Late August and early September have been very busy. I received two new postmates, an education volunteer in Okoyong, Gloria, and a business volunteer here in mamfe, Stanson. Most of my days were filled with shopping, for mattresses, buckets, kitchen supplies, you name it. I don’t mind at all though. I am lucky to know places in town. Lauren did the same for me when I arrived.
Doesn’t it figure, that the week after Kevin left, my computer broke. I had to find a technician to fix it for me, and paid a lot of money. Luckily, I have it now.
Food has been scarce here in Mamfe. All of our vegetables come from Bamenda, and the roads are really bad now. We are having a terrible rainy season, so all of the roads have turned to mud. All of the large trucks that transport our food are unable to pass on the roads. Light has also been scarce, and with that, water. Its been a difficult month.
School began on September 7. My program for school changed this year. I am now working part time in a village, Afab, about an hour away, and part time here in mamfe. GSS Afab is a form 3 school, so they only have forms 1, 2, and 3, but they have 350 students. They were really struggling for teachers, because no one wants to work in the bush, so I wanted to help them. I am teaching form 1 computer, biology, and math, and form 2 computer. Needless to say, it keeps me busy. The other teachers are really nice, but I struggle with these students. They have had a sketchy school beginning, so their knowledge is all over the place. My form 2 computer class never took form 1 computer, so im starting from scratch. Out of all my computer students, only 1 has ever seen a computer. Its difficult to teach there. Also, there are not enough classrooms in the school. They have a wood partition down the center, so 2 classes share the room. You can hear everything in the other class, and it really disturbs. I have a room at the community hall in Afab, but that is a struggle bc there are no kitchen facilities, and the bathroom is down the hall. I’m taking it all in stride, and it doesn’t bother me too much. I try to spend most of my time with Cameroonians, and they are trying to teach me the dialect, Ejagham. It is nothing like any language I’ve ever learned, but I’m trying.
I am still teaching at GBHS Mamfe. I’m teaching form 2 biology again, and I love it. I really like the kids at this age, and it can be fun. Mostly I try to scare them with crazy facts, but it only works sometimes. They are active and they never shut up, but it makes the class a bit more fun. Coming back to mamfe after being in Afab is like a little taste of heaven, and mamfe finally feels like home. I cant imagine what it will feel like to go back to the US. Lauren is preparing for her departure in December, and I am the next one to leave. Soon, I’ll be returning to my real home, and missing all of these crazy things here.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Summer 2009
After returning from Egypt and Morocco, things were still busy. I had my mid-service training (complete with medical tests) in Yaounde, then training in Bangangte. I had extensive medical tests in yaounde, and all that is wrong with me is yeast in my intestines. Apparently that is very common, because we eat so little dairy. We had a nice time hanging out, and had some great group meals. We made pad thai one night, that was delicious. We also went to a place called Café Yaounde for dinner for a volunteers birthday, and it is my new favorite restaurant. It is Italian food, prepared by Italians, and it is amazing. Expensive, but amazing. One Saturday that I was in yaounde, a bunch of us went to a Rasta party. Late in the evening, a bunch of rastas, and other people meet to play drums. Its very tribal music, with only the drums, no other instruments. We all danced the night away, and it was really fun. Dancing was difficult, bc it was hard to find one beat, so I’m sure we all looked stupid, but it was great. We didn’t leave until about 4am.
I left for bangante a few days after that, to help with training for the new volunteers. Things were busy there, and then I traveled back to yaounde for the 3rd of july party at the US Embassy. It was my first visit there, so it was neat. The embassy prepared hamburgers, and the rest of the food was potluck. I never knew there were so many Americans in Cameroon. There were hundreds of people there. We hung out for a while and ate, and then visited the American marines that stay at the embassy. That night I left for Bamenda, so I could return to Mamfe, but when I arrived the next morning, I was too tired to travel. I instead celebrated 4th of july with a few volunteers.
I returned back to Mamfe just in time for the Ed volunteer’s site visit. I finally found out who my new postmate would be, so Lauren and I showed her around.
Later in the week, I headed to Buea/douala to pick up Kevin. I was nervous for his arrival, but everything worked out really well, and we had a great time. During his visit, we visited the beach in Limbe, training in Bangangte (for model school), Bazou to visit Brandi, Bamenda, the palace in Bafut, and all of the sights in Mamfe. The best times we had were just relaxing and hanging out. I forgot how nice it is to have him around all the time. We watched movies and met my Cameroonian friends, and cooked meals. Felicia taught Kevin how to kill a chicken, and we prepared a delicious meal. Edward really liked Kevin and bought him a chief’s necklace and bracelet. All of my friends wanted to meet him and spend time with him, so I think Kevin really enjoyed his visit. There are always the difficult things, like no light, no water, vehicles stuck in mud, waiting everywhere, things moving slowly, people being late, etc, but kev took it all in stride. He didn’t really complain, ever. One highlight of his visit was Lauren’s title ceremony. Lauren received a title from one village, Ogomoko. The country director, and Lauren’s APCD came and received their own titles. It was a cool ceremony, with monikin dancers, speeches in the dialect, Ejagham, and lots of food. Kevin got sick once, but only for a few days, so it wasn’t bad. I hated taking him back to the airport. It was so sad for me to see him go, knowing I wouldn’t see him for another year. He left, arrived home safely, and I started to prepare for school.
I left for bangante a few days after that, to help with training for the new volunteers. Things were busy there, and then I traveled back to yaounde for the 3rd of july party at the US Embassy. It was my first visit there, so it was neat. The embassy prepared hamburgers, and the rest of the food was potluck. I never knew there were so many Americans in Cameroon. There were hundreds of people there. We hung out for a while and ate, and then visited the American marines that stay at the embassy. That night I left for Bamenda, so I could return to Mamfe, but when I arrived the next morning, I was too tired to travel. I instead celebrated 4th of july with a few volunteers.
I returned back to Mamfe just in time for the Ed volunteer’s site visit. I finally found out who my new postmate would be, so Lauren and I showed her around.
Later in the week, I headed to Buea/douala to pick up Kevin. I was nervous for his arrival, but everything worked out really well, and we had a great time. During his visit, we visited the beach in Limbe, training in Bangangte (for model school), Bazou to visit Brandi, Bamenda, the palace in Bafut, and all of the sights in Mamfe. The best times we had were just relaxing and hanging out. I forgot how nice it is to have him around all the time. We watched movies and met my Cameroonian friends, and cooked meals. Felicia taught Kevin how to kill a chicken, and we prepared a delicious meal. Edward really liked Kevin and bought him a chief’s necklace and bracelet. All of my friends wanted to meet him and spend time with him, so I think Kevin really enjoyed his visit. There are always the difficult things, like no light, no water, vehicles stuck in mud, waiting everywhere, things moving slowly, people being late, etc, but kev took it all in stride. He didn’t really complain, ever. One highlight of his visit was Lauren’s title ceremony. Lauren received a title from one village, Ogomoko. The country director, and Lauren’s APCD came and received their own titles. It was a cool ceremony, with monikin dancers, speeches in the dialect, Ejagham, and lots of food. Kevin got sick once, but only for a few days, so it wasn’t bad. I hated taking him back to the airport. It was so sad for me to see him go, knowing I wouldn’t see him for another year. He left, arrived home safely, and I started to prepare for school.
Morocco
DAY 1 (June 9, 2009) – We arrived in Casabanca about midday, and immediately took a train to Marrakesh. We were just passing through though, bc we then found a vehicle to Essaioura (Essa wera). We traveled the entire day, and didn’t arrive until after midnight. Then, we couldn’t find a hotel. It was horrible. We were so tired, and had to speak French. Luckily we made friends with one Moroccan man, who helped us. We ended up staying in a really expensive place though. The highlight of the day what learning that cherries are really common in morocco. I bought half a kilo.
DAY 2 – I woke up early in the morning and climbed to the rooftop terrace. The view was beautiful. You could see the ocean, the walls of the city, and all of the other rooftops. I stood there for over an hour, just looking. Kat and I shopped for most of the day, and we saw the beach. It was too cold to swim, but the area was beautiful. As we were just getting tired we heard a man playing guitar in one of the shops. We stopped in to listen, and made friends with him and his friend. Younes and Kareem were very friendly, and invited us to dinner that night. Before we met them, kat and I got henna. I got a temporary tattoo on my hand and one one my foot. Kat got two as well. I also bought a djallabah, a traditional robe. I started wearing it, and Moroccans loved it. They all treated me really well when I wore the dress and spoke a bit of Arabic. People really appreciate when you make an effort. We met the boys in the evening, for a traditional tajine. It is a sculpted clay pot, where all of the food is just thrown inside together and steamed. The spices make it taste a little smoky, a little spicy, but its delicious. While we ate, they played music. The boys are actually in a band. We heard their cd, and they are awesome. We searched for it, but couldn’t find a copy.
DAY 3 – We hung out with the boys in the morning while we waited for our late bus to Marrakesh. When we arrived, we had trouble finding a hotel, but people at a cyber were willing to help us, even carrying our stuff. People are so friendly in Morocco. There was a group of Peace Corps volunteers in Marrakesh for a training session, so we wanted to meet them in the evening. We didn’t know where we were going, so a retired policeman gave us a ride.. again, so friendly! It was really cool to meet the volunteers. They have different specialties than here in Cameroon, and a different training program, so it was interesting to compare. According to what they told me, most of them are pretty lucky, with nice houses, and internet. A lot of them work with kids at a youth program, which sounds like something I would like.
DAY 4 – We went to the main square in Marrakesh, Djemma el-Fna. I have been there before, but its still pretty cool. We saw snake charmers, and women doing henna, and a monkey jumped on my head. That was actually terrifying. I love monkeys, but this one was dirty and mangy. It probably gave me some disease when it tried to eat my hair. We drank fresh squeezed orange juice, and I ate a traditional chickpea soup. We also booked a tour for the next day, into the Sahara desert. (coincidently, the same tour group I took before)
DAY 5 – We left early with our tour group. We had a really interesting group, with everyone living in a different country than the one we were born in. We had a man from Sweden living in germany, a Moroccan living in the us, Canadians living in England, Cyprians living in England, and me and kat, Americans living in Cameroon. The first stop was Ait Ben-Haddou, a famous kasbah (clay village). This one had some parts shaped like castles, but they were made of mud. From there we drove to Oarzazate for lunch. There is a film studio there, where they actually filmed Gladiator. We passed through the Draa valley, and the winding Atlas Mountains, where I was very very carsick, and then to Zagora. It is the last city before you enter the desert. We were a bit delayed because of a sandstorm, but I guess it died down and we rode camels into the Sahara. Our plan was to stay with nomadic Berbers in the desert for the night. They construct huge tents on the sand, for people to stay. We arrived when it was still light, so we played in the sand dunes. We played just like children, jumping off and rolling in the sand, but it was really fun. After dark, we had dinner, a tajine of course, which was delicious, then drank tea and played music. They used empty water jugs for drums, and we all sang. It was really fun. At first I felt stupid, but I’m so glad that I joined in. it was fun, and completely worth anything thinking I looked stupid. We planned to sleep in the tent, but it was such a beautiful night that we dragged out mattresses and slept on the sand under the stars. It was beautiful.
DAY 6 – I woke up before sunrise, to flies buzzing around my head. Unfortunately, that is very common in the desert. I watched the sunrise, then we had a short camel ride back to our vehicle. I was carsick again, and I ate some melon for lunch. They have a honeydew type melon in morocco that is really good. Its yellow on the outside, and green on the inside. They don’t even have a name for it, but it is delicious. The driver dropped us at the bus station, and we bought tickets for an overnight bus to Fes. We planned to stay there with another Peace Corps volunteer, Duncan. There was a bit of difficulty with the bus, because the station closed before the bus left, but we made friends with one of the agents, so he helped us. We finally left, and the ride was uneventful.
DAY 7 – We arrived in Fes early in the day, so just relaxed in the medina (city center) while we waited for Duncan. I really wanted to go to a hammam, but I didn’t want to go by myself, so I missed out. A hammam is a single sex bathhouse, where someone scrubs you down with a rough sponge and then throws buckets of water at you. There is also a steam room, and it is supposed to be relaxing and invigorating. I’m still bummed that I missed out, but its designed as a social activity. When Duncan arrived, we visited a tannery. We went to a rooftop to see how they tan and prepare leather. It smelled a bit like sulfur, but it didn’t bother by chemist’s nose. I’ve seen pictures of these tanneries before, but its nothing like seeing it. They have different vats for every color, and men go into the vats to step on and move the leather around. Sadly, men that work at tanneries usually die earlier than other men because of all of the chemicals. In the U.S., when you buy a leather jacket, or a leather purse, you never realize how much work goes into preparing it. We had a guide that explained the process to us. First they put the skins in lye for 2 weeks, then into pigeon poop for another week, followed by water for 1 week, before color. He told us how they use all natural herbs for the dye. They use indigo for blue, saffron for yellow, henna for red, etc. the skins dry in the sun, and then tailors sew the leather items. From there, we visited a rug “factory”, where the men showed us how they make all of the rugs, and then to a place where they make argan oil. It is very famous there, and nice. They do all of the work by hand on a press. The oil looks like thin peanut butter, and tastes pretty good. We visited a beautiful mosque after, called Madrassa Bou Inania. It’s not a mosque anymore, but a training center of some kind. The inside is beautiful, filled with mosaic tile. We were tired then, so we traveled to Duncan’s village, Immouzer. It is not actually a village, but a beautiful mountain retreat, where spring water comes from. We visited the market in Immouzer, which is surprisingly similar to Cameroon. I learned however, that in morocco, zucchini is a very bad word. We prepared a tajine for dinner, so now I know how.
DAY 8 – We relaxed in the morning, and saw more of Immouzer. The country built these beautiful waterways to hold the spring water, and they look like canals. There are benches all around so you can sit and enjoy. We had a delicious chicken lunch, and there, I made my fateful mistake. I saw that ice cold water on the table and I drank it. All of the volunteers there drink tap water, so I thought I would be okay. Later, at the Fes market with Kat, I realized my mistake. I was very very sick. I will never drink tap water again. We did our last bit of shopping, and headed back to Duncan’s for the night.
DAY 9 – We were up early for a long day of traveling. We went first to Ifrane, to find a vehicle for Meknes, then a vehicle to Moulay Idriss, then another to Volubolis (also called Wilili). Volubolis used to be an entire town, but is now just ruins. No one knows what happened, or why, which makes it more interesting. You can walk through each of the buildings, and still see mosaic floors or structures of some type. The area was huge, and it was unbelievable to think that in a short period of time, all of the people disappeared. We even saw archaeologists while we were there. When we finished, we took that long journey back to Meknes, then Casablanca, then to the airport. We had a late flight back to Cameroon.
DAY 10 – Arrival in Cameroon.
DAY 2 – I woke up early in the morning and climbed to the rooftop terrace. The view was beautiful. You could see the ocean, the walls of the city, and all of the other rooftops. I stood there for over an hour, just looking. Kat and I shopped for most of the day, and we saw the beach. It was too cold to swim, but the area was beautiful. As we were just getting tired we heard a man playing guitar in one of the shops. We stopped in to listen, and made friends with him and his friend. Younes and Kareem were very friendly, and invited us to dinner that night. Before we met them, kat and I got henna. I got a temporary tattoo on my hand and one one my foot. Kat got two as well. I also bought a djallabah, a traditional robe. I started wearing it, and Moroccans loved it. They all treated me really well when I wore the dress and spoke a bit of Arabic. People really appreciate when you make an effort. We met the boys in the evening, for a traditional tajine. It is a sculpted clay pot, where all of the food is just thrown inside together and steamed. The spices make it taste a little smoky, a little spicy, but its delicious. While we ate, they played music. The boys are actually in a band. We heard their cd, and they are awesome. We searched for it, but couldn’t find a copy.
DAY 3 – We hung out with the boys in the morning while we waited for our late bus to Marrakesh. When we arrived, we had trouble finding a hotel, but people at a cyber were willing to help us, even carrying our stuff. People are so friendly in Morocco. There was a group of Peace Corps volunteers in Marrakesh for a training session, so we wanted to meet them in the evening. We didn’t know where we were going, so a retired policeman gave us a ride.. again, so friendly! It was really cool to meet the volunteers. They have different specialties than here in Cameroon, and a different training program, so it was interesting to compare. According to what they told me, most of them are pretty lucky, with nice houses, and internet. A lot of them work with kids at a youth program, which sounds like something I would like.
DAY 4 – We went to the main square in Marrakesh, Djemma el-Fna. I have been there before, but its still pretty cool. We saw snake charmers, and women doing henna, and a monkey jumped on my head. That was actually terrifying. I love monkeys, but this one was dirty and mangy. It probably gave me some disease when it tried to eat my hair. We drank fresh squeezed orange juice, and I ate a traditional chickpea soup. We also booked a tour for the next day, into the Sahara desert. (coincidently, the same tour group I took before)
DAY 5 – We left early with our tour group. We had a really interesting group, with everyone living in a different country than the one we were born in. We had a man from Sweden living in germany, a Moroccan living in the us, Canadians living in England, Cyprians living in England, and me and kat, Americans living in Cameroon. The first stop was Ait Ben-Haddou, a famous kasbah (clay village). This one had some parts shaped like castles, but they were made of mud. From there we drove to Oarzazate for lunch. There is a film studio there, where they actually filmed Gladiator. We passed through the Draa valley, and the winding Atlas Mountains, where I was very very carsick, and then to Zagora. It is the last city before you enter the desert. We were a bit delayed because of a sandstorm, but I guess it died down and we rode camels into the Sahara. Our plan was to stay with nomadic Berbers in the desert for the night. They construct huge tents on the sand, for people to stay. We arrived when it was still light, so we played in the sand dunes. We played just like children, jumping off and rolling in the sand, but it was really fun. After dark, we had dinner, a tajine of course, which was delicious, then drank tea and played music. They used empty water jugs for drums, and we all sang. It was really fun. At first I felt stupid, but I’m so glad that I joined in. it was fun, and completely worth anything thinking I looked stupid. We planned to sleep in the tent, but it was such a beautiful night that we dragged out mattresses and slept on the sand under the stars. It was beautiful.
DAY 6 – I woke up before sunrise, to flies buzzing around my head. Unfortunately, that is very common in the desert. I watched the sunrise, then we had a short camel ride back to our vehicle. I was carsick again, and I ate some melon for lunch. They have a honeydew type melon in morocco that is really good. Its yellow on the outside, and green on the inside. They don’t even have a name for it, but it is delicious. The driver dropped us at the bus station, and we bought tickets for an overnight bus to Fes. We planned to stay there with another Peace Corps volunteer, Duncan. There was a bit of difficulty with the bus, because the station closed before the bus left, but we made friends with one of the agents, so he helped us. We finally left, and the ride was uneventful.
DAY 7 – We arrived in Fes early in the day, so just relaxed in the medina (city center) while we waited for Duncan. I really wanted to go to a hammam, but I didn’t want to go by myself, so I missed out. A hammam is a single sex bathhouse, where someone scrubs you down with a rough sponge and then throws buckets of water at you. There is also a steam room, and it is supposed to be relaxing and invigorating. I’m still bummed that I missed out, but its designed as a social activity. When Duncan arrived, we visited a tannery. We went to a rooftop to see how they tan and prepare leather. It smelled a bit like sulfur, but it didn’t bother by chemist’s nose. I’ve seen pictures of these tanneries before, but its nothing like seeing it. They have different vats for every color, and men go into the vats to step on and move the leather around. Sadly, men that work at tanneries usually die earlier than other men because of all of the chemicals. In the U.S., when you buy a leather jacket, or a leather purse, you never realize how much work goes into preparing it. We had a guide that explained the process to us. First they put the skins in lye for 2 weeks, then into pigeon poop for another week, followed by water for 1 week, before color. He told us how they use all natural herbs for the dye. They use indigo for blue, saffron for yellow, henna for red, etc. the skins dry in the sun, and then tailors sew the leather items. From there, we visited a rug “factory”, where the men showed us how they make all of the rugs, and then to a place where they make argan oil. It is very famous there, and nice. They do all of the work by hand on a press. The oil looks like thin peanut butter, and tastes pretty good. We visited a beautiful mosque after, called Madrassa Bou Inania. It’s not a mosque anymore, but a training center of some kind. The inside is beautiful, filled with mosaic tile. We were tired then, so we traveled to Duncan’s village, Immouzer. It is not actually a village, but a beautiful mountain retreat, where spring water comes from. We visited the market in Immouzer, which is surprisingly similar to Cameroon. I learned however, that in morocco, zucchini is a very bad word. We prepared a tajine for dinner, so now I know how.
DAY 8 – We relaxed in the morning, and saw more of Immouzer. The country built these beautiful waterways to hold the spring water, and they look like canals. There are benches all around so you can sit and enjoy. We had a delicious chicken lunch, and there, I made my fateful mistake. I saw that ice cold water on the table and I drank it. All of the volunteers there drink tap water, so I thought I would be okay. Later, at the Fes market with Kat, I realized my mistake. I was very very sick. I will never drink tap water again. We did our last bit of shopping, and headed back to Duncan’s for the night.
DAY 9 – We were up early for a long day of traveling. We went first to Ifrane, to find a vehicle for Meknes, then a vehicle to Moulay Idriss, then another to Volubolis (also called Wilili). Volubolis used to be an entire town, but is now just ruins. No one knows what happened, or why, which makes it more interesting. You can walk through each of the buildings, and still see mosaic floors or structures of some type. The area was huge, and it was unbelievable to think that in a short period of time, all of the people disappeared. We even saw archaeologists while we were there. When we finished, we took that long journey back to Meknes, then Casablanca, then to the airport. We had a late flight back to Cameroon.
DAY 10 – Arrival in Cameroon.
Egypt
DAY 1 - On Friday May, 29, I had a 3am flight to Egypt. I was traveling with Kat, another volunteer here. We traveled to Douala, where another volunteer, Felipe was living. The evening before we left, we went to a party at his friend’s house. There are a lot of ex-patriots living in Douala, and Felipe is friends with many of them. There are also a lot of volunteers there from other countries. All of these foreigners somehow became friends, so I met a lot of them at the party. We hung out for a while, then Felipe helped us get to the airport. We checked in, and flew to Casablanca Morocco for our layover. Luckily, Royal Air Maroc is awesome. If you ask, they offer a guest house if you have a long layover. They gave us a shuttle to a really nice hotel, a free buffet lunch, and shuttle back to the airport. All of this was free, so kat and I enjoyed a nice nap, lounge by the pool, and a ton of food. We continued that evening to Cairo.
DAY 2 – We arrived late in the night, so went to a hotel, then back to the airport to meet kat’s parents. On the bus to the airport, we made a few Egyptian friends, and I started to learn Arabic. I don’t know why, but that language intrigues me. I guess I have too much experience with the romance languages and crave something different. We picked up her parents, and went to our hotel. We had a nice kebab dinner, and smoked some sheesha. Now, I don’t like cigarettes, in fact I think they are disgusting , but so many people in Egypt smoke sheesha that I wanted to see what it was all about. It is just flavoured tobacco that they smoke out of a hookah, but I think its all about the socializing. A group of people will sit around the hookah for hours, just talking and enjoying. I think it’s the same way that Cameroonians are with a bottle of beer. You don’t buy it because you love it. You buy it for the social aspect. Anyway, the sheesha wasn’t horrible, but it gave me a headache.
DAY 3 – The first real day of the tour began, with the Egyptian Museum. It was really cool. We saw old tombs and statues and carvings. We saw a copy of the Rosetta stone, originally found in Egypt, but now in the British museum in London. We even saw King Tut’s tomb, with a lot of the items that he was buried with. That was amazing. We saw his outer tomb (there were actually 3), but it was the best one. It was all gold (12 kg of it), with gem and paint inlay. There are scarab beetles on it for luck, and the cobra, for protection and royalty. We saw a ton of the jewelry he was buried with (for the afterlife), and most of it was solid gold, with gems and different stones. Sadly, I didn’t have a chance to see the Mummy room, but I heard it was spooky, seeing all the dead bodies. I saw pictures of some, and a few still have hair and fingernails. Gross. From there, we traveled to Giza, to see the pyramids and the Sphinx. There are 3 pyramids there, Cheops was buried inside the Great Pyramid, Kefrin in the Second pyramid, and the Third pyramid has Mykerenos. The pyramids are a lot larger than you could ever imagine, with each block almost as tall as me. Each pyramid has thousands upon thousands of blocks. Its amazing. We didn’t pay to go into the great pyramid, but we did to go in the Second pyramid. you climb down a small ramp into the center. The opening is barely large enough to fit through, and you much hunch over. There is a flat space in the middle, then the path climbs up again, and there is a large chamber. Along the way, you can see where they closed up the tomb. There was nothing in the pyramid anymore, but it was pretty neat to see. It was really really hot inside though, so I didn’t stay long. From there we saw the Sphinx, also larger than you would imagine. You can not get very close to it though. Two days later, Barack Obama walked through the same places that I did. He was on every news channel, and part of his tour in the pyramid was shown on CNN. We traveled to a papyrus school after and saw how Egyptians make papyrus. I was tempted to buy some, but I knew I had a lot of traveling ahead of me, so I didn’t. when people completed their purchases, we went to the train station to go to Aswan.
DAY 4 – We arrived in Aswan, which soon became my favorite place in Egypt. Everything in Egypt is along the Nile River, because it’s the only fertile land. Everything else is desert. Aswan is very relaxed and calm, almost like a beach town. There was an excursion, but I was running short of money, so I went into town to get more. I used my few Arabic words to bargain for a pair of sunglasses, so I was pretty proud of myself. After, I went to the Nubian museum with some other tourists in my group. That was really cool. The Nubians were another group of people living in the southern part of Egypt. Their history is a bit longer than the Egyptians. In the museum, every single thing was over 3000 years old. I saw a human fossil from 17.000 years ago, and pottery from 6000 years ago, still in good condition. It was amazing. Outside the museum, there were caves, and they put actual cave paintings in them. The history in this country is amazing. It really makes you think about all the things that have happened throughout history, before we came along. We took a taxi back to the hotel, and the driver wanted to buy me for his wife, in exchange for the taxi fare. In the evening, we took a motorboat across the Nile and rode camels. My camel’s name was Mohammed. Every time I wanted him to go, I was supposed to yell “Yalla” which means “lets go”. After our ride, we visited a Nubian village for a traditional meal – there was moussaka, tomatoes, cucumbers, pita bread, rice and a few other dishes I didn’t recognize. It wasn’t completely traditional bc they also had ziti and French fries. It was all delicious. After we ate, a few of us got henna tattoos, which was fun.
DAY 5 – We got up at 3am to travel to Abu Simbel. It is a really famous monument, near the border of the Sudan, and there are a lot of kidnappers and bandits, so everyone that wants to go, must travel with a tour group, and you must be in the convoy. It leaves every morning at 4am, and if you miss it, the road is closed and you can not pass. There is a checkpoint at the beginning of the road, with lots of guards and machine guns, a long road through the desert, and a checkpoint at the end, with more guards and machine guns. It was about a 3 hour journey. At Abu Simbel, there are two temples. Ramses II built one for himself, and one for his wife, Nefertari, which was unusual. A few years ago, the nile started to flood the temples, so UNESCO funded a project that cut each temple into cubes and shifted the millions of cubes back 300m. it took years to complete the project, and now, you would never be able to tell that it was taken apart and reassembled. The temple of Ramses is huge, many hundreds of feet high. Inside there are paintings and carvings, and both temples were really cool. I spent a few hours just staring at the paintings. We left around midday to get back, and had a traditional Egyptian lunch, called kochery. It’s a bowl of spaghetti, rice, elbows, chickpeas, crunchy lentils, and chickpeas. You then choose which sauces to add to it, like a spicy one, or garlic. It’s a strange meal, but not bad. I got an ice cream cone after lunch, then went for a swim in the pool. The pool was right next to the nile, and had an amazing view. In the evening we went for a group dinner then to the market. I bought a few things. Im really comfortable in the markets there – they are just like the ones in Cameroon. You have to bargain for everything. Since I was used to it, shopping was easy.
DAY 6 – In the morning, went to the market quickly with kat for a scarf. The Egyptian cotton is so nice, and there are so many nice scarves, that I ended up buying one also. We rushed back to begin our felucca (sailboat) ride down the nile to Luxor. The felucca was large, covered with mattresses and pillows so we could relax. It was really nice for a few hours, but then got a little boring. At lunchtime, we went for a swim in the nile. Its really not the safest thing, but I couldn’t resist. There are lots of crocodiles and schisto, but I took the risk. There were a few little kids up on the dunes, so I thought I would climb up with them. It took me a few tries, bc that sand was hot! We continued on down the nile, and for fun, we held on to ropes behind the boat and had it pull us. That boat was moving surprisingly fast. We stopped at an island for another swim, then a different island later to stop for dinner and the night. It is illegal to take a boat on the nile at night. There were a few other tour groups there, and one of them had a bonfire and singing, so a few of us checked it out. Throughout the day I became friends with one of the deckhand’s son, Abdu. I was practicing my Arabic with him, and he showed us the way to the bonfire. I learned the Arabic phrase “in your dreams” and I tried to practice it with Abdu. It was pretty fun.
DAY 7 – I did not sleep very well that night on the boat, bc it was surprisingly cold and noisy. I was up early enough to watch the sunrise, which was beautiful. After a short boat ride, we stopped and drove to the komombo temple. It’s a really interesting temple, bc its two in one. Half is dedicated to horus, the falcon god, and half to the crocodile god. It was really neat to see how the two were joined. From there, we saw the Edfu temple, the second largest in Egypt, and then traveled on to Luxor. Karnak temple is in the area, which is the largest temple in Egypt. I went with a few other people, and it was really cool. I read about it in the guidebook first, and the main point of interest is an area with 138 huge columns, designed to look like papyrus stalks with lotus flowers at the top. If the temple was ever flooded, you would see the tops of the papyrus, just like when it is growing. Anyway, they were huge and amazing. I walked through the area in awe. Each column is over 100ft high, and so wide that if I try to hug the column, I cant even reach halfway around. It was one of the best temples. In the evening, we were all temple-ed out, so I strolled through town with one of my friends. Luxor has its own temple in the center of town, so we just looked at the outside. Each night it was lit up and really pretty.
DAY 8 – We took a boat across the Nile for our donkey rides to the Valley of the Kings. My donkey’s name was Casablanca, and surprisingly comfortable. Much more comfortable than the camel. When we arrived in the valley, we saw 3 tombs: Thutmes, Septaken, and Ramses IV. They were really cool. They were all underground, with many chambers. There are fake chambers at the beginning, to throw off thieves and tomb robbers. Inside all of the chambers and halls are paintings. They are still in amazing condition. In fact, that is how these tombs were discovered. There was flooding in the valley of the kings, and someone passing through saw a river of blue water. They traced the source, and found the opening to a tomb.There were also stone caskets inside. Sadly, I didn’t see King Tut’s tomb. It was one of the most boring inside, with no paintings, but you could see his little tiny mummy. It is only about 4 feet long, but so fragile that they can not move it from the tomb. From there we got back on our donkeys and visited an alabaster factory. We had a chance to watch men carve the alabaster, and it was really neat. Then, to Hatchepsout’s temple. She was the only female pharaoh, and served for about 20 years. Hers was my favorite temple in Egypt. It was huge and beautiful. At the side there was a small temple dedicated to Amun-Ra. It was outside, but had paintings and carvings that were in great shape. Sadly, in the evening I was a typical tourist, and I ate at Mcdonald’s. I hate eating chain restaurant food when I travel, but it was one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten. I had a mcchicken sandwich, fries, and a chocolate milkshake. Amazing.
DAY 9 – We flew from Luxor back to Cairo in the morning. Straight from the airport, I drove to Alexandria with Kat and her parents. We visited Pompey’s pillar, which is one single pillar. The area is a marriage between Roman and Egyptian architecture, which is interesting. There is a place to go underground, to see the Daughter Library. It was Cleopatra’s library, where she stored her correspondance with Mark Antony. We left there and went to see the Catacombs. It is basically an underground mausoleum. There is space to hold about 500 bodies, including children (which was sad – seeing mini tombs), and an altar to sacrifice horses. After, we saw the Biblioteca Alexandrina, the largest library in the world, before going to the Fish Market, a famous seafood restaurant, where we were taken advantage of because we were tourists.
DAY 10 – We relaxed in the morning and watched MTV Arabia. It was really interesting bc we watched American shows with English subtitles, and censoring. Anything that was even remotely scandalous was beeped out or covered with the black rectangle. Even the word “intimate” was beeped out, and girls in swimsuits were covered with the black square. It was ironic that they were showing a story about a gay man. In the afternoon we went to the Citadel. It is a huge walled compound, containing one of the oldest mosques in the world. It is now a military fort, and there are 3 different museums inside. We had a chance to enter the mosque, and I’m so glad I did. Usually if you are not muslim, you can not enter. I was just in time for the call to prayer, and it was amazing to see.
DAY 11 – Kat and I brought her parents to the airport, and did some things in Cairo. We mostly went shopping. We strolled to the market (which took a very very long time), but on the way drank mango juice. It was amazing, and really cheap at a vendor’s stall. For hours we shopped. We literally shopped til we dropped, but I found some great souvenirs to bring back, like leather and Egyptian cotton.
DAY 12 – Leave for Morocco.
DAY 2 – We arrived late in the night, so went to a hotel, then back to the airport to meet kat’s parents. On the bus to the airport, we made a few Egyptian friends, and I started to learn Arabic. I don’t know why, but that language intrigues me. I guess I have too much experience with the romance languages and crave something different. We picked up her parents, and went to our hotel. We had a nice kebab dinner, and smoked some sheesha. Now, I don’t like cigarettes, in fact I think they are disgusting , but so many people in Egypt smoke sheesha that I wanted to see what it was all about. It is just flavoured tobacco that they smoke out of a hookah, but I think its all about the socializing. A group of people will sit around the hookah for hours, just talking and enjoying. I think it’s the same way that Cameroonians are with a bottle of beer. You don’t buy it because you love it. You buy it for the social aspect. Anyway, the sheesha wasn’t horrible, but it gave me a headache.
DAY 3 – The first real day of the tour began, with the Egyptian Museum. It was really cool. We saw old tombs and statues and carvings. We saw a copy of the Rosetta stone, originally found in Egypt, but now in the British museum in London. We even saw King Tut’s tomb, with a lot of the items that he was buried with. That was amazing. We saw his outer tomb (there were actually 3), but it was the best one. It was all gold (12 kg of it), with gem and paint inlay. There are scarab beetles on it for luck, and the cobra, for protection and royalty. We saw a ton of the jewelry he was buried with (for the afterlife), and most of it was solid gold, with gems and different stones. Sadly, I didn’t have a chance to see the Mummy room, but I heard it was spooky, seeing all the dead bodies. I saw pictures of some, and a few still have hair and fingernails. Gross. From there, we traveled to Giza, to see the pyramids and the Sphinx. There are 3 pyramids there, Cheops was buried inside the Great Pyramid, Kefrin in the Second pyramid, and the Third pyramid has Mykerenos. The pyramids are a lot larger than you could ever imagine, with each block almost as tall as me. Each pyramid has thousands upon thousands of blocks. Its amazing. We didn’t pay to go into the great pyramid, but we did to go in the Second pyramid. you climb down a small ramp into the center. The opening is barely large enough to fit through, and you much hunch over. There is a flat space in the middle, then the path climbs up again, and there is a large chamber. Along the way, you can see where they closed up the tomb. There was nothing in the pyramid anymore, but it was pretty neat to see. It was really really hot inside though, so I didn’t stay long. From there we saw the Sphinx, also larger than you would imagine. You can not get very close to it though. Two days later, Barack Obama walked through the same places that I did. He was on every news channel, and part of his tour in the pyramid was shown on CNN. We traveled to a papyrus school after and saw how Egyptians make papyrus. I was tempted to buy some, but I knew I had a lot of traveling ahead of me, so I didn’t. when people completed their purchases, we went to the train station to go to Aswan.
DAY 4 – We arrived in Aswan, which soon became my favorite place in Egypt. Everything in Egypt is along the Nile River, because it’s the only fertile land. Everything else is desert. Aswan is very relaxed and calm, almost like a beach town. There was an excursion, but I was running short of money, so I went into town to get more. I used my few Arabic words to bargain for a pair of sunglasses, so I was pretty proud of myself. After, I went to the Nubian museum with some other tourists in my group. That was really cool. The Nubians were another group of people living in the southern part of Egypt. Their history is a bit longer than the Egyptians. In the museum, every single thing was over 3000 years old. I saw a human fossil from 17.000 years ago, and pottery from 6000 years ago, still in good condition. It was amazing. Outside the museum, there were caves, and they put actual cave paintings in them. The history in this country is amazing. It really makes you think about all the things that have happened throughout history, before we came along. We took a taxi back to the hotel, and the driver wanted to buy me for his wife, in exchange for the taxi fare. In the evening, we took a motorboat across the Nile and rode camels. My camel’s name was Mohammed. Every time I wanted him to go, I was supposed to yell “Yalla” which means “lets go”. After our ride, we visited a Nubian village for a traditional meal – there was moussaka, tomatoes, cucumbers, pita bread, rice and a few other dishes I didn’t recognize. It wasn’t completely traditional bc they also had ziti and French fries. It was all delicious. After we ate, a few of us got henna tattoos, which was fun.
DAY 5 – We got up at 3am to travel to Abu Simbel. It is a really famous monument, near the border of the Sudan, and there are a lot of kidnappers and bandits, so everyone that wants to go, must travel with a tour group, and you must be in the convoy. It leaves every morning at 4am, and if you miss it, the road is closed and you can not pass. There is a checkpoint at the beginning of the road, with lots of guards and machine guns, a long road through the desert, and a checkpoint at the end, with more guards and machine guns. It was about a 3 hour journey. At Abu Simbel, there are two temples. Ramses II built one for himself, and one for his wife, Nefertari, which was unusual. A few years ago, the nile started to flood the temples, so UNESCO funded a project that cut each temple into cubes and shifted the millions of cubes back 300m. it took years to complete the project, and now, you would never be able to tell that it was taken apart and reassembled. The temple of Ramses is huge, many hundreds of feet high. Inside there are paintings and carvings, and both temples were really cool. I spent a few hours just staring at the paintings. We left around midday to get back, and had a traditional Egyptian lunch, called kochery. It’s a bowl of spaghetti, rice, elbows, chickpeas, crunchy lentils, and chickpeas. You then choose which sauces to add to it, like a spicy one, or garlic. It’s a strange meal, but not bad. I got an ice cream cone after lunch, then went for a swim in the pool. The pool was right next to the nile, and had an amazing view. In the evening we went for a group dinner then to the market. I bought a few things. Im really comfortable in the markets there – they are just like the ones in Cameroon. You have to bargain for everything. Since I was used to it, shopping was easy.
DAY 6 – In the morning, went to the market quickly with kat for a scarf. The Egyptian cotton is so nice, and there are so many nice scarves, that I ended up buying one also. We rushed back to begin our felucca (sailboat) ride down the nile to Luxor. The felucca was large, covered with mattresses and pillows so we could relax. It was really nice for a few hours, but then got a little boring. At lunchtime, we went for a swim in the nile. Its really not the safest thing, but I couldn’t resist. There are lots of crocodiles and schisto, but I took the risk. There were a few little kids up on the dunes, so I thought I would climb up with them. It took me a few tries, bc that sand was hot! We continued on down the nile, and for fun, we held on to ropes behind the boat and had it pull us. That boat was moving surprisingly fast. We stopped at an island for another swim, then a different island later to stop for dinner and the night. It is illegal to take a boat on the nile at night. There were a few other tour groups there, and one of them had a bonfire and singing, so a few of us checked it out. Throughout the day I became friends with one of the deckhand’s son, Abdu. I was practicing my Arabic with him, and he showed us the way to the bonfire. I learned the Arabic phrase “in your dreams” and I tried to practice it with Abdu. It was pretty fun.
DAY 7 – I did not sleep very well that night on the boat, bc it was surprisingly cold and noisy. I was up early enough to watch the sunrise, which was beautiful. After a short boat ride, we stopped and drove to the komombo temple. It’s a really interesting temple, bc its two in one. Half is dedicated to horus, the falcon god, and half to the crocodile god. It was really neat to see how the two were joined. From there, we saw the Edfu temple, the second largest in Egypt, and then traveled on to Luxor. Karnak temple is in the area, which is the largest temple in Egypt. I went with a few other people, and it was really cool. I read about it in the guidebook first, and the main point of interest is an area with 138 huge columns, designed to look like papyrus stalks with lotus flowers at the top. If the temple was ever flooded, you would see the tops of the papyrus, just like when it is growing. Anyway, they were huge and amazing. I walked through the area in awe. Each column is over 100ft high, and so wide that if I try to hug the column, I cant even reach halfway around. It was one of the best temples. In the evening, we were all temple-ed out, so I strolled through town with one of my friends. Luxor has its own temple in the center of town, so we just looked at the outside. Each night it was lit up and really pretty.
DAY 8 – We took a boat across the Nile for our donkey rides to the Valley of the Kings. My donkey’s name was Casablanca, and surprisingly comfortable. Much more comfortable than the camel. When we arrived in the valley, we saw 3 tombs: Thutmes, Septaken, and Ramses IV. They were really cool. They were all underground, with many chambers. There are fake chambers at the beginning, to throw off thieves and tomb robbers. Inside all of the chambers and halls are paintings. They are still in amazing condition. In fact, that is how these tombs were discovered. There was flooding in the valley of the kings, and someone passing through saw a river of blue water. They traced the source, and found the opening to a tomb.There were also stone caskets inside. Sadly, I didn’t see King Tut’s tomb. It was one of the most boring inside, with no paintings, but you could see his little tiny mummy. It is only about 4 feet long, but so fragile that they can not move it from the tomb. From there we got back on our donkeys and visited an alabaster factory. We had a chance to watch men carve the alabaster, and it was really neat. Then, to Hatchepsout’s temple. She was the only female pharaoh, and served for about 20 years. Hers was my favorite temple in Egypt. It was huge and beautiful. At the side there was a small temple dedicated to Amun-Ra. It was outside, but had paintings and carvings that were in great shape. Sadly, in the evening I was a typical tourist, and I ate at Mcdonald’s. I hate eating chain restaurant food when I travel, but it was one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten. I had a mcchicken sandwich, fries, and a chocolate milkshake. Amazing.
DAY 9 – We flew from Luxor back to Cairo in the morning. Straight from the airport, I drove to Alexandria with Kat and her parents. We visited Pompey’s pillar, which is one single pillar. The area is a marriage between Roman and Egyptian architecture, which is interesting. There is a place to go underground, to see the Daughter Library. It was Cleopatra’s library, where she stored her correspondance with Mark Antony. We left there and went to see the Catacombs. It is basically an underground mausoleum. There is space to hold about 500 bodies, including children (which was sad – seeing mini tombs), and an altar to sacrifice horses. After, we saw the Biblioteca Alexandrina, the largest library in the world, before going to the Fish Market, a famous seafood restaurant, where we were taken advantage of because we were tourists.
DAY 10 – We relaxed in the morning and watched MTV Arabia. It was really interesting bc we watched American shows with English subtitles, and censoring. Anything that was even remotely scandalous was beeped out or covered with the black rectangle. Even the word “intimate” was beeped out, and girls in swimsuits were covered with the black square. It was ironic that they were showing a story about a gay man. In the afternoon we went to the Citadel. It is a huge walled compound, containing one of the oldest mosques in the world. It is now a military fort, and there are 3 different museums inside. We had a chance to enter the mosque, and I’m so glad I did. Usually if you are not muslim, you can not enter. I was just in time for the call to prayer, and it was amazing to see.
DAY 11 – Kat and I brought her parents to the airport, and did some things in Cairo. We mostly went shopping. We strolled to the market (which took a very very long time), but on the way drank mango juice. It was amazing, and really cheap at a vendor’s stall. For hours we shopped. We literally shopped til we dropped, but I found some great souvenirs to bring back, like leather and Egyptian cotton.
DAY 12 – Leave for Morocco.
May 2009
So May passed by in a flash. At the beginning of the month, I was finishing up school. Final exams went well, with little cheating thankfully, and I filled in report cards. All grades (called marks here) are filled by hand, so it takes forever. On my last day of school, a horrible thing happened. A was riding a bike (motorcycle taxi) to school, which I do every day. Near the primary school, there are quite a few speed bumps, to get people to slow down. Of course, this doesn’t really slow the bike men. They just speed up in between each one. My bike man wasn’t paying attention, and when a small child ran out into the road, the bike collided. The child flew off across the road, somehow losing both shoes, and we stopped to see if he was ok. Thankfully the child was only upset, not injured, but it was terrifying. These kind of accidents are commonplace here, but it doesn’t stop me from getting nervous everytime I travel.
At the end of May, I had to travel to Yaounde to help with the new SED/ED training program. I traveled with a friend to Bamenda first, before continuing on. I traveled by motorcycle to Bamenda, which was interesting. It took about 3 ½ hours on a rutted dirt road. My behind was very sore by the end. I stayed overnight with my Cameroonian friend, but we met a few volunteers in the area. We decided to go for roasted fish, and we were relaxing and enjoying ourselves. All of a sudden, a young man reached over and stole one girl’s purse. It took us a minute to understand what was happening, and finally one girl started yelling “thief! Thief!” Unfortunately we had decided to dine in an area filled with thieves, so when we yelled for help, everyone let the thief pass by. Our Cameroonian friends tried to follow the man, to no avail. It delayed our trip to Yaounde, because we had to wait for hours at the police station the next morning. Its horrible to be robbed here. My friend did not even lose anything worth money, but it feels like an invasion.
After the police station, we traveled to Yaounde and began training. The two weeks passed by really quickly, with planning during the day, and nice meals at night. A few of the girls are great at cooking in bulk, so we had great meals, like quiche, spinach ravioli, and chili with cornbread. I ate better in those two weeks, than I probably do in 6 months at post. May 20 was National Day, kind of like an independence day. We heard loud noises from outside, and we thought a storm was brewing. We went up to the 2nd floor balcony of the PC house, and could see fireworks in town. It was a long show, and really cool. We had one main event halfway through training, and it was the Peace Corps prom. No one could decide on a theme, so all of the potentials were melded into the “Post-apocolyptic winter wasteland”. People went to the fripperie (second-hand shop) to find outfits, and I tagged along. I didn’t buy anything, but I made a lot of Cameroonian friends. One of them even bought me a cup of fried termites. I had seen students collecting them at school (they arrive as soon as the first rains fall after dry season), but never an urge to try them until now. I was very nonchalant, saying sure I would eat them, and had one in my hand, but as it came closer to my mouth, my hand moved slower and slower. I had a really hard time putting it in my mouth, but I did it. It was surprisingly good, a bit crunchy with a touch of pepe. I ended up eating the whole cup. Anyway, when I arrived at the prom, I was not dressed up, so a few girls decided to help me. I ended up wearing a plastic market bag as a shirt, with my hair all crazy. Most people there looked like zombies, so it wasn’t a bad party. I had spent my free time cutting snowflakes, and people made a dance floor. Sadly the preparation made most of us so tired that we didn’t last too long in the evening.
The rest of training passed quickly, and then I was on my way to Douala for my holiday to Egypt.
At the end of May, I had to travel to Yaounde to help with the new SED/ED training program. I traveled with a friend to Bamenda first, before continuing on. I traveled by motorcycle to Bamenda, which was interesting. It took about 3 ½ hours on a rutted dirt road. My behind was very sore by the end. I stayed overnight with my Cameroonian friend, but we met a few volunteers in the area. We decided to go for roasted fish, and we were relaxing and enjoying ourselves. All of a sudden, a young man reached over and stole one girl’s purse. It took us a minute to understand what was happening, and finally one girl started yelling “thief! Thief!” Unfortunately we had decided to dine in an area filled with thieves, so when we yelled for help, everyone let the thief pass by. Our Cameroonian friends tried to follow the man, to no avail. It delayed our trip to Yaounde, because we had to wait for hours at the police station the next morning. Its horrible to be robbed here. My friend did not even lose anything worth money, but it feels like an invasion.
After the police station, we traveled to Yaounde and began training. The two weeks passed by really quickly, with planning during the day, and nice meals at night. A few of the girls are great at cooking in bulk, so we had great meals, like quiche, spinach ravioli, and chili with cornbread. I ate better in those two weeks, than I probably do in 6 months at post. May 20 was National Day, kind of like an independence day. We heard loud noises from outside, and we thought a storm was brewing. We went up to the 2nd floor balcony of the PC house, and could see fireworks in town. It was a long show, and really cool. We had one main event halfway through training, and it was the Peace Corps prom. No one could decide on a theme, so all of the potentials were melded into the “Post-apocolyptic winter wasteland”. People went to the fripperie (second-hand shop) to find outfits, and I tagged along. I didn’t buy anything, but I made a lot of Cameroonian friends. One of them even bought me a cup of fried termites. I had seen students collecting them at school (they arrive as soon as the first rains fall after dry season), but never an urge to try them until now. I was very nonchalant, saying sure I would eat them, and had one in my hand, but as it came closer to my mouth, my hand moved slower and slower. I had a really hard time putting it in my mouth, but I did it. It was surprisingly good, a bit crunchy with a touch of pepe. I ended up eating the whole cup. Anyway, when I arrived at the prom, I was not dressed up, so a few girls decided to help me. I ended up wearing a plastic market bag as a shirt, with my hair all crazy. Most people there looked like zombies, so it wasn’t a bad party. I had spent my free time cutting snowflakes, and people made a dance floor. Sadly the preparation made most of us so tired that we didn’t last too long in the evening.
The rest of training passed quickly, and then I was on my way to Douala for my holiday to Egypt.
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