Rainy Day in B-town

Today was a rainy day, which means we spent most of the day waiting for the rain to stop. The afternoon was a performance for all the clubs to show what they worked on during model school. Since it was raining, first of all half the kids didn't show up. We started about an hour and twenty minutes late, typical african time. The performance was outside too. So we were sitting in desks on mud. It was awkward. Then halfway through the performances (girls club was awesome btw) it starts to really pour so we go into the teachers room or on the porch. So its about 100 people packed into one classroom. Don't worry I took pictures. Basically everyone at this point was waiting for the rain to abate for a few minutes so we could go wherever we wanted to go. Just as we started to get really bored, the glee club performed. AWESOME! I slightly regretted not doing glee club, but my girls needed me. They even wrote a song. It perked everyone up so much that we left afterwards even though it was still raining. In the morning we had finished our presentations in french, which was basically the last piece of work we need to do for training. So, at this point we headed to the bar. We proceeded to pass the next four hours just shooting the shit, doing silly things and taking pictures (which will be posted on facebook). It was basically one of the most fun days here so far. It ended with us buying a huge pot full of week old popcorn for $4 and eating ourselves silly then going home before the 7:00 curfew of course.

The fun continued at my host family's house. When I got home, my bath bucket was sitting outside collecting rain for my bath. Yay, rain water instead of well water! (Less likely to get eye worms from rain water) But it was sooo cold...the water and the fact that it wasn't too hot out...brrrrr..My host brothers told me that they were stuck inside all day because of the rain and they couldn't play at all!! So they asked me to tell them a story. I don't know any stories in french, so I pull out the one french novel I brought, entitled, Un Caprice du destin (A twist of fate). Its a harlequin romance. I thought it would be ok to start reading to them because the riské parts were probably far into the book....um no the first page started to describe what the guy was wearing and I was like ohhhhh noooo. Luckily then they said they would tell me a story because mine was too long (its not a reading culture) and I was like ok! and he told me the story of the tortoise and the hare. Then while I was eating dinner the power went out. Of course this happens on the night that I drink coffee with dinner (because its a cold day...in the 70s)...greeaaat.. so thats why I'm writing this blog post now with the remaining battery on my computer. I'm all hopped up on instant nescafe coffee (so delicious after not having starbucks for 2 months!) I felt like I should share this day which is typically african but sooo not american because I have the feeling there will be many more like this to come in the next two years....Surprisingly, I'm kinda looking forward to more rainy days...especially since I'm moving to the desert next week....

xoxo Liz

It is still really overwhelming here so I find that I am not able to write a coherent narrative. I will just continue giving you little tidbits of what training has been like.

Cooking lunch for my host family: First of all, on Friday I told my host family that I would cook something for them tomorrow since I didn't have class, and they say, “It's about time. We've been waiting for you to do that for so long.” They're pleasant. On Saturday I walked into town to get a couple things I needed and to buy ingredients to make lunch. I was going to make mac and cheese but they don't really eat cheese and the only cheese available in this town is Laughing Cow, which doesn't have to be refrigerated, alerting you to the quality. And they use powdered milk here, but I digress. So I decide to make a tomato sauce because they like tomatoes. So I put tomato paste, fresh tomatoes and basil, garlic onions and salt and hot pepper into the sauce. They love hot pepper and I myself enjoy a good arrabiata sauce. But then they also insisted I put sardines into the sauce, because that is what they're used to. I like sardines so I was like ok get sardines, they didn't make a big difference anyway. Then they told me to add water. They looooove their sauces watery as hell here so I was expecting that. Except I have to be really careful with the water here, so I added some at the beginning of cooking which would be fine. But at the end when the sauce actually had chunks in it and was not like water they kept trying to add more and I was like stop! I will get sick (because we weren't going to boil it anymore). Also, when I was making the garlic bread, the people that put piment on everything complained that garlic is spicy. Really? It just goes to show you different cultures tastes. To make the garlic bread, I slathered the butter flavored spread (that doesn't get refrigerated of course) on baguettes and put fresh garlic on them then toasted them in a frying pan because they don't have an oven. That was one of the best meals I've eaten since getting here, so I am really looking forward to cooking my own meals when I get to post (August 21st!!). My family said, “its good, after you add Maggi and hot pepper to it.” Maggi, oh maggi, don't get me started on maggi. My whole foodies will love this. Its basically MSG, which is sold in liquid or cube form here. They love it and put it on everything. Then my family proceeded to have a conversation about how white people don't like a lot of seasoning. Overall, a typical Saturday afternoon :)

So later that day I went to my first Cameroonian nightclub. And by later I guess that means Sunday morning, because the clubs don't get bumpin till 3 am here. But let me start by explaining that typically we have a 7pm curfew. Most Saturday nights we get that extended if we are together and tell our director. He gave us permission to go to the club, and told us it would be safer to stay all night like the Cameroonians do and walk home in the morning. So we had a sign up sheet and you had to write your name and then what time you were staying till. I signed up for “all night long.” Love it. So there's 43 of us in the group and the fantastic 4 of us actually made it to the club, along with some current volunteers. We danced the night away, including some salsa (thanks for those moves mar and meli) and it was actually funner than I thought. The club was really nice and the drinks were 3,500 cfa which is outrageous because they are 500 at the bars!!! There were 2 dance floors with mirrors of course and the Cameroonians loved dancing with their reflection in the mirror. One person said its because they don't really have mirrors in their houses, so its the only time they see themselves. I had one of my funnest moments here so far when we were all dancing and the Shakira world cup song came on. I don't know if you guys know it but it says this time's for africa, so when they played it, it was awesome dancing with cameroonians and singing “This time's for Africa” with them. It was great. Then I had this guy that kept coming over to dance, but then his girlfriend would come get him. I knew that was not going to end well. About 4 am we called it quits (it was still packed) and crashed at a friends house until sunrise. Of course I tried to take a shortcut in the morning and got lost. This is one of those things thats going to be hard to explain because its really so different. But I will try. Most of the roads here are packed dirt and full of potholes. A shortcut basically means walking through a path in the bushes, like nothing you would ever walk on in the US. Plant-life everywhere, its great. But hard to navigate. So I had to turn back and take the long way.

So one thing that I would have never thought of about being here is that there are no streetlights or anything. So when you walk around at night its pitch black and everyones just walking on their way. Even to go get water from the well at night, I can't see anything. I could take a flashlight but I want to get used to the Cameroonian way. I just never thought of this adjustment while I was in the states. So, this week has been hotter than hell but other than that the heat has really been the least of my worries and the easiest adjustment to make. However when I go to post that might change because it gets up to 140 degrees there...

So I'm leading Girls Club with 2 other people, and we have played soccer, volleyball, had a martial arts guy come to teach them self-defense, and did self-empowerment activities. Next week at the end of Model School all the clubs are performing, and we are going to sing Beautiful by Christina A.

I have gotten many outfits and dresses made and I am loving everyone of them, especially the one made out of specially made Peace Corps material. Its a keeper. I also got a purse made, its pretty great.

So Sunday night I got a horrible sore throat and lost my voice so teaching has been rough this week. I have to resort to a lot of hand gestures. Good thing its review this week.

Alright I think that's all my updates for now.

xoxox Liz