Time Warp: Arrival - Day 4

Ok, so today I'm being lazy (but not completely, there's another guy in here hogging the bandwidth) and posting an excerpt from my daily journal, BUT for your reading pleasure I'm going to write a separate paragraph to tie up the loose ends and address unknowns I may have mentioned. Moving on:

Journal, 24,25/09/2015

FINALLY got some sleep on flight from Addis to Malabo. Felt pretty crummy after waking up with a headache. Slept even more from Malabo (Equatorial Guinea) to Doual (Cameroon), felt a little better. Went through line to show my yellow fever card, passport, and got to luggage claim area. Saw Prosper (people go by their last name here I guess) through the window with my name on a sign, but my luggage was taking sooo long. Finally got it after returning to the exchange booth and trading in my Benjamins for this funny money that doesn't fit in my wallet. These guys out in front of the airport kept trying to flag a taxi for me and take my suitcases! They only spoke two tiddlywinks of English, so I kept trying to tell them I already met my person and didn't need help. In English, my efforts were futile. Our taxi driver was a real jockey. There's no lanes here! That seemed crazy to me. Also, using the horn is like another language. Also, people who ride motorcycles here have some real cahones. Or a death wish. Thank goodness Prosper speaks French or I'd be up a creek. He's the accountant for  the hospital, really nice guy. Took me to a restaurant, but I wasn't able to eat all the food. Think I'm still just tired and jet lagged. Felt nauseous, even a  little dizzy on standing up. I hope this is just fatigue and not side effects from the doxycycline (incidentally I've only seen one mosquito since I got here) Waitress was laughing because I tried speaking in French with her to be polite (Ca va? Ca va, merci). Hope I can keep the food down, they served me pineapple juice with ICE (so much for easing myself into the whole water situation). Waiting at the restaurant right now while Prosper finds us a ride to Buea. He says it's about an hour's drive. The TV in the room was playing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" on some show, but in a different language. I guess that could be a multi-country song, doesn't really mention the good 'ol USA anywhere in the lyrics that I can remember. Trying to fend off the urge to sleep and/or puke.

Today:

Ok well the good news was I didn't puke. The bad news was that our 1 hour drive took 4 (there was a car accident on a bridge that also happened to be under construction, go figure, welcome to Cameroon!). After sleeping the night and unpacking a little bit, I went to church in the morning, and had potluck (more local food, come at me dysentery). I've had absolutely zero jet lag since that first night. The only trouble for me is when falling asleep there are these thumb sized cockroaches right outside my window that make this infernal screeching that I'd swear is as loud as a lawnmower. And in the morning the local roosters take over the noise-making shift and have me this close to recanting vegetarianism. The sun goes down around 18:30 and comes up around 6:30 so it's DARK most of the time. And when it's dark it gets pretty sketchy out! Wouldn't want to travel alone after dark at least. Weather's nice, the temp hovers around 25, around 70-80% humid with these extraordinary (for a Californian at least) rainshowers every day or two. I have seen literally two mosquitoes my whole time here, so I have been taking my malaria prophylaxis begrudgingly. No noticeable side effects yet, so I figure why not. The people here are all EXTREMELY nice, and I'm feeling at home already! Started working in the hospital today, more on that later...

TL;DR 24 hours of plane riding will leave you pretty dazed, but if you're me, a night's sleep fixes that. I've been keeping my fingers crossed with the food and drink situation, but no ill effects (Alternate name for blog: "Dysentery Diarrhies"). I landed in a French speaking region, which, alone, would have left me screwed bottom line. It's dark outside half the time here, and I'd probably sleep better sharing a room with 10 crying babies and an angry wife than the cockroaches outside my window. Weather's nice, mosquitoes are few, I'm learning some French, and some pidgin, and I've already mastered the special Cameroonian handshake thanks to the hospitable hospital staff

POR FIN (Yeah I know that's Spanish, but that's my default foreign language when I don't know the words in French. Gotten plenty of funny looks already) Pictures of my apartment. Thanks for checking out my blog, enjoy America ya'll, it's so clean there!

The highlight of the drive back: seeing my first Toyota HiLux in person!

Mon palais. It's cozy! But maybe that's just the humidity talking

With an en-suite (Adding Love It or List It vocabulary makes it seem more luxurious, but seriously, not bad accomodations) My only wish to the shower gods is for hot water someday, but for now, cold showers!

Open concept kitchen with a functional island! Heck, better kitchen that I had in the dorm

Stunning entryway

A market day's haul. Thankful to have a longtime resident Aussie guide me through to find the best deals. That pineapple didn't stay intact for long.

Photo of the hospital. Clark's quarter (not to be confused with the area in Buea actually known as Clark's quarter) is by the tallest tree on the right side of the photo