Ma Nouvelle Maison

I've Moved Houses (Again). After nearly 6 months at my "studio apartment" (essentially a small unit in a bigger house), I moved to another house. I'm now in the Muslim quarter:

It might be a little weird to be moving houses with only about 5 months of service left, but the old house had some problems that were never fixed. It was also a weird location: it was between a prison and a 7th Day Adventist Church.

Anyway, I've moved. Its a bit more posh. For instance, I have running water. Not all the time, but I haven't had to use a well since I moved. I sometimes leave my bucket outside when it rains though. Old habits die hard. I also hear different things in my new neighborhood. At my old place, I would often hear the noise of my neighbor's loud music reverberating against our common wall, making me think I was at a night club. At my new place, I would instead hear the calls to prayer from the nearby mosque:
There's also the pigs right behind the house who make quite a ruckus when being fed in the morning:

A little weird that there's a pigpen in a Muslim quarter.

There's also turkeys nearby:

That's even weirder -- turkeys in Cameroon? I am almost positive turkeys are originally from America.

Well, that's it for now. Signing off from my town where the streets have no name, but where they do have stop signs:

Dix Choses Dont Je Pense

I don't feel no pain
I don't have no time
to listen to conflicting points of view
Its a crazy world to live alone
-- Sublime

In honor of RPCV Cooper's blog, Cooper in Cambodia (and also because I don't really have a specific topic to blog about), I'm listing "ten things I think" (or have done) of late, a potpourri of thoughts and actions, if you will:

1)  The Undiscovered Country  -- I've been listening to a lot of Sublime and Mitch Hedberg lately.  The lead singer of Sublime and Hedberg, of course, have been dead for several years now.  Gone before their time.  Due to drugs, I believe.  One can only wonder how much more they could have contributed to music and comedy.

2)  Movies -- I watched Django Unchained but after recently reading Uncle Tom's Cabin and Peter Mathiessen's Shadow Country, the film was a bit of a disappointment.  

3)  Asians in the Media -- Is Ken Jeong an Uncle Tom for playing the ridiculous Asian gangster in The Hangover films?  Is he basically "dancing for the white man" at the expense of Asians?  Are people laughing  at Jeong because he reinforces the stereotype that Asians are goofy, nerdy, etc.?  Has Jeong set Asian-Americans back 100 years?

4)  "Western" Food -- I recently came back from the West region of Cameroon, but when someone from my town asked me if I tried the local food, I realized that I mostly just ate  shawarma and a few hamburgers during the trip.

5)  Funny PCVs -- I don't know too many people who can make me laugh, but I gotta say that I've met some pretty hilarious volunteers -- Emily, Ryan, another Ryan, Rob, Sarah, Ben, to name a few. 

6)  Latest Derangement --  some kid called me "sensei" and then bowed, like I was some sort of martial arts teacher.  I had to restrain myself because I was ready to go off and have a violent reaction.  Then again, if I had that reaction, that would just reinforce their idea that I know martial arts. 

7)  ¿Donde vas?

I almost said "tambien" instead of "aussi" while talking to someone.  That could mean that my Spanish is slowly coming back, which is good.

8)   Things Cameroonians never say:  "Oh, I'm sorry.  Did I cut in front of you?  A thousand apologies.  Go on ahead."

9)  Cameroonian French -- I like how Cameroonians add "un peu" to a lot of sentences, e.g. "Tu vois un peu", "Tu comprends un peu", "Ca marche un peu", "Descends un peu."

10)  The Weather -- The upside of being in a humid climate:  no matter how cold it gets, a cold shower (or bucket bath or river bath) isn't really cold. 

Le Patois

When I lived "in the bush" at my old post, they preferred speaking the local language, which was Bulu.  I would find myself in groups where people rarely spoke French.   Thus, I took it upon myself to learn Bulu.  Here's some sentences I've learned in Bulu:

1)  Ma dji mekala a Mekalat.  I eat beignet in Mekalat.

2)  Wo dji mise mikos.  You eat fish eye.

3)  Akon a kon amu na ake dji kon a akon.  Akon is sick because he ate beans and plantains. 

4)  Ma ke yen etua metua emos Ntewua.  I saw an extraordinary car on Wednesday. 

5)  Monti Minsili asili minsili adjo minsini.  Mr. Minsili was talking about the bicycle. 

After learning simple sentences, I started working on translating short stories.  Here's one about baton de manioc.  I suppose one could title it "Obili bibobolo?  Got Baton?":

Parce Qu'il Est Là

Me: "J'ai monté Mont Cameroun." 
Cameroonian: "Ah, tu as fait le tourisme." 

Just got back from climbing Mt. Cameroon:

We took three days.  I went with a fellow PCV buddy and 3 Europeans, a guide and several porters.  We reached the summit during the second day and got back to Buea at about 1:30 pm on the third day.   My shoes, repaired by a cobbler about 3 months ago, barely survived.

Overall, it was a good hike.  However, my buddy and I were thinking that there were ways to improve the hike.  For example, the food could've been better.  Granted, we didn't pay that much for food, which probably explains why we got bread and chocolate Tartina spread (similar to nutella) for breakfast.  Not that great for a 5-6 hour hike.  We probably should've brought our own food like trail mix to munch on while we were hiking.  Dried fruit like mangoes or pineapples probably would've also been a better option instead of the chocolate sandwich or even the bananas which became squished in the backpacks after a day of hiking.  The dried fruit would be lighter to carry, too. 

Trash was also a problem:

Its not just at this one spot -- water bottles were all over the mountain (eg our campsite).  Kind of ironic that there were signs all over the mountain telling people to "leave nothing but footprints": 

Our tour guide said he would bring back the bottles we brought and then bring them to Limbé, the nearby beach.  Not really sure why he said Limbé.  Hopefully, not just to throw them away there.  Alternatively, I told him that I heard there's a facility in Douala called SOCAVER that supposedly recycles plastic bottles. 

Bringing water filters might've also reduced the dependance on plastic bottles.  Or have the tour group filter the water at their headquarters and then use that water for the hike instead of buying a bunch of new water bottles for each hike. 

I'll give the tour group props though for bringing reusable plates and utensils, but they used way too many plastic bags for the vegetables they brought. I was telling my buddy that perhaps the park should have bins to separate trash from recyclables and have some kind of clean-up crew.  Sure, that'll cost money, but the park could maybe start charging people an entrance fee or have some kind of donation box.   After all, its mostly tourists who climb the mountain anyway.  They can afford it.

Les Trois 'R's

"Il est un écologiste.  Il veut conserver la nature." -- Merchant in my town explaining to others in the store why I bring my own grocery bags and refuse their plastic bags    

Back in training more than a year ago, I did a presentation on waste management.  The main point of that presentation is illustrated by this photo from the film 21 Jump St:

I've tried to be true to that presentation during my time here in Cameroon, especially since I've lived and currently live in towns where waste management often boils down to people just burning their trash:

I'm not always successful following the three 'R's, however.  For instance, I sometimes don't "buy in bulk", especially when the opposite of "buying in bulk" is all that they have in many boutiques:

Now if only these small packets ("sachets") were biodegradable …

Other times, I've had better luck.  For example, instead of buying disposable razors, I found this razor where the only thing that you change is the blade:

Another example, when the wire on my macbook adapter practically burned off as I previously mentioned, I didn't order another adapter.  That would be just adding waste.  Instead, I did what most Cameroonians would've done when something breaks -- I tried to get it repaired:

The photo shows the adapter after being repaired by Iziaka, a local electrician.  Its been several months and its still working.  Not sure for how long though since Iziaka isn't exactly an authorized Apple repairman.  But hey, electronics is electronics.  The laws of electricity follow here just as it would in the US, right?

I've also had problems with my Timberland hiking boots.  I could've asked someone in the states to send me new boots.  Or I could just get my boots repaired.  I did just that.  First, I went to a cobbler at my old post and he fixed it for 1000 CFA (about $2):

The repairs didn't hold up.  So I took it to another cobbler at my current post, costing 3 times as much (ie about $6):

They're holding up after more than a month and hopefully will continue to do so for my upcoming treks. 

Now if I can only find someone to repair my still-frozen Kindle, still currently a paper weight.

Le Dérangement

Scene at a bus station:

Cameroonian:  "Chinois, est-ce que c'est ton sac?"
Me:  "Non, ce n'est pas le mien.  Aussi, je ne suis pas Chinois."

Whenever I'm walking around town, people would "derange" or annoy me with shouts of "Chinois" or "Ni ho".  I've had several approaches to dealing with these annoying people.  One of my more successful approaches involved wearing a foulard and growing a really long beard:

Instead of the usual shouts of "Ni ho" or "Chinois", I would get "Salam Aleikum" or "Arab" or "Tu es musulman?(Are you muslim)".  Sometimes, I would get "bin Laden", but not that often.  I decided to abandon this approach however when people started calling me "pere" or "papa" (father).  And they weren't trying to be funny or anything.  They were sincere in calling me "pere".

    My approach now is just to look as I would back in the US -- no more foulard or long beard.  This new approach invites trouble because Cameroonians in the South love to "derange" or annoy Asians while being more reserved towards Muslims.  Go figure.  But its fine.  I've decided to follow the advice of a fellow volunteer who told me that the worst thing to do when people start annoying me is just to ignore the "derangement".  Its weird because when people "derange" me with their shouts of "Ni ho", its usually because they think that its the way to say "Hello" in my language.  I don't think they're being jerks or anything.  On occasion, I would even have a decent exchange with the "dérangeurs" and they learn that I'm a Pinoy.  Sometimes, however, they ARE being jerks and so I would usually reply with "Ce n'est pas poli" or  "Je t'amuse?" ("Do I amuse you" a la Joe Pesci in Good Fellas) or if they're really annoying, "Tu es malade?" (Are you mentally ill).  Either way, after a few weeks of this more "confrontational" approach, the "derangement" has died down.  I still get deranged, but not as much as before.  The decrease could also be due to the fact that the townsfolk now know that there's an Asian guy in town, who is apparently not Chinese.  My goal in my remaining time in Cameroon is for the people in my town to yell "Magandang araw" or "philippin" at random Asians they see.  

La Vie en Ville

I have moved my post.  Although I am still in the South, I am no longer in the bush (or "en brusse").  I have moved to the city.  Since the move, I suppose one could say that I no longer am doing the "traditional" Peace Corps experience of roughing it "au village".  Some may say that I'm now Posh Corps.  That's probably true to some extent.  Here's some comparisons between my old post and new post:

1)  Old post -- small town.  Maybe 5,000 people at most.
    New post -- A city.  Maybe 45,000 people.  That may or may not be a good thing.  More people means more people who will try to annoy you. 

2)  Old post -- electricity was rare.  We would have months without electricity.
    New post -- Electricity almost everyday.  It may disappear for a few hours, but always comes back the same day.

3)  Old post -- overloaded bush taxis to Ebolowa, the second closest city, about 100 km.  The closest city, Sangmelima, is about 65 km, but bush taxis don't go there.  One would have to take a motorcycle.  In the bush taxi, people sometimes sat on people's laps or would sit in the trunk or on top of the vehicle.  Here's a photo of me sitting in the trunk of a bush taxi, which had 16 people at the time (4 people in the front seat, 8 people in the backseat, and 4 people in the trunk):

New post -- Buses are relatively comfortable.  So far, no one has sat on my lap or vice versa. 

4)  Old post -- dirt road to the city, although the road to Sangmelima is currently being paved.  I've had to get out of the vehicle several times to help push it out of the mud.
  New post -- paved road to nearest city.

5)  Old post -- I was one of two non-Cameroonians in town.  Well, there's more non-Cameroonians if you count some merchants from Niger.  Here I am with Abdul, one of the merchants:

    New post -- there's another Peace Corps volunteer in the city and there's also a French-owned fancy hotel with a swimming pool and wifi.  There's probably other non-Cameroonians, but I haven't met them yet. 

6)  Old post -- One cellphone network, which went out for about 7 months.
    New post -- At least two cellphone networks here and I'm sure a third one also works. 

7)  Old post -- no internet.  Although I suppose I could've tried a wireless key, but that only worked if the cellphone network was working, which wasn't for most of my time there. 
    New post -- about 3 internet cafés and one could purchase a wireless key from 2-3 cellphone networks.  The network also allows me to use my cellphone to access the internet. 

8)  Old post -- I had a pretty big house -- 3 bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen.  Here's a photo of me in my living room with my friend, Alino:

We appear to be pretending to read something. 

The only thing not posh about the house was that I used a latrine.  Compared to people in town, that latrine was pretty posh though (i.e. it wasn't just 4 walls of corrugated aluminum slapped together with an uncovered pit).
    New post -- I share the house with a family and another renter, so that's 3 separate units in one house.  I have a bedroom, a living room, an indoor bathroom, with an outdoor kitchen being constructed.  Not as posh as the one at my old post. 

9)  Old post -- lack of vegetables.  Probably one of the things that I wish my old post had was more variety of vegetables.  Pretty much all they had were tomatoes, onions, ginger, bananas and plantains.  Sometimes avocados or celery, pineapples rarely.
New post -- vegetables (especially pineapples) aplenty.

So those are some of the differences between the two posts.  How will the next year turn out at my new post?  On va voir!

Un An

Well, this is kind of a late post because my one year anniversary in Cameroon was back in August.  In any case, I'll post some photos from my first year in Cameroon.

2011

August  -- I arrive in Yaoundé with 8 other trainees.  We've been selected for a French immersion program in Ebolowa:

September -- 45 more trainees arrive in Yaoundé.  Here we are attending a Cameroonian talk show:
 

October -- probably one of the perks of being an Agroforestry/Environmental trainee is the fact that we get to go on field trips.  Here's some of us during our visit to the West region of Cameroon:
 

November -- I go to the South region to check out where they're sending me:
 

December -- after nearly 4 months (3 months for most), we swear in as volunteers:
 

2012

January -- I arrive at my post, not sure what to do.  I decide to check out a fish pond in a nearby village:
 

February -- I lose a ton of weight.  Part of it has to do with having to prepare all the food myself.  Its either preparing it myself or eating bush meat, which I try, but decide later that its not for me.  Here is a photo of my friend, Fabrice, who is giving me some cooking tips:
 

March -- I visit a local beekeeper:

I also went to Bamendar for IST and Kribi for vacation, but I already posted those photos elsewhere.

April -- I attend a water seminar in Bamenda:
 

May -- My boss pays me a visit.  Since I was heading to Ebolowa afterwards and I didn't want to be in an overloaded bush taxi, I decide to hitch a ride with them to Ebolowa:
 

June -- Garbage is a problem, well, pretty much anywhere, so I tried to follow the three R's.  Here, I experimented with various polypots -- one made from plantain stems courtesy of the Peace Corps Cameroon agro tool kit, one from plastic, and one from a coffee bag:
 

Of course, the neighborhood kids saw these polypots and pretty much destroyed the plants I was trying to grow.  It was a sad day when that happened.

July -- I attempt an agroforestry demo plot:
 

Its not an easy task in the south though where slash-and-burn rules.

Well, that's already one year of photos, but here's a bonus pic from August 2012:
 

This guy has some grubs (ie bugs, worms) in this bottle.Yup, the locals eat them. 

Anywho, on to year 2!  On y va!  Me nge ke!