Stranded in Cameroon

sorry to have kept yall waiting; it was only 6 days away though. i havent bee frequenting the internet cafes here, despite some extra free time. also they were down the past two days anyways.
so ngaoundere has been alright. i've been chilling with the cockroaches, and we have a lights on, lights off understanding for the most part. some big freaky spiders have made a few appearances as well. the family life has gone alright, though my pregnant mother had been sick for the past weekish. the 11 year old has been cooking relatively simple stuff, which i ultimately prefer over chunks of cow fat attached to bone served with couscous mais (and thus eaten by hand). news earlier yesterday had been that my mama and kids were going to go stay with the grandmother for 3 weeks to be taken care of, and the little boy was already over there. i was to stay alone with my papa, which i was not looking forward to. since, however, mama had her baby! last night at 11pm at the hospital, a baby boy. i visited her twice during the day since we had class stuff near there, but have not seen her or the newborn since the delivery. i believe she still is going to be with the kids at the grandmothers, but now i have a better reason to visit. papa has been worrying about paying for the medical bills, which are incredibly much cheaper than the US (30 dollars, converted), but still a heavy burden for the family. so that is whats going on chez moi.
school has been about doing a PACA project with a local community. PACA stands for participatory analysis for community action, and is a tool used by groups like Peace Corps to guide local communities to determine community needs. there are 40 community members participating, split into 4 groups: men, women, boys, and girls (aged 14-24, and not married for the latter two), and each is matched with 3-4 students. so this project occurs over a 4 days period for 2 hours a day, longer on the last which is a full community affair, and hopefully will result in a community action plan, for which they may or may not get resources from a separate NGO. so its good in the giving back sense, but problematic a bit in the we're-not-qualified-to-do-this sense. i'm with the girls group, and its going well so far, since they seem more open to the ideas and activities. only one day down so far, though.
around town... ive been doing some fabric buying and such, got myself a stylin embroidered tunic and getting the matching hat tomorrow. ive also bought two pagnes of fabric at the marché, to be sewn in yaounde or dschang. everyone has been frequenting a milk bar, where they have good yogurt, and weve gone for folere, a local juice thing, a few times. i live around a number of other students, so ive also been visiting them a bit. what else... not too busy, but not too bored. ive been watching plenty of TV at home, but we only get one channel. my ipod is nice at night. and ive been getting plenty of sleep, except never around about 5am, thanks to the mad loud prayer calls from the next door mosque.
ISP stuff i've been slacking on, mainly because a lack of resources here. however, ive changed my topic slightly to now be about evaluating multipartyism in cameroon. its basically the same pattern of research, but now more focused instead of being about democracy here in general. this topic interests me a bit more, and i hope to be able to implement it without much problem.
no more campement of elephants on the schedule, which i believe was just an animal observing thing (but actually no elephants), but i plan to do something similar in may on my own. instead we are leaving early for kribi to hang out at the beach a bit early. that is monday. maybe you'll hear from me before then, but no promises.

Been in Ngaoundere since Tuesday and have had a good time settling in, learning about the culture round here, and exploring the town a bit.
Train from Yaounde was long - 16 hours in total, from 6pm to 10 the next day. We sat first class, which costs about 34 US Ds, but that translated really just to a little more foot room on a train out of the 60s (if it were in the US). So i got barely any sleep, since i like to lay down myself. I'm still feeling the effects of that.
We stayed in a protestant dormitory place the first night, but had a little time to explore the town. But I felt like a zombie, being so sleep deprived. The terrain is very different - more desert like, and once again some dust, though not as bad as dschang. The people are really different in nature here too - a lot less staring and a LOT less attention. We dont get hardly any hellos or calls or les blancs etc from people, but everyone we've met has been super polite and helpful though. I ended up eating at the same place for lunch, with friends by random choice, and dinner, by choice of program planners, the first day. Sleep felt good, but wasnt even enough.
Day two we did some class stuff, learning how to function round here, in the very Islamic-influenced culture. That topic stuff continued to today, but along with intensive fulfulde language study. We moved into homestays in the afternoon after a film session, but there was no soiree like in dschang, just a drop off at each house.
So, homestay: I am living with the Shehou family, who have hosted students (almost all male) for the past 18 semesters. The father is a mason, about 42. Three kids, ages 3 (boy), 6 and 11 (both girls). The MAma is younger and bursting with a baby inside, due any time now. Only the father and the 11 year old speak French. Thus the family life is one in fulfulde. That is pretty crazy, of course. My fulfulde is terrible, with only 6 horus of formal training, but I get by enough talking when i need to, and playing is a universal language. I really love my family right now, and having the kids is so fun. I resent the fact that I'm just one of a long list of whites to have stayed, but I'll make the best of it, and try to make an impression. The newborn whose coming has been rumored to be name nathan, if a boy, which is very interesting to deal with, since that was said just the first night. that would be a lasting impression though...
Facilities: the exact opposite of dschang for me. I have my own room and bathroom, which gives me privacy for once, though. But I got a hole for a toilet and not a drop of running water. There is electricity and they have a TV, though it only gets one channel. Food is cooked in a separate kitchen, over a fire, as it was in the chefferie. But it all works. Hole use is not difficult, and more natural, even prefered by several other students on the program now (don't think i'll follow that path myself). Oh, and cockroaches. There is a party in my room and bathroom every night, but they dont make noise, they're just gross. I think I'm going to treat my room tonight though, so no longer any company.
The Muslim life is way difft. Each family is selected in part because they are Muslim. But 5 prayers a day is wild: 5am, 1:30, 3:30, 6:30, 7:30. All at the mosque. And kids go to Koranic school in the morning and afternoon, surrounding the the regular school times. That can never be a life for me. Definitely nothing like any occidental religion. I live right next to the grande mosquée, which is easy for directions, but terrible because i am woken at 5 every morning by loudspeaker prayer calls. Its interesting.*
So that is Ngaoundere so far. Its an interesting life. I dont love the city, but it will be a great experience. internet kinda sucks, but i'll try to keep up. I'm thinking Yaounde for ISP i'll be back on the technology thing. But I'll get back in the meantime at some point.

how to get this done with one minute of cyber time left??? yaounde the last few days hasn't been too eventful, but has been enjoyable. i'm looking forward to coming back for the ISP. its off to ngaoundere now though with a new fam and new culture. wish me luck!

what is it? five more days in yaounde? its been relatively enjoyable. i'm over any illness that i had (pretty quickly, a tribute to my immune system). We've visited a numer of new places: US Peace Corps, Volunteer Services Overseas (both were looking to recruit), Mutations Press (newspaper), and the UIS embassy, where we met with the ambassador. Can anyone name the ambassador? I dont even remember his name, honestly, but its just interesting to know that he is such a well-known icon here, yet completely unknown to us back home. That is the case with so many publuic officials however. It's just a big world.
Freetime since has been spent shopping around, and I've definitely have spent more here that anywhere before. It's silly though, since many of the crafts and souvenirs i buy now I can get elsewhere and avoid carrying around for the whole trip. But I am content with my purchases, even though I dont bargain dsown enough from time to time. I havent even spent much so far, so I'm not concerned. In fact yesterday was the first time I've visited an ATM here, and I shouldn't have to again for a while, after.
I've been spending all my other time doing preliminry research for my ISP. I spent time online, at libraries (including the US embassy's, which was oh so helpful), and took some time to chat with a professor the other day. Ive been struggliung with narrowing my topic, but I believe Ive mostly settled now: future prospects for further democratizing Cameroon. I'll be researching from articles and books, talking to political party reps, and evaluating voter apathy and publis opinion. Newest change of it all is thatI've decided to do it here in Yaounde. So I'll be here the whole month of April, with the lovely resources and computers and big city feel. It should be good. I'll be staying with some new family or person during the time here, and still need to determine that and figure out who might be my advisor. Seems that the plurality of students are doing their project in Dschang, which is alright, since I am not trying to hang out with Americans all the time I'm here. So more work to be done on that, but it might just wait until April at this point.
We're here till monday, then off to very new things in Ngaoundere.

been in Yaounde since wednesday, but have just now got to a cyber cafe. i was surprised and relieved that i didnt have too much interneting to catch up on. this entry should take up some time, though.
it was kinda sad to leave dschang. i definitely liked my homestay family, but wwas also ready for a new experience. my family made spaghetti tuesday night, which i really appreciated, in part becaue it was tasty. they were nice enough to walk me out to the road to get picked up on wednesday morning too. i'm looking forward to seeing them again in april or maybe may. and i'm definitely excited to see the baby on the way from sister huguette (have i mentioned this?) its due in mid-may.
the trip to yaounde was done in the van and took only six hours. we're staying at a mission quite centrally located, which has toilets and hot running water. its been a lot more like dorm life this week, though, just being around students in 2-4 person rooms. I'm staying with Boniface, the ever gentil assistant academic director. its been great though, and lets me speak at least a little french. spending a lot more time amongst fellow students has been fun, but is not helping us with cultural insight.
the city is huge, and i am permanently lost. there is a map in my guidebook that helps, and taxis just drive us everywhere. we've actually been out after dark now too, which is exciting, but definitely necessary since there is far less to do at home here than there was in dschang.
so wednesday afternoon we had some free time about the city, which i spent with Winnie just exploring and looking for a bar to chat it up with some cameroonians. by great chance we stumbled upon 4 elegantly dressed business men who invited us over and paid for our drinks. turns out, one was the mayor of a large neighborhood it town (300,000 consituents), so it was great talking to him about grassroot style politics. he told me that has a campaign coming up in june where he'll go door to door, and gave me a lot of good insight into the political system here, which might also help me out for my ISP. after, one of his staffers (his companions) also bought us each a CD, and the whole meeting was just one of the highlights of my trip, to have such luck like that. we're hoping to get together with them again, also to bring others along and have an informal talk about local politics here in cameroon.
thursday was la journée international des femmes, or international women's day (this doesnt exist in the US?), which is a big holiday here in Cameroon. Women sew themselves dresses in matching fabric and go march with their commuinity organizations. being in yaounde, it was probably the biggest parade in the country, overlooked by the presidents wife, chantal biya. a few students marched while we all watched, then after we went and hung out with MUFFA, which is a women's micro-credit organization. they were partying it up and we got to chat with the ladies, then learned a bit more in a formal setting. a fun day in all.
friday was a busy day. 3 consecutive 2-3 hour meetings with NGOs - CAMFAMM (social security), SIL (preserving native languages), and CED (environmental advocacy). then, we had our first west african dance class, where we learned some guinean moves. i also stopped by the city Hilton, where christianne (program director)'s brother was presenting his water purification powder along with his japanese company. quite impressive natural chemical stuff, straight cleaned water of dirt (but not bacteria). so all those presentations and classes were interesting. we ate out on our own for dinner, and i went to chinese across the street with a few and got really good squid and other non-cameroonian food.
but friday night i got sick in the stomach. caused probably by a tuna pizza i had eaten earlier at a boulangerie. so i spent some time friday night throwing up, and have since been having "digestive issues," which i think are calming down now. i have self diagnosed and all and am thinking it should clear up soon. saturday i spent in bed, missing some ISP planning talk and the second (seemingly awesome) african dance class. i also failed to eat the best foods to help, but i'm making sure to take it easy today.
so sunday i felt good enough to go with Sarah Oh to a korean missionary's. being korean, she was spotted in town saturday by a couple who were visiting to decide whether the man would become a missionary here... so we took a long cab ride across town to a huge building on a hill. Rev. Yoon, who is the man in charge there, had been in country for 20 years and had built the huge church in yaounde along with 60+ others around the country. we spent plenty of time talking to him before and after the service, and even got to eat lunch at his house with Rev. Kim (the visiting guy), and their two wives. it was korean food and i was so pleased (but this is an example of the food i shouldnt have been eating while sick). the church was populated entirely by cameroonians, and only he clergy was korean. i had an overall positive impression of the whole thing, despite some curious opinions anc comments by the korean pastors about culture. but Rev Yoon was just so hospitable, so again, another memorable experience here. The home made korean food in cameroon was definitely unexpected and awesome.
so spent the rest of the day relaxing, and today we only visited the US peace corps to learn a bit. i am putting in my time after on the internet, catching up and changing my flight back (31st, still).
the city is strange, because we've encountered a lot of tourist-geared restaurants and other places, with english speakers and white clientele. I havent got to exploree enough yet, but am hoping to do so and hit up the huge art market and to also find some authentic culture around these parts.
think that is enough for now... take care and feel free to contact me.