CaMarooned: Je parle que un peu

This week has had a lot worth mentioning. First of all, last weekend on Saturday, the annual Mount Cameroon Race for Hope occurred. Each year a number of participants run in an almost marathon (24 miles) that goes from the local "sports complex" (basically a soccer field and a basketball hoop) all the way to the top of Mt. Cameroon, and then back. I woke up a lot earlier than I normally would on a Saturday to watch them all run by. As usual, I was awake and out the door on time (6am), and the race started an hour and a half later than I was told it would. Either it started late, or I was misinformed. Either is equally likely! At any rate, it was cool to watch the people headed out, knowing exactly how far they had ahead of them. Having climbed the mountain myself makes their achievement that much more impressive, I walked up (barely) and I was absolutely knackered! It took me 2 days to do what the fastest ones do in 4 hours. I can't imagine how tiring it must be. Many locals compete specifically for the prize money of winning 1st place - the equivalent of $20,000. The top finishing male and female each win this amount. There's also a relay category, and I'm not sure what the winning team of that gets. Most people start training like a month in advance, hoping to be the one to win. Of course the ones that win it are the ones that have trained all year, and many of them have won it before. One woman won it 7 times before being forced into retirement. Predictably, there are other "thrillseekers" (or masochists) who come to Cameroon just for the race. I saw a smattering of Europeans and Americans (all white people look the same so I couldn't be sure who was who). I also heard rumors that there were at least a few Kenyans running, but I can't confirm this. I mainly just watched in the morning as they were headed up. The first place runner passed by on the way back while I was at church. I could tell because the first place runner has a police escort, with sirens. After church most of the people were coming by 2 or 3 at a time, and all very spread out, so it didn't keep my attention for very long.

This last week the weather reached the height of its intolerability. The mornings for the past few weeks have been nice and breezy but by about 1 in the afternoon it would heat up and the air would get stagnant. I start sweating pretty bad in my 100% polyester scrubs. They're not the epitome of breathable, that's for sure! At any rate, the clouds have been rolling in and it's been looking like it really wants to rain for the past 2 weeks. I was hoping it would just do it already, because that would probably bring the humidity down a few points. On Tuesday, sure enough, it poured for a good hour, and then rained even more during the night. Made the atmosphere a lot more pleasant, and it cut down on the dust too which was a nice side benefit! Of course now there's mud, but it's a change at least.

One day in the clinic we had a patient who said she didn't speak English (of course there are different degrees of "don't speak English", but she seemed pretty high functioning). At any rate, she was adamant about speaking French, so the doctor had me get someone to translate. After that I figured I had nothing to lose by trying, so I started asking her the usual questions in French (What's the matter, how long has it been the matter, have you taken any meds, do you have HIV). Even without the translator's help I got a good idea of what was going on. I ordered the labs, explained what we were going to do, and sent her to the lab. When she got back I didn't even bother getting the translator, I just explained the diagnosis and medications as best I could. This was pretty exciting for me because it marked my first consultation done entirely in French. It was touch and go at times but I still felt pretty accomplished that I was even able to get through the entire thing and get the point across at least. Looking back to less than 6 months ago when I got here only knowing "Bonjour", "Excusez-moi" and struggling to spit out a "Ou sont les toilettes?" on a good day, I'm pretty excited about my progress! I'm hoping it sticks and I can find some time to continue learning it back in the States.

I had the opportunity to give a guitar lesson this week as well. The kid's already pretty good, but he seemed to think he could learn a thing or two from me, so who was I to turn him down? Not sure it will turn into a weekly thing, but I may meet with him a couple times a month just to show him some stuff.

I took a walk at some point during the week after work, just hoping to experience some new sight, sound, smell... anything really. These walks usually don't produce anything interesting, but today's walk was different. As I was walking I saw a sign on a building that said "Art Exhibition - free portraits". I was curious so I snooped around and found an open door! It was 3 friends doing a joint showing. I managed to find it within the last few hours of the last day! I looked at the numerous paintings for probably 20 minutes, stopping for the artist to explain each one. A lot of recurring themes were animals, the future, opportunity, inspiration, etc. They used a lot of very cultural symbols which was a cool new way to learn about the culture. I had seen plenty of songs and dances, plenty of carved wooden sculptures, but not many paintings. They seemed excited to have me there, they actually gave me one of their smaller paintings just as a souvenir! Obviously the intent is that I hang it up somewhere that a lot of people will see it to get them some publicity. Transporting it back to the U.S. might prove a bit of a challenge, but for a free painting, I think I can make something work! I'll definitely have to take it off of the frame. As promised, one of the three amigos sketched my portrait. He confessed it was the first time he had ever drawn a white guy. I think all things considered he didn't do too bad. I put the picture up so you can decide for yourself though.

TL;DR Interesting week involving the annual Mt. Cameroon race, the arrival of rainy season, giving a guitar lesson, speaking French, and happening on a free art exhibition.