So I have officially passed the two month mark here in Cameroon…time sure flies doesn’t it? Right now Im sitting in a cyber cafe in dowtown Douala, a bustling area, and all sorts of people continue to trickle in for internet connection. Ive just finished teaching class for the day and am now trying to respond to as many messages and to contact as many people as possible. These marathons of posting, emails, and facebook messages are almost like being punched in the face by Canada (in a good way, of course).
Nowadays, things really keep me living in the here and now and although my friends and family are dearly missed, at this point Im able to make it through a day without my thoughts being drawn home with the matching feelings fo home sickness. But when I hear from my friends and family all of my thoughts immediatly turn to them and for a period of time my thoughts are on NOTHING but home. It almost feels like living a double life sometimes! Either way, the moral of this story is, Im so happy when I hear from people across the big blue ocean, so keep ‘em coming!
The World Cup-So you know that totally underplayed (if you lived in Douala you would IMMEDIATLY detect my sarcasm about being underplayed) shakira world cup football song? Well apperantly the original song is Cameroonian, it is either bakoti or makossa music, Ive yet to become Cameroonian enough to tell you which. The original track is very similar to the world cup version, just remove the ”hey this is africa” Shakira part and there you have it. Now speaking of the world cup…apperantlyCameroons indomitable lions were dominated…more than once ha. Although there is another match against Holland, Cameroon unfortunately was the first country to be kicked out from the runnings. Now many of you have thought being in Africa during the world cup would automatically lead to excitement…but if peoples emotions can be greatly stirred by their teams performance in victory, it can also be stirred by failure. The country almost seems to be in a depression over the loss (the rainy season weather sure doesnt help either), so Ill really have to keep my fingers crossed for another African team to perform well, luckily Ghana has made it through!
Shisha and a hot shower-over the last couple of weeks, ive developed a very good friendship with Selemen, the Tunisian fellow, but unfortunately as soon as we have become close, it seems he must return to Tunisia. Hes a funny guy and Ill be sad to see him go. As a result, weve been trying to hang out as much as possible before he leaves and during one of these hang outs I had two of the most fantastic things happen…shisha AND a hot shower. Selemen lives in a massive apartment and so i stayed in his spare room for a night last week and that evening his lebanese neighbors invited us up for shisha…my guilty pleasure! Ill was heavenly. The next morning I also enjoyed a hot shower for the first time since arriving. Twas magical!
