Fontem Each province (which is now called a “region”, in the government’s efforts to complete the world’s most absurd decisions made by a country ever/usurp the independence of the Anglophone provinces by eventually molding them into their nearby Francophone neighbors) has a meeting every 4 months of all the PC volunteers.  So I took the [...]

January 5, 2009 My mom came here for 2 weeks and I feel “awkward” (a word that I had no idea how much I used until she came, or I should say how many instances in my life call for the use of the word) writing about her visit since she’s really the only one who [...]

December 10, 2008 I just walked into the internet joint and next door they’re playing fantastic hits such as “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” and “I saw mommy kissing santa claus”. I’m shocked. Lately my neighbor’s been playing this famous Nigerian gospel singer and talking back to this CD she’s heard a gazillion times. The [...]

November 28, 2008 While in Yaounde, I’ve been lucky enough to have 2 chances to confront what it might be like when I go back to a Western culture. Boy Scoots (apparently “scouts” is more like “scoots” in French… adorable) Five of us health volunteers piled into the Peace Corps SUV to talk to a troop of boy [...]

November 27, 2008 Anyway, I’m halfway (still?) through service and Peace Corps’s been poking and prodding me to no end in order to make sure that the worms don’t have a full 2 years to shack up in my intestines. We’re all hoping for some sort of parasite to make the effort worth it/have something “African” to [...]

November 25, 2008 I realized that I haven’t given you all the full taste of what it’s like to live in Cameroon with the shining glory of Obama on the horizon coming from the West. If it had a sound, it’d be BAM! We stayed up all night here in Yaounde to watch the election, eagerly crowded [...]

November 5, 2008 Kim and I traveled to the North of Cameroon. On a bus we shoved ourselves into a back seat [side note: we were less tight because the people up north are skinny not like the "fat mommies" down south where 5 people on a bus bench is no easy feat] with our knees [...]

October 22, 2008 Global Voices Online quotes me (Global Voices) and apparently my global voice is ALL about taxi drivers… Why can’t I be like Siobhan who reminds people how much she likes living in Cameroon? I’d like to take this inspired-moment to have a bit of top 10 (actually not a bit, i’ll give you the [...]

October 11, 2008 Actually he said it a little less like Dopey the cartoon dog and more like “I go marry you” caveman-ish. I flagged down a taxi, and being cheap as I always am refused him when he tried to make me pay 50f more (again, like a dime) and he accepted to carry me home [...]

October 11, 2008 Jess ducked beneath the gauzy white curtain to Kobi’s room. He was sleeping the sunny afternoon away in the slow heat of his dim room. She felt lucky to have a buddy, someone she could hang out with easily. She’d been bouncing around the neighborhood for the better part of an hour, chasing [...]