(I added to this post since I made the original, so feel free to reread for some jucier details!)
Alright everyone, we have T-minus 17 minutes and counting to get this post out. Wish me luck…
Ketchup- Although I genuinely like the food here, sometimes a guy just craves for some good ol’ home cookin. You know, a nice roast beef, some ‘taters, green beans, and maybe a big piece of apple pie. My mouth waters at the thought of it.
Although most of these items would be possible to find here, it would be difficult, and I may not have the proper facilities to cook them in my desired way. So, I get by with my food here and Im happy..but the most surprising thing keeps coming up to the top of my mind…KETCHUP! Who would have thought, of all of the things I eat an enjoy at home, that it would be ketchup that I would miss the most! Again its possible to find here, but its just not a staple food like it is for me at home.
Recently my boss asked me what food I miss most from home. When I expressed these feelings for ketchup to my boss , even I was a little baffled. Im sure he was expecting some sort of high class or unique Canadian dish…but nope…just regular old ketchup. Apperantly my tastes arent as disinguished as I thought!
A few days ago while eating dinner with my boss he told me he had a surprise, and presented a bottle of perfectly chilled ketchup from his fridge. You could tell that its not consumed here often, because we were eating rice and avacado at the time. Nevertheless, I drenched my rice in ketchup (something even I wouldnt do at home) and thoroughly enjoyed it!
My Last Name- So my song choice today is the country song My Last Name, I think its by Dirks Bentley, but I might be mistaken, I leave it up to you country fans to correct me with your comments. Why this choice you wonder? Well apperantly the name Banninga has deep Cameroonian roots as well as Dutch. Although I cant get into all of the different examples, every time I attend a meeting or meet someone new, people are always shocked when a random white Canadian dude shows up in the place of their local counterpart named Matt “Banninga” who they assume to be Cameroonian. Gotta love it!
Uh oh, times tickin!
Drinking games- Alright so this past weekend I attended an AIESEC conference. I missed the global village in which I was supposed to present my culture, but instead made up for it at the after party by teaching the Cameroonians a range of drinking games, flip cup, what the f##k, beer pong, and kings. Drinking games arent commmon here, but they were immediatly a hit! Culture at its best!
This AIESEC Conference was quite an interesting one, everything ran about two hours behind schedule and almost every event was dedicated to distributing awards. Dont get me wrong, recognition is a great thing, but I think there is a limit. When only 3 Local Committees exist, it kind of seems like over kill when there are about 10 or 15 awards, which all seem to recognize the same things and go to the exact same people (for example awards for being dynamic in promoting exchange and the awards for ingenuity in promoting exchange). Oh well, to each their own, I know I wouldnt mind a trophy here and there either.
Following the multiple awards ceremonies, nothing was planned and we werent able to play music and have a dance at night. In the confusion that followed, some wanted to go to the clubs, some wanted to stay, and others just became very frustrated with the lack of organization and decisive action. Then someone asked me…Matt, do you know any drinking games?…The magic words to my ears.
I had been waiting to play a drinking game since I arrived here, I hadnt realised how important this social activity was to me. But some problems remained. We had no alcohol, most places to buy it were closed, things were still madly disorganized, and I was picking up on a bit of a downer vibe. Now Ive been in this situation before, and Im sure a few of you would recognize my determined face and attitude when I decide to make things happen.
I put in 2000 francs..which here is a good chunk of change, but actually is worth about four Canadian dollars. I then found a trustworthy fellow to go on a booze mission and I immediatly set to work trying to liven things up. In the end, I shared one 26er of orange liquour and a bottle of coke with about 25 people. Sure this quantity of alcohol didnt have the same bodily effects that would result from a typical drinking game, but it was enough to have some good fun and bring things back to life. Thats the funny thing about drinking games, its very psychological. No one wanted to play with anything but alcohol, but when we actually played no one received more than one shot and therefore remained quite sober. Yet just knowing that the booze was there made all the difference! Good times were had, and who knows, maybe Ive added a whole new dimension to partying in Cameroon? Well, one can only hope!
June 3, 2010 at 4:02 am |
you were right! dierks bentley:)