(no subject)
Ben and I were with two friends for our weekly get together. Frank and Simon both have call boxes near where I live and they grew up together in a village near Ben's. They really are more like brothers than friends and it's always a laugh when the four of us get together. On this particular night, the guys stopped a young boy of perhaps ten years to buy something weird that I still don't know what it was. The boy served them and then told them how much they owed--which was about double the normal price. Ben asked him why he was as bad as adults and raised prices when he saw a white person. The boy replied, "Hey, that's life." Nice to see the young ones learning their lessons early on.
Still no apartment and still no job. I submitted applications for two jobs at the Embassy, so we'll see if those pan out. I'm not holding out much hope for the bus company--apparently they are still getting things organized and may not even begin calling applicants for another few months, even though operations were supposed to start in early June. Comforting to know that even American companies in Cameroon can't function normally.
Today, the ruling party is having a conference in Yaounde. Yesterday, while riding in a taxi, I saw at least 250 people decked out in their best Paul Biya wear walking from to the big conference center, many of them carrying their suitcases and such. I wanted to puke. Here were these old ladies blindly supporting the president, who probably spent all their money on the trip to Yaounde, walking uphill to attend a conference for a president that does nothing for them. Least he could have done was rented a few buses so they wouldn't have to walk. They showed the event on TV today--it's good to see in a bilingual country that they completely ignore the Anglophone population and speak only in French. I had to turn it off after a while--you can't listen for too long to the country's number one thief tlak about all he's been doing to fight corruption.
I went to watch the World Cup finals at a bar/restaurant downstairs and ran into a few Peace Corps Volunteers. I had a good time hanging out with them and speaking American English. I met some American missionaries too--Ben sometimes plays soccer with them so we went to the game. I couldn't really handle the encouragements to go to church though, so I don't think I'll be hanging out with them too much.
My life here has begun to revolve around a South American soap opera called "The Revenge." I'm hooked on the show! I have to make fun of myself for watching it, but it's so good!!
Still no apartment and still no job. I submitted applications for two jobs at the Embassy, so we'll see if those pan out. I'm not holding out much hope for the bus company--apparently they are still getting things organized and may not even begin calling applicants for another few months, even though operations were supposed to start in early June. Comforting to know that even American companies in Cameroon can't function normally.
Today, the ruling party is having a conference in Yaounde. Yesterday, while riding in a taxi, I saw at least 250 people decked out in their best Paul Biya wear walking from to the big conference center, many of them carrying their suitcases and such. I wanted to puke. Here were these old ladies blindly supporting the president, who probably spent all their money on the trip to Yaounde, walking uphill to attend a conference for a president that does nothing for them. Least he could have done was rented a few buses so they wouldn't have to walk. They showed the event on TV today--it's good to see in a bilingual country that they completely ignore the Anglophone population and speak only in French. I had to turn it off after a while--you can't listen for too long to the country's number one thief tlak about all he's been doing to fight corruption.
I went to watch the World Cup finals at a bar/restaurant downstairs and ran into a few Peace Corps Volunteers. I had a good time hanging out with them and speaking American English. I met some American missionaries too--Ben sometimes plays soccer with them so we went to the game. I couldn't really handle the encouragements to go to church though, so I don't think I'll be hanging out with them too much.
My life here has begun to revolve around a South American soap opera called "The Revenge." I'm hooked on the show! I have to make fun of myself for watching it, but it's so good!!