August 1, 2007 : The weather is lovely – wish you were here

Getting to the cyber cafe and actually transmitting an email take a lot more effort than you may imagine.

Everything here takes abit more effort, planning, and attention than things in the developed world. For example, if you want chicken for dinner, you need to wait until Wednesday or Saturday for the "marché", that is "market day". You buy a live chicken for 3000 - 5000 cfa (6 - 10 USD), take it home, kill it, pluck it, cut it, build a wood fire, and cook it. The initial step - the cost - is a prohibitive factor for my home stay family, so I have not eaten any chicken since I got here!!

This is the rainy season and we had heavy rains most every day last week. There are few paved roads and the earth here is a rich, thick, red clay that turns to sticky red mud when it rains. It quickly accumulates on the bottom of your shoes and you find yourself carrying an inch thick layer of it with each step. All travel is cut short and we all stay put. Experiencing the rain here is very interesting - first you hear it, then you see it, then you feel it. I think maybe this is because there is so much tropical foliage everywhere and life is quieter than in the city. The sound carries across wider distances as the storm bursts approach announcing themselves with percussion on the broad banana leaves, corn stakes and wide brimmed trees.

The heavy rains tend to cause power outages as well. The days remain manageable - that is - you can continue about your usual business at school or at home as long as you tasks are manual and do not require electricity. The evenings however are much more restricted. My home stay family has 3 small children, ages 2, 6, and 7. The sun rises quickly at 6am and sets just as quickly at 6pm and the night is quite black by 7pm. At this point we set a kerosene lamp in the hall and everyone goes to bed. It is much safer to lie in bed than bang around in the dark house!! I have my own kerosene lamp in my room which I light, I lay on my bed, and listen to CDs with my headphones on. Its actually very peaceful and if it's still raining, I have the soothing sound of the rain falling on the tin roof. Rain or shine, I sleep like a baby every night, tucked safely under my mosquito netting.

Just sending an email takes me several trips to town. I have walked the mile to town only to discover that the power has gone out, the internet connection is not sound, or the computers were not working properly. Even when the stars align and I get online, there is no guarantee that it will not all crash at any moment. There are numerous attempted emails and journal entries floating out there in the ether that you will never receive!!

Over all, things are good here and I am a happy little camper. Everything is completely different from my past experiences but I am falling in love with Cameroon none the less. For the most part, the people are warm and kind hearted; they endure what life brings with courage, patience, and a sense of humor.

We've had 3 sunny days in a row but I'm not sure it will continue. The weather is so changeable and often turns cold quite quickly. I will sign off for now and be back in town to check my emails in a few days - after the next round of rainy days.