Little update

Salut mes amis!  Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted on this blog.  A lot has happened since my last post.  I passed my language level, I have eaten some weird bushmeat (monkey and porcupine are prolly the most notable), I have given several technical and cultural presentations in French, among plenty other cool things.  I had my final technical test today and am hoping I did well on it, we have had 2 tests already and only 4 people combined have passed either one.  Apparently they have changed the tests since last year and have made them much more difficult, I am chalking it up to questionable grading.  I swear in on the 17^th, next Wednesday, and then leave for Bangangte on the 18^th.  I am getting anxious to finally start my service and become an official volunteer.  We always get corrected by the current volunteers that we are mere trainees so it will be nice to not have to hear that anymore.      

            Recently at my homestay family’s house we have added some new members.  My father’s brother, Daniel, has been living with us now for a couple weeks, he is a mid-50s blind man who works harder than anyone I have met here.  The man somehow is able to work on the farms and plow the land.  After coming home one night I helped him prep some pineapple tops to be planted the next day.  Apparently you can just plant the tops of pineapples and after 15-18 months a new pineapple will be ready to eat.  Bafia, the town I’m in now, is widely regarded throughout Cameroon as having the best pineapples, needless to say my Dad here is trying to break into the pineapple game a little bit.  There is an issue of other farmers outside Bafia saying that they have Bafia pineapples so they can get better prices when trying to sell them at markets throughout the country.  The other addition to the household is one of my dad’s daughters, I had no idea this child existed until about a week and a half ago.  Her name is Pascal and she is probably about 8 years old.  A lot of other trainees have children living in their houses and I thought I was lucky at first that I didn’t but I do have to admit it is kind of fun to have a little kid running around.  She is always outside playing around with her cousins and what not that come over.  She even offers to wash my clothes and clean my room, not a bad deal. 

            In other news some other trainees and myself have been playing basketball with the Bafia club team since the beginning of our training.  The Bafia team has an official game this Saturday against Bafoussam, the capitol city of the West, and the city I will be doing my banking in the next two years.  Both teams would like us to produce an American squad and play them this Saturday.  Our pick-up games with Bafia are usually pretty intense, there is a ref that literally calls everything so I can’t imagine how this real game will go (I got called for 3 in the key twice last time we played).  Unfortunately for the sport of Basketball here in Cameroon it has been influenced by soccer a little too much, people flop and complain about any little contact that may happen, it usually turns into a 3^rd grade playground argument half way through.  Our token tall guy broke a rib last weekend when we played so we are down our center, it might be a little harder to match up with the big guys now.  Cameroonians are great athletes but selfish players, they always go one-on-one and end up throwing up some awkward 15-foot hook shot in traffic, I think our chances are still okay for winning these games on Saturday, I’ll let you know next post. 

            Besides basketball the last thing I have to do before swearing in is present my assigned company, a Hotel, a report about our work together and any suggestions I may have.  The only real change I made while there was making a menu for them.  They had a restaurant without a menu and most people that stayed there had no idea there was even a restaurant.  I made a bunch of copies of the menu and had them put a laminated copy in each room.  Since then they have bought a grill and have been preparing dinner not just breakfast.  I hope they can start making a little more money off the restaurant and maybe even hire a new employee to take care of it. 

            Lastly, I would like to point out that I have been away from the States now for longer than I ever have before.  I have had no AC or running water, been taking my showers out of buckets of well water, have had very unreliable electricity and I can honestly say that the thing I miss most about being away from the US (besides friends and family) is… Mexican food.  There is just no replacement for a cheese-covered chimichanga and endless bowls of salsa.  But anyway, I do sometimes forget where I am and how different my life is now, its nice to take a few minutes and just think that through all the glaring differences between these two places there are still so many similarities.  Human nature is the same wherever you go, it doesn’t matter if you are a farmer in Bafia or a businessman in New York, we all are still wired exactly the same way. 

If anyone read this and wants to toss me an email about what they’re up to that would be sweet, I love hearing from people back home. Hope all are well.

-Matt