so, my last blog was a little bit silly. i know i dont actually live in the depression, but sometimes it feels like it.. things can be difficult, and i stretch my money as far as it will go. there are days that i feel like i live in another world, or at least another century.
i thought of a few other things i do here, that will make me sound crazy though. i should add these to the list.
- if i have moldy bread, i cut off the mold and eat the rest
- if we go to the farm, usually we end up wearing long dresses and goign barefoot
- people wear things until you cant wear them any more. i.e. flip flops . after the straps break, people still shuffle around on the plastic part, until there are holes and the flip flop is about half the size it was to begin with
ill keep adding to the list. hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving, and an enjoyable mall-filled black friday!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Living in the Depression
Sometimes, when i talk to people at home, i joke that i'm living like people did during the depression. yes, sometimes im exaggerating, but let me explain why i say this.
- if we have rotten food, we cut out the bad parts, but eat the rest
- i wash out plastic bags and reuse them
- i use every little tiny bit of soap, instead of buying a new block of it
- i rinse out shampoo bottles, then use the soapy water to wash my hair
- if i find a button or something that looks useful on the street, i will pick it up and keep it
- i have a lot of broken things in the house.. i just keep them because i know they will be useful some day
- i keep old papers, so i can use the back of it for scrap.. i have thousands of pieces at this point
- i keep bits of scrap fabric, in case i need it someday
- i eat expired food - case in point: over the summer i bought a bottle of ketchup (expired already). i ate it then, did not refrigerate it, and now months later, ate some again. will it make me sick?? we will see.
anyway, this blog is ridiculous, but now you can see what i am talking about. either i live like someone during the depression, or like a crazy old cat lady. you decide.
- if we have rotten food, we cut out the bad parts, but eat the rest
- i wash out plastic bags and reuse them
- i use every little tiny bit of soap, instead of buying a new block of it
- i rinse out shampoo bottles, then use the soapy water to wash my hair
- if i find a button or something that looks useful on the street, i will pick it up and keep it
- i have a lot of broken things in the house.. i just keep them because i know they will be useful some day
- i keep old papers, so i can use the back of it for scrap.. i have thousands of pieces at this point
- i keep bits of scrap fabric, in case i need it someday
- i eat expired food - case in point: over the summer i bought a bottle of ketchup (expired already). i ate it then, did not refrigerate it, and now months later, ate some again. will it make me sick?? we will see.
anyway, this blog is ridiculous, but now you can see what i am talking about. either i live like someone during the depression, or like a crazy old cat lady. you decide.
November 2009
The month of November has been a strange month. I have had many different activities, and ive been really really busy. It all started when I ran into the germans. There are a bunch of german volunteers here in mamfe. They aren’t very friendly, so I don’t know them well. I was headed to afab on a Saturday, thinking about how I didn’t want to go. I had my backpack and was just waiting for a moto to take me to the motorpark. As I slowly crossed the street, one of the germans called me over and invited me to a party. I accepted to go that night and went back to the house. The party’s main event was a pig roast. They put the pig on a spit, and roasted it over a bonfire. The rest of the party was pretty lame, but it gave me an idea….
Lauren (my postmate) is preparing to go back to the US. Her two years are finished in December, so we wanted to give her a nice send off here in mamfe. She lives in a small village outside mamfe, but she is always doing work and visiting here. I decided that the main event should be a pig roast. It was a lot of work to plan everything.. I know a man that owns a piggerie (pig farm) in afab, so I bought the pig from him. He agreed to kill, clean and gut the pig, and to send it in a vehicle to mamfe. I picked up the pig from the motorpark, and carried it on a moto to my friend george’s house. We marinated it and carried it again on a bike to a cold store (frozen fish store) where my friend agreed to store it for the next day. The party was on a Friday, so Lauren, Felicia and I spent the morning cooking fufu and eru. George was preparing fried rice and eggrolls, and we would serve the pig. I raced off to go to school, where I collected a bagful of cockroaches as an extra credit project (I later released them into the wild). I hate cockroaches. From school, I raced into town to pick up last minute things, and raced to stanson’s house, where we were holding the party. I helped to spear the pig (it was not pretty shoving a metal rod up that pigs you know what), which was gross, and we started to cook it. I helped clear the grass in the yard and start the bonfire. We decided to make punch to drink, because there are no drinks in town. The roads are so bad here, that big trucks can not pass. That means, there is no beer in town, no soda, no flour, no cabbage, etc. we don’t have anything that is heavy, unless it was carried on a boat from Nigeria. Close to dark, Lauren and I decided to bathe and change clothes. Along the way, we also had to carry plastic chairs, and pick up the borrowed dishes. The party was a bit slow moving. There was no light, so we set up candles around the verandah. It was actually nice. I had battery operated speakers, so we had music, and there was lots of food. About 20 –25 people showed up to say goodbye to Lauren. We all went around and gave advice or said something nice about Lauren. It was my turn and halfway through talking I started to cry. It was super embarrassing (people here don’t ever cry, so don’t understand it if we do), so I cut my speech short. If I cried for Lauren, what will happen when I go?? I’ll cry every day. Anyway, her send-off party turned out really nice.
Pretty much every weekend this month, I have been working on my world map project. Lauren helped me to paint a world map on the side of my school. We are just finishing up, and it looks awesome. The students struggle, because there are few textbooks, and no maps. Some students draw them in their notebooks, but its not the same. This is an opportunity for them to learn where they are in the world, and to realize how much is out there that they could learn about it.
The rest of the month has been busy moving back and forth to afab. I have ejagham tutoring 2 or 3 days per week, plus lesson planning and teaching, and after that, im spent. The end of November will have our thanksgiving celebration, and Lauren leaving. For thanksgiving, we are having grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, garlic green beans, homemade stuffing, and im pretty sure george is bringing spaghetti and meatballs. That’s not quite a normal part of thanksgiving, but, the more the merrier. After dinner, ill head back to kembong with Lauren, to finish her packing, and then 1st of December, she is gone. Its an action packed month, just like December will be. I’m planning a trip to the extreme north, which should be fun.
Lauren (my postmate) is preparing to go back to the US. Her two years are finished in December, so we wanted to give her a nice send off here in mamfe. She lives in a small village outside mamfe, but she is always doing work and visiting here. I decided that the main event should be a pig roast. It was a lot of work to plan everything.. I know a man that owns a piggerie (pig farm) in afab, so I bought the pig from him. He agreed to kill, clean and gut the pig, and to send it in a vehicle to mamfe. I picked up the pig from the motorpark, and carried it on a moto to my friend george’s house. We marinated it and carried it again on a bike to a cold store (frozen fish store) where my friend agreed to store it for the next day. The party was on a Friday, so Lauren, Felicia and I spent the morning cooking fufu and eru. George was preparing fried rice and eggrolls, and we would serve the pig. I raced off to go to school, where I collected a bagful of cockroaches as an extra credit project (I later released them into the wild). I hate cockroaches. From school, I raced into town to pick up last minute things, and raced to stanson’s house, where we were holding the party. I helped to spear the pig (it was not pretty shoving a metal rod up that pigs you know what), which was gross, and we started to cook it. I helped clear the grass in the yard and start the bonfire. We decided to make punch to drink, because there are no drinks in town. The roads are so bad here, that big trucks can not pass. That means, there is no beer in town, no soda, no flour, no cabbage, etc. we don’t have anything that is heavy, unless it was carried on a boat from Nigeria. Close to dark, Lauren and I decided to bathe and change clothes. Along the way, we also had to carry plastic chairs, and pick up the borrowed dishes. The party was a bit slow moving. There was no light, so we set up candles around the verandah. It was actually nice. I had battery operated speakers, so we had music, and there was lots of food. About 20 –25 people showed up to say goodbye to Lauren. We all went around and gave advice or said something nice about Lauren. It was my turn and halfway through talking I started to cry. It was super embarrassing (people here don’t ever cry, so don’t understand it if we do), so I cut my speech short. If I cried for Lauren, what will happen when I go?? I’ll cry every day. Anyway, her send-off party turned out really nice.
Pretty much every weekend this month, I have been working on my world map project. Lauren helped me to paint a world map on the side of my school. We are just finishing up, and it looks awesome. The students struggle, because there are few textbooks, and no maps. Some students draw them in their notebooks, but its not the same. This is an opportunity for them to learn where they are in the world, and to realize how much is out there that they could learn about it.
The rest of the month has been busy moving back and forth to afab. I have ejagham tutoring 2 or 3 days per week, plus lesson planning and teaching, and after that, im spent. The end of November will have our thanksgiving celebration, and Lauren leaving. For thanksgiving, we are having grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, garlic green beans, homemade stuffing, and im pretty sure george is bringing spaghetti and meatballs. That’s not quite a normal part of thanksgiving, but, the more the merrier. After dinner, ill head back to kembong with Lauren, to finish her packing, and then 1st of December, she is gone. Its an action packed month, just like December will be. I’m planning a trip to the extreme north, which should be fun.
October 2009
The southwest province provincial meeting was scheduled for late October. I was excited to go, and have a break. I haven’t traveled anywhere in a long time. The roads around mamfe are horrible from so much rain, so vehicles aren’t leaving from mamfe. I had to take a motorcycle. I woke up at 330am to leave around 4am on my bike. It was pitch black out when I left, which was strange. A dirt road in the dark is weird when it is dark. I literally couldn’t see anything. Luckily I had a really good rider. A while down the road, I met up with other volunteers, so we could convoy. Parts of the road were absolutely terrible. At one point, we had to get off the bikes and trek through the bush, so our bike men could carry the bikes above the chest high water. It was bad. I was soaking wet and muddy by the time we reached Nguti, the halfway point. From there, we wanted to take a vehicle, but the road was too bad, so I had to hire another bike. I rode on the first bike for about 7 hours, then the second for another 2 hours. My behind was killing me by the time we arrived in konye. From there, we could take a vehicle, but we had to wait over an hour. Finally we arrived in kumba, then took another vehicle to buea, our destination. I was staying at jessamyn’s house (another pcv). She was having a party, so I ate really great homemade Indian food, and crashed early – about 9pm.
The next day, I traveled to douala for a few hours. I went to the marche de fleur, an artisan market, which had some really great crafts. I bought a few things, but not too much. We had Mediterranean food for lunch (which was delicious) and headed back to buea. The other volunteers had arrived, so we had our meeting and had dinner.
Following this, I traveled to Limbe for the day. There is a tailor there that makes custom made suits, so I got one made. Im not a big suit-wearer, but im sure it will come in handy when I get home. Of course, I stopped in at the beach, ,and visited one that I have never been to before, Etisah. It was nice, but I prefer my usual beach. After, we all went to down beach for fresh calamari (its to die for, and at $1 a stick, you cant go wrong). This calamari is amazing. Instead of cutting it horizontally and making rings, like we do, the cut it vertically so you have strips. Then, the put the strips on a stick, like a shish kebab and grill it. Its the most amazing thing ive ever eaten. This was only an appetizer, and later we ate grilled fish.
I ended up going to limbe again. My body was tired from the moto trip, and I couldn’t bear to do it again so soon. I went to the old beach, which is really nice. It was a crappy day, and started raining, but the water was so warm. It was really fun, bc the waves were really choppy. Its fun to act like a kid and play in the waves. Sadly, I almost lost my glasses in the ocean (again). I ‘m lucky though, I haven’t lost them yet. After the beach, we ate a double cheeseburger dinner. I don’t really miss cheeseburgers, until I eat one from hot spot. Eating it, reminds me what im missing.
I made a major purchase in buea. There is this new thing out; a USB key that has wireless internet. Its brand new here, and expensive, but I was so tired of not being able to keep in touch with anyone. We rarely have internet in mamfe, so now its really nice for me to have in the house.
When I returned to mamfe, I had to take a bike again. It wasn’t quite as tiring this time, but it was muddier and we got rained on. It really sucked arriving wet, muddy, and not having any light or running water. This week marked the 3 week of no light/water in mamfe. Not cool. But anyway, I was glad to return home to mamfe and rest.
The next day, I traveled to douala for a few hours. I went to the marche de fleur, an artisan market, which had some really great crafts. I bought a few things, but not too much. We had Mediterranean food for lunch (which was delicious) and headed back to buea. The other volunteers had arrived, so we had our meeting and had dinner.
Following this, I traveled to Limbe for the day. There is a tailor there that makes custom made suits, so I got one made. Im not a big suit-wearer, but im sure it will come in handy when I get home. Of course, I stopped in at the beach, ,and visited one that I have never been to before, Etisah. It was nice, but I prefer my usual beach. After, we all went to down beach for fresh calamari (its to die for, and at $1 a stick, you cant go wrong). This calamari is amazing. Instead of cutting it horizontally and making rings, like we do, the cut it vertically so you have strips. Then, the put the strips on a stick, like a shish kebab and grill it. Its the most amazing thing ive ever eaten. This was only an appetizer, and later we ate grilled fish.
I ended up going to limbe again. My body was tired from the moto trip, and I couldn’t bear to do it again so soon. I went to the old beach, which is really nice. It was a crappy day, and started raining, but the water was so warm. It was really fun, bc the waves were really choppy. Its fun to act like a kid and play in the waves. Sadly, I almost lost my glasses in the ocean (again). I ‘m lucky though, I haven’t lost them yet. After the beach, we ate a double cheeseburger dinner. I don’t really miss cheeseburgers, until I eat one from hot spot. Eating it, reminds me what im missing.
I made a major purchase in buea. There is this new thing out; a USB key that has wireless internet. Its brand new here, and expensive, but I was so tired of not being able to keep in touch with anyone. We rarely have internet in mamfe, so now its really nice for me to have in the house.
When I returned to mamfe, I had to take a bike again. It wasn’t quite as tiring this time, but it was muddier and we got rained on. It really sucked arriving wet, muddy, and not having any light or running water. This week marked the 3 week of no light/water in mamfe. Not cool. But anyway, I was glad to return home to mamfe and rest.
Teacher's Day 2009
October 5 is international teacher’s day. There is even fabric made, so you can get a special outfit made. Of course, I did, and now I have a cute dress. Last year I spent the day in mamfe, and marched past the grandstand with other teachers of GBHS Mamfe. This year, I decided to spend it in the village. The morning of, I traveled with other teachers from my school in Afab and some from the primary and nursery schools in afab, to Ossing, where they were holding the events. It was about an hour away. We arrived at the chief’s palace, and marched through town, singing songs about teachers. I had never heard any of the songs, so sadly, I couldn’t sing. We arrived at the main field in town to listen to speeches from principals and delegates of education, then watched sports. There was a tug of war between all of the area schools and then a football match (sorry, I mean soccer). It was entertaining (especially when players kicked off their shoes accidentally, or fell in the mud), but it was so hot outside that I started to get drowsy. When the match was finished, there was a break time, where we could all get a drink, then we went to the Ossing meeting hall to eat. Every teacher that went could eat and take a drink. The principals tried to invite me to the “high table” where they sit, but I refused. Sometimes, I would like to be treated like I’m not different than everyone else. Anyway, they ran out of food,, which was a bummer, so by the time I went to the table to take my own,, the portions were tiny. When everyone finished eating, we opened the dance floor, and then there was dancing. It had started to rain, so we decided to head back to afab before the roads were too bad. The day was very different from last year in mamfe, but it was nice to spend it with the village teachers.
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