This week has been really good. I feel like I've snapped out of a slump or something. I'll be honest, throughout the end of January and February I was struggling quite a bit with my job here, but I was also generally lonely and homesick. This month in has been a breath of fresh air so far, and I'm thankful. The way church goes here is not much my style, and I usually get nil out of it, but lately I've been able to get inspiration from other means: Playing guitar for prison ministry has been a pretty good experience for me. Getting to see a giant thunderstorm put my relative size and problems in perspective, and after the rain the clouds parted and for the first time in weeks I got a great view of the mountain that is the dominating backdrop of the northern horizon. Gorgeous, all of it. And to think I climbed it 8 weeks ago! That's the best part. Regardless of my string of back-to-back good days, things (especially work) are still difficult at times, but I hope my good mood sticks around. Another wonderful thing is that mango season is now in full swing, and, though small, there are tons of them everywhere (for really cheap)! They've quickly moved into my top 3 favorite fruits of all time behind kiwi and pineapple, and I've been known to eat 3 or 4 on a good day.
On Sunday the plan is to travel to Yaoundé to get my passport renewed. I'd appreciate your prayers and thoughts as I travel! The plan is to get all the boring stuff taken care of on Monday and then spend the next 2 days on a self guided tour (that more likely than not will turn into some sort of gastronomy). I'll also be forced to practice my French, since it's the main language there. At any rate, I'm looking forward to a few extended days off of work and the chance to see a new part of Cameroon. I still haven't had more than 2 consecutive workdays off since coming here, and in total I'd estimate I've only missed 10 workdays in total counting observed holidays and sick days (I worked on Christmas Day for pity sakes). I feel like I'm getting a raw deal when I realize my peers who are teaching get several weeks for Christmas, a week for Spring break, etc, etc, but I guess I'm getting the real "working man" experience here. Kinda makes me want to stay in school. Like, forever.
Upwards of 75% of the vehicles on the road here in Buea are taxis. Taxi drivers don't seem aggressive or competitive between each other, unless you're talking about the sweet bling they add to their cars. At first I thought they might just be trying to be more visible to other cars. Then I remembered an old saying I heard from a fisherman: "Selling fishing lures is 10% about attracting fish, and 90% about attracting anglers". I think that this maxim also can be applied to taxis, where fish are represented by other cars and anglers are represented by customers. I mean if they just wanted to be visible to other cars, they'd do the obligatory yellow paint job and just leave it at that. If you enjoy people watching or bird watching, you should come to Cameroon and try taxi watching as a pastime! It's pretty entertaining. Here are some things I've seen that make me say C'est ridicule, quoi! (Translation: That's freakin' ridiculous. It's becoming one of my all time favorite French expressions.) Some stuff is common, some stuff I've only seen once or twice:
• So many miniature flags hanging inside the windshield that I couldn't see out of it from the passenger seat.
• Taxis with about a dozen small plastic shoehorns hanging off the rear bumper.
• Taxis with electronic screens in perfect view of the driver (usually off or broken)
• Studded snow tires.
• A taxi dashboard plastered with multiple stickers of Jesus, eagles, and Hannah Montana. Not sure what was so appealing about this particular combination
• Taxis with stickers on the dashboard listing 50+ "symptoms" of yeast infections. Good information for a "medical missionary" although not the place I'd expect to learn it.
• Taxis with stickers on the glass obstructing view of the speed/rpm gauges. Often times the gauges don't work so it's not like they're blocking anything useful.
• On a lot of taxis they remove the manual window cranks on the back doors and keep one in the glovebox. This is nice on longer trips so the handle isn't digging into your thigh. With 4 people squashed in the back seat, it really does make a difference.
• Really really matted shag carpet seat/dashboard covers. Pretty gross to imagine what all is hiding in those shag dreads.
• Taxis with ski/snowboard racks on the top (very common). They drive around with them open so they look like a bird trying to take off.
• LED lights. Everywhere.
• Quotes that are total nonsense, typically painted on with the exact same 3 colors of house paint (Maybe they're unionized and got a really good deal on these 3 colors...?) I stood out at the road for just 5 minutes to gather examples. Top 3 strangest phrases I saw were "Na Milk", "No Laf Man", and "Grand OJ". Other very popular terms include "VIP", "Turbo", and "Transformers"
• Abandoned taxis. On blocks, upside down, converted into chicken coops, advertisement boards, etc. If you can imagine it, it's undoubtedly been tried.
• A taxi with a giant, cast iron cross on the top. Wait, no that was a hearse. Different kind of taxi I guess :)
My curiosity got the best of me after seeing the hearse, because at that point I realized that I haven't seen any cemeteries in Buea. I asked around and found out that people here bury the deceased in their yards. Tribes from the Douala region bury them inside their houses, and yet other tribes bury a deceased spouse under the bed of the surviving partner! Guess that would rule out re-feng-shui-ing your bedroom! Some tribes keep the head of the patriarch in a plexiglass box. Other regions have regular cemeteries. Yard burial starts to seem pretty mainstream compared to some of the other stuff! This brings up more questions though: What if you live in a multistory building and want to bury your sweetheart under your bed? Do you rent out the apartment below you or bury them in the lobby...? Is there like a certain distance limit before it doesn't count? Like 3 stories max? If one decides to play Dance 2016 and forgets that Uncle Bob was buried in the rec room are they still technically dancing on his grave? And what if Aunt Sally dies right after you get the lawn fertilized? Are you really gonna dig all that up? Some questions just aren't meant to be answered I guess.
TL;DR My week was great, and I have a few days of "vacation" to look forward to soon. I still have only gotten a handful of off days (most of which I had to beg, plead, and/or play hooky for) so this feels well-deserved! It's technically a working vacation since my whole intent for going is to get my visa renewed. It's properly rain season, and consequently mango season now. I'm convinced that mangos are one of the best things Africa has to offer. Taxis here have some pretty interesting features that could only be described as kitschy. List above is worth a quick perusing IMO. Burial practices here range from standard to eyebrow-raising, and everywhere in between. Learning about these practices left me with more questions than answers.
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| This X-Ray should be in a textbook as an example of _________? |
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| The new apartment building that was supposed to be finished in November |
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| The union came for an audit of the hospital. James Earl Jones is their treasurer?! |
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| Did war with a squatter/mouse 2 times in 24 hours so I tried to seal up my threshold a little better with duct tape and cardboard. So far it seems to have worked! |
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| Regular attendance for the gym on a Thursday night. Typically we have 40+ guys working out between this room and one adjacent about 1/3 this size. |
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| Last Sabbath I hiked to a waterfall. Behind the branches you can see the plastic box with the Virgin Mary, conveniently provided by your friendly, neighborhood Catholic parish. Not pictured are the 2 large viewing auditoriums behind me. I hiked 30 minutes back in pouring rain until a truck driver offered me a ride. |
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| WARNING: This photo contains graphic descriptions of symptoms and references to reproductive organs |
My answer to the x-ray textbook question is: Pneumonia! Right? Fluid levels in the base of the lungs. If left untreated, may end up buried under the bed, with a whole lot of questions left un-answered. Didn't know you were lonely/homesick back in Jan/Feb. You covered it well, but glad your mood is on the upswing. I attribute that to the fact that it won't be long now until you are on the right side of the pond. (okay... it really is the left side as you look at a globe (unless you are looking at the globe upside down, and then it would be on your right - WHATEVER!!)). Will be BOTH thinking and praying of and for you as you venture into Yaoundé for the visa extension.
ReplyDeleteI guess I didn't really realize I was homesick and lonely until I snapped out of it. You kinda lost me on the whole right/left thing there, but then again I've always had trouble remembering right from left anyways.
DeleteDouble sided pleural effusion. Not a hemothorax.
ReplyDeleteDoc's official diagnosis was COPD. Now that I look at it again though, it does look a little bit like fluid. I guess to confirm you could do a CXR while the patient was laying on her side...?
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