Mothership Cars and Rose-colored Glasses

Welp. I’m still chillin’ here in Yaounde, trying to get work done on the computers (it’s likely that I won’t have a computer ‘til I come home in December…) Though I’ve been pigging out on some delicious food, I’ve also been attacked my mosquitoes. Last night the mosquitoes managed to infiltrate my mosquito net, so I ended up getting bitten up until I just switched beds. Sigh.

Last night, though, we went to the apartment where there is a Peace Corps Response Volunteer “apartment-sitting” for a US Embassy worker. It was insane. The entire neighborhood consisted of just really well-built houses that looked like they wouldn’t collapse if you leaned on a wall too hard. Every house/apartment complex was walled off with a security guard, making it seem like no other place I’ve been to in this country.

Then we walked in. Holy. Cow. Once you walk in, you completely forget that you’re in Cameroon. It’s a nice apartment, even by American standards. There was a large TV, projector, completely modern bathroom, a range over the stove, and even a bread maker!!! When we took a peek in the pantry, it was stocked full of all these American goods that made me start drooling on the spot. I was totally blown away. Where are we, Toto??? I was scared that once I plopped myself down on the cushy sofa seat that I would never ever want to tear myself away from all its fluffiness and the goodness of “How I Met Your Mother” episodes that were being projected onto the wall.

This brings me to Story #2.

The other day, while coming to Yaounde, I ended up basically hitch hiking onto a bus from the nearby town towards Yaounde. The bus was basically empty when I got on. So even though I had a “comfortable” seat (ie window seat), the bus was going to make a bazillion stops along the way until it was jam-packed with people. I realized this rookie mistake about 30 minutes in after having stopped multiple times already to load on the people, their plantains, sacs of cassava, tarot, veggies, goats, you name it, they got it on the bus.

So while I sat in my seat catching whiffs of fermenting palm wine that made me want to vom, I saw The Mothership pass me. There, in front of our bus, was a Peace Corps car – American stickers and all – whizzing by us. I got so excited to see something familiar that all I could think about was how to get into that car. I was thinking along the lines of that movie, “Speed” when they had to go from one moving car to another (I think that’s how it went?) Too bad for me, because my Mothership car ended up passing us and was able to quickly leave our big clunky bus in the dust. If only I had just waited 10 minutes more while hitch-hiking, I would have seen the Peace Corps car!

About 30 minutes later, just when I was forgetting about the Peace Corps car, I saw them stopped on the side of the road at a big market area!! I got so excited and was trying to figure out how to make a dash for the car. Luckily, the bus was stopping for someone else, so  I jumped off and told the surprised driver, “I need to get my bag off the roof of the car!!” He gave me a strange look and asked me, “I thought you were going to Yaounde?” I quickly spouted off that I had seen my Mothership and needed to board immediately! The guy still looked at me funny and asked me if I was sure that this car would be headed to Yaounde. I hastily said, “Yes yes yes! Of course!” and he handed me my bag as I handed him a fraction of the normal cost to get to Yaounde, and I raced off to find the Peace Corps car.

As I walked towards the car, it was like comin’ home to America!! I waved (maybe too) excitedly at the Peace Corps driver and asked if I could bum a ride. “Sure,” he said. “But we’re only going to Bafia.”

“Oh.”

Bafia is about 1.5 hours outside of Yaounde, so that meant I had to find a ride…again. Oh well. I’d take it. Sitting in a nice, air-conditioned car, not crammed in with 50 other people plus palm wine under my seat and goats up top? I’d take it.

We waited for a while for the other Peace Corps staff member to finish buying some stuff in the market, and then we headed off. Being inside that Peace Corps car was like a little slice of paradise. Along the way, I just stared out the window and enjoyed the scenery fly by. This was the first time in a long time that I felt at ease in a vehicle in this country and got to really just enjoy the trip.

So finally we get to Bafia, where they dropped me off, and I waited on the side of the road, yet again, to flag down another car that would be able to take me to Yaounde. Well, whadya know. The first vehicle to come barreling down the road is the SAME bus that I had been on just hours earlier! There were a bunch of other people waiting to catch a ride, and when the driver saw me, he gave me a strange look and basically said, “I told you so,” when he asked me why I wasn’t still in the Peace Corps car. Embarassing. Then some old lady points at me and yells out the window, “She’s trouble!!! Don’t take her! She left us!”

Well, no worries, Granny. Cuz that dumb bus didn’t even have room in it anyways.

Great. So now I was rejected by my original bus. Not awkward or embarrassing. Whatever. Within a few minutes a large bus pulled up to the large intersection, and I boarded this “VIP” bus that had lots of room on it, individual seats, and even AIR-CONDITIONING!!! And the beautiful part was that I paid even less for this than they were charging for the other bus.

Even though it was much more complicated than it needed to be, it turned out that my hitch-hiking adventures were well worth it, and I made it alive and in one piece!

So after we got back from the Embassy palatial apartment yesterday, I pondered for a bit about my two experiences of being in the private car, and also being in the nice apartment.

Things look pretty different when you’re sittin’ high up (be it in a fancy Land Cruiser car or a nice apartment). From the car, I was so at ease and I could finally admire the beauty around me. Something that I rarely do when I’m packed into a bus. And as I was in that apartment last night, I thought about how incredibly different a State Department worker’s experience is from a Peace Corps Volunteer. While I can’t say that anywhere in Cameroon is the easiest place to live, that apartment with all its fancy amenities certainly does make life a lot easier and comfier.

Just my one year in village though has really done a lot to help me get a better view of life for “the rest of them.” I can name off all the local dishes (although I have yet to learn how to make it…), I can at least greet people in the local language, and I can say that I spend the vast majority of my days with your typical Cameroonian. I’m not sure if I can honestly say that I love Cameroon as a country, but I can say that I do love my experience.

Last night, I wondered if maybe it would be easier to love Cameroon if I had my rose-colored glasses on, and only drove around in a spiffy new car and had a really nice place to come back to each night. It’s funny how just the perspective that you have can change so much in how you view something.

So, yeah, I’ll admit that I am completely jealous of the lives that people get to lead when they are working for the State Department, but at the same time, there is something about the experience that I get to have, as a PCV, that makes me love being Volunteer for Peace Corps.

I think I meant to write a blog that made a little more sense…but whoops.  I’m not sure if that did. Anywho, just my two cents.

HIGHS

– I bought pagne fabric to make dresses with again

– I’ve eaten some really delicious food here, including smoothies, ice cream, and Indian food!

– I got to meet the new Peace Corps Trainees that just arrived on Friday. They’re all great!

– One of the new PCTs has family in the same town as my parents, and she was kind enough to bring me goodies from the US – including Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups!!!

– I had a pretty productive few days here in Yaounde, trying to get all my work done

LOWS

– I got eaten alive by mosquitoes under my net last night

– I’ve spent way too much money here!

– Wifi has been down, and computer lab internet shuts off at 10pm each night. Boo.

– I got a little sick while I was here – nothing horrible, just a sore throat, but still.

 

Love,

Wes and Pumba

 

One Year Down!

One year ago, I hugged my dog for one last time, gave my parents both big hugs, and boarded the MegaBus for Philly, where I would begin my Peace Corps adventure.

It’s really hard to believe that I’ve been here for a year already. In some ways, I feel like I’m finally starting to actually get the hang of things. Not just thinking I’ve got the hang of things. Projects are picking up at last, I feel like I finally know who in my community is truly motivated, I’ve developed more or less a work schedule (if you could call it that), and “home” is Bazou, in my cozy little house with my ever-rambunctious dog, Pumba, always at my side.

One year ago, my fears included spiders and other creepy crawlies, pooping into a hole, getting weird diseases, being alone in village, getting the language down, bucket bathing, the possibility of being without light and water, knowing what to do with myself for two years, and most of all, just being put into uncomfortable situations bordering on unbearable.

Well, here I am a year later.

I am still pretty terrified of spiders, but only the big scary ones. I even have a faithful little guardien spider that sits in the same spot day in and day out on my door. I can’t say that either of my cockroach-in-the-bed-on-my-head situations were particularly charming. But I survived.

Luckily, once Post-Service Training was over in Bokito, I haven’t had to poop in too many holes, since I’ve been lucky enough to have a modern toilet in my house (though without a seat cover).

 I survived planning and executing (with a lot of help, of course) an entire week of a girls camp in French, and though I can always improve, I feel entirely comfortable with the language.

I’ve gotten intestinal yeast, chiggers, a likely misdiagnosis of malaria, and a small bout of stomach issues, but nothing remotely extreme. And every time it’s happened, it’s been “just deal with it.”

I’ve also dealt with going from having a post-mate in my village to being the only foreigner around. Though saying goodbye was hard, it wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it might be.

I’ve been lucky enough to have light and water most days at post, but I’ve also gone without them for several weeks, and I’ve gone for weeks without a working computer at my house without dying of boredom and frustration. I’ve also had 1 computer totally fail on me, another one poop out twice now, an iPod die, 2 Kindles, and an external go kaput.

Bucket bathing? I have a shower head in my house, but I actually prefer my hot bucket baths now to a cold shower. Who knew that’d happen.

And uncomfortable situations? I’ll tell you what’s uncomfortable: being crammed into a car for 12 hours (when it really should only take about 1.5 hours) to get to site visit while water regularly enters the vehicle and you get arrive at 1am.

So the moral of the story is that I’ve adapted in the past year. The things that I thought would be the biggest issues are, for the most part, not what frustrates me at post.

 

They say that Peace Corps changes you, and as the Peace Corps motto goes (after the ones created by PCVs themselves: “Just deal with it.” And “The toughest vacation you’ll ever take.”), “It’s the toughest job you’ll ever love.”

Although I’m not sure if I can say that it’s the toughest job I’ll ever love, seeing that I’ve hardly had many jobs at all to compare this to, I understand what they mean by it. I think that maybe in hindsight, I’ll be able to better understand my experience as a whole, but for now, I just take things day by day.

People always ask me if I feel like Peace Corps has “changed” me in any way. Well, I’m more patient. I’m less afraid of spiders. Losing power and water and cell phone reception hardly makes a difference in my day-to-day life. I’ve lost a lot of faith in many “aid” organizations that just hand out free things. And I’m a lot more grateful to be an American.

But I don’t think I’m able to say, in the midst of my service, how Peace Corps has changed me in one year.

All I know is that I have my eye on this second year of my service. I have ideas of not only what projects to do, but also how to execute them. I have a better grasp of what works and doesn’t in my community. I never thought it would take an entire year to gain the perspective that I have now, but I’m hoping that this year under my belt will really help me build sustainable projects in the upcoming year.

Here’s to one year down, and another year to go!

 

So that’s my schpiel about my one-year-down business. Now onto other things. Well, my computer has died (again). And I have feeling that it will be super expensive to fix so it might have to wait until I’m back in the US. So I might be a little out of touch for a while, though I can still check my email (assuming that we have power in village) fairly regular at Rameline’s house. Internet is barely fast enough, even on good days, to check my email. So we’ll see how that goes.

Aside from that, this past month was definitely an “upswing” month, especially compared to last month. I’m currently in Yaounde, after only leaving my post ONCE for about 2 hours, in the past 1+ months. Oy. But I had 2 other PCVs come visit me, which was really great, and definitely broke up the monotony of post.

I’m starting teaching the equivalent of 6^th graders-ish (the ages vary a lot). I’m teaching a reproductive health class right now, and I actually like it a lot more than I thought I would. It’s a new school, and there are only about 30 kids in the class, so it’s about half the size of a “normal” class. I’ve done female and male reproductive anatomy which definitely generated some giggles, but it seems like the kids are actually learning quite a bit. Now that this is my second time teaching this (the first time was during the camp), I know how to explain things better, and it’s moving along a lot better.

I’ve also been picking up a few other projects, but for the sake of not rambling on, I think I’ll stop and go into highs and lows:

HIGHS:

–          I made it to the one year mark

–          I got cards/packages GALORE this past month! Thanks Mom and Dad, Katherine, Ben, Erin, Brady, and Michelle for all the goodies!!!

–          When the PCVs visited me, we definitely chowed down on some delicious foods (homemade and also stuff sent from the US!)

–          I found a really small but motivated group outside of Bazou to start working with.

–          Things seem to be looking better for the library project

–          I am looking at doing another bigger project for World HIV/AIDS Day, and PC has been really great with helping me

–          I’ve started a more regular workout schedule and now have my “regulars” who greet me and wave as I run

–          >2 months until I come back home!

–          One of my good friends in village just had her first baby – a baby girl!

–          To add to my repertoire of American-esque foods that I make at post, including paninis, wontons, dumplings, mashed potatoes, and tacos, I’ve recently added in a pizza pasta casserole. DELISH.

LOWS:

–          My computer is dead…again

–          I’m being eaten alive by mosquitoes in Yaounde

–          Some of my new dresses I had made shrunk in the dryer here in Yaound e L boo!

Well, I think that’s all for now. I’m not sure when I’ll be writing another blogpost again. But until next time!

 

Wesley and Pumba

 

T-3 Months Until Home! Things I Miss from the US: Part III

I can’t believe I only have 3 months to go before I’m heading home to the US for a month-long break! Three months ago from today, I was adjusting to life at post without a post-mate. It seems so long ago…but not. Oh, Peace Corps Time Warp. You got me again.

Also, perhaps in the middle of the month, I’ll also start a monthly post about things I’ll miss when I’m in the US for that month. I probably sound like I’m just itching to get out of here, which I’m not. I guess I just miss things from the US and I’m excited to go back, but I also am content where I am for the moment.

Anyways, here’s my monthly “Stuff I Miss From the US” blog!

1. Phone Plans

   Here, in Cameroon, unlike the US, instead of paying, say, $30/month for 1,000 minutes a month plus a little extra for texting, you pay by the minute and by text. I really don’t use my phone all that much, especially compared to in the US, but somehow I still spend maybe around $15-20USD a month for calls and texts, which is kind of pricey considering that everything else here is dirt cheap. Apparently you can get phone plans here, but they’re not that great and fairly expensive. Instead, when you’re running low on credit, you just go to a phone credit mama, who’s sitting outside with a little table and a colorful umbrella shading the mama, who sells phone credit. Sometimes I just want to be able to pick up my phone and know that I have more than 10 minutes worth of credit on my phone and not worry about having to go out to top up. Not to mention that often people run out of credit but want to get a hold of you, so they send you a “Beep,” which means “call me back.” Often, people beep me, I call them back, using my phone credit, and then they say, “Oh, I just wanted to wish you a good day!” What? Seriously? I guess I appreciate that they were thinking of me and just wanted to be nice, but dude. If you don’t want to spend your credit, neither do I! I’m totally content without 50 Beeps during my day. Promise.

2. Customer Service

   Customer service just isn’t a concept in this country. If the motodriver or kiosk person smiles at me, says “please” or “thank you,” I’m totally blown away. It’s not that people mean to be rude here, but politeness and customer service are just things that aren’t learned here. For example, when I was in Yaounde, I was with 2 other PCVs, and all we wanted to do was order some drinks. The lady just looked like we interrupted her afternoon nap after putting a “Do Not Disturb” sign on her door when she came over, and she even rolled her eyes at us when we honesty weren’t being difficult. Again, I don’t think she meant to look like a total b*tch, but here, tipping isn’t customary, so there’s absolutely no incentive to be extra nice, especially if everyone else is doing the same thing, too. The same goes with trying to get change in this country. It’s like there’s a serious shortage of change for what is equivalent to a $10 or $20 bill in the US. Or even the 2 thousand CFA notes, which are equivalent to $4. And if they do have change, sometimes they sometimes just don’t feel like it, and look really annoyed that you’re trying to buy something from them. Again, it’s not that people are trying to be mean, but it’s just not part of the culture here. And I miss that.

3. Holidays – American style

   Don’t get me wrong. It was a good experience to see how other people in other countries celebrate holidays, like Christmas and New Year’s. But, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t miss celebrating holidays the American way. I’m totally guilty of loving the “commercial Christmas” that we’ve set up in the US. Thanksgiving was wonderful to celebrate with other Peace Corps Trainees, but still, not the same thing as going to Pittsburgh with the rest of the family, where it’s cold, there’s Christmas music everywhere, and there’s the Thanksgiving Day Parade on tv. And this year, for July 4, I did absolutely nothing special, unless you call making a pineapple meringue pie “celebrating.” I do like you, Cameroon, but sorry, you just don’t fête like the Americans do. I’m really glad that I’ll be back in the US for Christmas and New Year’s.

4. American news

   I’m actually fairly impressed with the things that a lot of Cameroonians know about American politics, considering that knowledge on other things is not always so great (I have been told multiple times that they caught a mermaid in Kribi, and there’s a video online to prove it. Really!! It’s there!) And while I don’t really miss TV all too much (except, of course, the Bachelor/Bachelorette!), in college, I got into a habit of watching CNN almost every day. I’m really grateful that I do have internet, but when it goes at a snail’s pace, I really don’t have too much patience to look at everything. Sometimes I just feel a little lost in this whole “world news” business. I’m in my own little Peace Corps world.

5. Flat places to run

   I mentioned in the last post that I miss running races in the US, but I think that more than that, I miss having a flat place to run. The longest stretch of flat land I’ve been able to find here in village goes for maybe about 5 minutes or so until I hit hills. And calling them “rolling hills” would be kind. You look at them from afar, and it is more like a 60 degree angle. It’d be nice if maybe I challenged myself to these hills once or twice a week, but it gets a little exhausting on a regular basis. Also, it doesn’t help too much that we’re ¾ mile up in altitude. Not to mention, it totally takes down one’s self esteem when you go from running a marathon to struggling through a few miles… Sometimes you just need a self-esteem booster!

3. Restaurants

   Au village, my choices of “restaurants” include Brenda’s family’s restaurant (which is closed, at least temporarily), a spaghetti omelette shack (yes, you mix spaghetti and eggs together), the fish mama at night, and…a few bean mamas. Not too much in terms of actual variety. I don’t mind the food in village, for the most part, but sometimes I’m just craving some variety. Watching movies/TV shows on my computer makes me super hungry. There was a TV show I was watching recently, and they were discussing the restaurant options – Chinese food? Sushi? Pizza? French food? Oh my goodness. I got so hungry watching that! I can’t even watch Good Eats anymore because it makes me too hungry for anything other than couscous and manioc.

4. Magazines

   I always loved getting magazines in the mail, especially when I got to college and nothing really exciting ever came in the mail. But at least I still had the option of subscribing to magazines! Here, it’s just not possible. There is no way to get magazines delivered at a reasonable price. Apparently Newsweek or Time used to give free subscriptions to all PCVs, but sadly, they stopped doing that. If I want to get magazines here, my 3 ways of doing it are to 1) go to Yaounde and go to the French-chain supermarket and get yourself a magazine for $6USD. 2) Look for people selling 6-month old magazines (almost always in French) next to the “bus stations” (if you could even call it that) at a fairly expensive price still 3) get them sent over! My parents just recently sent over a bunch of NatGeo magazines, among others, and it’s just so exciting to get reconnected with “the outside world,” and it’s always fun to share them with Cameroonians. I feel like when I get back to the US for good next year, I’ll be subscribing to 50 different magazines, just because I can.

6. Fast shipping

   When I go back to the US, I plan on ordering a few things on Amazon for gifts and whatnot. And I think it’ll be safe to expect for it to arrive in 3-5 days, which, in comparison to this country, is a miracle. Nothing comes in 3-5 days by mail. Ever. Not even if it’s in the next village over! So I’ll be marveling at the incredible-ness that is UPS and FedEx.

   Okay, well, that’s that! Have a wonderful weekend!

   Love,

   Wes and Pumba