Friday, June 27, 2003

My last update was uploaded on Tuesday when I couldn't stand the fact that I hadn't had email in over a week. I had to leave class right at the lunch break, jump in a taxi with my friend, Joe, and went all the way to Baffoussam. The place where I had been before told me that their server was down and that there would be no internet that day. Luckily there's another one around the corner. It was much slower, but it worked. I uploaded the blog and wrote a couple of other emails and jumped into another taxi for the 20 minute ride back to classes. I was only 5 minutes late, but I didn't eat anything! It was alright thought since I had had an omlet for breakfast. Since there is virtually no cheese here, omlets are generally pepper and onions and its all mixed together, not folded. Still, its one of the tastier foods here. That and the fruit.

Not a whole heck of a lot has happened since Tuesday. The Grand Doile for my Papa's brother was last night, but Papa didn't go, so I just went to bed listening to the singing next door. They didn't get started until about 10pm and stopped around 3am. I'm chalking all of this up to cultural experience. It is quite interesting, and not something any tourist would likely ever experience.

We got a list of the potential posts yesterday and we've all been trying to figure out where we would want to go. We have fairly little to say about it, but its fun to dream about it. The posts range from a somewhat touristy town not too far from the beach to a desert post not far from Lake Chad. There are 6 English-speaking posts and the rest are French. Of course, its not quite that easy. While the business language is either english or french, the folks on the street either speak Pidgin (a melange of english) or one of over 200 tribal languages (like the one spoken here in Bandjoun). We're supposed to write our preferences by Monday and will find out on Wednesday where we end up.

Tomorrow I'm heading out of town for my first overnight trip to Foumban and Foumbot. Foumban is where one of the larger tribal kings lives and apparently has a "world-renowned" chefferie (place where the tribal chiefs and kings live). I'm taking my camera in case we're able to get in and see it. Its supposed to be really amazing. I'm going with a few friends from training and am staying with a current business volunteer who lives there. It should be lots of fun, and I'm looking forward to getting out of town for a little while. We'll also get to experience more of the interesting modes of transportation Cameroon has to offer. I haven't figured out how to upload pictures quite yet since the cafes have tight security on their internet explorer and won't allow uploads.

Last night was the semi-finals of a major international soccer tournament. Cameroon beat Columbia 1-0 and is now in the finals on Sunday. I don't know if made news there or not, but during the game, one of the Cameroonian players fell over by himself and died. I haven't heard what happened exactly, but I've heard brain hemmorage. Anyway, the entire country is mourning here. Its quite different. People are calling him a patriot and I keep thinking that he's just a soccer player who left his country to make more money playing in France and England but still plays on his country's national team when they play. I'm sure there's more that I don't know though. Anyway, it was all anyone could talk about today.

A word on interesting advertising techniques...Wednesday was a Grand Market day in town. Basically the center of town is full of people selling everything from used clothing to live animals (ducks, rabbits, pigs, etc.). About 1pm, a large 18-wheeler with Coca-Cola on the sides pulls up right in the middle. An hour later, it had transformed into a large stage with huge speakers and about 500 people gathered around watching as people went to dance on stage hoping to win free Coke, Coke hats, T-shirts and other things. Coke essentially caused about 1/2 of this huge market to stop selling and buying and watch this whole spectacle. It was indeed surreal, and I was disappointed I didn't have my camera to document it.

Tonight, my father took of to the funeral of the wife of his cousin who lives in Dschang. I guess when families are this big, there's always someone dying and someone being born...