TGIBF

Well I had a highlight reel week this week! Complete with pictures. On Sunday I made it to Limbe again (This time during the day) and was able to hang out at one of the beaches for a couple of hours. It started pouring as soon as I got there, which had me lamenting my bad luck, but eventually the rain let up a little bit and I swam in the ocean for a while. The water was so warm, and the black sand beach was gradually sloped so you could go out a ways into the water and only be up to your waist. There was also a chilly fresh water river for swimming. I didn't spend long in there because, well, first of all it was cold, and I also was a little worried about the schistosomites or whatever else might be in the water. I had packed a lunch consisting of a giant peanut butter and honey sandwich and a package of corn nuts, so I ate that there in one of the pavilions along the beach. It was a really nice beach and didn't cost too much to get in (~$4). The ticket included a free soda so it wasn't bad at all. The beach area is actually a hotel/resort too so there's a volleyball court there, a couple of basketball courts, and a guy offering horseback rides on the beach (of course, that costs extra). You can visit their spa too and get a massage if you're really feeling spendy. May sign up for one of those next time, we'll see.

After the beach I visited the Limbe Wildlife Centre. It is a zoo that specializes in the care of primates (in fact, besides a crocodile and a python, all they had was monkeys). That cost me about 6 bucks to get into, and it was pretty fun to relax and watch the activities of chimps, gorillas, mandrills, etc. The zoo mostly rescues animals or receives them by donation. At the zoo there is a restaurant where I ordered a chocolate shake and a veggie burger. When they brought the food out I felt like I had won a Survivor reward challenge or something. First of all the burger was huge, and it also had a generous side of fries. For what I paid, I was happy. There is a botanical garden across the street from the zoo, so I think next time I go I will visit that instead just to see what it's like. The restaurant at the zoo is probably going to get a visit from me nearly every time I go to Limbe though.

On my return trip I rode in a bus (more like a 15 passenger van with 25 passengers) which was a real experience. Ten minutes into the trip, a guy launched into a frenzied homily. I was riding shotgun so I couldn't really crane my neck around enough to see him. I thought the driver or his roadie (the guy who collects the money) might throw him out or something,  but nope! After his excited impromptu gospel message, a group chorus started singing songs (they weren't good singers by any standard, and the songs were embarrassingly repetitive and uninspiring), which they continued for the duration of the trip or about 30 minutes. The last ten minutes they were even clapping, a grand finale I guess. After we got out I noticed that the entire back row had been filled with them, and they were all wearing DayGlow yellow vests designating their group. Although I was sitting in the front and the road noise drowned them out some, I can't think of any other way to describe it than a nuisance. Not sure if this bus evangelism is common or I just got "lucky" but my consternation was twofold. First off, Cameroon is a very religious country, and I'd say there's a one in a billion chance that none of the other passengers had heard the gospel before. So they're more of a pointless disturbance than anything. Secondly, their fish in a barrel method is creative but seems obnoxious to me. I mean, everybody had no choice but to sit there and endure their carrying on. Just not my style I guess. Next time I probably won't take the bus. Or if I see DayGlow vests getting on I'll wait for the next bus.

I had a scare with my computer crashing on Tuesday. Disassembled it and reconnected all the wires, and it still wouldn't start! I had given up hope, but then saw something on the web about taking out one of the RAM cards. It was a bit of a Hail Mary pass, but it seemed to work, and my computer has run fine since. That said, treating people is a heck of a lot easier than treating computers. At least people will tell you where it hurts. Computers, it's anyone's guess.

Thanksgiving dinner was the other highlight of the week. I had planned to just cook some FriChik and instant potatoes with gravy, but at the last minute I got invited to the house of some Americans whose son was admitted to the hospital about a month ago. There were two families there and we had a fantastic meal. It was 100x better than what I had planned alone, and I'm glad I went! They had turkey, stuffing, giant rolls, green beans, mashed potatoes, corn pudding, salad... There was even pumpkin and apple pie afterwards! And chocolate chip cookies too! Afterwards we played Wii and talked for a few hours. It was cool to have some fellow expats invite me over, and I felt like I bonded to all of them really quickly. Most of the dishes they prepared for the first time ever from scratch! The internet was a big resource from what I heard, but everything was delicious! The turkeys (they cooked 2) weighed about 4 pounds each and they had to go to Douala (1-2 hours by car) to buy them. The guy who carved it was getting a little bit of good natured heat for totally butchering the thing, and he defended his job by finally confessing that he had to use a bread knife! It was pretty funny.

The holidays have been a little tough being away from home, but Skype is a wonderful thing and has helped a lot. I'm actually not as homesick as I expected I would be. I'm more foodsick: Missing tastes of American food back home. I fear I may gain a lot of weight when I get home, and I'll probably want to stop every time I see a Chipotle.

TL;DR Went to the beach. Went to the zoo. Ate a giant veggie burger. Took apart my computer and got it to work again. Hung out with probably the only other Americans in Buea for Thanksgiving. Ate a bunch of food, enjoyed being able to clearly understand every word they said, and was thoroughly impressed with their ingenuity and determination to celebrate Thanksgiving in a country where Butterball isn't a household name.

Semme Beach

Happy to have reached the shores of the Atlantic

Cross River Gorillas

Chimpanzee enclosure. I was within poop throwing range.

Crikey, check out that bloke

Best looking meal I had eaten here up until this point

The two dads setting the table for Thanksgiving dinner

My glorious plate. That roll was the size of a grapefruit. 5 days after my veggie burger, this meal became the best one I'd eaten here (record still stands, and probably will for a very long time)

My half eaten slice of our rectangular pumpkin pie

Foreskins, Fried Foods, and Fungus

Well my apartment is clean and Sabbath is here! Whew. This week my apartment cleaning included scraping what remained of a gecko carcass off the wall under my table. The ants definitely found it before me.  There wasn't much left, but what did remain took a layer of paint off with it! Sorry I don't have any pictures this week. Camera battery should be here any day now, and I've got a trip to the beach planned on the next Sunday that has good weather!

A lot of my recent blogging, as you may have noticed, hasn't been about my actual job at the Health Center. I'll make an honest confession here: That's because a lot of the time, the work isn't all that exciting. I mean, yes I'm learning volumes about medicine and how a hospital works, but to use a French term, it's blasé. I do pretty much the same thing every day.  However, this week, I was able to watch a circumcision for the first time. It was a lot different than I expected. I thought it would be a quick snip-bandage-mazel tov  type of operation, but it took upwards of 20 minutes. Not a major operation but the lack of anesthesia made the "ambiance" (i.e. wailing baby) feel more tense than it probably was. As a result I was sweating profusely the whole time, I think probably sympathizing with the little guy. Also there were a lot more instruments involved than I expected! I'd explain but it'd be easier to draw. And drawing penises became a lot less of a novelty after my sophomore year of highschool. So I'll just omit all of that. It's funny to me that the world's most common male operation is something that I knew nearly nothing about up to this point. I also spent one afternoon on a slow day following a nurse around. Got to remove several IV catheters, mix and administer some medication, and was almost snookered into trying to pick a vein on an 80+ year old woman (with Parkinson's). Fortunately I know enough about starting IV's (and Parkinson's) that I balked and said "maybe the next one". That's like trying to do your first landing on an aircraft carrier in a hurricane. It even took the nurse a couple of tries to get a vein! I'm confident if I keep hanging around the same nurse, my golden opportunity will come though.

There is some building across the street from the clinic that either is a nightclub or sells speakers (Actually if it was both, that wouldn't surprise me either). Basically what this means is that day in, day out, they blare Nigerian pop music (pretty much the same 5 songs on repeat. After two months I know nearly all the words). Just when I thought I couldn't handle these same 5 songs anymore, they started mixing in some Christmas music. Many might find this to be a great respite from the standard autotune and twerking truck, but for me it was more of an "Out of the frying pan and into the fire" situation. See, I'm not really a big fan of Christmas music. Of course there are exceptions, I'm not a complete Scrooge (although I did use the phrase "mazel tov" earlier in this update...). I'm usually the guy who counts down the days til Christmas, not because I can't wait for Santa to come, but because if I hear Walking In A Winter Wonderland one more time, I'll start telling all the kids that there's reindeer meat in their Happy Meals. See, certain songs I dislike more than others. Walking in a Winter Wonderland just happens to be the It's a Small World of Christmas music.

Aside from not losing my mind over Christmas music, I think that the roadside stands here are one of the biggest tests of my self control.Any time I exit the compound I'm apt to see stuff I'm just dying to eat (Fried donuts, plantain chips, formerly discussed chin-chin, these peanut-like things that are breaded and fried), or, even more irresistible, tasty looking foods that I've never tried before! I mean it's torture to be just walking down any old street and seeing great food everywhere, all the time. Every trip regardless of the original intent seems to turn into a grocery shopping trip. And every actual grocery shopping trip I go on, I seem to return with more than I had intended to. The grocery stores in the U.S. may be good at subliminal influencing, but the Cameroonian street vendors are the true professionals in this department (it's past the point of subliminal, almost feels like hypnosis). I hope this isn't too insensitive, but I honestly wonder if that's part of why Cameroon is so poor! I mean, if there were street vendors in the U.S. I'd probably be broke all the time too! Just imagine someone setting up a freakin nacho stand in the lobby of the boy's dorm. They'd make a killing!

I checked out the gym that I mentioned in last week's update. It is pretty small, but they're not suffering from lack of attendance! There were probably 30-40 dudes in there, and the coaches had everybody rotating between 2 exercises that they changed every 10 minutes so that the equipment could be used most efficiently. I jumped in for a little while but badly pulled a muscle so I left. After getting home and showering, I noticed that my hands were extremely red - more red than I'd expect for just lifting weights. After applying some antifungal cream that my mom and dad decided to send in my suitcase (good thinking guys!), I'm in the market for a pair of gloves before returning.

After almost 2 months here, I'm learning that this experience is definitely much different than I'd expected. Sometimes I complain, but I'm really blessed. I may be bored sometimes, but at least I'm not stressed. I may be sick of washing dishes, but I'm becoming a darn good cook. The way I see it, that ability will either help me score a wife or make the bachelor life excellent. Win-win! Sometimes I may feel like I'm unnecessary or not being used to my full potential, but I'm learning to relax more and enjoy simplicity in my life. I may never be a critical component of the hospital's function, but I'm not here to change their procedure, I'm here to be a volunteer - doing my best to accomplish the tasks given to me. And I can boldly say that I've held myself to that standard. Finally, I may feel like I'm not making much of a difference here, but it's clear to me that I'm quickly becoming different here, and maybe that's okay. Who knows? It could be priming me now for future work abroad once I have more valuable skills than I have now. I'm still convinced that my being here isn't an accident. There were a lot of unlikelihoods that had to become concrete realities for me to come here. A lot of prayer was involved, and I believe it worked and still is. Many of you are continuing to pray for me back home, and I encourage you to continue doing so! It isn't always easy here, it isn't always rewarding here, and it isn't always exciting here, but I'm convinced that it is always a chance to grow into a better person (and resourceful cook to boot).

TL;DR (Sorry this entry is kind of long!) I have a pet gecko! He's not really active, and very low maintenance. The hospital is boring sometimes, but this week I observed a circumcision, and boy was it eye opening! I'm told that when mine was done it left me in such bad shape that I couldn't walk for a year and a half. Cameroonian pop culture revolves around Nigerian pop culture strangely enough, and I'm definitely being immersed in their musical tastes (willing or not). They've also started playing a little Christmas music. I'm curious to see what Christmas will be like here since it occurs during the dry season. Definitely won't have a Christmas tree, the nearest one is probably thousands of miles away.  Maybe I'll go to the beach for Christmas. I spend all my money on biscuits (cookies), donuts, and plantain chips at the street vendor's stands. The gymnasium here has fungus, I'm buying gloves before I return. So far, being here isn't the easiest thing I've done, but I don't think it's necessarily the hardest either. I'm trying to take one day at a time and make the most of my time here! Keep praying!

Not My Cup of Tea

Last Sunday I had quite an escapade. One of our patients had given me his phone number and offered to take me to Limbe. "Call after 9 am on Sunday". I thought Perfect, he'll show up around 10, it'll take an hour to get there, and I can spend some time at the beach. Wrong! I called at 9:30, he said he'd arrive at 2 or 3 pm. At 2 pm, a downpour started, and I was irritated to move my laundry inside to waft mildew smell through apartment. I figured he wouldn't show, so I hunkered down with a book and some Hot Cheetos. The rain let up at 4. I started making spaghetti sauce around 5, and of course he showed up right after it reached a simmer. I told him that I had dinner on, but he convinced me to abandon dinner and come. I offered him my last 2000 francs for gas. I should have gone to the bank the Friday before, but the CFA was on a weakening trend, and I figured I'd give it the weekend to see if it would devalue more. It paid off, but the weekend was a financial squeeze. I had to borrow taxi money (about 80c) to get to the bank on Monday! Before we left, we had to visit most of the gas stations in Buea to find the right petrol. The sun was setting as we drove through the tea farms, and we stopped for a while for him to relieve himself and to work on the horn. Driving in Cameroon without a working horn is like driving in the U.S. without a windshield. Upon opening the hood I noted that his engine was held together by a lick and a prayer. His business is selling car parts, though, so I hoped he had enough knowledge/spare parts to get us back. While we were stopped I picked a few bunches of tea leaves. We got to Limbe and it was already dark so I didn't see much. We went to one of the beaches where there were food vendors and he ordered fish. I began to realize this wasn't going to be a quick jaunt. I'd hoped to be back by 8 or 9 pm! He ate his fish unhurriedly, and convinced me to try some (not bad). I was trying to be polite because he'd graciously offered to bring me but I wished he'd hurry up! The horn had disconnected itself again, so after working on it for another 30 minutes in the dark, we started our journey back at around 8:45 pm. I was optimistic that we could be back by 10. On the contrary! We had to stop every time he ran out of cigarettes. He would buy them two at a time, smoke them back to back, and then we'd have to stop again. Just buy a whole pack, good grief! On our way up a hill, the engine died. We opened the hood again, and he took off the intake, disconnected the gas line, and started sucking gas out and spitting it into the carb. After about 10 minutes, the car was back to running like a dream (nightmares are still dreams, right?). ETA would still be 10. Except that his house was on the way to the health center and he wanted to stop and show me around. He got sidetracked doing something with the water in his bathroom, and opened the hood on his car again to fiddle with it. I told him I really needed to get back because I had work the next day, but he was in no hurry! I would have hailed a cab, but no cash! At any rate, I finally got home exhausted. The guy had a heavy accent too, and I struggled to understand him during the drive home. I rely a lot on lip reading, and in the dark it's tough. Lesson learned: Next time I will just pony up for a cab to take me there so I can go and come back whenever I very well please.
The good that came out of it was getting to brew tea from leaves I picked. I'm normally not a big tea drinker, and to be honest it's too hot here for tea anyway, but it was quite the novelty to be involved in every part of the process of making it: Harvesting the leaves, drying, boiling, etc. I drank the tea along with some donut holes (the dense donuts like you'd get covered in cinnamon at the fair). To my amateur palate, it tasted exactly like any other black tea I've ever had. But I did more than taste this tea - I experienced it. That was almost worth the ordeal I had to go through to get the leaves in the first place.
I'm eating a lot better now and my weight's climbing. I've discovered a few street vendors that can leave out the meat without compromising the integrity of the food. I've started jogging some, and met some Americans that have a gym that's close by (their 5 year old was admitted with amoebiasis). I went by on a jog one day and they were closed, but from outside the building looks pretty small. Not sure what kind of equipment they have but I'm praying for a flat bench! The dues are under $5/month, though, so I'll probably join and go once or twice a week.
The other noteworthy occurrence of the week happened on Tuesday. A big assembly was held at our hospital regarding the government initiative to hand out mosquito nets. The governor was even here! They were handing out free t-shirts, which I capitalized on. Afterwards, a meal was provided for the delegates (I snuck in after they'd left and swiped a couple of leftover Sprites and some grub). They had 2 cultural drumming bands here. It definitely was out of the ordinary for a Tuesday! The Ministry of Health workers have been here handing out the mosquito nets to the for the rest of this week.
TL;DR I went to Limbe, but didn't get there til after dark. It took a lot longer than expected, but I got to pick tea leaves and brew them which was pretty cool. I'm starting to eat better now that I know where to get food, and I'm trying to exercise now that I have calories to spare. The government held a huge bash for just handing out mosquito nets. They even fed the delegates (and me, inadvertently). It was a cool event with some cultural and civic immersion that was undoubtedly a good experience for me!

Beautiful sunset over the tea fields. The peak in the distance is called "Little Mt. Cameroon" (Officially named Etinde)

Drying the tea leaves in the sun

Enjoying the fruits of my labor

A school group showed up for the assembly. This was taken before the governor's entourage arrived.

Worker handing out T-shirts to an eager crowd

Stoked on my free T-Shirt

"Empty" Cameroonian chawarma (empty is the way to order no meat here). Not bad at all! Chased it down with an equally delicious passion-fruit pineapple smoothie.

Bloggin Toboggan

Tonight as I'm writing this, it's a little on the cool side (And by that I mean 23, maybe). I'm sitting here wearing sweat pants (no shirt, too hot for that), with a steaming mug of apple cider by my laptop. I'm determined to feel like it's fall weather no matter how hard I have to try! Once all of you poor fools are in winter's icy full-nelson, though, I'm going to be soaking up the sun and posting plenty of pictures to make you jealous (But rest assured that I'm going to be jealous of your skiing selfies).
After a lot of asking around I finally purchased a guitar this week! Actually I've purchased one guitar and gotten two guitars. The first one I got was blue and I found that one of the inner struts was broken, so  I exchanged it for a red one the next day. I was worried that they might not let me exchange it, but happily they obliged. Happily for me. They didn't seem happy, but they did it without complaining. At any rate, I'm so excited to finally have back my preferred medium of personal expression (once I replace two of the strings that I broke jamming a little too hard. They came with the guitar, so they lived up to the typical expectations).
Two weeks ago I got measured for some shirts at a tailor recommended by a coworker. I got them today, and was really pleased with how they turned out! The three shirts I received are a good range from a solid, subtly textured pattern to one that's rather on the more cultural side (read: flashy) which is what I was hoping for. They are well designed, and the material feels like it should last a long time.
I finally am able to make palatable tomato sauce! In the past I've had trouble getting rid of the acidity in the tomato paste, but I nailed it this last time. Added fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil...    It was delightful. In other food-related news, I have found out that with good technique and the right amount of pressure, a completely pulverized, unrecognizably crumb-ified Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pie (Still in its individual wrapper), can be reconstituted into some semblance of its original form! This is wonderful information people! I don't know if Little Debbie's R&D department realized this, but if so they are true masterminds. There are two analogies that come to mind for this particular trick (which I've named the Adventist Pastry Recrompression Maneuver). The first is that it struck me as not unlike the technique of making a flat snowball (Not to be confused with the "potentially decapitating ice Frisbee" - completely different technique). The other analogy that came to mind and helped me perform this wonderful exercise was envisioning that I got a stocking full of coal and was trying to turn it into a diamond with just my bare hands. Considering that I just wrote nearly a whole paragraph on it, this discovery probably ranks as one of the highlights of my week.
In the past few weeks I've given two more injections, bringing me up to a grand total of three since getting here. I hope at this rate I will be able to say I've given more injections than I've received by the end of my stay. Not sure what the count is for receiving, but I've got a ways to go! I've also received one injection since arriving, so I may have to work hard to keep ahead.
As I was writing my journal entry for the evening last night, my computer seized up and instantly went into hibernate mode. The screen was showing some disarrayed flashing bars. I was worried that I must not have connected the video cable tightly enough after disassembling it to clean the fan a couple weeks ago. After a quick but enthusiastic prayer and disconnecting the battery, I fired it back up again and fortunately it came to life. It wasn't a spring to life like a brand new sportscar either, it was more of a slothful sputtering to life like an old Pontiac. Cleaning the fan sped it up a lot, and this may have been a recovery startup that needed a little extra time. I don't really know. Either way, I'm hoping and praying that at a minimum it lasts me until I get back to the States, after which I don't care if the rack and pinion fall out on the road (or whatever the computer equivalent to that is).
Thanks for reading! Your collective outpouring of love and support (as well as shipments of absolutely marvelous American junk food - you know who you are!) has not gone unnoticed, and I feel almost undeserving of all your care and concern! But please, do continue! It really helps me get through the rough days, knowing that I have a giant support base at home rooting for my personal growth, and safe return to the best side of the pond.
TL;DR Okay, this entry is really not that long, but condensation is important (learned that studying the rain cycle in 2nd grade) so here goes: The leaves don't change here, but any time it rains or gets cold I put on sweats and pretend it's autumn and drink hot beverages in my room by myself. I think that makes me a "hypstercrite". I have a guitar now! I also got 3 tailored shirts and they're super dope (There are upshots to cheap labor). My past failures at making spaghetti sauce finally culminated in success, and I found that you can squash the dry crumbs of an oatmeal creme pie back into a patty shape. Since being here I've given injections, gotten injections, watched injections, and expressed interjections. Hoping to give a lot more shots in the future, because let's be candid: It's better to give than to receive. Please pray that my computer doesn't blow a spark plug through the hood until I'm back home where I can go to Best Buy and get a new one! Computer that is, not a new spark plug.

One of my new shirts! This one's probably  my favorite of the 3

Quickly tried one on as soon as I got them to make sure they fit alright!

My successful spaghetti attempt.

The new axe!

Skippy may want to hire some better trademark attorneys...    Note that the price label conveniently conceals the phrase "super crunchy". The storeowner told me it was smooth. I'm a little miffed.