10/5/11

I’m still working on getting internet at my post. Every week I make the journey to Bafoussam to find another missing part to the puzzle. So far it’s been 5 weeks of trying, but I think I’ve almost got it. I hope to do a lot more writing, too, when I can finally get online. It’s been a while since I’ve written. Since the last time I wrote, Bellatrix and I have moved into our new house. The mama finally came from Doala, just to tell me that it wasn’t available since she comes back for holidays with her family. The house seems as if no one has lived in it for 100 years. Sam had his kids clean up the house down the same dirt path a ways, but when I showed up with my first handful of belongings it was still filthy. I didn’t mind too much. The house is built to let as little light as possible in; thick cement walls, a handful of small windows and a veranda facing north-ish so every room gets the least light possible. Its a little cave, but at least it’s my little cave. Being a little dark and scary, I didn’t mind having to do the scrubbing myself—moving all the furniture around and getting in the cracks and crevices. I took out all the scary mystery, dirt and cobwebs with a traditional broom and bottle of bleach. It felt good.

School has gotten to be a lot more comfortable for me now. My classes are getting used to me, and this week is test week which was when I started liking school during model school in Bafia. I had my first English club meeting last Wednesday and it went really well considering. I had no plan going in, just some games I’d seen online and such. Earlier that day I had seen a car go by and throw out a bunch of little papers which turned out to be posters for one of the 27 presidential candidates. The national elections are coming up in a few days (Oct 9) and it’s a little controversial as Paul Biya has been the president for a while with a self-extended term. The proviseur told me that the first club meeting they typically elect a student government. I got the idea to have the kids brainstorm political vocabulary and then had them design campaign posters whether they wanted to run or not. We talked about symbols and images candidates use on posters. Some students got more creative with their drawing than others, some opted for a written speech ending with long live English club, long live Bandekop. All in all I was very excited with the level of English from some of the older students. A lot of Terminale students showed up, which is nice because I don’t have their class for computers. Also, last sunday was the first time to tutor a couple Terminale girls. They want to become doctors and practice their english with me. Maybe I should torrent some grey’s anatomy episodes and we can watch and discuss :). We just chatted for a bit and then they braided hair. Next time I’ll have more of a lesson, but they didn’t bring their book and had only really vague questions so we just introduced ourselves. They loved looking through the pictures I have of family and friends and asked if they could keep some. I said no.

Before tutoring Sunday I had spent saturday in a village called Mbouda. It’s 30 min northeast of Bafoussam and known for its bread (which tastes like bagels!). There were volunteers there from all over the west and northwest regions. We all met up for a scheduled rivalry match of ultimate frisbee, region vs. region. We played in field with long grass and fresh muddy rain puddles and got gross real fast. Kids from the village watched us and ran around our game trying to figure it out. So many people showed up from my stage (training group) that we even had a match us vs. everyone else, which we won. It was so much fun. I hadn’t played in so long it was good to get back into it. After then we ruined all our exercise with spaghetti omelets and big cameroonian beers. I love hanging out with other PCVs. There’s a lot of great ones that I hope I can keep in contact with when I get back.

I got commissioned to design some health posters for the health volunteers to get printed large scale and laminated and used for presentations in a check-out system at the regional offices. I’m really excited to put my graphics to use here. I also think a coaster campaign would be cool for AIDS/HIV awareness or another health initiative. It’s funny how all the volunteers end up being all types of volunteers. I came in computer teacher, am now teaching english too, making health posters, and I also think it would be cool to teach about compost and give some tofu demonstrations like the SED volunteers (Small Enterprise Development) in the west. Soybeans allegedly replenish the soil as opposed to all the other crops my village plants, and since my village is almost entirely farmers that would be another beneficial project.

I’ve been getting awesome care packages from the states. Thank you guys so much! Bellatrix says thanks too. I especially like my new knives.