7/1/11

It’s July already! I returned yesterday from Bandenkop. I took the Binal Voyage bus and actually missed my stop in Bafia so the bus dropped me off at the next town and a little boy walked me to the taxi corner and i bought my ticket back. It took an hour for the car to fill up and we finally left. The driver was wasted. I held my breath the whole 25 min it took to drive back to Bafia. The driver stopped at a gas station to get change for one of the passengers (who looked like granddad, but cameroonian, and I almost welled up wishing it was). He dropped the coins and they scattered over the gas station parking lot and he stumbled around picking them up. I we got back in to go to the centre, but 20 ft after the car ran out of gas. When the driver left to get gas i turned around and joked with granddad and another funny looking man saying I think the driver drank a little bit, and they laughed and agreed. I said I was going to get a moto instead and they all had the same idea. I hopped on a moto and got back to the bar where all the other volunteers were and clapped on my arrival. Home sweet home! I loved Bandenkop, though. And my school and Proviseur. Here’s a diary entry since that’s all I brought with me:

6/27/11
What a weird couple of days. Last night A woman came into the cuisine while dinner was boiling on the 3-stone fire. She was extremely welcoming and friendly and the first person I could actually understand in French other than Jean Marie (most of the time). We talked about Cameroon compared to the rest of the world and a lot of he traditional cuisine. I told her I ate a whole wish with my hands that day, and she was so proud-everybody laughed. She then instructed me that I had to finish my plate overflowing with little potatoes and cabbage because when you eat well you sleep well. Of course. It was an impossible demand.
Litrice asked me to wait for her to leave for my room and I didn’t know why but I waited anyway. I found out why after her and he visitor lady came and made my bed for me and then only the visitor lady left. It seemed Litrice had been relocated bedrooms, because of the lady visiting, not only to a different room, but to my bed. As uncomfortable as I was with the situation, I put my earphones in to drown out the sounds of the rats scurrying in the tin roof attic and my running thoughts of how I got mixed up in this situation. Not to mention that Litrice rarely talks to me, but rather looks at me and analyses me from every angle she wants. She was the first to touch my hair-no hesitation.
All night she snored louder than my dad-who often causes my mom to relocate to the couch. She slowly spread out across the bed until she was nudging her calloused feet against mine. I squirmed to avoid her for hours, not sleeping one minute. Her snoring lessoned so I took out my earphones and tried to get some sleep. Then she started farting. Loud. I hated sharing the covers with her at that moment and pressed the sheets against my body desperate to seal in the unwelcome fumes. I put my headphones back in and turned up the volume, insensitive to waking her up. At 6 she got up and I slept soundly for an hour and a half when she came in my room, turned on my light and opened my window exclaiming that I sleep so long. Worst night ever.

The rest of the entry, and visit for that matter, was wonderful. I went to 3 town meeting with a room full of mothers with children who attend the lycee (high school). After Jean Marie introduced me the ladies went crazy and cheered and hugged me and shook my hand. At the second meeting a small woman began singing and after two choruses the rest joined in. It was haunting and beautiful. We walked out right as my eyes were welling up. After the introductions I had my meeting with the Proviseur, and am now an English teacher, German teacher and computer teacher!