Some Things Never Change

I've had several people ask me (well not really ask, but imply that they wonder) how I find something to blog about every week. Some weeks are harder than others, but even when I have a typical, same old, same old week, I've usually come up with a few original thoughts. Maybe not about something cool that happened, but something I've just noticed about living here. I write a daily journal for one thing, so that keeps my information and thoughts fresh in my mind to return to later, although I've lately been really bad about forgetting to journal (and take my antimalaria pill!). It gives me a chance to toy with my thoughts on paper - tangibly, not just in my mind. I also have hours on end to myself each day. I do spend a lot of time filling it with "white noise" distractions like the internet and movies, but for 5 or 10 minutes here and there (more when the internet's on the fritz!) I have a lot of time to just ponder stuff. Unfortunately this occurs most strongly when I'd like to be falling asleep, but I get my 8 hours 80% of the time so I'm not gonna complain too much. Like any other skill that can be honed with use, I've found that I'm getting a lot better at noticing things about my environment that are noteworthy just because I've been doing it all this time. The rest is just the ability to take that noteworthy thing and write enough about it to make it seem interesting. I think I've gotten a fair amount of practice at this too. Also the pressure to have something for both of my regular readers (That'd be you, Mom and Dad) is a bit of a fire under me to think up something good. Either way, I appreciate the feedback I get and answering questions is an even better exercise in relating my daily life here.

On Saturday night I got a chance to see a choir concert at the University of Buea. One of the girls who attends the Adventist church was in the choir and had quite a few solos! It was cool to see a fellow Adventist representing well on stage. The concert didn't start on time (not a big surprise! Went an hour late anyway and still sat around for another half an hour). I was really surprised at how good the choir was though! They undertook some pretty ambitious pieces, but I was impressed nonetheless. They also didn't use music at all, which was impressive in itself since they sang around 18 songs, and not short ones either!

This last weekend I went to Douala AGAIN (That's twice in 2 weeks!). This time the objective was to sell my guitar to a doctor who came and visited the hospital in Buea for a few days and stayed in my apartment with me. I took a minivan there, buying out both of the passenger seats in the front (yes, they put two people in the front passenger seat usually.) Anyways it was super comfortable and definitely worth every penny/franc. Funny how I no longer take a seat to myself for granted. The weirdest part of getting home will be being in a car by myself. Driving wherever I want, whenever I want, with whomever I choose. Anyways, once I got to Douala I met the doctor and we made the exchange without a hitch. It went so smoothly I could hardly believe it! After that I did a final blitz through the two supermarkets I frequent out that way to buy just enough groceries to last me until I leave for home. I left from Buea at 6 am and made it back by around 1, so I had the rest of the day to relax.

I did more nursing this week until Thursday, when I was told that the girl who replaced me has a project in the pharmacy department and they need me to fill in for her at the patient registry. During the meeting I brought up the fact that I'm leaving in 3 weeks, and this seemed to catch them by surprise a little bit. Basically what transpired is that they decided I'm better off just finishing my work here doing the register for my last few weeks of working. I'm not too torn up about this I guess. I liked working in the nursing department, but it was hard work! I definitely got to do some interesting things in my 2 weeks on the beat, but most of the time I was just a gopher, walking back and forth between the pharmacy and hospital, up and down between the first and second stories dozens of times per day. I think I could have managed with it for the rest of my time but I'll never really know!
I'm starting to get really excited to finally just be home and back in my element. I'm wondering how much of it is going to be exactly as I imagine though. I mean, I might get back and realize that I've changed so much that parts of home seem foreign to me. And it might not be as relaxing as I've been expecting. I think I'll come around pretty quick, but I've missed a lot in the past 8 months! My family has gotten a new couch since I left, and they may even have a gotten a different car by the time I'm there too. I'm sure that Merced will have changed some too. I'm hoping that most of the roadwork on the freeway is finished and they've opened the on-ramp that's been closed since I got my driver's license!

For anyone interested, calling the "collect" number for my bank STILL costs me an arm and a leg, and I get cut off every time in the middle of the conversation. Needless to say it's pretty freaking frustrating and I've wasted probably 10 bucks in my time here just in making 3 or 4 calls, none of which resulted in any progress. I could have lit a 10 dollar bill on fire and gotten more use out of it that way. All I want to do is notify my bank that I'll be travelling internationally so my account doesn't get frozen! Moral of the story: Calling collect is a lie.

TL;DR Went to Douala, got moved back to the registration book. Also got to see a choir concert which was probably one of the best organized events I've attended here. Going through the phone menu/corn maze of a large American corporation is even more frustrating when you have to pay like a dollar a minute to call internationally. Even when on hold!

Quite possibly the best view of the mountain I've ever had!

Unfortunately warnings like these don't stop the drivers from doing 75 miles per hour on windy, potholed roads