Yaoundé, Sunday, February 3, 2008

Greetings all!

Well, I thought that it was probably time to add something to the blog, although I’m not sure that I have many exciting tales to relate – very sad, I’m sure!

First, let me gloat about the weather! It continues to be very pleasant, thank you very much, as the sun shines most days, and the temperature remains in the balmy twenties. The mornings are quite misty, to be expected, I suppose, since we are 700 metres above sea level, and the nights are cool. It is, after all, winter, and temperatures drop to about 19 or 20 at night. I’ve been told that they can drop to as low as 14, but that hasn’t happened yet. Anyway, the mist clears up by about 8 a.m., and then the sun comes out, unless there happens to be a dust cloud in the area. Still no very hot days yet – I can tell, because I haven’t felt the need to change shirts during the day.

Speaking of dust, it’s all over the place. The roads are dusty, and the cars of course raise great clouds of the stuff as they pass by, even on the major paved roads. One is constantly having to brush down one’s trousers so that one appears somewhat respectable. The travails, I tell you! So, just for your excitement, you need to know that I keep a little sponge at the office just for that purpose.

I think that in my last posting, I spoke of the little hitch that had thrown up its head (as it were) with respect to the development of a number of documents. As I write this, nothing has been resolved – of course there are two governments involved and, as I can well attest, things take time to go through government. And here, it’s slower than at home, so… No doubt everything will be resolved in due course.

The weekend of January 25th was a very sociable one. It started on the Thursday actually, when I invited one of my colleagues for supper – a young man of 30, Christian is one of the technicians who fixes things to do with computers, a very nice man and good at his job – he must be, because he explains things to me in a way that I can understand! Anyway, the reason for the invitation was that I had neglected to invite him to the housewarming party in December, and I felt a bit guilty about this, to put it mildly. I also invited his younger brother, Hermann, who is in the final stages of his training at the Centre. I hadn’t realized until early in the week that Christian and Hermann were brothers, and it would have been “off” to invite one but not the other. It was only over supper that I learned that Christian is also a trainee, and he is doing his work term at the Centre (where he also took his course). Most amusing, since there had actually been no reason for guilt! Still, it was a pleasant evening, as Christian has the gift of keeping a conversation going. I fed them a sort of tomato sauce with beef, served on rice, and they were most impressed at the fact that I could cook, and moreover, that it was edible (“Mmmm, just like African food!). I also met their mother (this gets complicated – only in Africa!), who was attending a wake at the chapel up the hill. The young men don’t live with their mother (too far away, I gather), but of course, since she was in the area, she wanted to see them. Christian wasn’t too sure what to do, so I told him to bring his mother along (she called while they were at the house), so that’s what he did. She didn’t stay long, just enough to glug down a bottle of Schweppes tonic, and then was off to visit a sister in hospital before returning to the wake. Very nice lady.

Anyway, there was food left over, and I couldn’t see myself eating the quantities that were left, so on the Friday, I invited the young men to come and finish up the meal at lunch. Christian couldn’t come, but Hermann did and nobly wolfed down half of the remains, saying he might come back in the evening to finish it off, if that was ok with me. Most amusing. He’s a nice young man (I can’t think of another adjective).

Friday being the last day of the month, I decided that the colleagues and I should repair to a bar for a round of drinks. I’ll probably do that every month (going out with the guys plus one lady), as it’s rather fun. My, but they drink! Still, all worth it in the long run. I just about manage to glug down one bottle (they’re big ones) while they down about three each. I think I come over as a very sober person, not sure if that’s a good thing. I just tell them that it’s not warm enough yet for me! Anyway, I’d brought a torch with me so that I could walk back home (we weren’t that far away), but it seems that there was no question that I should go unaccompanied, so Christian (who joins in these things, which is what made me think he was a member of the staff) was delegated to return me home, since it was on his way home also. So, of course, I invited him in and offered him the rest of the meal that his brother hadn’t finished (the latter having called to say that he couldn’t make it after all). By the time Christian left, it was 10 o’clock, and definitely time for the old man to go to bed, even on a Friday night! What one beer does to me…

Saturday morning was the usual round of shops, stocking up on quite a few things, with Njikam, who you remember is my favourite taximan, very apologetic for being 15 minutes late, having been held up by an accident – he wasn’t involved, just stuck in the traffic. Normally, he calls to say if he’s going to be late, but his phone wasn’t charged. Poor man! He takes pride in being right on time when coming to get me, as long as I’ve arrange a time with him. It’s quite delightful to see him pulling up at precisely the right minute, just like I do! Anyway, a pleasant time was had, as always, going round the various shops, and, as always, visiting different parts of town.

Then, on Saturday afternoon, I went off to see the tailor to whom I’d been introduced earlier in the week by one of my colleagues. You’ll be delighted to know that I’m losing weight – on purpose, may I add. As my trousers are just about falling off the hips (yay, the diet is working), I figured I needed new trousers, tighter, to encourage me to continue. I brought along one pair that I have with me as the model to follow, and made arrangements to have the two pairs made, as well as two pairs of shorts (I change into them on arrival at home, so that I can dust off the trousers!), and another dressing gown, with some nice material that I picked up a while back, a mere $12 for 6 yards. I do have a dressing gown with me, but it does need washing once in a while. Very complicated life I lead: first thing in the morning, out of night clothes, into dressing gown, and, while I have tea on the porch, the water heater does its thing; then it’s shower time and the ballet, then I get dressed. My, such a busy life! When I get back in the afternoon, and then, after my evening shower and ballet, back into the dressing gown. One has to fill one’s life with some activity!

On Saturday evening (we’re now on January 26th), the Centre was having its annual staff party, to which I’d been invited. I guess I should say that it’s the “Amicale de Don Bosco” that was holding the bash. This is sort of the staff association and I don’t think that all members of staff have to belong to it. However, once I discovered this, I asked if I couldn’t contribute, although I’m not officially a member of the Centre’s staff. It was quickly decided that I could become an honorary member and this was toasted all evening. Very nice, I must say. The invitation – an official one – had said that the bash was starting at precisely 6 p.m., so I duly showed up, along with about 4 others at the appointed time. I know better, but I was impressed by the “precisely at 6 p.m. on the invitation! A TV had been set up, since Cameroun was playing against Zambia (African Cup of Nations), and it was soon obvious that nothing was going to happen until this match was over. It was considered an important match, since in their first game, Cameroun had lost ignominiously to Egypt, 5 to 1. Most insulting for the Lions, known as one of the stronger teams on the continent. Anyway, fortunately, Cameroun won, 5 to 1 (yup!) against Zambia, to great cries of joy, honking of cars etc. Just to close off the football saga (soccer), Cameroon also won its next match and qualified for the quarter finals. The next two weeks are going to be crazy: if the Cameroonian team keeps on winning, the country will be partying non-stop, and if they lose somewhere along the line, mourning will be the order of the day. If I sound like I know what I’m talking about, it’s because it’s catching!

By the time the match was over on the Saturday evening, most people had arrived. There had been a trickle all the way through, but we were finally about 60 people, including the père Natalino, the director, with long beard suitably groomed. Speeches were made, new officers introduced, including yours truly, who, to his surprise, was nominated “special advisor”, along with the père. A picture was taken, to be found here, along with two others – one of me dancing with Mme Calvin, wife of the general maintenance man, and one kneeling next to Laurence (one of the Lauries!), our secretary and her husband. A good meal was provided, although I begged off the tapioca, and good chats all around. Then there was a round of present giving (not quite sure why, but anyway) and then the dancing started. All lots of fun, but I left early, at about midnight.

Such a wild life I lead! Sunday was more relaxing, although my two young men showed up unexpectedly (I’d told them that they would always be welcome, so…), at about 4:30. I took this to be a hint that they wouldn’t mind being fed again! They live with another brother, sharing an apartment (well, probably just a room, but I haven’t enquired!) and I imagine that funds can be tight. Anyway, it was quite fun to see them again, and they were quite happy reading old copies of Jeune Afrique and a couple of other magazines that I had around, while I got supper ready. I made a couscous, fortunately having bought some merguez (Algerian lamb sausage) the day before. This time, I sent them home with the left-overs, in a tub. The tub was duly returned a few days later, along with two pineapples – a thank you gift, I suppose. I must have told them that it was my favourite fruit, and it is in plentiful supply, as are oranges, grapefruit, mandarin oranges and various other fruit of tropical nature.

Well, all that excitement! It certainly made a change from the great issues of the day, one of which concerns toe-nails. I’m sure you’re really interested in this, and I’ll bore you anyway! You need to know (do you really?) that my toe-nails are very, very hard, and it is very difficult to trim them. Unfortunately, I do not have a strong pair of toe-nail scissors, nor clipper for that matter. I do have a clipper for my fingernails, you’ll be relieved to know, but they don’t work on my toe-nails, which need to be soaked for half an hour or more just to make them relatively hard, as opposed to granite-hard. And no, I can’t find toe-nail scissors in Yaoundé – I’ve looked and looked. There are nail scissors to be found, of course, but only little things and they usually come in a little kit, together with all sorts of manicuring implements, and cost the earth. I’m now waiting for scissors to arrive from Canada, sent by my loving wife (no doubt carefully wrapped), through the good offices of a colleague who is coming to do some consultancy work for the project. I can hardly wait…. Meanwhile, my toe-nails grow – fortunately, I wear sandals and it’s the dry season – I’m not sure that my feet will fit in my shoes at the moment. Not quite Guinness Book of Records, but getting there!

How’s that for an exciting life?

Cheers all!

David