Porcupine for dinner!!!!! Mmmmm

It’s hard to believe I’ve only been in Cameroon for two weeks now, it honestly feels like a lifetime. I guess I’ve seen so many new and interesting things, it’s enough to fit into a lifetime. The time seems to move a little slower here, two weeks in the States was a blink of the eye.

Peace Corps has definitely been a full time job, and then some. Let me take you through a typical day of training:

6:45am: Wake up! I actually wake up on my own now, no need for my alarm clock. Between the roosters, the barking dogs, the noises emitting from the courtyard of my host family’s house, and my natural biological clock, waking up is easy. I crawl out from my mosquito net and hop to my feet.

6:55am: Shower time. My host family actually built me my own bathroom facility. It is a separate structure from the rest of the house. It’s basically a brick structure with a tin roof. Inside there is a toilet (no toilet seat, I’ve really developed some powerful quadriceps!), a sink and a shower. No hot water, but cold showers are actually starting to feel good. There is no mirror, so shaving is a bitch. I am fortunate to have these amenities; there are other volunteers who rely on a pit latrine and bucket baths every morning. Apparently I was placed with one of the more affluent families in town. My host dad is in the timber business, and he chops down some pretty big trees. Everyone in town knows him by the giant Toyota Land Cruiser he drives.

7:10am: Get dressed. I wear khaki pants and a collared shirt everyday. Cameroonians take dress pretty seriously, and I like to look good (not that I have to try!). Since its so humid here, I tend to sweat quite a bit, so my clothes can only be used twice. Cleaning clothes here is a huge pain in the ass. I have to hand wash them, which not only tears my hands apart, but also really gives the clothes a serious beating. Then you have to let them dry for two days, and then you have to iron them. I even iron my boxer shorts. Why? Because there are these insects called “mango flies” that like to lay eggs on damp clothes, and when the eggs hatch, the worms that come out like to burrow under your skin. Then you have to squeeze out the worms, kind of like popping a zit. So, I definitely iron EVERYTHING. I don’t know how common these mango worms are, but I don’t like to take chances with things like that!

7:25 am: Breakfast. The food here has been delicious, and that includes breakfast. My host sister, Florence, usually cooks me breakfast. It’s often an omelet with onions and tomatoes, some bread, pineapple, mango, and coffee. Sometimes it’s different, though. Like this morning I had mackerel (fish), and beans, and bread, and banana, and coffee.

7:50am: Off to stage (training). My house is about ten minutes from the training site. I walk through a series of dirt paths and grassy fields. On the way there I wave and smile to everyone who stares at me (which is just about everyone). Its fun being the center of attention, it’s like they’ve never seen a white guy before. Sometimes little kids chase after me, I give them gum, and high fives.

8:00am: Training begins. Since I already speak French, I don’t really take language classes, which make up half the training schedule. So while everyone else is in French language training, I have other duties. The other Allen in the group happens to be the other French speaker. We are in charge of publishing, and writing much of the weekly training newsletter. We also help conduct language classes. In the evenings I tutor one of the trainees who’s having trouble with French.

10:20am: Coffee break, really good coffee break.

10:40-12:30: Technical training. This is where we learn about what the hell we’re going to be doing for the next two years. For now I know that I will be working in a micro finance institution, as well as advising people on small business improvement. The micro finance institutions are like credit unions, where people can obtain small loans to help them start small businesses in order to become more self-sufficient. Small business can be selling bananas, opening an Internet café, organizing an art co-op, and just about anything else that can generate a profit. It should be pretty interesting. I get the impression that Cameroon has many business opportunities, but the people here are not educated on how to make the most of them. The other problem is a lack of technology. They really need some computers in this place, and they need to learn how to use them. It could do wonders for them. So based on all this, my project is potentially going to be very interesting, and very challenging, which is what I want. At the end of the two months training, we will be sent to our post in country. All I know for now is that I will be placed in a large city, somewhere. I will keep you posted.

Update: We have been assigned to work with a local business in town during training. We will basically monitor the business, get a feel for how it works, identify areas that could use improvement, and then write a report at the end of training which we will present to the business we work with. I have been assigned to the grocery store in town. I’ve already been there several times, and I already see things that can be improved. They are trying to computerize the store, because as of right now, they hand write receipts, and use ancient calculators to add up all the purchases. Their inventory system is in a series of old beat up notebooks. Hopefully I can take part in the installation and implementation of a computer system.

12:30-1:30pm: Lunch. Lunchtime is always interesting because we’re on our own as opposed to eating our host family’s food. I go out with the same four people everyday. We call ourselves “the Core.” We’re all similar in our humor, and attitude, yet very different in other ways. One is a 32-year-old MBA holder, who is very politically minded and wants to work in development. The other is a 25-year-old investment banker (she just left a high class Wall Street job and Manhattan apartment, to come to the armpit of Africa, and a lovely pit latrine, she’s crazy!). The other one is named Allen just like me; he’s a sarcastic Chicago guy, who studied theatre and economics. And the last one is an Ivy League educated, female version of my friend Blake (hey guy!). I think these people (5 including me, three guys, two girls) have quickly become my best friends in the group, for some reason. Its not that I don’t like all 25 people in the group, but in times like these, you need close friends, and it’s impossible to have 25 close friends.

1:30-5:00pm: More training. Usually a health session, or a cross-cultural session, and maybe more language. The health sessions are very boring and often disgusting. Yesterday we learned how to make a Malaria slide. To make a malaria slide you have to prick yourself in the finger to draw blood, then wipe the blood onto a glass slide, which you send to the PC medical office in Yaounde. You do this anytime you think you have Malaria. Luckily our medical kits contain many drugs to keep us alive in case we come down with the disease. So yesterday, we had to practice drawing our own blood, something I didn’t think I could do. But I managed to poke a hole in my finger. I got pictures of the whole process, and I will upload them just as soon as I can.

5:00-6:00pm: Tutoring/Beer drinking. Some days, I tutor my friend (part of the Core), other days we all go to a bar in town. It only costs about 90 cents for a giant bottle of Guinness. One of those a day definitely keeps the doctor away, and it tastes really really good after a long day of training.

Sometime between 6:00 and 9:00pm: Dinner with host family. It’s actually usually only with one other person in the family, and always someone different. I guess everyone is on their own eating schedule. Dinner is great. Usually some sort of meat (fish, beef, chicken, or pork), some rice, some potato or manioc, some fried or boiled plantains or some sort of spinach like green leaf in a peanut sauce. There’s other stuff too, but I can’t think of it all. They always have “piment sauce” on the side, which they like to spread on the meat. It is the spiciest stuff you have ever eaten, but it’s really good. I made the mistake of putting too much on the first time I ate it, ouch, burn.

This morning, my host momma wanted to show me what host papa caught in the forest, which we will eat on Sunday night. Unfortunately the thing escaped the storage room where they were keeping it. Not to worry she said, the porcupine can’t be far! Yes, we will eat porcupine on Sunday night. The porcupine is still alive and wondering around the compound. They say its tres tres bon. I’ll let y’all know what it tastes like! ***UPDATE**** The porcupine has been found, Antoine, my host brother, put it in the freezer last night, apparently it was still alive when he tossed it in there. I got a great picture of my sister holding the thing upside down.

Sometime between 6:00 and 9:00pm: Right now there is the Euro 2004 soccer tournament. I watch all the matches on TV with my host brothers (all 6 of them). It’s just like old times in Boulder, watching hockey (minus the Keystone Light!). I root for France, who is playing well.

Then I go to bed around 9:30 or 10:00pm. If I can, I listen to my music, and read some of the technical training handouts (there are many of them). But I’m usually so tired by then, I go to sleep. I have Mefloquine (malaria medication) induced dreams every night. The drug makes you have really lucid dreams and sometimes they’re fun, but sometimes they are downright scary. Like the night I dreamt I was being attacked by the guard dogs that watch over the compound at night. I’m not one for animal cruelty, but I really want to kick these dogs, they sit right outside my window and bark in the middle of the night. On the other hand, they have these really cute puppies. Cute for now, then they grow up and bark, and then I want to kick them!

So that is, a typical day, although no day is ever all that typical. Today is Saturday. After our morning classes, I will head home for lunch, then to the internet café to upload this blog entry and hopefully write some emails. Then it’s off to “Les Rolls”, the hottest bar in town. All of us PCTs (Peace Corps Trainees) will be meeting there for an afternoon, evening, and night filled with Guinness, music, dancing, and whatever else. It will be nice to unwind.

This is probably the longest blog entry I will ever be able to write. Luckily, I got my hands on someone's laptop, and I was able to type it out before going to the internet café.

LAPTOP DONATIONS? OK, here’s the deal: I really need a laptop. If I get a laptop I can keep this blog detailed and interesting. If I get a laptop I can be a hell of a lot more productive with my project. Working at a bank, it would be nice to have a machine to create spreadsheets and other documents. The volunteers in country highly recommend getting one. I don’t need anything fancy, just something that will run Microsoft office. If you, or anyone you know, or any corporation you know has an old laptop that they would like to donate to a very worthy cause, or even sell at a very affordable price (I’m working for peanuts here), please contact me by email allenbanick3@yahoo.com. I would be ever grateful. I will arrange the shipping details, and everything else.

Ok, I think thats it for now. You are welcome to call me or email me anytime. The internet connection here is so damn slow, it may take me a while to get back to you, but I will in due time.