Celebrate good times, come on!

Fadi and Miamu came today, and they are here to stay! School starts for them on Monday, so all they have left to do is get books and uniforms... And get used to living with a whole bunch of crazy white people! That might take longer for Miamu - I can't imagine how hard it is for her to leave her family and her village where she has lived all her life and come to stay in a very American house with electricity, all sorts of technology, American food (white man chop) half the time, and English-speaking people! Pray that the transition will be easy for her. It's a good thing Fadi is here with her. But we are all so happy to have them back in the Jackson Village! Katelyn and Lum made a cake and we shall celebrate tonight.

We also finished all our painting - our room is coffee-colored with some black here and there, Katelyn's is black, gray, white, and purple, and Lum's is bright blue. It is quite nice to have it finished, after days of searching for paint and tint and mixing until we get the right color. Another reason to celebrate!

Market Day

Yesterday (Tuesday) morning we took a break from our normal day and went to the market! Karen needed to go grocery shopping, Katelyn was looking for curtain material, and the rest of us just went along for the ride. The 6 of us left at about 8:30 and drove into town by way of the muddy backroads – always an adventure, one that usually produces a bruise or two.

Our first stop was the Vatican, one of the small supermarkets where we stock up on tea, top ramen, fruit juice, tuna, soap, etc – mostly packaged stuff. For brown bread, baguettes, and puff puffs (!) we go to the Imagine Bakery, a lovely-smelling place indeed. After stopping in Main Market to barter for some curtain material for Katelyn (it's hard not to buy fabric every time I go there!), we trooped back to HQ – PresCafe! There we met our friend Joy Newburn for some macchiatos and chocolate cake. :D A few weeks ago we met her husband, son, and two daughters in New Life, another supermarket, and invited them to Friday Pizza and Movie Night. Since then they've been coming and we've been getting to know their family; Jessica, Emily, and Josh, all aged 6-10. They are here for 3 years, and their dad is working as a teacher at the Catholic seminary in Bamenda.

After a look into PresCraft, the next-door store, and the two Chinese stores, we went to pick up Delphine, our house help. She had spent the morning shopping for us in the Food Market, and had a whole cartload of food to pack up in the car and bring home. With 7 people in the car as well, it was a jam-packed ride back. But that's something I've already gotten used to here – when we take taxis, there's almost always a minimum of 3 or 4 passengers inside at one time. And coming from a big family doesn't hurt.

This is all the fruits and vegetables unloaded onto the counter - for just one week! Feels like home, it does. :)

Sunsets

Just in case you aren't sick of me posting sunset pictures, here are some more! I know you have them there in America, but we seem to get the most beautiful clouds and light and loveliness that I can't help but share it with you.

This morning everyone got all dressed up and we went over to Menda Baptist Church just down the road. We got there just before 9, and it started almost exactly on time, which was a surprise for me, haha! The choir came down the aisle singing loudly to the drums and other instruments, and everyone joined in, singing and clapping. The music never really stopped; there would be a period of just clapping and swaying to the music after one song stopped, then the next would begin almost right away. In Cameroon, most songs are led by one person who sings a line or the verse by him/herself, then everyone else joins in and sings the same thing again. It makes me miss choir... it also makes me want to go running through the wilds of Africa with a lion cub, a wild boar, and a meerkat. 

In other news, it's been storming a lot, time is still flying by at an outrageous pace, we have spent the weekend painting Katelyn's room, and once we find the paint we want, Sarah and I are going to do ours! Paint of any kind is hard to find here, especially American paint, and especially the color we want. But soon and very soon! 

I also have another prayer request to add to the list; that my contacts would arrive here safely. They've been sent from the States, but mail takes a super long time and there's always a chance they won't arrive at all. Please pray that they will get here soon and they won't be stolen and that I will be able to see again! If all else fails, I can probably find some glasses in the market here... maybe... haha. But thank you all!

Prayer Requests

Every morning after breakfast and every evening after dinner we do devotions, then prayer requests. There are so many that I thought I'd share them with you all and get everyone talking to God about us! :) Thank you all for your prayers so far, I am so blessed to have you all at home praying for me!

• Transition, still. The "honeymoon" stage is finishing and we are getting into our real work, which is still fun but less exciting than at first.
• Finances, especially for Sarah. She is still short about $3500, and we don't want her leaving in February for a simple thing like not enough money! 
• For Fadi and her little sister Miamu as they prepare to come and live with the crazy white people for another school year. Fadi's used to us, but living in such an American home after Sabba Njowra will be a big change for Miamu. 
• Also for us with two Muslim girls living in the house! That will definitely be interesting. Pray that we can be good witnesses. 
• Lum's little brother has an infection in his finger that has been there for awhile and isn't going away. Her grandma also has bad asthma. Pray for their healing and that they will be able to afford the medicine they need. 
• For the Luke lessons, that we will be able to get them done swiftly and move forward. Also for the funding, that everything will work out and we can get them out to as many different language groups as possible. 
• For Carolin to find a place to stay in Bamenda. 
• For Karissa as she goes back to school at Biola this week.
• For all of our continued health and safety - thank God that we've been kept safe and healthy so far!

Thursday

A usual day:

6:00 - Crawl out of bed to facetime Toby or my parents :)
7:00 - Rid the bathroom of worms and take a shower
7:30 - Coffee, breakfast, and devotions
8:30/9 - Start school/work/my school/etc.
10:00 - If enough motivation can be found, work out. Today, no such luck.
12:00 - Lunchtime. Usually Cameroonian food, but Thursdays are leftovers
1:00ish - Go back to work
3/4/5 - The help leave, we finish up with school, then go to town or start chores or, like today, dance!
7:00 - American food for dinner! Then devotions and cleaning up the kitchen
8:30 - Once the dishes are done, we hang out in the living room, sometimes watch a movie
Late - Yay bed!

This is only a loose schedule and one we often stray from, sometimes going to Titus' or Julie's house or maybe visiting the orphanage. Today Derick and some others are coming here for dance, and yesterday Chris, Karen, Sarah and I walked down to the SIL office to meet with Ginny, the Scripture Engagement supervisor. We've been working every day writing, formatting, and editing the curriculum, but she's the one who asks questions and nails down practical details, like how much it would cost for each lesson to be printed, how to train teachers to use it, who would fund the translation into more languages, etc. I got a glimpse into all the crazy intricacies Chris and Karen have to deal with just to get the curriculum to a church, and I was amazed. Right now we're writing a set of lessons with both English and Chrambo (a language spoken in part of the Ndop plain), and once we're finished with it, it will be a simple process to switch out the Chrambo with any one of the countless languages spoken in Ndop and beyond. And once Luke is done, Acts, here we come! Their passion for getting this material out there to children is huge - it's hard not to get carried away with all the ideas they have for the future, and projects that could branch off the lessons, like timelines, daily devotionals, etc. I'm so excited to be working with them on this - churches starting to use the curriculum have already reported huge leaps in Sunday School attendance. One church put a line in their budget for Children's Ministry for the first time ever this year, and we've heard that the children themselves are giving enough in the offering to pay for their own coloring pages.

All this makes me realize how much we take for granted in the States; the easy access to materials you need for teaching the Bible in your language, the option of more than one to choose from. Here it's hard to get not only curriculums or Bibles, but things like coloring pages and crayons and pencils and chalk and paper. What Chris and Karen are doing is wonderful, and it's quite the opportunity to work with them and help as much as I can.

Days Go By

"Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life." William Faulkner

This quote seemed perfect today for several reasons... First of all, the clock on the wall stopped working today and it has been 8:12 for the past three hours. Also because it is Africa, and as I've mentioned before, the days aren't organized and scheduled within an inch of their lives like in America. Since I've been here, my days have been both jam-packed and quiet, sometimes rich with cultural experiences and sometimes as Americanized as can be. And they have all absolutely flown by. I'm amazed to realize I've been living in Cameroon for over a month. A little scared, too - before I know it, the year will be over and I will again arrive at the wondering-what-the-heck-I'm-going-to-do-with-my-life point. I, unfortunately, am a worrier. Although I know it's entirely useless, I can't help but stress over the future, and next year, and how fast the time is flying by. But "the best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time." (Abraham Lincoln) Thank goodness for that. 

Badaka de Sallah!

Badaka de Sallah, or happy Sallah to you all! The moon has been sighted, the feast has been devoured, and the rain has come again! We started the day by driving up to Sabba Njowra with Steve Santos and the men who've been visiting Bamenda the past few days. They joined us as we arrived and were greeted by all the Fulani dressed up in their Sallah clothes, then the men, Katelyn, Sarah and I walked out to the point. It was a clear, beautiful day today and we even saw a rainbow around the sun! (A moon dog? Sun dog? Something like that.) 

Then came the feast! We all gathered in Moa's house and were served rice and stew and beef. We were interrupted by the horse skills (not a bad interruption) but came back to finish it with chicken, jalaf rice, and countless cups of tea. The horse performance, though, was amazing! The elders and fathers of the village were seated in a line and all the children and rest of the people gathered around to watch. After we greeted the elders we watched as several men on horseback took turns running forward and jumping their horses up on their hind legs. The goal was to get as close as you could to the seated men; several times they got so close the people had to jump out of the way. As each rider came forward and performed everyone yelled out "Faray-ma!" which is like saying "good job/you da man/etc." It was beautiful and fascinating; the horses were decked out in blankets and bridles covered in colorful fringe, especially pink - apparently bright pink is the color of warriors to the Fulani! 

After awhile it began to rain and we returned to Moa's house. With the storm coming in and the lightning and thunder rather close, it was time to head out, so sadly we missed the dancing and drums, which happened tonight sometime. Sarah and I are having another movie night though, and then will fall asleep listening to the rain on the roof. Oh, rainy season, how I love you. 

The Weekend!

Greetings! Forgive me for the radio silence. For the past few days we've been doing school, preparing what we can for Sallah, and having Pizza and Movie night! It turns out Sallah is being planned for Sunday night, so we had some people over last night for pizza and such; a family we met in town who are missionaries at the Catholic mission nearby, and the men who had visited before this week. So it was quite the crowd!

We also went by Aunt Julie's and got our dresses for Sallah! They are quite lovely. It's fun picking out the fabric and designing what we want to wear; I wish more stores in the States did that, and as cheap haha. The girls also got their hair done in braids on Thursday; I ended up not going with them, but next time I will. Apparently it hurts a lot, though, and then itches for a few days afterward. But I think it looks great!

Today was weird; I got up early to talk to Toby and then fell back asleep and the next thing I know I wake up and it's 5:30. PM. Won't be able to sleep tonight, I can tell you that. Oh well, it's always nice to have a day of rest. It's just a bit strange to get up as the sun is going down. Right now Sarah, Katelyn, and I are having a Harry Potter marathon and eating popcorn for dinner! And tomorrow is Sallah, hopefully. So excited.

Another exciting/interesting/something that would only happen in Cameroon was yesterday, when the vet came and neutered the cat! On the kitchen table. Yup. Haha apparently this is the routine; every time the vet comes into town, whatever animals need to be fixed or whatever are rounded up, drugged, and laid out on the kitchen table to await the procedure. Afterward Fiver alternated between sleeping and stumbling about like he was drunk. He's much better now, but it was quite humorous while it lasted.

The sky last night - beautiful!

Happy Assumption Day!

Today, August 15, is Assumption Day! To honor the Virgin Mary, everyone in Cameroon is taking the day off... except for us! We are plowing ahead with schoolwork so we can get this week's work done in time for Sallah this weekend. Katelyn and Lum are going to Sabba Njowra on Friday to help with preparing the food, then Chris, Karen, Nelly, Sarah, and I (give or take a few people; wherever we go, there's always bound to be some friends or neighbors or even strangers tagging along) are heading up Saturday, hopefully returning Sunday. The Fulani always prepare to have Sallah at the end of Ramadan, but they only have it if they can see the moon. So, it will probably be Saturday night, but possibly Sunday, which may throw a wrench into Monday's school day. We shall see, we shall see.

Either way, from what I hear, it's going to be a crazy party. Starting at around 4ish, the feast begins, and from then on into the night we just eat and dance and eat and dance, with some eating and dancing mixed in there. Katelyn and Fadi told us about the dancing, which is traditional, to music that consists mostly of drums. Apparently they beat them so hard and so long that the drums often burst; so for Sallah, they make up to 80 drums for just 20 men to play. Every time one breaks, they just pick up the next one and rejoin the fray. I myself am quite excited, and will be sure to take pictures.

As for work, I've been helping Lum and Katelyn with their school here and there, but so far they haven't needed me all that much. So it looks like I'll actually be joining Sarah in editing the children's curriculum she's been working on. It's a Sunday School curriculum based on the Gospel of Luke that's being translated into several different languages, and I'll be helping Sarah edit the grammar and layout and all sorts of things. I'm actually excited for this, as I've always been partial to English and words and that sort of thing. Hence this blog. Which I hope you are enjoying, because I'm going to keep talking.

Yesterday after school Papa Karissa, Sarah and I visited Titus, a man who makes beautiful quilted purses, aprons, blankets, and computer cases. Sarah and I had paid him to make us computer cases (which I will take pictures of once we get them, they're so lovely), and Chris ordered a few hundred bags and aprons to take back to the States and sell. Last year he did the same thing and sold them to help pay for Karissa's tuition. This time he's buying even more to bring back, so if any of you want one,  call me up. They are grand.

Then we went to the market; Katelyn, Nelly, and Simon (a neighbor/friend) went looking for Sallah shoes, and I went with Mama Karissa grocery shopping. We stopped at a few different stores, including a Chinese store, which was most amusing. I saw Asians for the first time here; in fact we were followed around the store by them, since we were the only customers at the time. We also found balloons to bring to the kids at the orphanage when we go again next week. Then we met the girls and Simon at PresCafe, where coincidentally, Chris was with Steve Santos (a missionary who lives in Yaounde) and several other men who were there to oversee a water project in Ndop. We invited them to our house for dinner, then ran home to prepare. I made dessert myself, and it was delicious (quite the feat, since I can't cook). The evening was nice and relaxing as we just ate, talked, and introduced them to the Animal Game. So fun. Anyone who has played this game will agree that it's tricky to explain, but never fails to break the ice for a jolly good time.

So today we're taking it easy, just doing school, and tomorrow all us girls are getting our hair done for Sallah - pictures to follow, of course! So until then, and I wish you a happy Assumption Day!

School

Well, the first day of school has come and gone, and we are onto day 2! We started out slow, mostly figuring out computer stuff, and there's still some of that to be done, but we are on our way towards educational success! It looks like it will be hard, especially at first, but hopefully rewarding, too. I plan on learning a lot along with the girls, although not as much academically as personally. Please pray for smooth sailing and happy hearts in the days ahead!

Bamenda's Got Talent

Here you go, pictures from last night! It was great fun dressing up and going out (especially being goggled at as we walked down the road and caught a taxi in all our finery), although the show was a little different than we thought. Although the ticket said it started at "4pm Prompt," it took about 2 1/2 hours before it actually got rolling... If I was any newer to Cameroon I would have been appalled at the lack of organization and punctuality, but every day I'm learning again and again just to go with the flow. While waiting we amused ourselves by taking pictures and watching some of the Olympics that were playing (it was some game I'd never heard of or seen before - looked like water polo without the water), and then finally we got to walk the red carpet and talk to some guy with a mic and camera. They filmed most of the show, the "Bamenda Best Talent Awards," and apparently there's a chance it will be on tv, though I doubt we'll ever be able to find it and see ourselves.

 

We were seated in front, and only had to wait for a bit more until the show began. It was a mixture of dancers and singers and even a preacher who yelled about Michael Jackson being possessed by demons for a bit before praying for everyone. We didn't understand much of it, between his Pidgin and the extremely loud, static-y sound system, but it was interesting, to say the least. :D There were all kinds of dancers; one guy who did Michael Jackson, and another who was so good he could have been Beyonce herself if only he put a wig on. There were also groups of "country dancers," which is more traditional dancing, and a whole lot of rappers.

We couldn't help ourselves - we laughed through most of it. Most of the dancers were fantastic, but the singers were pitchy at best and and the rappers simply comical (even more so than American rappers). They also had a bit of modeling, but our favorite was the salsa dancing, put on by Derick and his students. We left before it ended, because it was going so late, so we never found out who won the competition. But we had a jolly time all the same.

When we got home we all made a beeline for the kitchen and made soup and pudding and spagetti, then went straight to bed. And today we are starting school! Pray for the internet to remain stable and that we will be eager to learn in the coming weeks!

Sabba Njowra

We have returned! After a few wet, hungry, beautiful days up on the mountain, we are back in Bamenda. It is just so lovely up there that I hope you can get a taste of it through pictures, but I'm sure they don't do it justice. Thursday afternoon Papa Karissa drove us up to the village, on a road that puts the Bowman road to shame, especially when it's muddy. For the last section we rode on the back, holding on to the rails and nearly falling off more than once... woohoo! When we arrived, we were welcomed enthusiastically, especially by Fadi and her family; her parents Yaya and Moa, her sister Maimu, and her brothers Yunu and Yusufu. There were plenty of other children running about yelling and waving and staring at the "white man" who had come as well, but that's nothing new.

And theennn... we got to ride! It was marvelous and grand and perfectly perfect. Sarah and Katelyn and I rode out to the very edge of the cliff that looks out over the entire Ndop plain. The fog rolled in and out; one minute we could see clear to the lake all the way across the plain, and the next the mist would be so think we could barely see 10 feet in front of us. I was quite sore the next morning, but it was completely worth it.

Once the sun set, we had dinner and soon after went to bed, though it was only a little after 8 o'clock. It was a good thing, though, because Fadi and her family wake up at 4 to have breakfast and pray before the sun rises. We didn't get up that early with them, but we tried fasting with them all day long. It was slightly easier than I thought it would be, but when sundown came, I was more than ready to eat and drink to my heart's content. Friday morning after washing dishes, Fadi took us out to see Balu, the other side of the cliff that looks down on several villages and farms. In the distance you could hear music that was playing in some bar or house down there, but other than that and the mooing of cows as they followed us around the mountain, it was completely peaceful and quiet. We sat and drank in the view for awhile, but eventually the clouds began to roll in and we hurried back before the rain started. I've found that in Cameroon the mornings are usually sunny and it's in the afternoons that the storms come and last into the night. Well, in the rainy season, anyway. I hear that in the dry season it barely rains at all, so I am grateful for all the storms and fog and rain while it lasts. After a quiet afternoon of reading, napping, and talking, we got to go riding again. The men had taken the horses to go to the mosque, so we had to wait for them to return to ride, but that way we could catch the sunset! ...Or so we thought. The rain came again and we got soaking wet, but it was just as fun running about in the rain. Feels a little more like Lord of the Rings that way, which, of course, is everybody's dream.

Here comes the rain!

(Moa's collection of pots - isn't it lovely?)

While we were there I picked up a few words of Fulfulde, to add to my repertoire of greetings in French and Pidgin (forgive me for my atrocious spelling, though - I'm just guessing here). They welcomed us into their compound by saying "Lalay, lalay, lalay" (welcome, welcome, welcome) to which you respond by saying "Useko, useko, useko" (thank you, thank you, thank you). Greetings include "Tonoy?" to which you respond "Walla," "Noy habbaru?" to which you answer "Jam," and "Eh satina?" to which you should say "Mi saati." All three of them are basically "how are you?" and "I'm fine." (And just in case you were wondering, "Mi footi" is "I farted.")

Last night it was nice falling asleep to the sound of rain, protected from the nasty bugs by our mosquito netting, our stomachs full of delicious food. Then this morning we woke at around 7 and had a bit of bread and coffee before the benskins, or motor-taxis, came to take us back to Door-Market (the end of the dirt road). That was quite the adventure. We had to pay them extra because of the muddy road, and we ended up slipping around and getting off to walk a couple times, but it was fine. A little mud never hurt anyone. From Door Market we caught a taxi back to Bamenda, which was also funny, because there were 7 of us squished inside and one of the men was just a little tipsy. Again, though, it was fine, more funny than problematic, and finally we were dropped at the end of our road. It's nice to be back again - Sabba Njowra is beautiful, and peaceful, and a break from normal life, but I gotta say, I do love taking showers and using my computer and making top ramen (I stocked up on some last time we went to the market).

"Make education your first husband!"

Tomorrow us girls are going to a dance show held at in Bamenda at the Top Star Hotel! We were invited to it by Derick, the dance teacher, and got tickets last week. We are all quite excited; apparently there is going to be a red carpet and a dinner and then dance presentations, so we are getting dressed up and I'm sure there will be pictures soon! Then Monday we start school, so it looks like routine is finally making its way into our so-far-relaxing life. Then next weekend is Sallah! Amazing how time has gone so fast.

Into da Bush

Today we are headed off to Sabba Njowra, Fadi's village, for a few days! We will be staying with Fadi's family until Saturday, spending time exploring the beautiful mountains they live in, riding horses, and even fasting during the day with them! Yay.... Just in case, we packed some bread and nuts and other snacks to hold us off until sundown.

I've stayed in Sabba Njowra before, when we came last year to do a VBS in the nearby school. This time it is just Katelyn, Sarah, and I, instead of a whole team, so I'm sure it will be different in many ways. I can't wait to be up there with the Fulani people, far away up in the mountains where life is simple and beautiful. No running water, no electricity, and certainly no internet; which makes for even less worries than we have here. I will write all about it when we return from da bush! So until then, my friends.

It Goes On

Whatever else life does, it always goes on, to paraphrase Robert Frost. I don't know about the rest of those in the Jackson Village, but I feel like I am slowly becoming accustomed to life in Cameroon. It's been 3 weeks since we arrived in Yaounde, but it feels like it's been much longer. We haven't started school yet, but some semblance of routine has set in since the first week that we spent unpacking and wandering around and wondering what to do with ourselves. Yesterday both Carolin and Fadi moved up to Sabba Njowra, Fadi's village. Carolin's staying up there until she finds a place in Bamenda, and Fadi is going back to stay with her family until school starts again. So there's been some switching of rooms; Sarah and I moved into Carolin's old room (with our own bathroom! Woohoo!), and Katelyn got her own room. Once we paint, we'll be completely settled into our rooms for the whole year!

Waking up this morning was a little weird in a new room, and a new country, for that matter. But the rest of the day was lovely; Karen, Sarah, Lum, Katelyn, Nelly and I drove into town to visit the Helping Hands orphanage. We were given a tour by Pa, or Patrick, the older man who runs the orphanage with his wife. We walked through the girls' room, the 3 rooms that housed the boys, the baby's room, the kitchen, the reading and computer room, and the backyard where they raise chickens and rabbits for selling and eating. There are about 15 boys and 12 girls, but those who are 13 years or older were away for a month at Teen Mission, so we played with the rest of them, showing them how to set up dominoes and take pictures with our phones, which they quite enjoyed. Several boys spent the entire afternoon taking pictures of themselves and each other, laughing every time the shutter sounded. We were also treated to a few they sang for us, which was marvelous!

 

Success Holiday

Good morning/evening/day to you all! I know I just wrote a whole bunch, but things seem to just keep happening. Funny how that works. This morning was "Success Holiday," the last day of summer school for Fadi and a combination party/game/competition day, which we had been invited to by the school director when we visited Fadi's class before, got in trouble, and were sent to the principal's office.

Anyway, the day usually starts at 8, but it's Cameroon, so we walked down there at about 8:45. For another hour or so we sat with the rest of the kids, all ages, in desks put out on the field and watched them setting up a sound system to play loud, static-y Cameroonian pop music and the Titanic theme song... over and over and over... Eventually the teachers arrived and the day began, between 9:30 and 10. After a prayer and an introduction, we watched them have a timed math competition, with two teams trying to come up with the right answer first. After that was English, Chemistry, and a debate about why kids should go to holiday classes/summer school. Interspersed among the competitions were dance demonstrations by groups of boys or girls. Then came the decision of who was to be crowned "Mr. and Miss Success Holiday," basically the Cameroonian version of Prom king and queen. 

It was quite different than any kind of crowning I've seen before, however. The two team, Cam A and Cam B, each chose a boy and a girl, who came out in turns wearing first traditional dress, then "party dress," then street clothes. They paraded across the front and back, to the cheers of their respective teams. I never found out who won, though... either they never announced it, or I couldn't hear it over the chatter of the kids, who mostly ignored whatever the director was saying over the microphone. I was rather surprised by the lack of respect they showed, with their friends on game day, as opposed to the quiet, attentive atmospheres of the classrooms during a lesson. 

When we left, around 1 o'clock, the games were still going on; a food-eating contest, with spaghetti and chopsticks, and an arm-wrestling match, which they seemed to take very seriously. It was definitely the cultural experience, I can tell you that! Here are some pictures of today, plus a few more of the porch. The sunshine in the middle of the storm yesterday, and the mist this morning was so lovely I couldn't resist. 

 (A dance demonstration by two boys)

(Katelyn and a little boy we made friends with... I don't think he knew what we were doing)

(But he did like patty-cake)

Coffee and Canada

I have never regularly drunk coffee before; partly because I never liked the taste (not even in ice cream or anything! Amazing, right?), and also the caffeine doesn't seem to affect me in the least. Then last year, during our 2 1/2 week long trip to Cameroon, I found that drinking coffee was a daily morning ritual observed by all in the Jackson Village, and so I took part, and enjoyed it quite a lot. But back in the States I fell back into my normal coffeeless routine.

Well, I now drink coffee every morning. As long as there's plenty of sugar, powdered milk (there's no real milk here), and Matinal, a chocolate mix, I absolutely love it. Maybe because the coffee is just better here, or perhaps because it seems so natural to get out of bed, get a lovely steaming cup of deliciousness, and sit on the porch listening to the birds (if you get up early enough). Either way, in the past few weeks, I have drunk more coffee than in my entire life. True story.

For the past few days Chris has been in Yaounde helping a summer team arrive and get together all their luggage. The 9 of them are going to Bambalang (about an hour or more from Bamenda) to help out the Groves, a missionary family who lives in the village, and stopped by today for lunch and a break from the long drive. Talking with them over jalaf rice (or however it's actually spelled - either way, it's quite tasty) and watermelon, I found out they were all from New Brunswick, Canada! Which was quite interesting; I'm finding that I unconsciously assume all white people we meet to be from the States, when in reality, there are a lot more places in the world than just America with white people. Surprise, surprise! In a way, it was weird being the ones welcoming newcomers; instead of my previous role of visitor, I am now one of the residents. I live in Africa! Wow.

The rest of the day saw us staying inside by the fire (I know! A fire! In summer...) as the rain poured down. Yesterday was humid and hot, so we should have expected a deluge. It stayed cold all evening, and so another cup of milked/sugared/chocolated-down coffee just seemed right. That and being able to talk to my family made the day quite complete. So until tomorrow, my friends.

Hakuna Matata

What a wonderful phrase... "Hakuna Matata" is actually quite the perfect motto for living in Africa, I must say. "It means no worries for the rest of your days..." Sitting on the porch of the Jacksons' home, looking out over Mile 4 of Bamenda (we live in Mile 3), it's hard to remember what worries, if any, we have.

I love this porch. Especially after a day in the market shopping and being incessantly harassed, for lack of a nicer word. Saturdays in the market are absolutely crazy, which is saying something, so it's a relief to come home and sit down without anyone grabbing your hand and/or asking you to marry them (Although today I was called "white girl" once or twice; quite a step up from "white man"). Hakuna matata. Besides the stress of going out and making your way in a foreign country, it's a perfect fit.

The Little Things

I don't really know what to write about... the past few days have consisted of up and downs, and a lot of small daily happenstances. We've been watching movies, reading our books we got from the Reading Room in Yaounde, and doing chores as the power goes on and off. Dinner is usually postponed until 7 or later because Fadi and Lum are fasting from sunup to sundown for Ramadan. Sometime in the next few weeks, before Ramadan ends, the whole family is going to join them in fasting... as well as we can, anyway. I don't know how they do it, but it looks like I'm going to find out!

Today we took a taxi into town to go dancing, stopping on the way to see about getting SIM cards for our phones, and getting soaked as we walked/ran through the rain to PresCafe for some chocolate cake and coffee to fortify our poor, wet souls. But when we arrived at dancing, there were cars and people everywhere. Upon peeking inside we saw a table up on the stage and bunch of important-looking people in hats sitting and talking. So no dancing today! But right outside is the stand where we always buy plantain chips, so it was worth the trip to town. Not that it's costly in any way - only a few hundred francs each way for Katelyn, Sarah, and I all together. I love this place. 

I feel like I should probably mention, and not just in passing, the food! Though I've already written plenty about eating chocolate and junk food, we've had plenty of Cameroonian food, some of which I find delicious, and some of it not so much... Fufu and jamma jamma, for example, which is a staple in most Cameroonian homes (so we've had it more than once). The fufu is a corn mush about the consistency of playdough, and jamma jamma is a mixture of vegetables and greens that taste like, as Liz (a teacher at the missionary school in Yaounde) put it so delicately, "someone mowed the lawn and put it in a bowl." I have to agree, although it's more akin to mowed seaweed than grass, in my humble opinion. 

But there have been plenty of African delicacies I've sampled and loved! For one, there's always a huge variety of fruit; we've been eating watermelon, pineapple, and papaya almost every day, and we just had some passionfruit yesterday that was quite delectable. And of course puff-puffs, which are by far my favorite Cameroonian treat. We also usually have a live chicken running around the yard waiting to be decapitated and gobbled up. They are everywhere here - wandering through the streets, being carried by people riding motor-taxis, or squirming in a bag brought by a house guest as a gift. I had the privilege of seeing Delphine, a woman who works in the Jackson's house as a cook, chop off a chicken's head the other day... a singular experience. But amazingly, it didn't put me off chicken at all - I still love it just as much as I did before. Good thing, too, because it's a common meal in Cameroon. So are potatoes, rice, avocados, and pepae, a spice we grow in the garden. We have plenty of American food here as well, plus our secret stashes of soda and candy, so it's quite the variety. 

Well, for not having anything to write about, I realize I've rambled on till it's longer than all my other posts. Oh well, I hope you've enjoyed my accounts of our everyday life here in Bamenda. And even if you didn't, well, there's more to come, I can assure you!