Thursday, September 30, 2010

OHHH MY GOSH am I seriously going to get to put another post up?

ps Brian, if you're reading this I don't need you to post for me!!! :D


Wyyyyyummmbe? Aka what’s up in Bafia language.

Cap’n Megoo here reporting from the Peace Corps training center in Bafia.  How’s everyone doing these days?  I haven’t had contact with the outside world for the past week so I’m super excited to be able to post something on my bloggo.  

I think I’ve gone through every possible emotion you can think of during staging so far. It’s been incredibly awesome, lonely, rando as can be, telescopic, really really fun, grueling, and absolutely hilarious.

As you may be aware I’ve been living in a village with no internet, electricity, or water for the past two weeks.  It’s so crazy to look up at the stars at night and think I’m really here in AFRICA.  It’s all still very surreal, but I’m starting to adjust quite nicely. 

My host family has been so great and Papa Boe and I continue to talk about the meaning of life over fou fou and tapioca into the wee hours of the night (aka 8:45 when I’m usually too exhausted to function).  My host sister Margurite and I are also getting really close; she helps me a lot with my cultural immersion homework and I help her with English…or at least try.  Anyone know what the present perfect tense is because I’m not sure if I actually do. HA, go English major.

I’m finding good ways to stay sane though.  For example, yesterday I taught a Bodypump class for the other health volunteers in my village.  Just imagine a bunch of sweaty dirty Americans lifting water bottles and French dictionaries over their heads overlooked by an entire African village.  Hilarity certainly ensued at this moment.  It felt SO GOOD, though, to work out since I’ve been kind of sheltered and unable to work out outside my mosquito net for some time.

This past weekend was also a cultural adventure.  I went into Bafia with my host sister and Aunt who is the same age as my sister? (who knows the families here are a million plus) to get some sweet fabric to make some sweet African clothes.  After meandering through the market for some time a massive squall rolled through, which left us trapped in a boulangerie with a bunch of other randos for a couple hours.  We finally got a taxi, which was a crappy little compact car, and somehow managed to fit 10 people in it.  What an impressive African feat.  The entire right side of my body fell asleep after being smashed up against a huge dude in a boubou, so I thought I got bitten by some crazy bug or something, but after I tumbled out of the car I was fine.  Anyway, the whole excursion was a success because I a) have some trendy African clothes on the way and b) I got to experience some pretty sweet culture.

Alright, rabid Peace Corps volunteers are drooling over my fast (and by fast I mean my blog page has materialized on the screen), so I better get going lest I be eaten.

Miss you guys and ooooouhhhouhhhh (which means bye bye in Bafia…sp’s all over the place with that one.

Meg

gahhhhh INTERNET!!


Oh Hey There!


I finally have a little internet.  I'm in the middle of nowhere and the connection is absurdly slow, so I hope this goes through.

I'm living with a bunch of pretty sweet farmers in village outside Bafia called Lable.  We have a whole plot with every tropical fruit and vegetable you can think of, so that’s sweet.  I actually get to try some new exotic fruit tonight called a cassamonga, which I think is kind of like a red guava.  I’ll report back when I have time. I’m also pretty sure they’re going to slaughter one of their pigs for me this weekend.  What a delicious treat.

Another delicious treat is my daily bucket shower.  I just love them. Because THE CHRIS taught me that navy showers are the way to conserve, I can wash myself with just a little bit of water pretty effectively.  There’s nothing better than waking up at 5:45 am to the cackle of roosters and walking off to the latrine/shower area to pour buckets of cold water on yourself! Okay, maybe there is, but right now that experience is the highlight of my day!

My dad is also one of the only scholars of the native language of this area, Bafia. There are over 230 languages in Cameroon, so most everyone speaks to each other in either English, or French when they are meeting somebody from a different area.  Anyway, I think it’s fascinating that all these languages are only oral.

My host sis is also really rad.  She is one of three girls who actually goes to school.  She also has four brothers, so is super excited I’m there to have “girl talk”.  She is literally the manifestation of what Peace Corps is for me; I want to empower women like her who don’t have the tools to succeed as well as men do.  We’ll see how that works out…it gives me some ideas to work with anyway.

Unlike a lot of the other volunteers, I frickin love my food: Chicken in tomato sauce, crazy fruit, and tapioca, which is not really like what we have in the states; maize, manioc, and water.  Oh yeah, Cameroonian dadeo shared his bowl of tapioca with me, which contained water from the well…,typhoid city here I come!  I’m going to just assume it was sterilized. It’s super rude to refuse a meal with an elder, so there goes health haha. But really, I’m exaggerating.  I think I’ll be fine for now and Peace Corps does a really good job with teaching us about safety…maybe too good of a job sometimes.  I’m getting antsy and want to just get out of the field.  I’ve got to wait three more months for that, though.   It’s actually amazing how structured everything has been at the office, while at home you just go with the family flow.

I’m realizing more and more that my Peace Corps friends are wildly important.  We all need each other a lot right now for comfort because we are basically going through the same thing; super huge highs, crazy lows and everything in between.  Luckily I’ve met some great people who will become bffs.

Language classes should be starting today or tomorrow too.  I’m starting off with some French classes and then hopefully learning this sweet tongue called Fufulde.  They speak it in northern Cameroon (the “extreme north” which looks kind of like the head of a chicken on a map) and in parts of Nigeria, and Chad.  It could come in handy if I ever have to jump the border!  I also want to be in a Muslim area in the middle of nowhere, so I can really delve into a completely new experience….I say that now.  We’ll see where my head is in a couple months when I’m off on my own, though!

What else is there to discuss?  Oh yeah, I constantly compare this crazy foreign land to Madagascar (where I studied in college), but it really is completely different. Cameroonians seem a lot more chilled out about me being here than the Malagasy.  I’m not sure if it’s because there are more Americans here, or if it’s just because the Malagasy are naturally more energetic than the relaxed Cameroonians.  I think Cameroonians may be a little shyer?  Who knows…I still don’t know this land well enough to make any assumptions. 

Another one of my favorite moments so far was when we were all dropped off at our host families houses in a big Peace Corps bus and all the host moms on the bus started singing.  It sounded like something you’d hear in the Lion King soundtrack or something (and by that I don’t mean Elton John).  My host mom is a super matriarch in my village, so she started every verse and would scream out some Bafia words throughout.  I did the same, but it somehow didn’t have the same ring to it.  Anyway…

Alright, I think I have a class pretty soon on taboos in the country.  Jut an FYI for anyone who plans to visit, don’t cross your legs (it makes you look closed up and unwelcoming) and sorry lefthanders, you can only use your right hand to do pretty much everything.  C’est comme ca ici.

A+ (aka a plus! Aka until next time!)

Saturday, September 18, 2010

In Cameroon FINALLY

Hey Everyone,

A really quick entry since I'm totally beat after three days of travel.  We missed our connection in Brussels to Yaounde because of severe thunderstorms in NYC, but I FINALLY got here.  The country seems really cool, but I still can't say too much because I haven't even ventured outside yet. I'm surprised by all the paved roads here in Douala, but I don't really think lanes exist.  I was also intrigued by the three person motorcycles.  What an impressive feat.

The hotel we are staying in is super luxurious for African standards aka there is AC in our room and a pool!  We all played a big game of monkey in the middle tonight in the water after filling out a gazillion forms.

I'm really excited to speak French here.  The accent is pretty easy for me to understand because it's similar to that in Madagascar, but who is really to say. I still have a lot of exploring to do!

Oh yeah, I also saw a massive brown and orange gecko crawling on the wall of my hotel room. Nature everywhere!!!

I'm still delirious.  I think it's going to take some time for me to be back to normal.  I'm just too excited about everything to sleep well.

Tomorrow I get pumped up with more drugs to protect me from random Cameroonian stuff, I meet our country director, eat fou fou (or however you spell it) and hopefully I'll buy a cell phone. Fun times.

Until next time,
Meg

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Philly Fun

Yo Everyone,

I'm about to hit the hay after one of the most exhausting, yet important days of my life. Yes, yes, folks the day hath come when I departed the great land of Connecticut for....Philadelphia PA.

I know I hyped up my departure date a lot, but the truth is I had to come to Philly first to get all the rest of my immunizations, chat about Peace Corps expecations, and, of course, meet the other Peace Corps volunteers.  Everyone seems totally rad and for the first time in awhile I'm the only one from Connecticut.  I'm surprised by the number of folks from the south and out west.

I think we are all in the same boat: the one that is super ready to un-cleat and sail off, but feels like it's going to sink at the same time...okay, that's weird, and I'm clearly loopy.  What I'm trying to say in my absurd state of fatigue is, we are all fatigued, but so ready for Cameroon.  In fact, I don't even know how I'm awake right now.  I should be getting some zzzz's, especially because for the past few nights I've been really anxious aka sleep talking wayyy too much.

I am really excited to get going, though.  There's a lot to be done and I'm going to take on this opportunity from the horns and shake it around!!  (thank you, Lizaroo for the analogy)

Mucho Love,
MEg

ps-I ate the cheesiest cheese steak ever today since I'm going to have to part with my favorite food group in T-10 hours. It was a delicious treat.

Friday, September 10, 2010

berry picking


If you are ever wondering what THE CHRIS, Joc, and I do when we aren't sailing it's this: berry picking.  My dad thinks it's theraputic, even in 100 + degree heat.  Here, we are comparing who picked the most berries. Joc almost fainted AGAIN, so she lost as usual.

Anyway, I'm glad to see that my pictures will upload. Hopefully I'll get some more up there that pertain to Peace Corps soon.

Peace,
MEg

Countdown to Cameroon: 5 Days

Yo Guys,

I leave for Cameroon in just five days, so life has been a little nuts.  Here is the abridged list of current life highlights: packing, more packing, eating cheese, packing, buying a cool light up pen that slays all microbes in my water, packing, consuming massive amounts of Mexican food and margaritas, packing, attempting to teach 6 am spin classes on Fridays, slamming Bertuccis to my face, printing out a ridiculous amount of documents from Peace Corps, and more packing.

This is just my test run, so I really have nothing else I want to blather about just yet, but please please please keep in touch.  If you ever get super bored check out what randomness I have to say here. I'll try to keep you on your toes with my captivating tales.

Keep it real on the other side of the Atlantic...I'll try not to send too many hurricanes your way.

Mucho love,
Meg