How are we all doing today? I just got up into internet land and am taking full advantage of the fast connection (aka not snail pace, but turtle pace!) I left at 5:30 am and hit Maroua around 10:30. Grrrreat time! Usually I have to wait at the Danay bus station in Guider for at least an hour before we actually leave, in which case I overload on yogurt from the fridge that's there and/or inhale carrots. They're so cheap right now! People eat them here like fruit. As a health volunteer this practice makes me tres contente.
Worko has been nutso this past month in a good way, but also in a very frustrated, stressful, I want to slay a million goats kind of way. I basically planned the Women's Day activities in Mandama, which means doing a ton of motivating women who don't speak a lick of French to work, organizing massive meetings, getting "grands" to give us money so we can have a real party, making a budget with a foreign currency (the cfa), which I still don't really get, sitting under a tree and listening to Justin Timberlake during massive dry season windstorms while your moto driver looks for a spare tire, and restraining yourself from biting the heads of various government officials who tell you one minute you are permitted to have a parade in Mandama and the next you aren't.
Despite all the work and lack of sleep, though, I'm super pumped at how well everything went, especially since this was the first time I've organized a massive event in a foreign country. Yes, the parade was 5 hours late, and yes certain acts for our cultural night didn't show up, but everything still "happened" to some degree.
One of my favorite parts of the festivities was the cooking competition. I got to try so many delicious new Cameroonian sauces one of which I still can't pronounce...actually I can't pronounce most words in Dabari, but this one is particularly hard. Try saying Mandadabada three times fast...or one time fast. Hell, it's even hard to write it. Dabari is an insane language that involves a ton of rolling R's. I don't know if I'll ever pick it up, but I'm trying. My neighbors who I eat delish sauces with every night are still trying to teach me, but for now I'm sticking with Fulfulde (another language spoken in Mandama, but is also widespread throughout northern Cameroon). Actually, I'm now good enough at Fulfulde that I can tell people to stop taking advantage of me and I can tell them to shut up when I know they're talking about me. It's pretty hilarious seeing the astonished/ashamed looks on people's faces when they realize you understand them.
Right now I'm also doing a ton of nutrition work with soy and moringa (this super tree that grows really well here and has a ton of nutritional benefits). I just finished writing up a presentation on how to make tofu that I plan to give at the Mandama health center on Tuesday. Serious hippiness goin on right now.
What else is new? Well, I got to see a traditional Daba funeral the other day. After I went for my casual early morning run my neighbor, Mairamou, asked me if I wanted to climb the mountain to see the "cadavre" aka cadaver aka dead man wrapped in a bunch of old cloths who looks like a supersized vodoo doll. I figured, why not? I'm glad I was still in my workout clothes because Mairamou and I (along with about 100 other villagers) had to climb this massive treacherous mountain to get to the funeral site. When I got up there the view was breathtaking...and so was the smell...breath taking/revolting. But I'm really happy I went because I have a cool picture with this big mummy that I'll try to get up on facebook shortly. I wasn't really sure if I should smile, or look serious since it was a funeral after all, so I just kinda look bleh. It's one of the sweetest and most awkward photos ever. Stay tuned!
The goats continue to rape and pillage my backyard and crap everywhere, despite my obsessive rock barriers I've constructed to fortify my fences. Another one walked in on my taking a shower the other day (I have an outdoor shower in the yard), so I kicked the crap out of it. Serious rage. It's a war, I'm telling you. I mean, wouldn't you be freaked out if you heard footsteps coming towards you while you're in the shower? Goat footsteps sound a lot like human ones too, so I was especially in fight mode....I'm going nuts...what is this digression?
What else? Oh, it's mango season! Mangoes everywhere! Mangoes, guavas, and papayas are like apples and oranges are for us. I would KILL for a fugi apple and peanut butter right now, but alas, I shall stick to my mangoes. Not such a bad thing, right?
And that's my last rambling though for now, folks. It's the little things that count, like mangoes, kicking goats, and partying it up with a bunch of Cameroonian women for Women's Day.
Hope everyone is loving life. I'll be back in a jiffy.
Megz
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