Spring Break aka Easter Holiday

After returning from mt. cameroon, I had some time to rest before my friend Ben, another pcv came to visit. We just hung out in mamfe, and one night we went to a born-house with Felicia. Here, instead of having a baby shower, they have a big party about a month after the baby is born. There is traditional singing and dancing, and they spread baby powder on everyone to wish them fertility. Then of course, there is always a big meal. Felicia’s sister had a baby so I was invited. We sat for a while until dinner, and just as we were about to eat, the power went out. I’m always surprised when the light goes out, and you would think by now I would be used to it. The only other big activity was that I took Ben to see our german bridge. it’s the only thing in the tour guides about mamfe, so I always take people to see it. The next day, we left for Bamenda. We went to visit a couple volunteers there. There are a ton of pcvs in the area. Also, I had one friend from the north that was traveling down, so I wanted to catch up with her. They have done a lot of work on the mamfe-bamenda road, so the journey wasn’t too bad. When we arrived we dropped our stuff at the transit house, and a group of us went out to a fancy restaurant for dinner. The next day, we went to doug’s house. He lives in this fancy compound in a village outside bamenda. We went into town to see the market, and had a nice salad lunch. Salad!! Made with lettuce!!! I havent seen lettuce in months. Probably almost a year. It was delicious. There is a health food store that prepares it. It was delicious. Then, we made cheeseburgers and fries for dinner. That was a good meal too.
The next day we went back to town to go shopping. I wanted to buy fabric to make some clothes. I have been saving money just for this purpose. I have also heard the fabric market in bamenda is great. We stopped for lunch first and had salad again, then went to buy things. Every store I went in, people were rude to me. They were unwilling to bargain, and it was not fun for me. Markets here are filled with negotiation. You can negotiate for anything. It becomes a game with the vendor. People in bamenda were unwilling to play the game, so I gave up and didn’t buy anything. It was very disappointing. In the evening, we all played cards and had a blast. I don’t know the last time I laughed that hard. It made up for my crappy shopping experience. In the morning, we went back to the transit house to meet my friend from the north, kate. We decided to cook French toast for everyone. I think we have been in cameroon too long, bc all of the women went straight to the kitchen, and then men to the parlor. Then, as food was finished we sent it out for them to eat. Once they were finished, the women ate. How funny. Anyway, from there, ben and I headed to his village, bangang. We pretty much hung out for the next few days. We went to the market each day, baked brownies twice, I checked email, and read books. One day we went to bafoussam . I tried shopping for fabric there, and it went much better than in bamenda. I bought a ton of stuff, and ben bought a pair of stereo speakers for his house. We went back and connected them, and had a dance party. Sounds silly, but it was so much fun to listen to 80s music and dance around.
After hanging out for a while in bangang, I wanted to head back to mamfe for easter. I took a bike (motorcycle) to dschang, then a car to fontem. On the way to fontem I had a woman with a rooster in her lap on one side, and a man with a small bird chirping in his hand on the other side. Neither of them wanted to let go of their birds. From fontem, took another bike to bachuo, then yet another bike to mamfe. I don’t mind taking a bike at all. Its usually comfortable and I feel safe wearing my helmet. Its usually a lot quicker too. The only time it was not comfortable or faster was from fontem to bachuo. There was supposed to be a car going, but the driver had an emergency and couldn’t go. All of the people going to mamfe were stranded, with their only choices to take a bike, or stay in fontem. One young guy decided to start trekking. I arranged my bike, and a few min after we left, we saw the man trekking. My driver wanted to help him, so offered him a space on my bike. He accepted, so we had the driver, then me, then the man, then my things tied to the back. The mans bag was in front of the driver. We were fully loaded up, and it was not safe and not comfortable. Luckily, it was less than 30 minutes like that. When I arrived home, I had a nice surprise. My neighbor cleaned my whole house, did my laundry, and made dinner for me. What a good girl.
On easter Sunday, I decided not to go to church. I thought about it for a long time, but it’s the day that they do all of the baptisms, communions, confirmations, and weddings. Mass is over 6 hours long. Instead, I rested in the morning, then went to a thanksgiving party. One of my neighbors was in a car accident a few months ago, and she was very lucky. She thought easter would be a good day to give thanks for her good fortune. That event was nice. There were a lot of teachers there from school, so I visited with them. From there, i headed down the street to another neighbor that got married the night before. I was only there for a short time before I came back home. I also talked to my mother. Holidays here are so depressing for me. I never appreciated it before, but I miss seeing my family at the holidays. I miss our usual traditions. Here, holidays aren’t as special to me as they are in the US. the next day lauren came over, and she brought my mail. That was a nice surprise! Thank you to everyone that sends me letters and packages. I have been eating american food almost every day now. I did stop eating for a while though - last week I was diagnosed with a case of bacterial dysentery. Its not fun, but im feeling much better now.
The only other exciting news, is that I went to a wedding. I have a friend that works in the market. She has been married to her husband for many years, but they never had their church wedding. I just went to that. I went to the church service first. As the bride walked down the aisle, her bridesmaids sprayed silly string and threw confetti. I havent seen silly string since the early 90s. After the typical church service (the only difference being that they say ‘I am’ and ‘I will’ instead of ‘I do’), I came home for a short rest, then went to the reception. They had a grand tiered cake, and the bride and groom fed each other. It was just like being at an american wedding. Then, there was the presentation of the gifts, where all of the gifts were given to the bride and groom. Then we had cake (before the dinner), then we ate. When everyone was finished eating, there was dancing, but I left before dancing began. It was a nice wedding though. Now, I just have a couple more weeks for school before I go on holiday.