Something happened between Claude, who is my host brother and homeboy, and the host family of Elizabeth G. I keep trying to figure it out but every time I ask Claude, he gets loquacious in French that I do not understand about how there are always people who do not like you, and so on. […]
It’s already 10 and I still want to try to shower tonight, so I’ll try to make this quick. Those of us in the Education program (this includes me) have language classes in a different building than the other program (which I will call Business [since the real name is too googleable]). Ours is in […]
By far the most interesting thing to happen today was hearing a lecture by the medical officers about "common medical problems". Worms were covered, about which the medical manual says only: "There are many different types and too numerous to go into here." Predictably, we lost our shit. I think I could kind of handle […]
Today I had my first bucket bath in Cameroon. I also learned how to do laundry and helped fetch water. This is all a big deal for me, because the rules for treatment and handling of water are pretty complicated. I thought my host family took all its water from the well, which means I […]
Nous sommes arrivés au stage (we have arrived at pre-service training). That means I have met my host family, from whose house I am typing this. I am staying with the Alemis, who are: Mr. Alemi, Mrs. Alemi, Hyacinthe (their son), Astride (their daughter), Vladimi (Astride’s one-and-a-half year old son), Nadege (their daughter), Claude (a […]
Today we got our phones. I’m debating whether or not to use the handset provided or just use the sim card in my "old" phone, which is significantly nicer. Reasons against: the battery life in my "real" phone is much better when it’s in offline mode and not great when it’s connected; if my phone […]
More hangouts, but today we got to walk around Yaoundé a bit in groups of 4. Saw a bunch of wildlife, including a lizard apparently indigenous to Cameroon. My group got hassled by some little girls looking for change, who enjoyed stroking my hair, and a gentleman who wanted to take our picture (and presumably […]
We’re still in Yaoundé. We go to another region for pre-service training proper on Tuesday. Every meal is cooked by the hotel chef, who is marvelous. We sit in the dining room and hang out and eat and talk, or sit in the bar and watch soccer and play games. Or, you can think of […]
The flights were fairly uneventful; I got a couple of hours of sleep, which is apparently enough to keep my brain from trying to process the last 48 hours as one day. The airport if Yaoundé is fairly small, not ACed, and smelled fairly strongly of sweaty bodies. There was also a little bit of […]
Currently en route to Cameroon — this is the first leg of the 18-hour trip, which is American Airlines to Brussels with a three-hour layover before a Belgium Air flight to Yaoundé. Readers are encouraged to price these flights (Thursday overnight into Friday; Friday morning) and report their findings. All comments will be lovingly read […]