Cookie Day in Cameroon

Given the fact that everyday is accompanied by sweltering heat, it really hasn’t felt much like Christmas for me here in Sanguéré-Paul.  So I decided to bring a little Bennett family tradition (and possibly the most important tradition) to my house here in the village:  Cookie Day. 

Every December for as long as I can remember, my Mom and I would choose one day to ignore everything else in life and just make Christmas cookies.  All. Day. Long.  She’d take a day off of work, I’d take a day off of school (shhh…), and if my brothers were home, we’d banish them from the kitchen and send them off to go bowling.

We’d start the day no later than 8AM, and we’d have a tight schedule right up until dinnertime or beyond.  After all, Cookie Day is serious business.  We’re talkin’ chocolate chip cookies, Hershey kiss cookies, Pennsylvania dutch chocolate cookies, zebra cookies, buckeyes, pizelles, peppermint bark, peppermint pinwheels, seven layer bars, toffee bars…gosh, the list just goes on and on!  We would make cookies until we just couldn’t stand it anymore, and by the end of the night our counters would be lined by little bundles of happiness and every tupperware and tin would be stuffed full of joy.

Well, when I heard that this year I was being replaced by my brother Mike (UGH!), I just couldn’t take it anymore.  I HAD to have a Cookie Day of my own.  I decided to set up the Dutch oven, put on some Christmas music, and bake cookies all day long.

To make an oven when all you've got is a little rinkydink stove top, you need a big giant pot like this one.

Then you put in some sand and little tin cans like this to prop up your baking dish.  (Luckily for me, mine was already set up by the last volunteer.  All I had to do was brush aside the lizards that had made it their home).  Next, I put my cookies in a 9-inch cake pan, put the cake pan in the "oven", cover it, and wait!

Unfortunately with this method, you can only make about 7 small cookies at a time, so cakes are probably easier to deal with.  Which is why I made one of those too.  (Can never have enough dessert!!)

Voila!  Now I have about 150 chocolate chip cookies ready to be delivered on Christmas!

It certainly wasn’t the same without my Mom (or without the convenience of a modern oven and a fully stocked pantry), but I never expected that I could feel so much Christmas spirit here in Cameroon!  I topped the day off by opening one of my Christmas presents early: a make your own reindeer kit! 

Ages 6+, yeah right!  Assembling this thing was HARD!  But he looks darn good standing next to that tree and all those presents!

Tomorrow, I will be going fête-hopping – visiting the families that I have become close with, and delivering cookies on my way.  My first Christmas away from home, but I think it will be just fine!  (As long as Santa can still find me here in Cameroon!)

Why yes, he's a very good spaceman indeed.

I’m not going to lie – when I first arrived at post, I thought to myself, “how the heck am I going to live here for two years?”

It’s not that I had reservations about being committed to volunteering with the Peace Corps for two years, and it’s not that Sanguéré-Paul didn’t immediately appeal to me; it was more along the lines of entering a world that was so utterly different that what I was used to -- the sand, the heat, the Fulfulde, the ability to walk the perimeter of the entire town in less than a half hour…

Well, today was a good day; a day that made me realize that yes, I can actually get used to living here. 

Things started off well when I woke up to my alarm at 6:08 and did not have to run to the toilet for the typical morning routine of explosive diarrhea that most of us PCV’s frequently experience.  Yep, it was definitely going to be a good day.

After feeding Grumps a generous portion of fish that I had bought the night before (an interaction during which the vendor asked me why I don’t know how to prepare my own food, and I couldn’t admit to her that I don’t actually eat fish, I was buying it for my cat.  I'd also like to note that my cat’s meal cost twice as much as my own dinner: 20 cents for his two fish while only a measly 10 cents for my two pieces of sweet potato)… Anywhoo…. After feeding Grumps, I went out for my morning run.  Down the road to the bridge and back, twice, smiling and bonjour-ing everone I passed.

On the last stretch back, a bicycle slowed to my speed.  We chatted for a bit before he wished me a good day and sped off, only to be slowed by the sand a minute later, at which point I caught up to him and ran with him the rest of the way home.  While most of the time I had absolutely no idea what he was saying (running with headphones on while trying to converse in a foreign language is apparently no easy feat), it was still nice to have company on my run.  Long gone are the days where kids chased me in Kenya or Zanzibar shouting “Mzungu! Mzungu,” now replaced by kind Cameroonians wishing me “du courage!”  Besides, my name is Nassara now.

So I got back home, and as I prepared for the day with a bucket bath (a luxury I could afford on account of my friend Olivier fetching water for me the night before because he was concerned about my itty-bitty headache that, to be honest, was probably caused by too much sugar and napping), I heard a knock on the door.  I quickly dumped one last cup of water on my head, wrapped a towel around myself, and ran to the door. 

It was my nice grandmotherly neighbor.  After she laughed at my sopping wet head and towel, as if that’s not a proper way to greet someone at the front door, she returned the tupperware that I had delivered cookies in the day before (that’s right! I made cookies!  Without a modern oven!  And I only burnt two batchs and my entire right forearm!)  And guess what?  She had filled the container full of tasty squash that would soon become my breakfast.  Mmm!

After eating breakfast, I headed over to IRAD, the Intitute of Research of Agriculture for Development.  This is my host organization, but because my supervisor lives in Maroua (the capital of the Extreme North), I have not yet had any direction in what I should be doing.  So I walked to IRAD just hoping that there would be something interesting to do for the day, and voila!  A school group from Maroua (a technical school…so after high school, but not quite university, from what I understood) was visiting to take a tour as part of their agricultural field trip.  Perfect!  I tagged along as they went from building from building, and distracted many of the students from their studious note-taking.  My favorite part of this tour was when a student, picked up a giant grasshopper and said with utmost seriousness, “he’s a good spaceman.”  He then proceeded to make the spaceman grasshopper pretend to duel with another student’s grasshopper, upon my request.  Yep, it was a good day.

Eventually it was time for me to leave the grasshoppers and students alone, so off I went to my very first Fulfulde class with a language teacher at Sanguéré-Paul’s high school.  We spent an hour going over all the basic phrases that will help make my life a whole heck of a lot easier here.  At the end of class, I asked Professor Alain if we could agree on a price for each class from here on out (which the Peace Corps would reimburse me for), to which he responded that he hadn’t planned on charging me anything – consider it his way for thanking me for my work in the community.

What a good day!

Walking home, I even thought to myself, “wow, this searing heat and blistering sun on my shoulders actually feels kind of nice today!”

Not every day is like this.  There have definitely been down days.  But it's the days like this, with all of those perfect happy events, that make me feel like I actually can make a home out of Sanguéré-Paul.  

Catnaps and Cleaning

Yesterday marked the beginning of week three at post, if only I weren't still hanging out in Garoua because of those dang chauves-souris.  But all bats aside, what does a typical day in the life of Maria look like?

Well, for the first week, I met frequently with my Madame Tizi, my community host, to do protocol.  This meant many, many moto rides as we went from place to place to introduce myself to certain members the community that may have something to do with my service here over the next two years.  This includes people like the lawan (Sanguéré-Paul's chief), the sous-préfet of the community (some other important guy), gendarmes, and leaders of lots of environment-related organizations and government ministries.

My neighbor, Olivier, has been really great by showing me around and answering any questions that I have, and also a great way to practice french in an informal conversation!  (Although he refuses to correct my horrible grammar).  On my first full day in the village, we went for a walk, and climbed this little hill.

A cotton field and a little hill behind my village.

Believe it or not, it was actually a bit of a difficult hike.  The dusty earth made it quite slippery, and hiking in sandals was definitely not a good idea.  There was blood.  But all in all, it was fun!  The hike allowed me to see Sanguéré-Paul from above, as well as the surrounding villages.

And cows.

And odd geological features.

Oli in front of a weird balancing rock.

But aside from protocol and hiking, what have I been doing?  I would say that each day I have three main activities:  

1. Going for walks around the village and introducing myself.  The first day that I decided to get out and take a walk, I chose the wrong road.  I thought it was the road that would lead me deeper into the village, but I was oh-so-very wrong.  This was the endless road to nowhere.  I walked for 40 minutes in one direction, and passed only three people.  That being said, there were a ton of moto drivers who passed me, each one giving a friendly beep of their horn and a little wave.  

So I learned that I need to take other routes.  There's a bit more exploring to be done, more hills to climb, and some orchards to check out.  More importantly though, I've been trying to make sure that on these walks I begin conversations with people.  So far my conversations have been more along the simple lines of "Hello, my name is Maria. I'm your new neighbor," and "I would like to buy some beignets please!"  Baby steps, right?  

Starting this week though, I'm going to step it up a notch.  I told my favorite beignet mama that when I return from Garoua, I'm going to sit with her for an entire day and just practice Fulfulde.  I will also be going to all of the schools in the village to introduce myself to the teachers and principals, and I'll be visiting my host organization, IRAD, as well. 

2. Cleaning.  There had been no one living in my house for several months before me, so I was greeted by a thick layer of dust coating everything.  There were also lots of pretty sights like this:

My little stove needed a good scrubbin'!

I still have a bit of work to do, but little by little, it's starting to feel like a home.

As I have mentioned in a previous post, there has also been a technician at my house installing doors and windows where there were none before, so it's been difficult to clean around him (and to clean up after him!)  Soon though, I will be able to put up pictures of my new fancy-pants home.

I still have quite a bit of work to do, but little by little, it's starting to feel like a home, especially now that I have some Christmas decorations up!  (Thanks to awesome an care package from the famjam!)

I even have mini presents under a mini tree! 

I'll post more pictures of my house once I finish cleaning up the other rooms! 

3. Reading.  I'm still getting used to the heat, and still getting used speaking speaking other languages ALL THE TIME.  So quite often, I find myself just totally worn out.  I've found that reading is a fantastic escape into the world of English, and it also allows me to stay out of the sun and attempt to keep cool in 100+ degree weather.  (I am not alone in this need to seek refuge from the heat.  I often see my neighbors resting under a tree during the afternoons). 

Besides from these three activities, there are a few other basic activities in my life.  Every two or three days (depending on whether or not I feel like using dirty dishes), I go to the well to get water.  Luckily for me, one of the village's only five water sources is located right next to my neighbors house.  Fetching the well water is no longer a struggle for me as it once was in the Bafia days, but currently my only means of transporting it is a watering can.  So typically I have to make six or seven trips before I can completely fill up both my water filter and my giant water bucket (about the size of a mini trash can that you'd put out on the street on trash day.  Oh gosh, garbage collection... I remember when that used to be a thing in my life!  I'm still not quite sure what to do about my trash here... Most people burn theirs.)

Every Wednesday is market day in Sanguéré-Paul.  I usually do my shopping in Garoua where there is more variety and more French (rather than Fulfulde), but every Wednesday I at least go browse the market and chat withe some of the vendors.  The market atmosphere is incredibly lively.  Last Wednesday, I made two trips: one in the morning around 10AM, and one in the evening around 5PM.  During the morning, everyone is calm and quiet and some people are still just setting up.  This is the best time for me to browse and talk with people.  During the evening, well, that's when it really comes alive.  There's this one section where people just hang out and listen to music, dance, and drink bili-bili.  I can even here the music from my house!  (Then again, my house is only a 2 or 3 minute walk from the market, so I shouldn't be too surprised).  

I'm going to experiment with some cooking this week.  I've been keeping it simple up until now, with nothing really but beans and stir-fry.  Thanks to that same fantastic care package from Mommy Dearest, I was able to change it up and make some delicious bright orange mac & cheese (ah, good ol' cheese powder!)  Yesterday I bought some baking supplies, so I plan to make chocolate chip cookies this week for my neighbors.  It'll be my first time baking cookies without an oven (or toaster oven), so wish me luck!

I've also been hanging out with my cat Grumps a lot.  Sometimes he's kind of cute, but most of the time, he's just grumpy.  He is definitely a great nap buddy though.  That's our main method of bonding. 

Proof that Grumps loves naps.

By my next blog post, I hope to have expanded far beyond these activities!  On va voir!

The long journey North (in picture form!)

So I'm stuck in Garoua for the next couple of nights while a slight bat problem is being taken care of chez moi, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to share some more pictures while I'm here at the case with ample internet access.  I have so much to show and so much to say, but let's just start with the journey North, shall we?  I've already given the whole shpiel about how awesome trains are and all that jazz, so how about I just rehash the story in captions?

It all began with goodbyes in Bafia, which included one last chocolate sandwich as I said "au revoir" to our most beloved Mama Gizelle.

Bright and early Wednesday morning after a pleasant evening in Yaoundé, we headed to the new Peace Corps office to prepare for the ceremony.

There was matching pagne.  So much matching pagne.  One pattern for the new volunteers, and one pattern for all of the language trainers.  Here I am with Michelle, Yannick, and Calla.  Calla and I were classmates for many weeks of French lessons, and Michelle and Yannick tolerated us so well when we found a way to incorporate sweets (or food in general) into every single conversation.  Best teachers, best classmate.  We had so much fun!  (and learned a lot!)

After the ceremony, John the Money Man opened up his briefcase full of bills to give us our allowance for traveling to post. 

And then we got on the TRAAAAAIN!

 

Top bunk is the best bunk!  (That's Ampson with his head out the window.)

Sunrise in the Adamawa.

Scenes from the train window.

We counted 21 cars in total.

And finally we arrived at the station in Ngoundéré!

And then we had a whole bus just for the seven of us!  (And because our luggage hadn't arrived at the same time as us, it turned out to be probably the most comfortable/spacious ride we will ever have in this country!)  Off to Garoua we go!

Though the terrain in the North is generally incredibly flat, there are little hills popping up all over the place. (Mountains?  They are no bigger than Mont Royal.)

Some random village we passed along the road.  This seems to be the typical housing style up North.

And voila!  Bienvenue chez moi!