a good goal to be able to run it in a few months, well see. Apparently its in the mountains and its cold there (not sure what that means because only Cameroonians have told me this and its pretty hot as a rule here, and they dont have words (at least that I know of) besides cold and hot. Im near some people and not others, its weird knowing that some people youve gotten to know you probably will only see a handful of times since theyre on the other side of the country. Ill let you know more about my post when I visit Tuesday. Its been a month officially since I got on the plane at Bradley, its weird. I feel as into it as ever, every day it gets easier. I have my 2nd language test tomorrow which Im ready for because I know Ill do better then novice low. Im tired (its 930) Im going to bed.
July 8, 2007
First baddish day in a while...but it wasnt all bad. I slept for 10 or so hours but not well, I could hear a cockroach or a mouse scurrying around all night and there was a rooster right outside this morning. I played basketball which was fun, PC vs. Cameroonians. We destroyed them the first game and the second and third games were very frustrating. We have rule issues. We ended up winning the first two and losing the third and overall a lot of fun, looking forward to next week were going to wake up early and make popsicles in someones freezer Im already excited. After basketball I came back to the house and washed my shoes and did some ironing, then went to the bar. When I came back a combination of a little buzz, language frustration and loneliness hit me, but a half an hour later Anne made the kids dance to music on TV and all was right again. We watched The Parent Trap in french and here I am, writing now. Tomorrow Im meeting my counterpart and were having a workshop, after Im hoping to make it to the internet cafe. Thisll be my last update for a wile since Im going to check out my post for a few days.
July 18, 2007
So its been a long time since Ive updated...sorry about that. Turns out its going to be hard to update at post too so after training itll be probably every 2 weeks or so. Since I got back from site visit its been lonely around here with half the other trainees on their site visits. Were starting "model school" where we teach for four weeks, have exams, give out certificates, etc...basically summer school. Im psyched to start teaching my first class is Friday. Ill be teaching physics to 10-14 year olds...not gonna be too interesting but its good ill start out slow. Got my first mail a few days ago, that person should be getting a response in 4-5 weeks...remember the address is below and the first 8 ppl to send me a care package get an AWESOME thank you note. Im running out of things to say Im so used to whats going on here it doesnt seem interesting anymore. Anyone have questions?
July 20, 2007
First class was just okay, I have to learn to speak slower especially to the younger kids, I dont know how much they understood me. Im planning on improving quickly and I think itll be fun eventually, right now its just stressful. We played soccer today, I scored my first goal (second lifetime). It happened that the 12 yr old goalie had a hand on the ball and I kicked it out from under his hand but it was acceptable with the Cameroonians so its acceptable for me, gotta adapt to the culture. I had a talk with my Cameroonian mom about polygamy(happy Im able to talk/understand enough for that to happen), turns out her dad had 2 wives and she thinks its a bad thing. Straight from the horses mouth, dont let Big Love fool you. Tomorrow after language were playing basketball, then hopefully a fete. Sorry my posts have been short, but like I said its getting less strange to me and harder to write about without specific questions etc. I could write a novel about today alone but I dont know where to start, help me out.
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