22 mai 2011
Some random thoughts and happenings:
-so there are a "trop" amount of scorpions here. Today, I was hanging out at Essaya's house and one of our friends arrived who got stung? pricked? what's the right word with a scorpion stinger? twice in the foot. The scorpion was just in his house. ps he lives legit thirty steps from my house. grand. And Essaya's son, Yves, got stung twice on the arm when sleeping one night. The scorpy had been chilling in his bed sheets. Essaya's advice to me: "Even though you have a mosquito net, check under the pillows every night before you go to bed because one could be hiding there". Naturally, I have taken his advice seriously and done this. But...what is going to happen on the eventful night when I look under the pillows and in the sheets and ACTUALLy do find a scorpy chillin there? I have worked out all sorts of scenarios in my head for how that night would go down...and I can't think of any that would be positive. There are the possible scenarios I have thought about:
1. i'm too freaked out to attempt in the killing of said creature and I secure my mosquito net and wait until morning when i can find a child to kill it. problem here: that involves me sleeping on the floor without a mosquito net...which is possibly more terrifying.
2. i attempt to kill scorpy. i freak out or miss target. he is stealth and jumps off of bed and goes under my bed and gets away. i go to sleep. problem with this scenario: scorpion is still alive in my homestead.
3. i attempt to kill scorpion...and, by some miracle, actually wound or kill it. problem: i have to remove the still-poisonous creature from my bed. it requires gasoline to detoxify the poison. i don't know how i feel about gas fumes when i'm sleeping.
4. the fourth, and most feared scenario, is that i attempt to kill the nasty bugger and get too close...and he stings me. which is extremely painful and i would need to get right to the hospital in the middle of the night for medication. the sting isn't deadly....except if it's a black scorpion. oh. ok. great.
-vingt mai (May 20th) marked the 50th anniversary of Cameroon's Independence. For the festivities, I went to Ngan'ha. Events of the day:
7 am Wait for Essaya on street to go to Ngan'ha
8 am We leave for Ngan'ha, take the motorcycle
9 am Arrive, get walked to our designated seats on the grandstand
11 am Event begins when sous-prefet arrives (The only equivalent I can think of for the sous-prefet in the US is a county senator, the link between the people and the government on a small scale)
11 am - 1:30 pm Event: National Anthem, speeches by important peeps, 4 people who have worked a lot for the state receive medals, Parade (elementary and high school students, political parties, groups and organizations of the district), traditional singing and dances.
1:30 - 2:30 pm: wait for afternoon prayer to be done
2:30 pm: huge wonderful buffet at the sous-prefet's house, lots of people there but laid back and enjoyable to see everyone from the Ngan'ha region
3:30 pm: Leave Ngan'ha
4:00 pm: Stop in random village along the road because rain is gettin' wild.
4:30 pm: Arrive back home, go to Essaya's house to watch the events on television and spend time with the fam. Eat so much couscous.
8:00 pm: Walk home with pup and visit my friend who lives just next to my house. Bon fete!
Overall, pretty good Indepedence Day celebrations. Got burned while waiting for the event to start, but it wouldn't be a 4th of July without that, right?
-So, I think I'm becoming one of those people who is obsessed with their pet. I used to be a huge judger of people who take unnecessary amounts of photos of their pets and dote on them and talk about every single thing they do. "Oh my goodness, Fufu did the funniest thing today. She was playing with the ball of yarn and then she fell a little bit. Oh, you had to be there, I just couldn't stop laughing!"....the truth is though, that I have become one of those people. I didn't realize this though, until I was looking through photos on my camera from last month and, realized, that like a quarter of them are of Ashia. What can I say? She is just so darn photogenic. So, to all those people that I judged in my past life about being too in love with their pets, I would just like to say....I apologize. Pets are people, too. And Ashia, she is my bff.
-It's gardening time. My friend, Etienne, and I have begun a gardening project in my backyard. And by we...I mean he. Like I have no idea what I'm doing. But he knows what's up and so far it is going well. I have been taking pics of the progress. This week we are going to officially plant: tomatoes, onions, carrots, legumes (which are a variety of leafy greens used in sauces), condiments (black pepper, spicy stuff called peedmont peadmont peatmont? not quite sure the spelling there and green spices) and potatoes. The rainy season here is so long that someone told me I can plant twice or three times. Sa-weet. Hello yummy veggies.
-"Work" at the hospital has been good. I put work in " " these thingies because I don't do very much. Every Tuesday, I do an animation with the women who come with their babies for vaccinations. Other than that though, it's a lot of observing consultations and greeting people. The staff seems grateful for my "help" there, and even though I don't think I'm doing a lot, maybe just being present and being friendly with patients is what matters...
Some random thoughts and happenings:
-so there are a "trop" amount of scorpions here. Today, I was hanging out at Essaya's house and one of our friends arrived who got stung? pricked? what's the right word with a scorpion stinger? twice in the foot. The scorpion was just in his house. ps he lives legit thirty steps from my house. grand. And Essaya's son, Yves, got stung twice on the arm when sleeping one night. The scorpy had been chilling in his bed sheets. Essaya's advice to me: "Even though you have a mosquito net, check under the pillows every night before you go to bed because one could be hiding there". Naturally, I have taken his advice seriously and done this. But...what is going to happen on the eventful night when I look under the pillows and in the sheets and ACTUALLy do find a scorpy chillin there? I have worked out all sorts of scenarios in my head for how that night would go down...and I can't think of any that would be positive. There are the possible scenarios I have thought about:
1. i'm too freaked out to attempt in the killing of said creature and I secure my mosquito net and wait until morning when i can find a child to kill it. problem here: that involves me sleeping on the floor without a mosquito net...which is possibly more terrifying.
2. i attempt to kill scorpy. i freak out or miss target. he is stealth and jumps off of bed and goes under my bed and gets away. i go to sleep. problem with this scenario: scorpion is still alive in my homestead.
3. i attempt to kill scorpion...and, by some miracle, actually wound or kill it. problem: i have to remove the still-poisonous creature from my bed. it requires gasoline to detoxify the poison. i don't know how i feel about gas fumes when i'm sleeping.
4. the fourth, and most feared scenario, is that i attempt to kill the nasty bugger and get too close...and he stings me. which is extremely painful and i would need to get right to the hospital in the middle of the night for medication. the sting isn't deadly....except if it's a black scorpion. oh. ok. great.
-vingt mai (May 20th) marked the 50th anniversary of Cameroon's Independence. For the festivities, I went to Ngan'ha. Events of the day:
7 am Wait for Essaya on street to go to Ngan'ha
8 am We leave for Ngan'ha, take the motorcycle
9 am Arrive, get walked to our designated seats on the grandstand
11 am Event begins when sous-prefet arrives (The only equivalent I can think of for the sous-prefet in the US is a county senator, the link between the people and the government on a small scale)
11 am - 1:30 pm Event: National Anthem, speeches by important peeps, 4 people who have worked a lot for the state receive medals, Parade (elementary and high school students, political parties, groups and organizations of the district), traditional singing and dances.
1:30 - 2:30 pm: wait for afternoon prayer to be done
2:30 pm: huge wonderful buffet at the sous-prefet's house, lots of people there but laid back and enjoyable to see everyone from the Ngan'ha region
3:30 pm: Leave Ngan'ha
4:00 pm: Stop in random village along the road because rain is gettin' wild.
4:30 pm: Arrive back home, go to Essaya's house to watch the events on television and spend time with the fam. Eat so much couscous.
8:00 pm: Walk home with pup and visit my friend who lives just next to my house. Bon fete!
Overall, pretty good Indepedence Day celebrations. Got burned while waiting for the event to start, but it wouldn't be a 4th of July without that, right?
-So, I think I'm becoming one of those people who is obsessed with their pet. I used to be a huge judger of people who take unnecessary amounts of photos of their pets and dote on them and talk about every single thing they do. "Oh my goodness, Fufu did the funniest thing today. She was playing with the ball of yarn and then she fell a little bit. Oh, you had to be there, I just couldn't stop laughing!"....the truth is though, that I have become one of those people. I didn't realize this though, until I was looking through photos on my camera from last month and, realized, that like a quarter of them are of Ashia. What can I say? She is just so darn photogenic. So, to all those people that I judged in my past life about being too in love with their pets, I would just like to say....I apologize. Pets are people, too. And Ashia, she is my bff.
-It's gardening time. My friend, Etienne, and I have begun a gardening project in my backyard. And by we...I mean he. Like I have no idea what I'm doing. But he knows what's up and so far it is going well. I have been taking pics of the progress. This week we are going to officially plant: tomatoes, onions, carrots, legumes (which are a variety of leafy greens used in sauces), condiments (black pepper, spicy stuff called peedmont peadmont peatmont? not quite sure the spelling there and green spices) and potatoes. The rainy season here is so long that someone told me I can plant twice or three times. Sa-weet. Hello yummy veggies.
-"Work" at the hospital has been good. I put work in " " these thingies because I don't do very much. Every Tuesday, I do an animation with the women who come with their babies for vaccinations. Other than that though, it's a lot of observing consultations and greeting people. The staff seems grateful for my "help" there, and even though I don't think I'm doing a lot, maybe just being present and being friendly with patients is what matters...
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