Officially Half Way Through Training!

I am very excited to be half way through training! I am getting excited for my post and for my own house and my own decisions on what I do each day. I know that I will probably be lonely at my site at first but I think it will be more positive than negative! And I found out that one of the Youth Development trainees is going to the same village that I am so at the very least there will be someone there that I can talk to!

Officially Half Way Through Training!

I am very excited to be half way through training! I am getting excited for my post and for my own house and my own decisions on what I do each day. I know that I will probably be lonely at my site at first but I think it will be more positive than negative! And I found out that one of the Youth Development trainees is going to the same village that I am so at the very least there will be someone there that I can talk to!

Officially Half Way Through Training!

I am very excited to be half way through training! I am getting excited for my post and for my own house and my own decisions on what I do each day. I know that I will probably be lonely at my site at first but I think it will be more positive than negative! And I found out that one of the Youth Development trainees is going to the same village that I am so at the very least there will be someone there that I can talk to!

My Site-more info

My site is in very north of the South West region. This is an Anglophone region but I have heard the because the village is so close to the West region, which is Francophone, there are many people who speak French and there are also many people who speak English and then some people speak Pidgin. I will probably have to be able to at least hold basic conversations in all of these languages and be able to greet people in whatever the local language is. I won’t know for sure what the local language is until I get there. The South West is bordered by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the North West region of Cameroon, the West region of Cameroon, and the Littoral region of Cameroon. Bush meat and horse meat are commonly consumed along with more typical meats. !!!There is a special dance done when twins are born and this dance can only be led by twins! Monica, I know what we are going to do when you get here!!!! There is traditional chieftaincy there but there is also a lot of Christianity. And apparently there is quite a bit of Nigerian influence. Also, if a baby pees on you while you are holding it, it is considered a sign of good luck. These are just a few things about the region that could be very general or contain some stereotypes that are not quite true. This is information that was given to me by the trainers in order to prepare me for things that I might encounter.

Crows and Lizards

There are many crows here and probably twenty times the human population in lizards! The crows look kind of like the ones in the States but they have white chests and are bigger. They drop snails on the roofs to try to break their shells. They also run across roofs and when you are inside it almost sounds like a person is walking quickly across the roof, the crows sound heavy enough and have about that sort of stride! Now lizards, they are everywhere all the time! They are all over outside and inside. I have gotten used to them being around, I bar…it has just started raining, I need to get my clothes off the line…ok…I barely look up anymore when one runs past me on the wall. There is also an outrageous variety of lizards here. I have never seen so many different types of lizards! I am just glad it is lizards and not spiders or insects,eee.

Malaria

So, before coming here I really did not know anything about Malaria or that it was anything to worry about. We had a medical session on it though and I learned that it can be rather serious. We take Malaria prophylaxis though which they say will help the Malaria not be as bad if we do get it. Before the session I never really thought about using bug spray for any other reason apart from mosquito bites just itching a lot. Now I try to avoid bites as much as possible. That is difficult though being an environment and agriculture volunteer! I have already had to ask for a second bottle of bug repellent and very soon I will need another. I would rather use a lot of repellent than get Malaria, I suppose!

Site Visit to Batie (2/final)

The second day of the trip Pamela took Liz and I too meet another volunteer, he was in the education sector whereas Pamela is in the CED (community economic development, I think) sector. We got to watch him teach his English class at the high school, and then he used the opportunity of more Americans being there. He had the class split into groups and each of us sat with a group of students to talk to them and to answer questions about ourselves and the United States. It was clear that there were many different levels of English, even though it was supposed to be a one level class. As per usual, they asked if I was married and why I was not yet married. One girl even asked if I would marry her brother. I told her that I have never met him and so don’t know if I like him, so in short it was a no.The marriage questions and proposals are common here. Many people get married quite young, especially girls, and so they find it strange that I am not yet married and am not looking for a husband here. After the class each group got up and presented what they had learned about us. It was interesting to hear what they had thought was important and what they had misheard. Overall they did rather well, I thought! The third day of the trip we went to visit a Cameroonian friend of Pamela’s and to see his father’s farm. Pamela’s friend is named Boris and his father is Bebe (a nickname, I do not know his actual name). The farm was gigantic! It spread across the valley and hills, literally for as far as the eye could see! On the farm there is corn, piment, bananas, plantains, njamanjama, amaranth, lettuce, sugar cane, taro, cocoyam, okra, huckleberry, and much more. (Sorry for some of the names I only know some of them in French or the local language and don’t know the names in English). They also raise pigs, goats, fish, ducks, turkey, chickens, and bees on the farm. While we were there Boris really wanted us to try fishing. I did not really want to because I don’t like hurting animals but he would not take no for an answer. So, we tried fishing and I was hoping that I would not catch anything and did not think that I would because I have never caught a fish in my life. And what do you think happened? I caught a fish! It was a gorgeous little yellow one. Boris was very impressed and he said that we were going to eat it but I told him that because I caught it I should be able to decide what happened to it. I told him to set it free. He was not happy about it but he let it go. I was very glad I did not kill that poor fish, it was too small and pretty. I am sort of excited that I can finally say that I caught a fish though! Maybe I will try it again later. Maybe. After looking around the farm and fishing, Boris took us all to see a waterfall. The West region, North West region, and the South West region are known for their mountains and their waterfalls. The area is very pretty and cooler than a lot of Cameroon. Temperatures in these regions are usually closer to 70 degrees Fahrenheit with highs around 80 rarely. The nights get down to the 50s sometimes. Boris had told us that the water fall was not very far at all but it was at least three miles away, at least, uphill. We Americans were in varying states of being winded and Boris was perfectly fine! He noticed that we were all rather tired and called motos to pick us up after seeing the water fall. We had to climb down a steep slope to get to the bottom of the waterfall, where we could get the best view of the waterfall. It was very pretty, not the biggest, grandest etc. that I have seen but it was interesting and lovely. The waterfall is also a sacred place where people go to make animal sacrifices and pray. There was one lone chicken walking around there, I guess he had gotten lucky and escaped somehow. There were many empty chicken and goat carriers around, I guess of animals that had been sacrificed. For the sacrifices people kill, cook, and eat the animals so at least they also become food. Boris lives in Douala, the largest city in Cameroon; which means if someone visits me and has to fly into Douala instead of Yaoundé they might meet Boris. On the fourth day of the trip we went to Chris’s birthday party (the volunteer who teaches English). I went home early with Pamela and Kate (another volunteer that Pamela had a presentation with the next day). I left because I was very hungry and there was not going to be much to eat at the party. We went back to Pamela’s house and we made really awesome, fresh veggie covered bruschetta. It was really good! After eating we talked for a while about cultural perspectives and the different perceptions of things between Cameroonians and Americans. Then I worked on homework while Pamela and Kate went over their presentation for the next day. The fifth day of the trip was also the day that Liz and I had to get back to Bafia by ourselves. Peace Corps had arranged the transportation to the site visits so that we did not have to do anything to get there. They left it up to us though to find our own way back. This meant that we had to travel to Baffoussam( a city of 80,000, I think), travel through Baffoussam to find the bus station, buy tickets to Yaoundé, and get off before Yaoundé in Bafia… all in French and without help! So, we got up that morning and I went with Pamela and Kate to their presentation. The presentation was supposed to start at 8am but no one showed up until 9:30am and there was not a significant enough audience to start until 10am. So, the presentation had to start two hours late. This is what they call African time. There is not really a set time for things, things are considered to start simply when people arrive. So even though to us Americans the presentation started two hours late, to Cameroonians it started right when it was supposed to. When Liz arrived we took our stuff, got a bush taxi to Baffoussam, dropped our stuff off at the “Baffice”, took a taxi to find some lunch, went to the grocery store, back to the “Baffice” for our stuff, took a taxi to the bus station, bought bus tickets, got on the bus, and let the driver know that we wanted to be dropped off in Bafia. We waited an hour or two for the bus to leave because there is no set times for buses to leave; they leave when they are full… or should I say over full. Just like with bush taxis they pack them full of people; rows that in the States would hold four people hold six in Africa, no matter the size of the people. As we waited for the bus to fill people would climb on and off and on and off which mixed up the station workers as they tried to count to see how much more room there was. Also, fruit, veggie, and product sellers would step onto the bus and announce to everyone what they had and then would try to get people to buy stuff. Finally we left in the very crowded bus. Whenever we had to slow down for a speed bump or a town, people would run forward and try to sell fruits, veggies, drinks, snacks, or products as the bus kept moving. The people on the bus would buy things through the windows as we moved. Finally we arrived back in Bafia! We had made it, we had navigated around cities, buses, and travel in French and had come out on the other side. We were actually pretty proud of ourselves because of how well we had done. We had also really enjoyed being able to do things on our own instead of Peace Corps doing everything for us! The trip was very fun and I feel like I learned so much! It was one of the most educational and exciting experiences so far! Sorry this entry was so long.

Site Visit (1)

The site visit was really fun! I traveled with Liz, another trainee, and we went to Batie. Batie is a small village near Baffoussam which is a large city. There is a super market in Baffoussam that my host Peace Corps Volunteer, Pamela took Liz and me to. There were pringles and cheese and ketchup and cookies and candy! It was awesome! I hope that there is a store like this somewhere close to my post! I would love to be able to have some of my favorite snack foods! I bought cheesy Pringles. I am really trying to savor them, I still have half a can! After the store we visited the market and then we took a bush taxi to get to Batie. The bush taxi drivers drive very fast and it was a little scary because the roads went all over the hills making the ride feel like a roller coaster. After the bush taxi, we had to take motos to get to Pamela's house. I was very glad to find out that she had electricity and her house was a house and not a mud hut! Although there was no running water, only a forage and a pit latrine, yay! That night we made popcorn and watched "My Cousin Vinny". It was really fun and a wonderful change of pace compared to the "death-by-schedule" that my life is in Bafia! I am very sorry to not continue this now but I have to go and do some homework and others need to use the computer. I will complete this post later but soon!

Site Placement!!!

I just got my site placement and I am going to Menji, Fontem! It is in the South West region of Cameroon! It is the region with Kribi Beach, I think, and it is the region with Mount Cameroon! I am very excited this is a region that is full of culture and diversity! I will read more about the site this evening and let everyone know more about it soon!

Site Visits This Weekend!

On Wednesday the trainess will be going to visit Peace Corps Volunteers at their sites so that we can see how the work is and so that we can learn how to work in a community. I am hoping that the experience will be fun! The logistics of it are not quite sorted out yet but we will be heading to the sites on Wednesday. This means that I may not have internet access again until Sunday. I will post again later about how the site visit went!

My Poor Camera

So, my camera is definitely busted. I am not sure how long it will take to fix it but I hope that I can remedy the issue soon. I would really like to get some pictures of my host family before leaving Pre-service Training. They are really nice and I'm sure they would like to have some pictures of us together before I move to my post. Oh, well. C'est la vie.