A Day in the Life

With my third week of training underway, I thought I would use this post to share what a typical day in Cameroon is like for me. While most days stand out in some way, I have established some sort of routine.

Before PST
Every morning, before Pre-Service Training, I wake up to roosters and prayers usually between 5:30 and 6am. The past few days I’ve gone running with my host-brother Stive. Its been great to run with him because he knows the village much better than I do and knows good routes and facts about the buildings and areas we pass. I have even brought a few other PC trainees along, which has been a great way to get to know the other trainees.

After our run, we do some stretches on the lawn. Endearingly, Stive knows all of the important stretches to do after a run, and will not let me get cleaned up or eat breakfast until after we’ve done them.

After a refreshing bucket shower in our rustic pit latrine, I get ready for training and have a quick breakfast. Usually this consists of some French bread with either groundnut paste (similar to homemade peanut butter, believe it or not) or an omlete (generally 2 very well fried eggs with some onion), and what I like to consider Mengong hot chocolate. A few random instances, I have also been offered beignets, which is the best! Beignets are fried dough (think mini donuts). While they don’t usually have sugar or cinnamon, sometimes they have banana inside, which is just as good.

At some point during breakfast, undoubtedly my neighbor Rebeccah comes by, and we walk the 10 minutes to the training center together. Her host mama and my host mama are in-laws so we live literally 50 steps away from each other. On our way, lots of neighbors come out to say “Bonjour” or “Imbolou” in Bulu, which is pretty cute.

PST
Pre-Service Training tends to go from 8am-4:30pm. Generally, each day we have four 2-hour blocks where we have language sessions, technical trainings, cultural trainings, safety and security, and medical office trainings. Each day is different, but each week we end up having 10-12 blocks of language training. The medical office has fit some vaccinations into these blocks as well.

Most days our PST takes place in Mengong. On those days we have generally stayed at the center to learn about topics pertaining to public health and Cameroon’s medical system as well as sessions that pertain to Malaria, HIV/AIDS, and maternal and child health. Earlier in the week we visited different health centers, and I think increasingly we will spend more time in these communities practicing skills we will need once we get to post.

When we go to Ebolowa, we are with the Agriculture trainees, and our sessions tend to be more generally applicable to all of us, pertaining to safety, volunteer experiences, and our health considerations. I love these days because we don’t otherwise get to see the Ag folks and having new people to catch up with is refreshing. I also get to bring it back home a little with some time on the precious wifi to check email and post to you all!

We have a good amount of break time between sessions to visit the market to add credit to our phones, eat lunch, catch up on studying, relax, toss the Frisbee, and whatever else we feel like doing. Its nice to get some downtime to recharge and get my thoughts organized because I don’t often get a chance to do that once I get home.

Post PST
After our training ends for the day, I usually walk home and spend some time with the kids at my house. If I’m not quite ready for that, I’ll head to the market first to buy a packet of cookies or beignets to share with the other PCTs.

When I get home, its all hands on deck. My family is starting to get used to me being around and the kids especially LOVE having my attention. The boys like to ask me questions quizzing my knowledge on Cameroon and the United States, but they also like to ask questions like “Do you know Jay-Z? Do you know Disney? Do you know Jackie Chan?” Dodé likes to lead the boys in singing the Cameroonian anthem (in French AND in Bulu), but only if I also sing our national anthem.

The girls on the other hand, like me to teach them things while they prepare food in the kitchen. So far, I have taught them how to do the alphabet in American Sign Language, as well as other hand tricks I learned from my dad when I was little. I also taught Valerie how to waltz (kind of), and am teaching them some American songs. I’m working up to how to give more advanced directions, but they talk so fast that usually I get kind of frazzled. The girls have managed to teach me some things too. I now know how to “fillet” fish Mengong-style, and fry plantains, eggs, and potatoes. The tricky part about cooking in the kitchen is that the majority of cutting and cooking happens on the floor, and Chu-chu likes when people are on her level, so you have to be ready for her to climb onto you or over your lap at any time.

Dinner is usually ready around 8pm, and I help set the tables in the living room. As you may recall from my previous post, Marie-Claude has four nieces and nephews in addition to her five children that are currently at home to care for. Generally, I sit at the table with her boys, and the cousins sit at the living room coffee table to eat. During dinner, the family talks in French (if I’m lucky), and I try to tell everyone something I learned about Cameroon. I’m not really at discussion level yet, especially with the kids, who jump subject to subject, but my host mama is very patient with me and good at explaining things.

Last week we had some other new foods, including fish heads, chicken feet, and one night the family had rat (I have decided to pass on eating bush meat after stories from others). We also have had a few meals with fried plantain balls, which end up looking like biscuits and tasting exactly like mashed plantain. I’m a fan. I would like to prepare a meal for everyone at some point, but I haven’t quite decided what yet. Based on what I have seen around the market and in our kitchen, possibilities include French toast, chicken noodle soup, and burrito bowls. I will be sure to document.

After dinner, I’ll stay up and talk with Stive and the others for a little while, but am usually back in my room by 9:30pm to rest. I’ve been journaling every night which is a great way to review everything that happened during the day and take notes on different words I learned during dinner.

Weekends
I know this post is already long, so I’ll probably post something else about weekends once I’ve had more of them, but for now, suffice it to say that they are short! Saturday we have training until noon, and on Sunday I go to church with the family and do chores, including laundry, tidying my room, and fetching water for the next few days.