Finding my place in Yaoundé

I went to a concert last night with Jaime, Ashley, Andrea (girls from my program) and Anita (our new friend) and my older brother Mira. It was a female vocalist named Marko Singer, she was wonderful. My brother didn't seem too thrilled, but he pretended, which is typical Mira behavior. We went to a party at Jaime's sister's friend's house after the concert. She has an appartement above a club. The party was on a huge balcony overlooking the city. Ashley, our token New York City girl, said she felt at home with all the neon glow of Yaoundé and the music coming from the club. I sat down outside with a beer and my brother came up behind me clearing his throat as if to say, what are you drinking? I then noted the beer in his hand, and cleared my throat in response. This exchange was followed by a great deal of laughter and an agreement that if he didn't tell mom I was drinking I wouldn't tell her he was drinking with me.

My 21st birthday is in two days! We will celebrate Friday because Tuesday partying is socially unacceptable in Cameroon...haha. So all the girls and a bunch of our friends and family are going to go clubbing, which should be spectacular. I have to go to Mokolo, an outdoor market, to find a cute outfit because I want to not look like a missionary when I go to the club. I can't wait for next Friday!

This week is going to be spent doing field work for the NGO (African Network against Illiteracy, Conflict and Human Rights Abuse) in other words, it will be stressful and crazy but great when its over! Their project is to assess the need for enhanced citizenship education and prove that peace studies education can encourage tolerance and respect among students and teachers. I will be interviewing all sorts of people about their conceptions of the current education system and conflict in cameroon due to such intense diversity (over 260 ethnic groups and languages, both French and English as official languages due to different colonial masters, 3 world religions and a vast immigrant population from Nigeria, Chad, the Congo and a bunch of other African countries). I have to write a project report after my field work and I hope that I don't let my advisor down. I really want to help this organisation. For those of you that don't know this, I am a Peace Studies Major, and by a serendipitous encounter I have found myself putting this education to practice.

So I will now, if Air France permits, be staying in Cameroon until December 27, yes that's right, christmas in Cameroon. Mira gets married the 20 of December and the first availible flight after that is the 27. I am a brides maid for the wedding. I will be sporting a bright pink fitted beyoncé knock-off dress that will surely make me look more absurd then usual. But that's what the freaking wedding planner lady chose so I am going with it. Plus, the other girls who will also be in the wedding are being subjected to the same satin atrocity. And some of us, cough Ashley, are even excited.

At some point I will backtrack and update you guys about Ngaoundere, Garoua, Maroua and Gidea. Highlights include a safari, a new homestay family with a baby, a hike through a river that Laura thinks gave her African River Blindness (she is actually just insane) and watching the election results in a wigwam while drinking whiskey. Trust me, the Cameroonians were as excited if not more so than the Americans about the results.

Hope all is well on your side of the world. While you guys are getting ready for winter, I am getting tanner and enjoying 80°F weather! I so am not looking forward to winter weather, although I do love sweaters and scarves!

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written by  peep on November 16, 2008 from Yaounde, Cameroon
from the travel blog: Cameroon
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