The welcome party

“All I wanna do is boom boom boom whaaat click ca-ching and take ya money…” Paper airplanes by MIA, havent heard it in a long time, but Im currently listening to the song and doing the hand motions that accompany the sound effects…while in my cyber cafe in Douala…

How Africa has made me whiter- Before leaving, I joked with many people about going to Africa and becoming blacker via a wicked tan. While, I think I may have become more African than when I arrived, a bizzare phenomenon has been taking place for the last two months…Cameroon has been making me whiter than I arrived. The culprit?

The rainy season, my new arch nemesis.

When I arrived the weather was beautiful, bright sun, blue skies, and hot weather (I dont think I EVER complained about the heat). But now…rainy…clouds….A LOT of rain…followed by more clouds and a few hours of sun here and there. Couple this with the fact that I wear a dress shirt and pants to work and relain indoors teaching most of the day, I think this is the palest I have EVER been in July. Who would have thought, come to Africa, and become whiter? Not I.

Le Varan-My diet here is almost sinful. While typically very health conscious and active at home, here, the staples of my diet are beignets (donuts) and bread. Although it is possible to eat a diet less carbohydrate rich, its not easy. But when I break away from my typical eating habits, I like to try something new. Enter le varan. I tried it  earlier this week and it was delicious, tasted like a cross between chicken with the greasyness of duck perhaps, while also having a distinct lizard skin on the outside that  had been de-scaled and cooked. Quite tasty. Now I encourage you to check out varan online, these arent just any lizards. The picture I briefly saw looked like an intense komodo dragon or something. Id rather encounter it on my dinner plate than outside.

The Welcome Party-Things just have a certain way of being run and done here. Sometimes it drives me nuts, sometimes it makes laugh, and other times Im baffled. I cant decide about this one. Tomorrow I am attending MY welcome party being put on by the local AIESECers. Yes, I know what you are thinking, I HAVE been here for almost three months…over half of my stay, but finally, I am receiving my offical welcome. Alright, to be fair, they decided to wait for some more interns before putting on a big shindig, but when I mentioned the possibilty that i couldnt attend because I had arranged to travel (this party has been rescheduled, changed, forgotten, put through the laundry, everything you can think of besides actually HAPPENING) and when I told them this it is like I had said the most insulting thing. After all they said, how could you NOT come to YOUR welcoming party, thats unthinkable!

Well, I’ll brace myself to be “welcomed.” Should be a good time, at least it actually is a welcome for the rush of interns who have arrived over the last month…

My purpose-Recently I revealed my panic about trying to find my purpose or mission before I leave Cameroon, time’s a tickin’! When I first arrived, I could hardly speak a word of French, which made interacting with some members of the local committee (LC) here very difficult. Now I can at least survive in a conversation. When I arrived I was also the only “AIESECer” EP. The rest were just people who were recruited just for exchange and had no interest in helping the local organization, and so I didn’t have any other interns to bounce ideas of off. Since then, a few other experienced AIESECers have arrived, and weve decided we’d really like to get more involved with the LC here and give them a hand with a few things.

Now this will be interesting, because three of us come from AIESEC LCs that all had at least a similar culture, working style, and structure. Here it is completely different and the realities of Douala and its people are very different. But we want to help and make some suggestions in some areas we’ve found some weakneses in, and Im sure we will learn some things along the way. We might learn some new ideas for our own LCs and their structures and strategies, but more importantly, I think personally the from very different places and cumtures (which infact is huge part of the AIESEC mission).

There is always the idea that we dont want to come and impose our ideas on someone else, but the great thing about AIESEC is that we are all members of the same organization and have the itnerest of our members at heart.  So although we may do things VERY differently, there is at least the mutual understanding that we all have eachothers best interest at heart. Its really quite something, and I dont think I really fully appreciated this untill I arrived.

Tomorrow some of the interns and I are meeting with the leaders of the LC to get some information about its current state, its members, and its strategies. We’ll see what happens!

The North-this is just a teeser but, I MIGHT finally be going to the north of cameroon next week. Details are limited on our plan, but Ive been waitin for this trip for a while, its a big one. Its very far away, and also very different from the regions Ive visited so far. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

And yes, the shisha legacy…best investment ever.

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