On the road again

I'm not sure when this next blog will be posted, since this computer will not let me access the site, so I'm e-mailing it to myself instead. But it is being written on June 8th at 4:23 or so.

We are in Yaounde right now visiting with a friend who was a teacher in Mbongo when I was there. He is still teaching at a high school while attending the university of Yaounde to get his master's degree. It has been really fun to see him, wander the city in a way that i never did as a PCV, and hear about the trials and tribulations of achieving a higher education in Cameroon. That part is not fun, but is interesting and discouraging. He has, however, an indomitable spirit and continues to struggle to do research and continue his studies within the extremely difficult and limited resource atmosphere of the modern Cameroonian university. His friend has helped make sure we do not go hungry and have eaten all kinds of traditional Cameroonian chop (food) like wata fufu and eru, fufu corn and njama njama, and achu. Last night we went out dancing to the latest Makossa music, and the new thing from Ivory Coast called coupé callé.

Manohmanohman. I'm falling behind.

Note to Carl - mmm those puff puff and beans sure taste good.

First, some Peace Corps stuff that may or may not be interesting to other people. This trip on the one hand would not be possible without the experiences I had as a Peace Corps Volunteer, but on the other hand, has very few connections to PC itself. It is really to connect with friends I made so many years ago and to be in Cameroon again to see how it is. That said, I am still interested to know how Peace Corps programs are, especially with agroforestry. I thought I would seek out Peace Corps more, but it just has not been a priority. But in Maroua, we wanted to find volunteers to see about going to Waza park, and for me to learn about the current agroforestry program. We thought we'd try the old haunts and lo and behold, we hit 5 volunteer gold in the first place we tried. 2 agros, 2 health, and 1 education voluteers. The bottom line is that there are no agro volunteers in the SW province, and the program has been split into two with different trainings for volunteers in the 3 northern provinces and those in the NW and Western provinces. For those of us that did the feasibility study of the 3 northern provinces, PC listened to us since there are now over 20 agro volunteers in this area. George Yebit is still APCD, but I will not see him during our stay here. Almost all the volunteers have cell phones now, but it is their choice and is an out of pocket expense. Apparently a few chose not to get a phone, but after a couple months, virtually all have them. It's a trip to sitting drinking a beer and one fo them gets a call from the US or another volunteer to coordinate the rest of the night out. When they heard when I was here and our lack of internet and cell phone, they exclaimed "woah, you're old school". That made me feel very cool. When I was here, I considered old school those volunteers that had 8-tracks.

The volunteers were all very friendly and interested, and we went out for grilled fish with a group of them. It was fun to hear stories but it was not very nostalgic like "ahh i wish i was a volunteer again" even though I value so completely the experiences that I had as a volunteer. It's because of my experiences that i can now teach and be in the position I am in at TOCC. The volunteers were also very helpful for us to change money. The Euro is really the only accepted foreign currency in Cameroon anymore and it can be very hard to change dollars or dollar travelers' checks. For Americans on the other hand, the dollar never goes out of style. There do seem to be ATMs in all the major cities, although they seem to be a bit unpredictable, but have still been a very quick and easy way for us to get CFA.

Beer is between 450 and 500 CFA and the new beer on the block is Castel Milk Stout which I have not had the chance to try yet. Petrol is between CFA 400 a liter (almost 4 dollars a gallon) up to 550 for diesel. Very expensive if you only make CFA 1 or 2000 a day. It kind of puts things in perspective with how much we agonize when fuel is almost 3 a gallon. moto taxis are still 100 and closed taxis are 150 and I had forgotten how complicated it can be to get a taxi in Yaounde.

Tomorrow we will take the venerable Ton Ton Express from Yaounde to Kumba where we will meet up with my neighbor and best friend from Mbongo. Needless to say, I am very excited to see him. Like I wrote before, since leaving Cameroon I have had so many fantasies and dreams about returning to Mbongo, seeing friends again, trying to imagine what it will be like. Fantasies range from tears, all night dancing and celebration to not letting me back into Mbongo. Dreams usually involve lots of tourists (read white people), or lots of Peace Corps Volunteers, or nobody left that I know. Some of the more extreme dreams even have carnival attractions', and one had a direct hoverboat line connecting Mbongo to some unkown Western country. Ton Ton took me to and from Mbongo so many times that it will be good to take it again. I wouldn't be surprised if one of the employees recognizes me.

In the States, I sometimes would get emotional thinking about going back to Mbongo, although I haven't felt any of those feelings yet. When we went back to Aissa Harde, I got choked up thinking about seeing P and family a couple of times knowing how important they were (are) to Kristie, as well as how good they were to me. But when I finally saw him, it wasn't anticlimactic really, it was still so good to see his face and hear his voice, it was just . . . normal. As if no time had passed. (besides the small life changes such as 3 more children and a second wife for him and a 1st wife for me). We talked and played scrabble all afternoon with A, P, and a doctor posted up north from the northwest province while people came to visit. The scrabble board was a fun mix of french and english. It just felt comfortable, friendly and good. So I suspect it might be a similar scene when I see V, although actually getting to Mbongo I suspect will be quite a commotion. Overwhelming. It's gonna be fuckin' awesome (I hope). Pardon the Pigin

In the Northern part of Cameroon, Islam is the predominate religion. Mosques are everywhere, you hear the call to prayer several times a day, and life temporarily stops while people ritually wash in preparation to pray, and then face Mecca to pray. It is somehow comforting to be in the environment, especially with all the insanity and sterotypes about Muslims in most of the Western media. Islam is not a state religion here, and wherever there are Muslims, there are Christians and believers in traditional religions that carry on their lives around the prayers. The bustle continues or you just take a break while you wait for people to finish their prayers. It does not feel opressive or obligatory, although I cannot honestly speak for people who live in the culture. They may have a different opinion. But in general, I get the genuine feeling that there is a remarkable tolerance for people of different religions here and ability to live side by side. More about this later as my computer time is almost up.