22 july 2012
I have not blogged in an embarassingly long amount of time. When was the last one? Ah, February? There is much catching up to do then. Here is a brief timeline of what has happened since February:
March-April: Dad came to visit
End of May-June: I traveled to the states
States-end of June: Hilary came to visit
early July: 2 girls summer camps
Now: Ramaddan
Ah how the time flies. Now for the elaborated version of the past 6 months of events:
Dad flew into Yaounde on March 22, 2012. We came straight up to Ngaoundere on the train; and by straight up I mean we left Yaounde at 6pm and arrived in Ngaoundere at 4pm (usually the train departs at 6pm and arrives at 7 am the next morning). Welcome to Cameroon Pops! Sometimes an overnight train takes two days. Apparently the problem was with the engine/the rails (neither of those being good things to break down). We occupied ourselves though; played cards and cut up a pineapple we had bought in Yaounde. Also during the train ride, I woke up at 3am to the sound of people talking outside. I looked in the bottom bunk of the train to find my father....not there. He had gotten off the train and went outside to speak to some children. "Dad, what are you doing?" I screamed out the window. "Just talking to some kids", he said. "Their French is too fast for me though". "Dad get the hell back into the train right now!!! What are you thinking?" I yelled back. After that, he didn't leave the train again. After Ngaoundere, we came straight to my village and spent about 4 days here. We did the tour and he met nearly everyone I know. He was fed couscous after couscous, but it was too much. "You are telling me these people eat this stuff three times a day seven days a week 365 days a year?" he asked me after trying it. "Yup", I said, "and they miss it if they can't have it". "Unbelievable", he commented, "it's not that it's bad...but every single meal for the rest of your life....no thanks". At night, when we wanted to make our own food, of course Fadi brought over a huge couscous and sauce....needless to say, Puppy ate a lot of couscous that night. After visiting my village, we headed up north in search of "les animaux". We went to Waza Park, the most-known wildlife park in Cameroon. We saw giraffes, antelope, so many birds, and a lion. We were so lucky with the lion. March is the dry season so usually there are more animals than usual looking for the man-made watering holes. But we got really lucky with the lion, who was sitting under a tree panting. I felt sorry for the guy with his big fur coat and all. After the animals, we spent time in Maroua shopping for cool locally-made crafts. My father's impressions of the north: hot hot and more hot. Yes, he had a point. It is the dry/hot season, and my thermometer no longer worked in the Adamawa (after 120 degrees farenheit it just says HIGH), and we were even more north and hot up in Maroua. Then we came back down through Ngaoundere and took the train back down (thankfully with no interesting events this time). We took a bus in Yaounde to the beach town of Kribi. It was the first time I'd been there, and we had a great time. We went out one morning on a canoe-trip to see the pygmies. There were a lot of other white people there as well. Apparently when you visit the pygmies, you're supposed to bring a gift of alcohol or cigarettes. We were not informed of this fact, so we just gave them money, but the other nasarasa brought boxed wine and cigarettes as a gift. The pygmies put on a show/dance for us, and I danced with them!! It was cool to dance with them especially because their way of dancing is so different from the north, but at the same time it was sad. It was clear to see that putting on the daily show for visitors was their livelihood. We were told that hunters from their tribe were out gathering food, but I don't know if I believed it. After the pygmie voyage, we went to these beautiful waterfalls called "les Shutes de Lobes". Those were beautiful and we ate some FRESH shrimp (my dad watched the guy catch them) on the beach. While in Kribi, we also enjoyed some great big fish and "baton de manioc". Manioc is a root found in the ground and it is dried out, ground up and cooked into a paste. This paste is then put into a banana leaf and tied so that it maintains its shape, hence the baton/stick part. After Kribi, Pops and I headed back to Yaounde and he flew out.
PHOTOS WHILE DAD CAME TO VISIT: facebook photos from dad's visit
After Pops left, so much worked happened in a short amount of time. The end of the school year had come; which meant lots of exam-giving, correcting of exams and filling out of report cards. On the last day of school, I gave out awards to the best students. The awards were not only based on the marks from their exams, but also for participation, attendance and most improvement in English. The students liked the little certificates.
Work also finished for the year in terms of Health Club and peer-educators of HIV/AIDS Awareness. Since the majority of my peer-educators are not from Gangassaou, they go to their hometown for the break. During vacation, they help their parents in the fields and at home. One of the peer-educators, Atou, suggested that we make pamphlets and each students take some home and educate his family and friends. So, the pamphlets were created by us and distributed during our last meeting. We will pick up with more activities when the students return in September for the school year. Also, at the end of the year, we had a diploma ceremony for the peer-educators. Diplomas were sent from Peace Corps Yaounde to peer-educators who not only participated in the HIV training back in November, but helped out with a minimum of 2 activities afterwards. Activities included: World AIDS Day and the HIV awareness campaign that we did between January to April. We held the diploma ceremony in the evening, so a lot of other students were present to see their peers receive the diplomas. However, before receiving their diplomas, we did our awareness routine for all who were there. Many students came up to me afterwards asking to me in the club for next year. I'm hoping they want to be in the club to educate other students, and not just because they want the diploma.
I have not blogged in an embarassingly long amount of time. When was the last one? Ah, February? There is much catching up to do then. Here is a brief timeline of what has happened since February:
March-April: Dad came to visit
End of May-June: I traveled to the states
States-end of June: Hilary came to visit
early July: 2 girls summer camps
Now: Ramaddan
Ah how the time flies. Now for the elaborated version of the past 6 months of events:
Dad flew into Yaounde on March 22, 2012. We came straight up to Ngaoundere on the train; and by straight up I mean we left Yaounde at 6pm and arrived in Ngaoundere at 4pm (usually the train departs at 6pm and arrives at 7 am the next morning). Welcome to Cameroon Pops! Sometimes an overnight train takes two days. Apparently the problem was with the engine/the rails (neither of those being good things to break down). We occupied ourselves though; played cards and cut up a pineapple we had bought in Yaounde. Also during the train ride, I woke up at 3am to the sound of people talking outside. I looked in the bottom bunk of the train to find my father....not there. He had gotten off the train and went outside to speak to some children. "Dad, what are you doing?" I screamed out the window. "Just talking to some kids", he said. "Their French is too fast for me though". "Dad get the hell back into the train right now!!! What are you thinking?" I yelled back. After that, he didn't leave the train again. After Ngaoundere, we came straight to my village and spent about 4 days here. We did the tour and he met nearly everyone I know. He was fed couscous after couscous, but it was too much. "You are telling me these people eat this stuff three times a day seven days a week 365 days a year?" he asked me after trying it. "Yup", I said, "and they miss it if they can't have it". "Unbelievable", he commented, "it's not that it's bad...but every single meal for the rest of your life....no thanks". At night, when we wanted to make our own food, of course Fadi brought over a huge couscous and sauce....needless to say, Puppy ate a lot of couscous that night. After visiting my village, we headed up north in search of "les animaux". We went to Waza Park, the most-known wildlife park in Cameroon. We saw giraffes, antelope, so many birds, and a lion. We were so lucky with the lion. March is the dry season so usually there are more animals than usual looking for the man-made watering holes. But we got really lucky with the lion, who was sitting under a tree panting. I felt sorry for the guy with his big fur coat and all. After the animals, we spent time in Maroua shopping for cool locally-made crafts. My father's impressions of the north: hot hot and more hot. Yes, he had a point. It is the dry/hot season, and my thermometer no longer worked in the Adamawa (after 120 degrees farenheit it just says HIGH), and we were even more north and hot up in Maroua. Then we came back down through Ngaoundere and took the train back down (thankfully with no interesting events this time). We took a bus in Yaounde to the beach town of Kribi. It was the first time I'd been there, and we had a great time. We went out one morning on a canoe-trip to see the pygmies. There were a lot of other white people there as well. Apparently when you visit the pygmies, you're supposed to bring a gift of alcohol or cigarettes. We were not informed of this fact, so we just gave them money, but the other nasarasa brought boxed wine and cigarettes as a gift. The pygmies put on a show/dance for us, and I danced with them!! It was cool to dance with them especially because their way of dancing is so different from the north, but at the same time it was sad. It was clear to see that putting on the daily show for visitors was their livelihood. We were told that hunters from their tribe were out gathering food, but I don't know if I believed it. After the pygmie voyage, we went to these beautiful waterfalls called "les Shutes de Lobes". Those were beautiful and we ate some FRESH shrimp (my dad watched the guy catch them) on the beach. While in Kribi, we also enjoyed some great big fish and "baton de manioc". Manioc is a root found in the ground and it is dried out, ground up and cooked into a paste. This paste is then put into a banana leaf and tied so that it maintains its shape, hence the baton/stick part. After Kribi, Pops and I headed back to Yaounde and he flew out.
PHOTOS WHILE DAD CAME TO VISIT: facebook photos from dad's visit
After Pops left, so much worked happened in a short amount of time. The end of the school year had come; which meant lots of exam-giving, correcting of exams and filling out of report cards. On the last day of school, I gave out awards to the best students. The awards were not only based on the marks from their exams, but also for participation, attendance and most improvement in English. The students liked the little certificates.
Work also finished for the year in terms of Health Club and peer-educators of HIV/AIDS Awareness. Since the majority of my peer-educators are not from Gangassaou, they go to their hometown for the break. During vacation, they help their parents in the fields and at home. One of the peer-educators, Atou, suggested that we make pamphlets and each students take some home and educate his family and friends. So, the pamphlets were created by us and distributed during our last meeting. We will pick up with more activities when the students return in September for the school year. Also, at the end of the year, we had a diploma ceremony for the peer-educators. Diplomas were sent from Peace Corps Yaounde to peer-educators who not only participated in the HIV training back in November, but helped out with a minimum of 2 activities afterwards. Activities included: World AIDS Day and the HIV awareness campaign that we did between January to April. We held the diploma ceremony in the evening, so a lot of other students were present to see their peers receive the diplomas. However, before receiving their diplomas, we did our awareness routine for all who were there. Many students came up to me afterwards asking to me in the club for next year. I'm hoping they want to be in the club to educate other students, and not just because they want the diploma.
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