Life in mamfe

to continue a previous post...
-i have met lots of "big men" here in mamfe: the mayor, deputy mayor, numerous chiefs, and princes (eldest sons of chiefs). everywhere i go people greet me, which is nice. it makes me feel like im living in a community. i was recently invited to a palace. a friend of the deputy mayor, named prince charles invited me to his palace at besongabong. he is a character. he is a nigerian film star and producer that returned here after the death of his father. he always wears a straw hat. he is currently working on a film for american release, "voodoo assassins". if you see it, make sure to watch. anyway, he lives in a beautiful place. the inside reminds me of england, with cream walls and gold borders on everything, including the furniture. it definitely felt like a palace.
-we had the launching of the school year at my school. its a big event, hosted by a different school each year. all of the principals and vp, and government officials come. its like a big conference, with classes to go to and snack breaks and things. the students sang and had tradtional dances to entertain everyone. after, there was a big meal that i helped cook. all of the women know that i cant good traditional food, so invited me to watch them cook. all i really did was peel plantains and watch them prepare coki. after though, i got some to take home with me. that was a special treat.
-i have started teaching. i teach all of the form 2 biology classes (there are 5 different streams). each class has between 80 and 100 students. so far, its going ok. i try to speak slowly so they understand, and im trying to be strict. its difficult though, when classes are randomly cancelled, people come into classes to make announcements, or tell students to leave bc they havent paid school fees. there is always something to distract the students. i have my first test next week, so we will see if they are learning anything.
-this weekend we had teachers day. we all bought teachers day pagne (mine was blue and said teachers day all over it.. there are books and teachers on it too), so i could have an outfit made. my outfit had a matching top and bottom, and my hair was braided. everyone complimented me, that i looked like a true african! we all got together at the grandstand (a set of bleachers) and heard speeches from the big men. in between speeches, each school in the area sang or danced. when they were finished, we "marched". we all walked in a line past the grandstand. i thought it was going to be a parade through town, but no, it was about 20 seconds long. after, we met for food and drink.
-i had a true mamfe experience. as i was trying to post a while back, the power went out and i lost it. its not unusual for the power to go out, so i just left, thinking i would come back later. the power didnt come back that day, but we didnt think anything of it. we all thought it would be back the next day. nope. nor the next or the next. the water is actually connected to the power, so there was no water. i learned the hard way, to have a water storage container. over 1 week later, the power and water came back. that doesnt sound like very long, but when you dont have water stored, you depend on the rain to do dishes and flush the toilet. when there is no water, those things dont get done. also, showering with a cup of water (we call them bucket baths) do not make you feel clean. needless to say, the first thing i did when water returned was take a shower.


i spend most of my time here visiting. i have a lot of free time outside of school, so i visit friends in town, or in my neighborhood, and spend hours just sitting. the location changes, but its nice to relax and visit with friends. here, you dont even have to talk. sometimes you just sit in the company of someone else.
i also try to fix up the house. i have to clean almost everyday, but my neighbors say that i dont do it properly, so they always come to help me. the little kids can cook and clean better than i can!
my goal for myself is to learn how to cook. every week, one of the women teaches me a new food. maybe by the time i get home, ill be able to cook something nice. we'll see...

here in mamfe

so im here in mamfe.. (and a little bummed. wrote a huge post, then the power went out)
lots of things have happened. ill try to catch up:
-gave my presentation in french. i gave traditional recipes and brought in spices to show the class. i got a 98.7%. very nice.
-went to yaounde for the weekend. we had to do banking, and had a few training classes. other than that, ate a ton.. had a cheeseburger, pizza, chinese food and 2 milkshakes. everything was so delicious, even though all of that milk made me very sick. i had not eaten cheese or had ice cream in 3 months, so i had to catch up. i also bought a really cool batik tapestry. next time i go back, i plan on buying more.
-had SWEARING IN! i am now an official volunteer. all of the important people from town were there.. the chief, mayor, the us ambassador, host families, etc. some women gave a traditional dance and music. the town also honored the director, and had him dress in traditional pagne, juju (beads), and gave him a throne, staff and some other accessories. it was really neat to see.
-went out dancing swearing in night. i had one last dinner with my host family, then went out. for the first time in 3 months, no curfew, so we all stayed out all night. we went dancing at cristal, for hours. it was really fun
-the next morning, left for mamfe. we took a bus to dschang, dropped off a few people, then continued to buea, where we had to switch vehicles. from there to kumba, where we met up with another volunteer and had a chicken dinner.
-discovered that my ipod was stolen. i think i know who took it, and im NOT happy. i had a lot of my photos saved on it, so they are all gone. im hoping it will turn up, but not holding my breath.
-the next day came to mamfe. found out that my house is still not finished and will not be for another month. i was living with another volunteer. sleeping on the couch for a month gets old, real quick. to break it up, spent a weekend in okoyong with will. he works at an all girls catholic boarding school. we ate all of our meals at the convent, but they were good meals. also spent a few days in kembong with lauren. she taught me how to cook 2 meals: geloff rice and porridge plantains. they were better when she made them, than when i make them.
-met my staff at school. they are all really friendly. through them joined the staff social (amicale), a womens group, and an njangi/tanteen (sort of a savings program). all of them meet monthly and have food and drinks. its nice.
-finally, i moved into my house. it was ready later than expected, and i slept on the floor for a few nights. that was no fun, but at least it was my own place! its beautiful. i have a tiled veranda, a large parlor with wood patterned ceiling, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a small back veranda. its a duplex, and they are still working on the other house, so i have to put up with construction, but thats ok. there is also a little bit of work in my own house, but thats ok too. i made friends with the man that is laying tile next door, and he is around to help with any problems i have.
-speaking of problems, i have had 2 slight mishaps:
1 - on my birthday, i thought i would treat myself to a nice long shower in my new house. after my nice long shower, i discovered that the drain doesnt work, and gallons and gallons of water leaked out of the bathroom and into my bedroom.. then that leaked into the hall. after my nice long shower, and to clean up all of the water, using just a towel. it was not fun.
2 - after the drain was fixed, i went into the bathroom one day and found water on the floor. i tried to find the leak.. i thought it was from the hose that led from the wall into the toilet. as i touched it to see, the hose fell off and started spraying water everywhere. i was soaking wet, and had to call over the tiler to turn off the water for me.
i guess its not a new house without mishaps.

Nearing the end of training..

I had some free time and thought i would post; even though i havent done much lately. We are closing out model school, so in the past week I have written, proctored, and graded exams. Overall, the students did ok. I took pictures of my classes at the end, so when i figure out how to post them, you will all get to see my kids. Through most of training, we have had action packed schedules, and now we finally have free time. its kind of weird having absolutely nothing to do. I have a presentation to give (in french), a soiree culturel (where all of the clubs give a skit or something to show everyone what they have been working on), our model school closing ceremony, a trip to yaounde and then swearing in. it will go by quickly im sure.
so in the past week:
-we have played numerous scattergories games using scraps of paper, not an actual game
-we have searched for new bars to hang out at, bc pierres (the usual haunt) is getting really old
-i have played a lot of uno games with my host family. i learned that the pidgin word for shuffle is boxam
-i had two 13 year old girls cook dinner for the weekend. my mom went out of town, so the girls cooked. my meals involved lots of plain bread and boiled bananas. needless to say, ive had better
-we visited the chefferie superieur and met the chief of bangangte. we saw historical black and white photos of the previous chiefs, and saw an authentic zebra skin rug, complete with mane. it had a very nice end table on top of it. he served a huge lunch, with chicken, goat, fish, rice, fried plantains, greens and more. it was delicious... well, all except the chicken that tasted like rubber (the knife i had couldnt even cut it) and the goat. i found out later that when there are chickens that run around and eat out of the neighborhood garbage piles, the meat tastes a little rubbery. the goat wasnt bad except for the huge layer of fat around the meat. the meat was good though.
-i received letters and packages galore this week! 2 packages (both from mom), and 4 letters. it makes me so happy bc i know that people havent forgotten me. feel free to keep those coming. i think letters are almost nicer than packages bc i can re-read the letters. better yet, send letters with packages!
-i also received a message from a rpcv that served at my post in 1999. the experience sounds life changing, and he still references the pc experience. i hope to be like that when i finally return home in 2010. it sounds so far away, but 3 months have already passed by in a flash.

i cant wait to move to post.. im trying to buy a few things ahead of time, for my house that is still under construction. at some point, i would like to get a cat. it will be nice to have some company, and cats are good for eating bugs. by the way; my post is in the filaria capital of the world. if you are bored, look it up. its only the worst disease ever. anyway, back to peace corps life. hope all is well at home!

One more thing..

working on changing my old pic website. new one will be called melissainafrica.shutterfly.com. at some point in the future, it will have new pics. thanks!

One more thing..

A few other things...

That last post was so long, but i though i would say a little something about my house in mamfe. there are 4 new houses being built, and mine is sort of a duplex. there are 3 bedrooms, living rooM, kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and im pretty sure i have both running water AND electricity! a lot of volunteers do not have that. i saw my house in progress while i was in mamfe, but i have since learned that it will not be completed in time for me to move in. that means, for a few months i will be living with another volunteer. supposedly i will have a fancy wood floor in my living room (most houses have cement). i will try to post pics once my house is completed.

also, i just finished my second day teaching here in model school. the first day went surprisingly well. i thought the kids would be bad (they were for their first teacher), but it was ok. i had 2 chemistry classes, then another 2 today. some of the kids love to give answers, but a lot of kids dont speak very much. im trying to draw out the girls, bc they never say anything. these classes are to prepare us for teaching at our sites, but my site will be very different. right now i have 14 kids in one class and 18 in the other. at site i will have about 70 per class. tomorrow i teach an it class, which is not that helpful for me, as my school does not have any computers.

its been cold and rainy here for the last few days, so i hope you are all enjoying the warm weather and sunshine at home!

Trip to Mamfe

I know it has been a long time since i have written, but I haven’t had much access to the internet. Quite a few things have happened in the past couple weeks. We have had a lot of health and info sessions, and learned about many of the horrible diseases we can get living here, like worms and malaria, and learned a lot about hiv/aids. We actually had guest speakers come in to tell us about living here with hiv. The stories that we heard were terrible. Their families and neighbors stopped talking to them, and one mans story was in the newspaper. His town found out that he had hiv before he did; he was in the hospital at the time. It was an eye opening experience, to see how people can be treated here.

On a lighter note, I also found out my site. I will be posted in Mamfe, in the southwest province. It’s the hottest place in southern Cameroon; its located in a valley, as opposed to most cities that are in the mountains. I will be placed at a bilingual school, though I don’t know what ill be teaching yet.

I travelled to Mamfe last week with my counterpart (another teacher at the school). We caught a bus from here in Bangante with a few other trainees to Bafoussam. Then 4 of us continued in a car to Dschang. From there we took a short break, and I bought apples. They were the cheapest ive seen yet; so I had to buy them. I also went to a `traditional’ house, where I tried palm wine for the first time. It’s the strangest thing. When it first comes out of the tree, its this sweet soapy looking liquid. It is interesting. When you drink it, it tastes almost healthy. After about 2 days, it has fermented and tastes more alcoholic. I tried that too, but didn’t like it. After that I hopped back on a bus with my counterpart to go to Kumba. The driver was interesting, giving points of interest (which were then translated to me by my counterpart). What was more interesting; was that the vehicle did not have an emergency brake, so anytime the driver got out of the vehicle (which was often), I had to reach my leg around the stickshift to hold the brake so we didn’t roll away. Those passengers lives were in my hands, and they didn’t even realize it. We stayed in Kumba overnight, but not before I ate street meat (or soya as it is called here). The meat sits out all day, and cant be good for you, but tastes so delicious. The next day I got into a 4 x 4 to travel the horrible road that leads to Mamfe. The road is really torn up and obviously not paved. A lumber company along the way is slowly trying to repair it, so that they can travel the road; but it’s a slow process. Anyway, we loaded up the truck (we were transporting about 200 lbs of marble tile), 6 people in the cab, and another 4 people in the bed, sitting on top of everything loaded in the truck. We got stopped at the first gendarmes checkpoint, bc there are duties to pay on any supplies being brought in or out of certain areas. Our fees were so high, that the driver got into a fight with the gendarmes and we were told to pull over. After all the men in my vehicle hopped out to argue, we were on our way to Mamfe again. Not even half an hour later, our vehicle broke down. Again, all the men hopped out to see what the problem was. I could have sworn that they fixed it with glue, but in retrospect, it may have been oil. Then another hour later, car broke down again. Turns out, the problem was oil, bc most of the engine oil had leaked into a puddle at my feet in the cab. They added more oil and some tape (for the hole in the line), and we were off again. Next problem was that we got stuck in the mud. We were so heavy that we got stuck and couldn’t get out. We all had to get out of the vehicle and the men had to push. We got out, and not too much later we got stuck in a different spot. Same thing – got out, men pushed. Then we stopped for lunch, where I ate bush meat. Supposedly I ate antelope. It tastes like a mix between venison and pork chops. It was pretty good. My counterpart ate antelope and porcupine, which I hear is really good. A common bush meat here is monkey, but I didn’t see any of that. We continued on, and we were about 1 hour to Mamfe when the driver got into a fight with a passenger and refused to drive us anywhere. After a while, this young kid started driving. Im not sure he was even high school age, and he was NOT a good driver. He ran us into the tops of trees, and almost knocked off the guys in the back of the truck. As soon as he stopped to drop someone off, we got a new driver (our third of the day). This driver was the owner of the vehicle, and drove like a crazy person. Our first driver tried to avoid holes, but this guy did not. He just rammed through them, and I was thrown all over the cab. Of course, there are no seatbelts –only one for the driver. At this point, I was tempted to put on my helmet. After this; one of the guys in the bed dropped his cell phone on the road and wanted to stop to find it, so we stopped the vehicle. Then the road was washed out; so we all walked and the truck tried to take a motorcycle trail (successfully). Then we got a flat tire, so we had to stop, then the road was washed out again. This time we had to wade through the water to walk through it, so I probably have some sort of weird worm in my feet from being in the fresh water. After that we finally made it to Mamfe. The 4 hour drive took us almost 12 hours. The only thing that would have made my trip longer was if it rained, bc then we would have spent the night on the road until the water dried. Luckily; that did not happen. Once in mamfe, I stayed with a current volunteer. We spent the next few days seeing the town, meeting people and eating. I had a lot of local foods, the most popular of which is eru and fufu. Its sort of greens that you eat with this starchy food made from kasava. Its not bad; but very hard to describe. I had a very nice time there, and everyone was really friendly. I even went to a club one night. The heat will take some getting used to though. I sweated the whole time I was there; and I like the heat. Next time I write, ill give details about my house. Right now, its still under construction. After my visit; I had an uneventful trip back, and im currently in bangante. Please keep in touch, and letters are much appreciated!