18 minutes of freestyle

I have 18 minutes left on this internet time so I decided to use it and type my thoughts as they come to me. Most of my previous entries were premeditated, this is raw emotion, here it goes:

I changed the title of this blog, becuase that is what this experience is becoming. A rollercoaster ride.

Today was emotional to say the least.

6:30am: wake up. I'm sick of the alarm tone on my phone, so I will change it soon. Once you become tired of a particlular tone, you no longer get excited about waking up.

6:45: Hop in cab with my addidas pants a white tee shirt and my tennis racket. "100 francs, tennis club" I yell. In cameroon when taking a cab, first you yell the price then the destination. If the cabbie accepts your offer and there are fewer than 7 people in a car that seats 4, then he honks his horn which means "get in where you fit in." This morning I was lucky to get a cab on my first attempt.

7:00-8:00 - Tennis with Alain. Alain is the #6 ranked player in Cameroon, he kicks my a** everytime and I pay him 1000 francs to do so. It is a great workout. I broke my strings for the 3rd time in 3 weeks, that sucks because it costs money. I then traded my racket with the ball boy whom I pay 500 francs to run around and pick up balls. I do not choose to have this ball boy, i guess my whiteness pre determines the existence of a ball boy.

8:15-9:00 - morning preparations. I take a cold shower in the dark as the power is out once again. I eat a banana and left over potato soup and coffee.

9:00-12:00- work, sort of. I go to work with the intention of making excel spreadsheets, but the power is out. This is a widespread blackout and it looks as though this will be an all-dayer. I spend my time in the office reading and finishing "the celestine prophecy" which I recommend to anyone interested in the meaning of life. I also chat with Cecile the secretary who spends her time looking out the window and thinking of nothing.

12:00-4:00pm: I go home with no intention of returning to work since the power will not be back till 6pm according to the local radio. 6pm really means 9pm. I eat more left over potato soup and start reading "brave new world" by aldous huxley. I also started reading "the sun also rises" by hemmingway. I like to start several books at the same time, eventually I settle on one. I read, then I lose focus so I turn on the radio to RFI. This is the French equivqlent to bbcnews radio. I listen to stories of decapitation in Iraq and flooding in haiti, and what have you. Same old depressing news. It is great for my french though, it is high level professional french which you dont hear in cameroon.

4:00- pat, my roommate returns from work. We go have a beer across the street. We always go to the same bar. The bartenders name is killian, he is great and he is from the anglophone region of cameroon. Nice to hear english although it is somewhat distored. Its like jamaican english.

8:40pm- NOW. I have 3 minutes left so I will leave this free flow typing session where it is. I will have my computer in two weeks which enable me to produce more premeditated writing.

Later. Wait, I'm back

Its pooring rain outside and I dont feel like getting drenched today so I purchased more time. This leaves 15 minutes of more raw emotion live from the heart of allen in the heart of africa.

Lets see...okay here we go:

Let me describe the feeling of walking down the street in bafoussam.

The act of walking down the street sounds rather simple and uneventful. But its different here. Close your eyes open to read this):

Imagine a very busy street. Imagine no sidewalks. Imagine many cars going in all sorts of directions; left, right, up, down, sideways not making an effort to avoid you. Imagine scores of kids pushing carts full of bags of rice not making an effort to avoid you. Imagine 1000's of people walking up and down this street not making an effort to avoid you. Imagine trash, dog sh*t, puddles, mud, that you must make an effort to avoid. Imagine all this, all at once. Kind of like playing "frogger" on the computer, many things to dodge. Now imagine being 4 inches taller than everyone and being the only person with your particular skin tone. Now imagine all this chaos of people staring directly at you as you pass. Imagine them yelling "BLANC!" or "WHITE!" or "NASSARA!" or "DOC" (all meaning "white"). Imagine some of them hissing and motioning for you to come over to them. Imagine THAT!

That is my 1.5 mile walk to work in a nutshell. It used to scare me, then it irritated me, now I dont even notice it. I walk tall and I walk proud. "I'm rubber you're glue, everything you say bounces off me and sticks to you"

This is what keeps me going. I am learning, i am growing more confident everyday.

Okay, 15 minutes are up. It is still pouring rain, but thats life. Potato soup awaits me. It is dark out, so people wont yell at me.

Enjoy the peace and calm your neighborhood. If it ever gets boring, come to bafoussam.