After spending a wonderful time in Kribi, we came back to Yaounde. Unfortunately for me, I came back with some stomach issues. I had to travel back to Ngaoundere on Sunday the 3rd to arrive on the 4th. There are four levels of comfort on the train. I'll start with the best which is a couchette. There are 2 types of couchettes; a couchette with 2 people or with 4. I usually take the couchette with 4 people. Next, is 1st class. You're pretty much sitting on a plane for 16 hours. Last but not least is 2nd class. They tend to sell the same seat to 5 people, so just imagine. Because I traveled during the holidays, there weren't anymore couchettes so I had to take 1st class for the first time. I had someone accompanying me so it wasn't as painful, yet still very uncomfortable. I began to have a fever on the train and my stomach was still acting up. The only place I wanted to be was home, in the Bronx. Luckily, the train arrived at 10am. I rushed home and just curled myself up on my bed. I guess the Head of the Department, Dr. Wirba knew something was up and he came over. I told him my symptoms and told him that I think I have malaria and amoebas.
We went to the clinic but the lab was already closed. The doctor prescribed a few medicines and I was off again. I spend the whole day in bed. My fever kept on rising. Around 8pm the doctor called and asked me to take my temperature. I did and he ordered me to come in and spend the night at CMS. I had no choice so I asked one of the guards to walk me to the clinic. I started my treatment for malaria even though I had not been tested for it. The nurse was very nice and kept on checking on me. My ivy finished at around 2am and I just slept til the morning. I left at 6am. On my way back home, I found one of my neighbors who was on her way to come see me. She was shocked that I was up and walking alone. We came back home and ate some breakfast before having to go back to the clinic to run some test.
As I predicted, I did have malaria and amoebas, wait can't forget parasites too. I was not a happy camper. I had to sleep at the clinic 2 more times in order to finish my treatment. I must have gotten sick during the vacation. Here in Ngaoundere its too cold for mosquitoes. So I am at ease. As for eating, I rarely eat out and when I do its at the same restaurant. That was not the case over the break; I ate out almost everyday hence the amoebas and parasites.
After my 3 day treatment, I feel like myself again. Luckily we caught the malaria early; if not, it would have been a lot worse. I am grateful for having wonderful people here to help out. After a week of laying low and no work, I must go back to work today. The semester is almost up so I just have to hang in there a bit longer. This is actually the last week of classes because next week is dead weak.
How's intersession? Are you ready to go back to Scranton yet? Well I hope you are enjoying every minute of it. Take care and stay tune next week!!!
Cynthia
Just like I promised, more from Kribi. What was supposed to be a 4 hour journey, turned into an 8 hour one. But it was a ok. We quickly settled into our rooms, put on our bathing suites, went to eat some shrimps and straight to the beach!!! I never been to the beach at night before. I was a bit scared to get in bat after seeing the boys have fun, I said "I guess its ok." There weren't any waves and the beach was nice and calm. The only light came from the phare better known as the lighthouse. One of my friends had never been to the beach before! It was so cute seeing him play in the sand like a 5 year old. Simple things like this makes me appreciate everything I have. Here I am in a country which is foreign to me yet, I have explored it more than most of the natives. Being here has really taught me to appreciate everything and just give. My mom always used to tell me that I'm stingy, I do not like to give. And she's right. I work hard for what I have. However, I've learned to give freely here. Does it hurt me to buy a 2 liter soda for my guards? No. Does it hurt to cook a lot of food and give the remaining portion to my neighbors? No. Thank you Cameroon for taking me out of my NYC mentality where even saying hi to strangers is rare.
Now that I'm done lecturing, lets get back to Kribi. Our second day in Kribi consisted of walking all day way to Lobe Falls which is 7km from Kribi. It was a trek in the heat but of course we had to swim for a bit before continuing. There we met Jeff and Cami. We ate some more shrimp before bringing in the New Year!!! O the festivities were wonderful. We had a great time.
Stay tune to find out what happens next
I know it has been a long time. I hope everything is going well. For those taking a class during intersession, good luck. For those hanging out at home for almost 2 months...you're lucky. I'm not going to lie, intersession is awesome. I stayed on campus Jr and Sr year to work and it was awesome. It is very quiet and tranquil (not to say that during the year its not) Its just a different side of Scranton.
How was Christmas? I learned that I can never spend Christmas away from home ever again. Yes, I spoke to my mom on Christmas but it is just not the same. There were no presents to open, no mac and cheese, and no punta dancing :(. But, I will surely make up for it next year!!! I have enjoyed my stay in Yaounde a lot. On Saturday, the 26th, Joseph and I went to Baffousam, which is in the West province. He is actually from Bangam, a small village right outside of Baffousam, but his mom currently lives in Baffousam. She made me my favorite dish, mait du pistache (grounded pistachio wrapped in leaves). Yum Yum Yum. We only stayed for a night, but I got to visit his sisters and walk around Baffousam. It was nice to leave the hustle and bustle of Yaounde for a bit. If I could explain Yaounde, I would say that it is NYC on steroids lol. There are taxis everywhere but, if its not going your way...access denied. Crossing the street is difficult because traffic lights and crosswalks are almost non-existent. It's definitely a great place to visit, but I can't live here. The same way, not everyone can live in NYC.
After Baffoussam, I came back to Yaounde for a few days before heading to the white sandy beaches of Kribi, on the coast of Cameroon. Kribi is 4 hours away from Yaounde. We took a bus with about 40-50 people and no it was not a Coach bus. Before we even took of, the entire bus was mad at us because we had already paid for someone's ticket and they were not yet there. There was even a short verbal altercation but after a few minutes the person we were waiting on arrived. As soon as the bus took off we began behaving like 8th graders on a field trip!!! It was fun until everyone was tired and went to sleep. We thought that our bus was going directly to Kribi but it was actually going to the commercial/industrial capital of Cameroon, Douala via Edea. We had to change buses in Edea. Waiting is not bad when you are in good company and I had 3 wonderful people surrounding me!!!
I'll tell you more in the next entry...
~Cynthia
I made it to Yaounde in one piece alhumdouliah!! The train ride was tiring but I cannot really complain because I was better of then those in 1st and 2nd class. I shared a room with 3 other people and had a bed to sleep in; while others actually traveled standing up! We arrived in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon at 1:30pm. That is nothing compared to the train that arrived on the 22nd, which finally made it to town at 7:30pm!!! The train is really old even though there is money to make reparations but…do not get me started on corruption in Cameroon. Anastazyia came to get me at the train station and off to Emia, her quarter we went.
There is definitely the feeling of Christmas here, unlike in Ngaoundere, where I live. Ngaoundere is predominately a Muslim town so Christmas is not really celebrated. On the other hand, here in Yaounde, there are Christmas lights everywhere. There is also a festival called Ya-Fe (Yaounde en Fete) which started on the 18th and will finish the 3rd of January. This is where you go for live entertainment, awesome food, and much more. We visited Ya-Fe the 1st night with Anastazyia’s Anglophone friends. It was so packed that we refused to wait on line and just went somewhere else.
I have enjoyed my time here thus far. It is nice to come to a big city where I know that the chances of me bumping into one of my students is slim to none. I do not go out much in Ngaoundere because of 2 reasons, there really isn’t anywhere to go and there is a 90% chance that I will find my students if I do go out.
Yesterday, I had an interview to teach at a Brooklyn Charter School. It went really well. This was my second interview with this charter school network. Now I have one more interview to go, which will be in person. It works out well because I am coming home soon (I just won't tell you when). I can't believe that there is a possibility that I will move back to NYC. I have always said that I would never move back there but...I guess things can change.
I hope you will have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! Please save me some food, I will highly appreciate it!!
Take care,
Cynthia
I know it has been a long time since I have posted pictures, so here goes!!!!
My Arabic students. I teach English to students majoring in Arabic Studies.
Anastazyia and I when she came to visit me!!
This is how I celebrated my birthday
My outfit for Tabaski (a Muslim holiday)
This is what people eat during Tabaski, sheep (it's dead by the way)
The week started out a bit rough because I colleague of mine past away on Friday. Dr. Ngu Alfred, was sick since I arrived in Cameroon. We shared the same office and on the 7th of December he was pronounced dead in his village in Bamenda. Elected faculty and staff went to the funeral service and burial yesterday. May his young, widowed, pregnant wife finds the strength to accept this tragedy.
Let’s switch to something much happier but lets keep the Ngu family in our prayers. On Thursday the 10th, I took an impromptu trip to Mbe, a village 60 km from Ngaoundere. I went with a professor to visit his cousin, who is the delegate of a government program to help the youth get their act together. We took a shared care with about 30 people when in reality it only holds 20 max!!! That seems to be the usual in Cameroon. Safety does not mean anything, money does. We arrived around 6pm and walked around town a bit. Delegé told us about his job and Mbe. Because we got there late, it was a relaxed night, we just talked and laugh. Rise and shine at 6am. I took a bucket shower and ate some slamming eggs. He took us to his office and I taught the 40 students an English lesson. The students want me to come back and hopefully I will.
On Saturday, I went to town to hunt for some shoes to no avail. Finding shoes here is very difficult and of course when I find a pair I like, its way too expensive. I love expensive shoes but if I do not know who made it, I’m not buying. After having no luck, Chaka and Rose made it up to me. We went to Chaka’s for dinner and it was mmm good. He made fish with tomato sauce. It does not sound extravagant but believe you me, it was really good. We listened to Cameroonian music and had a great time.
On Sunday, we (Sido, Manga Manga, Aladji, Alex, and I) toured the Adamawa region. We went to Chute de Vina) Vina Falls and Lake Tison . At Vina, I was a bit scared to get close to the waterfall because there was a drop and I had on my infamous loafers. If I had on sneakers, it would have been a different story. Sido and Manga Manga were mean and laughed at me. While the guys took into consideration that I do not hike everyday. We took a lot of pictures and stood right next to the falls. The majority of Cameroonians have never even been there so they were surprised to hear that I went there already!! After Vina Falls, we drove to Lake Tison . Lake Tison is a circular volcanic crater lake. It is in the middle of nowhere. Beautiful landscape surrounds the lake. We brought food and drinks so we picnicked by the lake. Aladji even brought a horse for us to ride!! On his way back from borrowing the horse, Alex fell and thought that we were not going to find out. He forgot to dust off the evidence from his back hahah. We hiked around the lake and road the horse until we were tired. We arrived back to our place at 5:30pm by 7pm, I was already in bed!! Hiking really wore me out but it was worth it. This week was busy but did not involve school. I did a lot of household chores and even started working full-time on my project with WEP.
As I am typing, I am stranded in the middle of nowhere. I am on the train to Yaounde, the capital to spend 2 weeks with Anastazyia for Christmas break. An hour after take off, a part of the train caught on fire. All I heard was “everyone stay down” so I immediately assumed that we were being hijacked. Of course I panicked because everyone else panicked. An hour later we are still here. I hope that we will make it in peace. Keep me in your prayers.
This week I have learned a lot about Cameroon through 1st hand accounts. Before I get into that lets talk about how much fun I had this weekend. The Geography department has taken me under their wing, so much that the head of the English department asked why do I spend so much time there. The answer to that question is, there is food and people, emphasis on food. This department is very generous and knows how to make me laugh. On Thursday, I was invited to attend the Sawa of Douala in Ngaoundere. Douala is the capital of the Littorial region and is also an ethnicity and language. Dr. Moussima, who is Douala and a professor in the Sociology department invited me, since he is apart of the board. So the Sawa is a gathering of the Douala people to pay homage to their tribe even though they are far away. The gathering took place in town and lasted for 5 days. You would not believe how much different types of food there was. There was even snake!!! No thanks, I'll pass. I got the opportunity to take a picture with the President of the Sawa and have dinner with wonderful people.
On Friday, it was back to the Sawa but this time with the Geography department. Lord knows that they are trouble makers. There was a free concert and the opportunity to win many prizes. I won a hat and a polo (yea I know you're jealous). Sometimes being American in a foreign country is a great thing. One of the professors came late and the guards had already closed the door. All my collegues needed to do was look at me and I already knew what I had to do. I had to go search for Mr. Aoudou. I told the guard that I was American and he was my husband and I had already reserved him a seat. Within in a matter of seconds, he was sitting down with the rest of us. So know everytime we see each other, we call each other husband and wife. Fof (Chaka, a monitor in the Geo dept) had me dying the whole night. Here, when someone performs and they do a great job, you dance to them and give them money. Chaka was trying to convince me to go and dance, and he succeeded. I danced and nreceived a lot of compliments. Chaka even said that an older man even commented! Whatever the case may be, we had a wonderful time!! I even asked if there was a restroom for Americans and the owner said "we do not discriminate" Fof could not believe his ears; he screamed in laughter. O man, we had a great time. We took a moto-taxi at 2am back to Rose's place and mind you, we both had to teach at 8am.
Waking up was not difficult, nor was teaching my class. My students (History 3rd year) were really engaged and appreciative of my teaching method. I mad sure they were awake by possing questions and giving out pens to the students who gave the right answer. So you know that they were on pins and needles. After the warm up, we read a passage about HIV (what does it have to do with history...I don't know). We later had a discussion about it which at times became very heated. However, it was a great opportunity for students to express themselves in a language that they really do not have the opportunity to do so. At the end of class, a few students came to me and told me how much they enjoyed my way of teaching, which is a break from how they are normally taught, which is strictly through lecture and note taking. I left with a big smile on my face.
When I arrived to the geography department, everyone was there. I asked how was class and they just looked at me. They did not teach, they were too tired from the night before. I just laughed. I am now called "la forte" or the strong one because I can attend a free concert and still teach the next day!!
On Sunday, I invited the geography department to my house for lunch. I tend to only cook when I have visitors, so it has been awhile since I last step foot in my kitchen. Luckily for me, I have a nice neighbor and she helped me cook. I did a lot of the prepping while she did most of the cooking. Whatever the case may be, I HELPED!!! My visitors arrived at 3pm and we danced the day away. One thing that I do not like about having little parties at my house is, cleaning up. This time however, was not as bad as my birthday but I didn't have any help.
This week is midterm week which means that I am not teaching!!! Students are taking exams until today. So I have been relaxing yet still trying to keep busy. I had an interview to teach at a Brooklyn Charter school on Tuesday. I hope it wentn well but I'm not really sure. The interviewer was not responsive but did say "wonderful" a few times, we'll see. I am suppose to travel this weekend with a collegue, hopefully we'll go before I leave Ngaoundere for Yaounde; I'll keep you posted.
By now I am sure that you are done or almost done with finals. I know that it was not as bad as you thought it would be. In any case, safe travels back home and enjoy your long intersession!!!
Cynthia
This week I have learned a lot about Cameroon through 1st hand accounts. Before I get into that lets talk about how much fun I had this weekend. The Geography department has taken me under their wing, so much that the head of the English department asked why do I spend so much time there. The answer to that question is, there is food and people, emphasis on food. This department is very generous and knows how to make me laugh. On Thursday, I was invited to attend the Sawa of Douala in Ngaoundere. Douala is the capital of the Littorial region and is also an ethnicity and language. Dr. Moussima, who is Douala and a professor in the Sociology department invited me, since he is apart of the board. So the Sawa is a gathering of the Douala people to pay homage to their tribe even though they are far away. The gathering took place in town and lasted for 5 days. You would not believe how much different types of food there was. There was even snake!!! No thanks, I'll pass. I got the opportunity to take a picture with the President of the Sawa and have dinner with wonderful people.
On Friday, it was back to the Sawa but this time with the Geography department. Lord knows that they are trouble makers. There was a free concert and the opportunity to win many prizes. I won a hat and a polo (yea I know you're jealous). Sometimes being American in a foreign country is a great thing. One of the professors came late and the guards had already closed the door. All my collegues needed to do was look at me and I already knew what I had to do. I had to go search for Mr. Aoudou. I told the guard that I was American and he was my husband and I had already reserved him a seat. Within in a matter of seconds, he was sitting down with the rest of us. So know everytime we see each other, we call each other husband and wife. Fof (Chaka, a monitor in the Geo dept) had me dying the whole night. Here, when someone performs and they do a great job, you dance to them and give them money. Chaka was trying to convince me to go and dance, and he succeeded. I danced and nreceived a lot of compliments. Chaka even said that an older man even commented! Whatever the case may be, we had a wonderful time!! I even asked if there was a restroom for Americans and the owner said "we do not discriminate" Fof could not believe his ears; he screamed in laughter. O man, we had a great time. We took a moto-taxi at 2am back to Rose's place and mind you, we both had to teach at 8am.
Waking up was not difficult, nor was teaching my class. My students (History 3rd year) were really engaged and appreciative of my teaching method. I mad sure they were awake by possing questions and giving out pens to the students who gave the right answer. So you know that they were on pins and needles. After the warm up, we read a passage about HIV (what does it have to do with history...I don't know). We later had a discussion about it which at times became very heated. However, it was a great opportunity for students to express themselves in a language that they really do not have the opportunity to do so. At the end of class, a few students came to me and told me how much they enjoyed my way of teaching, which is a break from how they are normally taught, which is strictly through lecture and note taking. I left with a big smile on my face.
When I arrived to the geography department, everyone was there. I asked how was class and they just looked at me. They did not teach, they were too tired from the night before. I just laughed. I am now called "la forte" or the strong one because I can attend a free concert and still teach the next day!!
On Sunday, I invited the geography department to my house for lunch. I tend to only cook when I have visitors, so it has been awhile since I last step foot in my kitchen. Luckily for me, I have a nice neighbor and she helped me cook. I did a lot of the prepping while she did most of the cooking. Whatever the case may be, I HELPED!!! My visitors arrived at 3pm and we danced the day away. One thing that I do not like about having little parties at my house is, cleaning up. This time however, was not as bad as my birthday but I didn't have any help.
This week is midterm week which means that I am not teaching!!! Students are taking exams until today. So I have been relaxing yet still trying to keep busy. I had an interview to teach at a Brooklyn Charter school on Tuesday. I hope it wentn well but I'm not really sure. The interviewer was not responsive but did say "wonderful" a few times, we'll see. I am suppose to travel this weekend with a collegue, hopefully we'll go before I leave Ngaoundere for Yaounde; I'll keep you posted.
By now I am sure that you are done or almost done with finals. I know that it was not as bad as you thought it would be. In any case, safe travels back home and enjoy your long intersession!!!
Cynthia
On Sunday, I prepared for Anastayzia's arrival to Ngaoundere. After traveling up north to a village two hours outside of Garoua, she came to visit on her way back to Yaounde. She's my 1st over night guest so I have to start on the right foot. After my lovely 5:30am run, I went to the market with Sidonie to find some ingredients to get our cook on. We made cabbage and vegetables with fish. It was very good if I might add. Unfortunately, I could not taste it, since I had to run to town and have lunch with Rose and her family. When I arrived, they had already finished eating since they could no longer wait for me. In any case, we had a great time.
It was very nice to see Anastazyia. It has been almost 2 months since we last saw each other in Yaounde. Unfortunately for her, her phone was stolen at the train/bus station. WELCOME TO NGAOUNDERE! Not the warmest welcome but she made it in one piece. I invited a few people over for a meet and great being that I did not have class on Monday. It was a long night but well worth it.
On Monday we had so much running around to do. I gave Anastazyia and Kalim a tour of campus, my office, and faculty and staff. We took a taxi to town to purchase their train tickets. Kalim was confused as to whether he was going back to Yaounde or not. We should have known something bad was going to happen since Anastazyia's ticket number was 666. Kalim did not buy his ticket at the same time and when he decided that he was going to travel back to Yaounde, all the tickets were sold out. They decided to stay an extra night and since so many people wanted to travel, it was very easy to sell Anastazyia's ticket.
We had lunch with Michelle the Peace Corps Volunteer here in Ngaoundere. We ate at my favorite restaurant, Coffee Shop. We talked about living abroad, long distance relationships, and everything else Americans talk about lol. Michelle is actually traveling to Argentina for Christmas. I am excited for her. Friends and family are trying to convince me to come home for Christmas but I am not giving in. I have another trick up my sleeve hahaha. We were in town for pretty much the entire day. On our way to get a taxi to come back to Dang, we had a minor accident. We were on a moto bike and I was stuck in between Ana... and the driver. She said I looked so feeble. She was just saying that the driver was going fast. Two seconds after saying fast, another moto scrapped us on the right side. We were both sore but it could have been a lot worse. We laughed about it after the fact. I kept on telling her that she's never coming back to Ngaoundere.
Yesterday was another crazy day. Anastazyia came to my classes to see how things work here in comparison to ENS in Yaounde. 4 out of 10 students in the Arabic class came to class. We had a wonderful discussion about Fulani culture, the education system in Cameroon, and Islamic culture. Of course Abdouliah asked the most questions and since he has developed his critical mind, he cannot stop asking "why?" Unfortunately for me, I did not have the same luck in my history class. The were very disrespectful and dropped the F bomb in class so I just walked out. I refuse to be disrespected. I will never step foot in that class again. I'll speak to the head of the English department today and I'll let you know how it went.
I am guessing that you are getting ready for finals!!! Didn't the semester fly by? I can't believe I have been here for almost 3 months already!! I have to start preparing for one of my favorite classes so until next time.
Cynthia
On Friday the 27th, Muslims all over the world celebrate the end of the Islamic calendar. Rams were sacrificed and eaten during this holiday. Because of Tabaski, there were no classes (Whoopie!!!) I washed clothes for about an hour, which was not fun. I let my clothes pile up and when it comes time to wash them, I want to cry. However, I finished (the pile for today, tomorrow is another day). As I was walking out of my apartment, Dr. Wirba’s brother-in-law pulled up on his moto-bike. He asked if I was ready and we were off. First, we had to buy some fish. We bought the fish and on our way to Manwi, we got a flat. Luckily for me, we were just a few meters away from my house. Unfortunately for me, I burned my leg on the engine. I am used to hopping on and off of a moto; however, the driver did not realize that I put my leg down and proceeded to rest the moto on my side. It was excruciating and does not look pretty either. I just kept on telling myself that it could have been worst. For starters, it’s my first accident. Unlike others, I have not gotten traveler’s diarrhea, dysentery, or any of the other illnesses I am trying to prevent. Even though my neighbors and “friends” think that I should taste malaria before I leave. I just look at them like they are crazy but they insist that I won’t die; I just have to go to the hospital for 2-3 days and then I’ll be ok. Speaking of which, one of my colleagues was in the hospital for a week because she had Malaria and Typhoid!!! After hearing that, I am extra careful about taking my medicine. Call me paranoid if you want, but I do not want to fall ill here. Malaria is the disease that gives on giving. It messes with your immune system and acquiring new illnesses is much easier after having malaria.
Back to Tabaski… When I arrived to Manwi after waiting for a taxi for 20 minutes, I was greeted by many unfamiliar faces. In my mind, I thought it was going to be an intimate setting but I was wrong. After all the greetings, I went to Sakina’s room where I ate and chilled until it was almost time to go. Unlike everyone else, I at fish and not sheep. A part of me wanted to see the killing ceremony. The kept the head and the skin I guess as a souvenir. I took pictures but I do not know if my connection (internet) will let me put them up.
I also met with a fellow who applied to an MBA program in New Hampshire. I thoroughly enjoyed speaking to him. At times it is hard to find an intellectual here in Ngaoundere. Everyone likes to speak but most of the time it is about nothing. We spoke about the problems of Africa, American politics, and the international scene. Having such a conversation makes me much more eager to keep up with current events so that I can continue to have such conversations.
Well I have to go get ready for Anastazyia’s visit tomorrow. She’s the ETA in Yaounde. She’s stopping by before going back to Yaounde on Monday night!!
A la prochaine,
Cynthia
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