Cameroon Recap - Part 1: Arrival & Accomodations
Part I: Arrival & Accommodations:
So I kind of feel the need to try and record some of what we did experience in Cameroon, before I forget it all. And also, so that people can have a little better idea of what the first 10 days of the PC were like for us.
We arrived at the airport in Yaounde and were greeted by many of the staff of PC Cameroon. Very nice people who helped us get through customs, gathered up all our bags, handed out water and packed all 46 of us on the bus. The Country Director, who had flown in on the same flight with us after having been back to the States for a visit, greeted us. There were a couple of current volunteers there too, to help us along, answer our questions and laugh at our both bright-eyed, and bleary-eyed (it had been a LONG flight) reactions to the country. They took us to the hotel where we would be staying for the next 5-6 days, got us all checked in and settled for the night. We arrived on a Saturday, and were told not to stray from the hotel on Sunday, as we didn’t know the area, were basically prime targets being the ‘dumb, rich, white, Americans’ we are, and needed to catch up on rest anyway – it would be a long week. We had no idea… Plus they reiterated multiple times, we would be here for 2 years (or so we thought) and would have plenty of time to explore and get to know the town and the people after we knew more about the culture, what to avoid, and had a better grasp of the language. We actually got a very effective demonstration of what we really looked like to the locals, from our Country Director during his introductory speech on Monday. He took out several $20’s and hung them from his various pockets, off his eye-glasses and the like, and then said – “this is what they see, when you walk down the street” and really, he isn’t wrong. A huge portion of the population is living on less than $1-2/day. So even with our modest PC income we were still doing quite well.
I don’t know about everyone else. But I was totally surprised to find that I could actually communicate with pretty much everyone in normal French. It wasn’t a dialect, or pidgin French or anything. “Est-ce vous avez les serviettes?” served perfectly to get me some towels for our room, and a “oh, your French is very good!” to boot!
We were placed 2 to a room in the hotel, and yes, Chris & I got our own room – complete with cockroaches that scattered whenever the lights went on, but they were babies, so it wasn’t too bad. We would find out what the grown ups looked like at our host family’s house later in the week – an event that nearly pushed me off the fragile & eroding cliff I clung to on day 8. The sheets & shower were clean though, and there was a TV that got the World Cup, so we were pretty happy. They served us 3 meals a day at the hotel – so we all had to rise before 6 to get downstairs in time for French rolls and coffee or tea. Some days we had jam, some days no jam, but when they realized we were all starving by about 10:00 and no longer able to concentrate on the important info they were giving us until after lunch, they started giving us eggs for breakfast too. This managed to stop me from waking up between 2am and 4am grasping my sides in hunger. For lunch & dinner we actually had 3 courses, which was unusual, and awkward, but good. There was always the French bread – often times with just a hint of mold on the bottom, and then the appetizer was shredded carrots with some sort of sauce. We of course learned to designate ourselves at the “veggie table” early on, to avoid being served the avocado with tuna appetizer, or other interesting selections. The main course was usually kind of a red sauce with cooked vegetables and rice. Not bad. The last day in the hotel they actually served everyone else steak & French fries, which I think went over quite well – though we got the red sauce dish with French fries. And several of those at our table fell quite ill that evening – who’s to say if it was the wine, the sauce (was there meat in it?) or the filaria pills we started taking (those are to avoid getting elephantitis and having a worm crawl across your eyeball by the way, so personally I thought a bit of nausea was worth it….)
Our days consisted of getting up and showering – which basically meant sitting in our tubs and washing while trying not to soak the bathroom – a la Francais. Having breakfast and then getting carted across town packed into PC vans, to the PC headquarters for informational sessions with the staff. Heading back for lunch, back for an afternoon session, often involving some shots, and then back to the hotel around 5pm, for dinner. Started feeling a bit like a jail. Especially with the 2 armed guards standing watch in the lobby for us.
Stay tuned for Part 2: hotel hilaria
So I kind of feel the need to try and record some of what we did experience in Cameroon, before I forget it all. And also, so that people can have a little better idea of what the first 10 days of the PC were like for us.
We arrived at the airport in Yaounde and were greeted by many of the staff of PC Cameroon. Very nice people who helped us get through customs, gathered up all our bags, handed out water and packed all 46 of us on the bus. The Country Director, who had flown in on the same flight with us after having been back to the States for a visit, greeted us. There were a couple of current volunteers there too, to help us along, answer our questions and laugh at our both bright-eyed, and bleary-eyed (it had been a LONG flight) reactions to the country. They took us to the hotel where we would be staying for the next 5-6 days, got us all checked in and settled for the night. We arrived on a Saturday, and were told not to stray from the hotel on Sunday, as we didn’t know the area, were basically prime targets being the ‘dumb, rich, white, Americans’ we are, and needed to catch up on rest anyway – it would be a long week. We had no idea… Plus they reiterated multiple times, we would be here for 2 years (or so we thought) and would have plenty of time to explore and get to know the town and the people after we knew more about the culture, what to avoid, and had a better grasp of the language. We actually got a very effective demonstration of what we really looked like to the locals, from our Country Director during his introductory speech on Monday. He took out several $20’s and hung them from his various pockets, off his eye-glasses and the like, and then said – “this is what they see, when you walk down the street” and really, he isn’t wrong. A huge portion of the population is living on less than $1-2/day. So even with our modest PC income we were still doing quite well.
I don’t know about everyone else. But I was totally surprised to find that I could actually communicate with pretty much everyone in normal French. It wasn’t a dialect, or pidgin French or anything. “Est-ce vous avez les serviettes?” served perfectly to get me some towels for our room, and a “oh, your French is very good!” to boot!
We were placed 2 to a room in the hotel, and yes, Chris & I got our own room – complete with cockroaches that scattered whenever the lights went on, but they were babies, so it wasn’t too bad. We would find out what the grown ups looked like at our host family’s house later in the week – an event that nearly pushed me off the fragile & eroding cliff I clung to on day 8. The sheets & shower were clean though, and there was a TV that got the World Cup, so we were pretty happy. They served us 3 meals a day at the hotel – so we all had to rise before 6 to get downstairs in time for French rolls and coffee or tea. Some days we had jam, some days no jam, but when they realized we were all starving by about 10:00 and no longer able to concentrate on the important info they were giving us until after lunch, they started giving us eggs for breakfast too. This managed to stop me from waking up between 2am and 4am grasping my sides in hunger. For lunch & dinner we actually had 3 courses, which was unusual, and awkward, but good. There was always the French bread – often times with just a hint of mold on the bottom, and then the appetizer was shredded carrots with some sort of sauce. We of course learned to designate ourselves at the “veggie table” early on, to avoid being served the avocado with tuna appetizer, or other interesting selections. The main course was usually kind of a red sauce with cooked vegetables and rice. Not bad. The last day in the hotel they actually served everyone else steak & French fries, which I think went over quite well – though we got the red sauce dish with French fries. And several of those at our table fell quite ill that evening – who’s to say if it was the wine, the sauce (was there meat in it?) or the filaria pills we started taking (those are to avoid getting elephantitis and having a worm crawl across your eyeball by the way, so personally I thought a bit of nausea was worth it….)
Our days consisted of getting up and showering – which basically meant sitting in our tubs and washing while trying not to soak the bathroom – a la Francais. Having breakfast and then getting carted across town packed into PC vans, to the PC headquarters for informational sessions with the staff. Heading back for lunch, back for an afternoon session, often involving some shots, and then back to the hotel around 5pm, for dinner. Started feeling a bit like a jail. Especially with the 2 armed guards standing watch in the lobby for us.
Stay tuned for Part 2: hotel hilaria
posted by alohaafrica at
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