St. Patrick's Day

In the morning I wore a shamrock headband to work and everyone just thought it was hilarious, and of course I had to explain it was St. Patrick’s Day. My dad and Jim wore Leprechaun hats.

We got all dressed in our green shirts (well I just had a green sticky felt thing I pulled off of the wall Terry decorated with) and we put on some head bands and the hats and festive earrings and the four of us took Irish Soda Bread and Oatmeal Banana cookies down to the convent. When we got there they all wanted to take pictures and then feed us a feast! So they gave us some cookies and a banana and a coke.

I then caught up with the med students and midwifery students from Belgium.  Valerie  and Soren are both 23 and in their 2^nd to last year of med school. Ariane and Bie are 20 and 22 respectively and in their last year of midwifery school. All of them are spending 3 months here as part of their rotations in clinical. European medical school is different because they go directly out of their form of high school and undergraduate is all a part of their medical school rather than having to just take pre-med requirements before going to med school. I don’t know the ease of getting in or anything but just a different system.

I was going with them out to Bamenda and then Valerie, Soren and I were going to Bafut to see the Bafut Village Palace and the Fon (chief, king kind of guy of the tribe). Of course we weren’t spoiled in having one of the hospital drivers taking us so we took a taxi from Njinikom.

Taxi’s are just really old Toyota cars that have been down a cliff and back up probably 3 times. They are beaters. So we have to wait for enough people to fill the car, even though there are 5 of us and a driver ready to go already. After about a 20 minute wait another lady shows up wanting to go to Bamenda. We pile in. The other lady, Bie, Ariane and myself in the back seat (none of those other gals are any smaller than I) and then in front is the driver, Soren and Valerie. Another taxi driver shuts the car door as I lean in as far as I can to not get my head slammed. I’m basically leaning against this door that the paneling is hanging on by tape and the window opener is broken off, hoping that the dang thing doesn’t fly open on the drive to Bamenda. An hour and a half later we arrive in the outskirts of Bamenda.  That’s like squished in a car driving to tri-cities. No seatbelts duh. This drive cost us each 1000 Francs or 2 dollars.

From there we have to get into the main city of Bamenda via another taxi. We find one and climb in Soren Valerie and I in the back Bie and Ariane in the front, then another man climbs in. it’s a busy Saturday in the city so we are trying to weave around people,  potholes, motorbikes and other cars. They dodge a pothole before they dodge the person.. no joke. One man was walking down the middle of the street and we were following him so extremely close I was confused at what was going on.. then the taxi driver (who looks about 16) just decides to run him over. He hits him right behind the knees and the guys legs buckle and he kind of falls off to the side over the hood of the car and starts yelling at taxi driver who yells back to not be walking in the road. Then about 30 seconds later a motorcycle goes by and breaks our side mirror off so it’s dangling down the side of the car. Everyone keeps going. This ride costs us like 200 franc or so (I can’t remember but that’s only 40 cents).

We get out downtown and stop by the Pres Craft/Pres Café because Bie and Ariane hadn’t been there yet. The oranges here are actually not orange they are green (not cause they aren’t ripe.. they are literally just green with a little yellow) and the inside looked and smelled really good (it was orange). Valerie was having one since you can’t find them in Njinikom.

Valerie, Soren and I have to find where to catch the next taxi out to Bafut so we stop a motor cycle (which I didn’t want to take but it’s way cheaper just to go to another part of town). While Soren is talking to him Valerie says I can get on and sit in front so it’s not as scary. So I climb on behind the driver and Soren says.. wait it’s just around the corner we don’t need to ride it. So I get off and on the way burn my calf on the dang exhaust pipe. I TOLD YOU I WOULD COME HOME WITH SOME NASTY SCAR!!!

We start walking and can’t find it and have no clue what we are even looking for. Germer, one of the nurses at the hospital told us to get a taxi at the Fish Market (whatever that means) and that it should only cost 400 francs to Bafut from there. We finally just grab another motor cycle guy and ask him where to get a taxi to Bafut and he takes us over there. So I rode one! It wasn’t too bad and it was short. I mean we grabbed one motor cycle for the three of us.. and the driver. Driver, Me, Valerie and Soren all on one little motorcycle thing.. Valerie is really small and Soren isn’t a big guy, but still.. 4 people on one motorcycle, 3 of them white.. we got a lot of looks. But they carry 2 guys and a coffin on those things.

He then asks around for us for a taxi, which was nice of him to help us. It cost us each like 100 Francs for that ride. He finds us a taxi with only one other man in it. So the three of us in the back with a really nice car, hardly any scratches on the outside and actually put together on the inside. He said 1000 francs for all 3 of us to get to the Bafut Palace. The guy in the front turns around and starts chatting he says he is a Fon from the Bambui or something tribe and told us to come visit him tomorrow. We didn’t obviously but hey we met another Fon supposedly. Another person climbs in half way on the ride. It was only about 20 minutes. He takes us all the way to the Palace.

We meet this guy who is going to show us around the palace. It was 2500 francs (5 dollars) to go inside, and 1500 (3 dollars) per camera. So we decide to just use my camera and split the price. The man showed us around and we could go in the museum where he told us stories and showed us all of the little statues, animal pelts, outfits, tribal warfare stuff.. We couldn’t take pictures in there.. even though that’s really what would have been the most interesting. The palace was mainly just this big museum building, several houses put together in a compound and the chiefs hut house thing.

There were rocks out front that warded off any bad spirits and warned the people of bad people coming into the village. There were two huge rocks he said they used for when someone committed a crime they were tied up to the rocks and wild animals were taken from the forest to eat them. In the museum the sign said they were hacked to death first by Jujus then wild animals were brought in to eat them.
those are the rocks in the background. the closer one is to detect bad vibes coming into the palace

They had Juju outfits in the museum that were just big dress things completely made of feathers, and these huge dog animal thing masks and little ankle bracelets made of shells to make noises as they dance.

There were leopard pelts, elephant tusks, an elephant skull, leg bone and the foot of an elephant hollowed out in there too. Also several python skins. Obviously there were animals here at one point.

The chief’s house was like some hundreds of years old (it was really old looking wood). Its thatched roof and lots of carved wooden poles as the walls. We couldn’t go in. And we didn’t meet the Fon. So the rest of the thing wasn’t all that interesting. He has 75 wives, 50 children. I think like 25 of the wives were his father’s before he died but the son is required to marry them.
This is the kings house. Nothing too interesting. The whole palace wasn't MUCH different from the rest of like the town. Cleaner maybe but basically the same living styles.

We rode another taxi back, wasn’t too crowded and he charged us 900 francs for all 3 of us. We got out and found another bike to take us into the city part again. I got a picture of the meat they sell on the street. Literally like every part, bones and hunks of meat sitting on old wooden tables just out there. Intestines and skin and noses and everything every part out there. EW.

We met Ariane and Bie back in Bamenda and got something to drink and then rode bikes to the other taxi place and some man found us a taxi. He thought I was Valerie’s mom! Probably because I’m much taller, but I don’t look older… but they can’t tell us apart just as much as we can’t tell them apart.

This ride we had the 5 of us, the driver, two other women and a baby from Bamenda to Njinikom. There were 4 people across the front and 4 of us and the baby in the back. Very crammed. We stopped at Mr. Baker and I got a little chocolate croissant that I ate Sunday when I was really annoyed.

It was light when we left Bamenda but half way through it got dark, and there is barely a sunset here, it just goes light to dark . The lady in the front seat just chatted us all up the whole time wanting to know all about us and how we are all going to be her new friends and yada yada. She was kind of crazy. She even sang a song for us and practically elbowed the driver in the face multiple times.. it was scary riding through the hills at night. There are NO lights cause very few people/areas have electricity in the houses and no street lights of course and even the other cars have minimal headlight capacity. We made it i'm alive.

Sunday was pretty laid back. We went to church in the morning and Jim told me I could get right up and take pictures whatever go out in the isles and everything.. but I was too shy for that. I took several though. It was the 8:30 children's mass and the reason Jim and Terry only go Saturday nights is because Sunday morning is always 2 or more hours. It lasted an hour and 45 minutes and they said dang that was short. There were lots of cute kids, I could barely understand the priest but it wasn't too boring because of all the people. People were coming in and out the entire time. And all the school kids sang it was kind of cool. 

We didn't do much, took a nap, went out for a beer. Made tortillas from flour, salt and water and had sort of quesadillas.  I may have to do it at home sometime. There is fresh pear (avocado) here, but it really just looks like the avocado without the brownish green skin, it's just like a more smooth very green skin. Interesting. The pit is much larger too.
here's a cute kid.

Monday I did a little work in the Project Hope treatment center but not much. I took pictures of Mother General (the like head of all Terciary Sisters Of St. Francis, so head of this group of nuns was here) with all of the school kids up at the school then I gave Sister Mary Francis my pictures so that she could print them. Some how she roped me into teaching at the school today, not really sure what I'm teaching how or whatever. We'll see. I told Terry to talk to the math teacher and see if it would cause too much confusion or if it would even be helpful. 

Did I even mention what I did Friday? Thursday was the pigery blessing I believe I wrote about that already. Friday was just kind of hang out and then we played cards. A game called Rage it's pretty fun I might have to get it when I'm home. (birthday mother? it is in like 4 days)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KATHRYN!!! (if you're reading this it's 1 am on your birthday!)

Mine is in 4 days!!! :)

Okay I'll write about that teaching crap later. 

WE NEED RAIN HERE!! It's so disgustingly dusty! Send it this way Portland.