The basketball and tennis diaries

I’m back in Yaounde, the lovely capital of this lovely country. I’m at the Peace Corps office taking care of some business, then its back to lovely smelly dirty Bafoussam. Next week I travel again, pending approval from my APCD (i.e. the man in charge of knowing my whereabouts), to Nkongsamba which is located in the littoral provice between Bafoussam and Douala, pull out your maps if that means nothing to you. I will be going there on work related business, unfortunately there is no business class on the bush taxis.

The bush taxi ride to Yaounde this morning was interesting and uncomfortable as usual. I got a window seat, but I was sitting next to a very large woman who basically took over the territory on the seat intended for my body. I was also treated to a live, in van, infomercial. There was this guy along for the ride who was selling various ointments and creams meant to cure just about anything. He stood up in front of the van and screamed for about 1hr all the wonderful things his products do. “It cures bronchitis and male impotence,” he explained. At the end of his sermon people actually started waiving money in the air. 500 Francs a tube! How can you say no? I guess there were impotent men and women with bronchitis on the bush taxi this morning. My leg fell asleep at some point during the 4 hour ride, and my buttocks were very sore indeed. But now I am here, and enjoying this wonderful high speed internet with American keyboard.

Yesterday I went to work with Mr. Leopold the chicken farmer. He resides in bandjoun which is a nice village outside of Bafoussam. This village is clean and there are street lights thanks to Mr. Victor the rich man who’s mother’s funeraille I went to a few weeks back. I really enjoy working with Leopold. I find more joy working with chickens than sitting in little banks all day. I am working on a feasibility study for Leopold who is trying to expand his chicken farm to accommodate 2000 more egg layers. Its pretty fascinating seeing all those fat chickens, I like to hold them too, they are so cute. I will get pics soon, its worth seeing. Leopold also has banana plantations, peanuts, mangoes, and coffee. Needless to say, he gives me lots of goodies when I visit!

Okay. Life in Bafoussam is going well, on most days. I have integrated into the tennis club and I play about 3 days per week. I play with the #8 ranked player in Cameroon, and he is GOOD! The number one player plays there too, and he is the best tennis player I have ever personally known. He is Pro material, only problem being that he cant get a Visa to go to the States or Europe where he can get better training. Really sad, the gov here wont sponsor tennis players for visas, they only care about soccer. I also play basketball on Saturdays (as of next Saturday). I am friends with “Monaco” who played for the national team here for five years. He is 7 feet tall. Lots of fun. I think he is the only person in this city who stands out more than I do! Its nice not being the center of attention for once.

Okay, gotta go, line is getting long, volunteers are getting impatient for computer.