i forgot to add...
A few stories I forgot...
While in Douala, it rained A LOT, especially at night. Usually, I love the sound of rain on a tin roof, but the romantic notions fade away when it pours so much that you can’t hear anything. It also becomes not so fun when you wake up in the middle of the night with rain splashing on your head. Ben had done a lot of repair work earlier in the day, but apparently he missed a huge spot and within minutes I was soaked. Fortunately, this was just a one time thing for me; I was sleeping in Coco’s room, and it is something he has to deal with all the time. Every time one hole gets patched, another one opens. It’s rough.
While at the local “grocery store” (if it can be called that), I ran into an American missionary named Jane. She has lived in Togo for fourteen years and just recently came to Cameroon. She’s having a rough time adjusting, and rightfully so, since she is used to living in small villages and Yaounde is definitely not one. We talked for a little while and I tried talk to her about the good points of living here. And randomly enough, she knew about the Dickinson program because on her way here she met Cassie, another girl that was on my program and came back to Cameroon to be with her boyfriend. How random is that? She’s in her late 40’s, but we clicked. I mentioned to her my work at the orphanage, because Ben and I make an effort to tell everyone about it, since you never know. She called me the next morning and asked if we could go. We had a really nice visit and she said she would see what she could do to help them (yay!). At the end, she and the director started talking about religion, which was great because the director is also religious. Meanwhile, I was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, but after a few minutes she turned to me and asked about my religious beliefs. It made me laugh-I had just emailed my mom and told her that as long as Jane kept the Jesus stuff to a minimum, we’d get along fine. I told her I was Jewish and politely listened to her spiel. Other than that though, she was really nice and I enjoyed spending time with her.
So, the next night (Saturday), I got a call from her. She wanted to tell me that she had been by a sale and had picked up children’s clothing, which I was happy to hear. Then she invited Ben and I to church, though she said she didn’t want us to feel obligated. I was dead tired the next morning, but Ben (bless his heart) went. The pastor is actually Bassa, like Ben, and his wife is French. They have two beautiful children. They invited us to their house the next Saturday afternoon. I was pissed and acted like a child, much to Ben’s amusement, because Cameroon was playing a match against Equatorial Guinea. I had talked about nothing but going to it all week, but Ben completely forgot when he told the pastor we would come over. I swear, the pastor was the only Cameroonian that didn’t know there was a match. Anyway, we went, and we did have a lovely time. I even saw part of the match, though it wasn’t the same as being there. Since we live right by the stadium though, it was awesome to hear the crowd roaring. The wife, Isabel, is a doll. She is so sweet and I really really liked her. Their kids were awesome too. After the visit though, it meant that we were obligated to go to church the next morning. Super. I figured it couldn’t hurt though, since Isabel has a lot of contacts and said she’d let me know if she heard about any work. Her daughter also dances, and so she might have connections for Ben. Unfortunately, Isabel got sick in the middle of church. Since her husband couldn’t leave, Ben ended up driving her home and then going to search for a pharmacy to get some meds. It was great for Ben, since now she likes him that much more. Unfortunately for me, it meant that I was stuck by myself with people singing/shouting as loudly as they could all around me. Special. Jane had traveled so she wasn’t there. Anyway, we’ll see if this time in church pays off.
And the most exciting news of all is that I managed to make Mexican-esque food the other night. From scratch, I made tortillas, salsa, guacamole, and fajitas! It was delicious! Even better was that Ben liked it, so if he ever comes to the US it’s comforting to know I can take him to Taco Bell.
While in Douala, it rained A LOT, especially at night. Usually, I love the sound of rain on a tin roof, but the romantic notions fade away when it pours so much that you can’t hear anything. It also becomes not so fun when you wake up in the middle of the night with rain splashing on your head. Ben had done a lot of repair work earlier in the day, but apparently he missed a huge spot and within minutes I was soaked. Fortunately, this was just a one time thing for me; I was sleeping in Coco’s room, and it is something he has to deal with all the time. Every time one hole gets patched, another one opens. It’s rough.
While at the local “grocery store” (if it can be called that), I ran into an American missionary named Jane. She has lived in Togo for fourteen years and just recently came to Cameroon. She’s having a rough time adjusting, and rightfully so, since she is used to living in small villages and Yaounde is definitely not one. We talked for a little while and I tried talk to her about the good points of living here. And randomly enough, she knew about the Dickinson program because on her way here she met Cassie, another girl that was on my program and came back to Cameroon to be with her boyfriend. How random is that? She’s in her late 40’s, but we clicked. I mentioned to her my work at the orphanage, because Ben and I make an effort to tell everyone about it, since you never know. She called me the next morning and asked if we could go. We had a really nice visit and she said she would see what she could do to help them (yay!). At the end, she and the director started talking about religion, which was great because the director is also religious. Meanwhile, I was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, but after a few minutes she turned to me and asked about my religious beliefs. It made me laugh-I had just emailed my mom and told her that as long as Jane kept the Jesus stuff to a minimum, we’d get along fine. I told her I was Jewish and politely listened to her spiel. Other than that though, she was really nice and I enjoyed spending time with her.
So, the next night (Saturday), I got a call from her. She wanted to tell me that she had been by a sale and had picked up children’s clothing, which I was happy to hear. Then she invited Ben and I to church, though she said she didn’t want us to feel obligated. I was dead tired the next morning, but Ben (bless his heart) went. The pastor is actually Bassa, like Ben, and his wife is French. They have two beautiful children. They invited us to their house the next Saturday afternoon. I was pissed and acted like a child, much to Ben’s amusement, because Cameroon was playing a match against Equatorial Guinea. I had talked about nothing but going to it all week, but Ben completely forgot when he told the pastor we would come over. I swear, the pastor was the only Cameroonian that didn’t know there was a match. Anyway, we went, and we did have a lovely time. I even saw part of the match, though it wasn’t the same as being there. Since we live right by the stadium though, it was awesome to hear the crowd roaring. The wife, Isabel, is a doll. She is so sweet and I really really liked her. Their kids were awesome too. After the visit though, it meant that we were obligated to go to church the next morning. Super. I figured it couldn’t hurt though, since Isabel has a lot of contacts and said she’d let me know if she heard about any work. Her daughter also dances, and so she might have connections for Ben. Unfortunately, Isabel got sick in the middle of church. Since her husband couldn’t leave, Ben ended up driving her home and then going to search for a pharmacy to get some meds. It was great for Ben, since now she likes him that much more. Unfortunately for me, it meant that I was stuck by myself with people singing/shouting as loudly as they could all around me. Special. Jane had traveled so she wasn’t there. Anyway, we’ll see if this time in church pays off.
And the most exciting news of all is that I managed to make Mexican-esque food the other night. From scratch, I made tortillas, salsa, guacamole, and fajitas! It was delicious! Even better was that Ben liked it, so if he ever comes to the US it’s comforting to know I can take him to Taco Bell.