July 12, 2003
A quick news in brief for those not up to date:
Sicknesses overcome - Giardia and food poisoning.
Local news - Marc-Vivien Foë, 28-year-old Cameroonian soccer player, died during Confederations Cup Match against Colombia. Nation in mourning.
Latest exotic food of choice - Viper.
Last Saturday we left for our site visit, a week-long trip to our future home for 2 years. (During our layover in Yaoundé, we stopped by an Anglophone bar called the Embassy. The Ambassador invited us to have a few drinks. “Feel free,” he told us, “Feel free.” He himself was on his 11th large Guinness. Take note that a large Guinness is 24 ounces.) I’ve been posted in the East Province, which borders Congo-Brazzaville and Central African Republic. Melissa, a volunteer who's been in country for a year and a half, said in her training the Peace Corps was considering not sending people to the East anymore because it's too underdeveloped.
My village is called Ndélélé, it's about 70 kilometers south of Batouri. Because of the condition of the roads, the bush taxi ride takes about 4 hours. Total, the trip from Bandjoun was 15 hours of unadulterated bush taxi fun. (On the return trip we got stuck in the mud. Everyone exited the vehicle, and a few guys attempted to push it through. When it got closer to the ditch, it almost tipped over...) The population is around 6000 people, the high school has 400 students total (it's not uncommon to have 100+ students per class, so for 7 grades this is a great size from my perspective). When we arrived the principal took us around to the school, my house, the mayor's father's house for a drink, the mayor's office for a talk (he's got a satellite phone, the only outside communication), back to the hotel for another drink. Apparently it's not uncommon to mix Guinness with Sprite or Coke. The town has electricity from 6 pm until 1 am. So, contrary to popular belief, I will have electricity and running water (they're digging me a well). Plus there's a Baka (Pygmy) village and a hippo hangout in walking distance. Further south is a World Wildlife Fund reserve where you hike into the rainforest and campout to see elephants, chimpanzees, gorillas, buffalo, and hippo. Looks like it'll be a good time.
And we have some expat friends in Batouri. There's a tobacco company there run by a French guy, Pierre, and an American guy, Ed. Ed is Ralph Nader's nephew. And he has a Playstation. We've already got tentative plans to have a big Thanksgiving dinner.
The only downside to the trip, and it was a big down, was my bout of food poisoning. I had a bad sardine omelet the morning we left Yaoundé, and that evening in Abong-Mbong I had a good vomit and felt better the next day. I've been shying away from omelets ever since.