Bamenda is in the english-speaking region of Cameroon, north of dschang by about 2 hours. SIT went there to study the minority population of anglophones, most of whom spek mostly pigdin (like creole for english). here are some handy phrases to use if you're ever in bamenda:
your name na who? my name na julia.
whatee you wan do for be in bamenda? (why are you in bamenda?)
i de study french.
wusai dem de sell wrappas? (where can i buy fabric/pagnes?)
i cam buy many wrappa fine plenty (i have come to buy many nice pagnes.)
you wan go chop? (want to get something to eat?)
burnin in de mop! (this food is spicy!)
bamenda is bigger than dschang, and much busier. i had my first marriage proposal from the man selling fake rolexes on the sidewalk. i tend to get a lot of comments like "my wife my wife!" and "take me to america", it might have to do with the hair...
we met with john fru ndi, the chairman of the leading opposition party of the RPC, paul biya's group. it was definitely an experience. we also talked to the political group that wants to secede from cameroon as an independent english-speaking nation. there were some pretty heated discussions -- i didnt realize how big of a deal it was. another day with another perspective.
its nice to be back in dschang with another load of pagnes under my arm. off to my first match de foot this afternoon -- the town's team is playing a neighboring town. it should be exciting!
29.9.07
22.9.07
Fongo Tongo
a week ago saturday i got sick for the fist time, so i missed the waterfall fieldtrip. nothing big, according to my host mom i ate too much "pimant" (spicy sauce) at madame essola's grilled fish house the night before. i have no regrets, it was delicious -- but my stomach was not very happy with me. instead i went with thomas to fongo tongo on sunday. seven of us -- thomas, therese, their daughters lynn and melissa, me, and my sisters rosine and marion -- packed into the five-seater SIT truck and bumped along all the way there (i'm really surprised the truck didn't bottom out). thomas has a new house in fongo tongo right across the road from his brother's chefferie (chief compound). its kind of like a weekend home, except its a really nice appartment with rooms underneath for other family members. we had lunch there, and then thomas and therese took me with them to a deuille -- the mourning day after someone's death. in this case, and old woman had passed away after a good life, so it was more of a happy celebration. many people returned from other towns, and all were dressed up, whether in modern styles or more traditional. the custom is for younger women (me) to follow the grandmas of the family around as they greet others. most people greeted me in yemba, to which i was to reply "ng" (meaning yes). when i did that everyone would laugh and shake my hand. mostly i had no idea what was going on but it was a great experience!
this week, every house in town has "arbres de paix" (similar meaning as an olive branch) on their windows and doors to protect against the fée who has apparently come to dschang. according to the kids (and the nightly news!), the fée is an old woman who carries a dead baby on her back and has no face. she goes from house to house asking to use the bathroom, and if you let her in she kills your family. my parents scold the kids for talking about it, but they are totally freaked out, and it was on the news for crying out loud! when we asked our french professor about it, he said that the typical response to such a rumour is for everyone in the community to conform, because if something goes wrong at a house where they did not put up the arbres de paix, everyone will say they did not respect the spirits and brought the bad luck on themselves.
we were supposed to go to bamenda this weekend, but the trip is postponed to monday. the leader of the opposition anglophone party in cameroon, john fru ndi, has agreed to meet with us! but he won't be in bamenda til tuesday. apparently bamenda is the place to go to buy pagnes...i cant wait!
this week, every house in town has "arbres de paix" (similar meaning as an olive branch) on their windows and doors to protect against the fée who has apparently come to dschang. according to the kids (and the nightly news!), the fée is an old woman who carries a dead baby on her back and has no face. she goes from house to house asking to use the bathroom, and if you let her in she kills your family. my parents scold the kids for talking about it, but they are totally freaked out, and it was on the news for crying out loud! when we asked our french professor about it, he said that the typical response to such a rumour is for everyone in the community to conform, because if something goes wrong at a house where they did not put up the arbres de paix, everyone will say they did not respect the spirits and brought the bad luck on themselves.
we were supposed to go to bamenda this weekend, but the trip is postponed to monday. the leader of the opposition anglophone party in cameroon, john fru ndi, has agreed to meet with us! but he won't be in bamenda til tuesday. apparently bamenda is the place to go to buy pagnes...i cant wait!
15.9.07
priceless moment
i am sitting in the cybercafe listening to "toxic" by britney spears as it blasts out of the computer next to me. i love my life.
14.9.07
La drame des tailleurs (the tale of 3 tailors)
at the end of my first week in dschang, i am starting to feel routine set in. i'm becoming comfortable in my surroundings and getting used to the structure of family life, daily walks, class time and social time. not too much homework yet, but i'll have more next week -- readings, cultural observations, a group presentation etc.
tomorrow we're taking a class fieldtrip to fongo tongo (a neighboring town) and hiking to "la chute de Mamy Water," a regionally famous waterfall. on sunday i'll return to fongo tongo with thomas (my friend from french camp) to visit his childhood home, the chief compound -- he is one of many sons of the chief (chiefs sometimes have as many as 250 wives, no joke). i cant wait -- this weekend is going to be a blast!
the tale of 3 tailors is this:
on monday i took my first pagne (length of fabric, 2 yards to be exact) to be tailored at Leon's, a host father of a student on the program and well-known for the beautiful bags he makes. he is from the same town as another concordia language village alum, gustave river who was my counselor my first year at CLV, so we had a connection and got on great. on wednesday i went shoppingduring the lunch hour for more fabric with marissa (an SIT student) and her mom yvette, and bought 2 more pagnes. her mom took them back home with her where i could pick them up later ( marissa lives right next door, we share a wall). i had talked to my mom about getting a shirt/culotte set like the one she has, and she said she knew a tailor who did great stuff and she would call her. but when i went to pick up my fabric at marrisa's on wed. night, another tailor was there to measure me! i couldn't say no -- yvette had called her specially, and she turned out to be another mother of a student on my program. then this morning on my way out the door, a woman came by our house -- it was the tailor my mother had called. so she measured me right there, i got to school 15 minutes late, and now have 3 pagnes between 3 tailors. just plain silly.
tomorrow we're taking a class fieldtrip to fongo tongo (a neighboring town) and hiking to "la chute de Mamy Water," a regionally famous waterfall. on sunday i'll return to fongo tongo with thomas (my friend from french camp) to visit his childhood home, the chief compound -- he is one of many sons of the chief (chiefs sometimes have as many as 250 wives, no joke). i cant wait -- this weekend is going to be a blast!
the tale of 3 tailors is this:
on monday i took my first pagne (length of fabric, 2 yards to be exact) to be tailored at Leon's, a host father of a student on the program and well-known for the beautiful bags he makes. he is from the same town as another concordia language village alum, gustave river who was my counselor my first year at CLV, so we had a connection and got on great. on wednesday i went shoppingduring the lunch hour for more fabric with marissa (an SIT student) and her mom yvette, and bought 2 more pagnes. her mom took them back home with her where i could pick them up later ( marissa lives right next door, we share a wall). i had talked to my mom about getting a shirt/culotte set like the one she has, and she said she knew a tailor who did great stuff and she would call her. but when i went to pick up my fabric at marrisa's on wed. night, another tailor was there to measure me! i couldn't say no -- yvette had called her specially, and she turned out to be another mother of a student on my program. then this morning on my way out the door, a woman came by our house -- it was the tailor my mother had called. so she measured me right there, i got to school 15 minutes late, and now have 3 pagnes between 3 tailors. just plain silly.
10.9.07
weekend with my host family
i am now situated in dschang in the west province. my host family, the nountenijeus, live in tsinfeng neighborhood, about 10 minutes on foot from the SIT office and 20 minutes from the university of dschang, where classes are held. the nountenijeus are wonderful! charlotte and joseph are in their mid-thirties, i would guess. there are six children: rosine (18), fallone (14), mc pronounced mac (11), marion (9), nathalie (7), and baby suzie, who turned one yesterday. rosine and fallone are adopted. joseph works at the alliance francophone (the cultural center in dschang, which hosts cultural events, art, music, theatre, etc) as a specialist in french and cameroonian culture. charlotte used to work at the library until suzie was born. i seem to have really found a home here -- i feely very lucky! i'm also feeling lucky because they have two toilets and a real shower, even a bathroom sink. it is also very nice to have my own room with a lock (this is required by SIT).
since yesterday was suzie's birthday, charlotte killed one of the six chickens who live on the back balcony (we dont have a yard) so we had fresh spicy poulet and potatoes for lunch, YUM. i told them that in MN we eat potates plain or with just salt and pepper, and they thought that was pretty funny. its really nice to have a good french base, it has made it a lot easier to fit in...though everyone laughs when they hear my cameroonian accent. my family also didnt believe that my hair is so blonde, they thought i dyed it. the little girls wont stop touching it unless i really give them what for! they want to play all the time. they taught me a game yesterday which was fun, but they wear me out -- good thing my first gift was crayons, it keeps them busy.
in case you feel like sending aletter my way, i finally have my mailing address, the address of the SIT office:
Julia Schumacher
c/o SIT BP 441
Dschang, Cameroon, Central Africa
don't send anything of value (it wont get here) -- your words on paper are invaluable to me as it is!
à la prochaine (til next time),
julia
since yesterday was suzie's birthday, charlotte killed one of the six chickens who live on the back balcony (we dont have a yard) so we had fresh spicy poulet and potatoes for lunch, YUM. i told them that in MN we eat potates plain or with just salt and pepper, and they thought that was pretty funny. its really nice to have a good french base, it has made it a lot easier to fit in...though everyone laughs when they hear my cameroonian accent. my family also didnt believe that my hair is so blonde, they thought i dyed it. the little girls wont stop touching it unless i really give them what for! they want to play all the time. they taught me a game yesterday which was fun, but they wear me out -- good thing my first gift was crayons, it keeps them busy.
in case you feel like sending aletter my way, i finally have my mailing address, the address of the SIT office:
Julia Schumacher
c/o SIT BP 441
Dschang, Cameroon, Central Africa
don't send anything of value (it wont get here) -- your words on paper are invaluable to me as it is!
à la prochaine (til next time),
julia
7.9.07
arrivée!
i have arrived safely in cameroon! i'm sitting in a cybercafé in bafoussam now -- today our class orientation activity is learning to get around toan on our own (but not auite alone, i have a partner luckily). we are to find a cloth shop, train station, and taxi back to our hotel -- both scary and exciting!
some interesting things that have happened so far:
on our way off the plane in douala, a woman collapsed and someone had to start CPR on her while half the riders were trappes on the plane as the poor woman blocked the entrance. i was just behind her, it was so sad. we eventually had to leave through another door, i hope she was alright. chrisitane, our director, had no clue what happened, she thought we were caught up in customs and was very relieved to see us when we finally made it to the baggage claim.
we are staying in bandjoun for the orientation, a small town 20 min outside of dschang. it took six hours to drive from douala to bandjoun, mostly because the roads here are in horrible condition, with potholes literally the size of craters and checkpoints every 15 miles. the drivers -- gaston and bertrand -- are the best i've ever seen. they manage somehow to avoid potholes and other crazy drivers and they take it slow, i feel very safe. in fact i feel very safe in general, everyone who works for the program is quite experienced in carting around unassuming american students and they know which mistakes we will make before we even make them! the orientation has been really helpful, i feel very prepared to go into my homestay family on saturday (!).
i won't be living with my friend thomas' family unfortunately, but i will have a great family who has previously hosted american students. i can't wait to get to dschang and start a daily routine. i'll have class from 8-noon, then lunch, class from 1-3:30, dance class on tuesday afternoon, dinner with my family at 8pm and then homework time! there is a lot of that -- papers, interviews, movie analyses, cultural observations, etc etc etc. and that doesn't include prep for the ISP (independent student project).
i have been taking dramamine for car trips and haven't gotten carsick even once -- MIRACLE DRUG!
we visited a museum inside a chief's compound yesterday. we saw photos of the chief all decked out in leopard skins and beads and a huge ceremonial hat, along with all his "chief things" -- scepters, drums, thrones, sculptures etc etc. when we came down the stairs from the tour, we saw a man standing at the door wearing a rain jacket, green track pants and a big gold tiger tooth bling. it was the chief and none of us knew what to do! so embarrassing. for future reference, we should have bowed with our hands clasped and not looked at him directly. whoops.
my minutes are up -- more news ASAP!
ju
some interesting things that have happened so far:
on our way off the plane in douala, a woman collapsed and someone had to start CPR on her while half the riders were trappes on the plane as the poor woman blocked the entrance. i was just behind her, it was so sad. we eventually had to leave through another door, i hope she was alright. chrisitane, our director, had no clue what happened, she thought we were caught up in customs and was very relieved to see us when we finally made it to the baggage claim.
we are staying in bandjoun for the orientation, a small town 20 min outside of dschang. it took six hours to drive from douala to bandjoun, mostly because the roads here are in horrible condition, with potholes literally the size of craters and checkpoints every 15 miles. the drivers -- gaston and bertrand -- are the best i've ever seen. they manage somehow to avoid potholes and other crazy drivers and they take it slow, i feel very safe. in fact i feel very safe in general, everyone who works for the program is quite experienced in carting around unassuming american students and they know which mistakes we will make before we even make them! the orientation has been really helpful, i feel very prepared to go into my homestay family on saturday (!).
i won't be living with my friend thomas' family unfortunately, but i will have a great family who has previously hosted american students. i can't wait to get to dschang and start a daily routine. i'll have class from 8-noon, then lunch, class from 1-3:30, dance class on tuesday afternoon, dinner with my family at 8pm and then homework time! there is a lot of that -- papers, interviews, movie analyses, cultural observations, etc etc etc. and that doesn't include prep for the ISP (independent student project).
i have been taking dramamine for car trips and haven't gotten carsick even once -- MIRACLE DRUG!
we visited a museum inside a chief's compound yesterday. we saw photos of the chief all decked out in leopard skins and beads and a huge ceremonial hat, along with all his "chief things" -- scepters, drums, thrones, sculptures etc etc. when we came down the stairs from the tour, we saw a man standing at the door wearing a rain jacket, green track pants and a big gold tiger tooth bling. it was the chief and none of us knew what to do! so embarrassing. for future reference, we should have bowed with our hands clasped and not looked at him directly. whoops.
my minutes are up -- more news ASAP!
ju
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)