I’m Only Happy When it Rains
Quotes of the Week:
Brooke: I am a p---- and Jay is a v-----. (Trying to keep it PG-13 here).
Jay: I wonder if they’ll have ketchup.
Alice: What is it called when it’s just 2 people again?
David: Hey, I should be dead.
Moving on.
This has become our new theme song. The Grand North province of Cameroon has 2 seasons. La saison seche et la saison des pluis: The dry season (aka-SaHell) and the rainy season. The rainy season lasts for about 2 weeks. Thus, our theme song has gotten very little airtime. If I have not told you 5 times yet: It is incredibly hot here. Not hot, like Jersey summer hot. I mean hot as in, you wake up… think to yourself: Ohmi! What a cool Sahel morn!... then you sit up in your bed… and immediately start to sweat. Although, I really should not be crying about it; this week has been the coolest one yet. We were at 120°C a few weeks ago, when the elastic in my bathing suit melted… anyone want to send me a new culturally appropriate bathing suit (Shorts Size: XS. Top Size: Erm… not XS)? Preferably, a cute tankini with boy shorts? This week it only got to about 95. Heck, the temperature inside of my mouth is hotter than that, so I’ll stop being a pansy about it… for now.
Anywho, the days are so long and slow, but the weeks seem to fly. This week has been no exception. A group of PLWHAs (People Living with AIDS/HIV) came to a session. It was really cool. I forget the name of the group (I guess all for the better. The group is secret, because if their communities found out that these people had AIDS, the members would all be disowned, violently hurt, or even killed), but the President, Treasurer (both female), and another member of the group came to give testimonials. I could go on about it, but I’ll just say that it was immensely powerful. The stigma here is insane. A lot of Cameroonians still think that AIDS does not actually exists; that it is simply “the white man’s plot to sell condoms.” Mind you, sub-saharan Africa has 10% of the world’s population and 60% of all reported AIDS cases…
We also visited one of the two HIV testing centers in the provincial capital. I do not even know how to begin describing that place, so I’ll just say that they are trying. Actually, there are a lot of people doing a lot of good stuff out there. We’ve met some really cool ones, including some of the current volunteers and some people from ACMS (a branch of PSI) who came to give presentations. It’s pretty cool and very encouraging to see all of the things that a small group of people have accomplished. Yours truly also did a session this week. I presented to both the Agro and the Health groups on the immune system (aka- Le systeme immunitaire). It went very well, so I am told :D Yesterday, some of the current volunteers had a district meeting/Halloween party at a hotel in the provincial capital. Though our stage was not part of the meeting, we took the opportunity to go into Garoua and use the pool at the hotel, while the PCVs held their meeting. The hotel was nice, the pool was not all that impressive, but water never felt so good and I am told that the boxed wine was off the charts (Yah, I said “off the charts”) :D
Anyone want to fill me in on what is happening on the following please? America’s Next Top Model (Are those fugly twins gone?), Gilmore Girls (Is Jess back?), Entourage, Arrested Development, Arthur, Rick Steve’s Europe, Dinner Takes All, Take Home Chef (Is Curtis engaged?), What Not to Wear (Will Clinton and Stacey ever come to Africa?), Little People/Big World, Grey’s Anatomy (Is Meredith dead yet? Can’t stand her! Where’s Addison??), Mystery Diagnosis, Untold Stories of the ER. Take your pick and leave me a comment, thanks! :D
I had a Twix bar yesterday :D I cannot even put into words how good that junk was. I licked every last bit of melted chocolate off of that wrapper. Fin.
“A pessimist looks at the glass of water and says it’s half empty. An optimist says that it is half full. A Peace Corps Volunteer looks at the glass of water and says, ‘I could take a bath with that.’ “
~ One of many PC proverbs
Brooke: I am a p---- and Jay is a v-----. (Trying to keep it PG-13 here).
Jay: I wonder if they’ll have ketchup.
Alice: What is it called when it’s just 2 people again?
David: Hey, I should be dead.
Moving on.
This has become our new theme song. The Grand North province of Cameroon has 2 seasons. La saison seche et la saison des pluis: The dry season (aka-SaHell) and the rainy season. The rainy season lasts for about 2 weeks. Thus, our theme song has gotten very little airtime. If I have not told you 5 times yet: It is incredibly hot here. Not hot, like Jersey summer hot. I mean hot as in, you wake up… think to yourself: Ohmi! What a cool Sahel morn!... then you sit up in your bed… and immediately start to sweat. Although, I really should not be crying about it; this week has been the coolest one yet. We were at 120°C a few weeks ago, when the elastic in my bathing suit melted… anyone want to send me a new culturally appropriate bathing suit (Shorts Size: XS. Top Size: Erm… not XS)? Preferably, a cute tankini with boy shorts? This week it only got to about 95. Heck, the temperature inside of my mouth is hotter than that, so I’ll stop being a pansy about it… for now.
Anywho, the days are so long and slow, but the weeks seem to fly. This week has been no exception. A group of PLWHAs (People Living with AIDS/HIV) came to a session. It was really cool. I forget the name of the group (I guess all for the better. The group is secret, because if their communities found out that these people had AIDS, the members would all be disowned, violently hurt, or even killed), but the President, Treasurer (both female), and another member of the group came to give testimonials. I could go on about it, but I’ll just say that it was immensely powerful. The stigma here is insane. A lot of Cameroonians still think that AIDS does not actually exists; that it is simply “the white man’s plot to sell condoms.” Mind you, sub-saharan Africa has 10% of the world’s population and 60% of all reported AIDS cases…
We also visited one of the two HIV testing centers in the provincial capital. I do not even know how to begin describing that place, so I’ll just say that they are trying. Actually, there are a lot of people doing a lot of good stuff out there. We’ve met some really cool ones, including some of the current volunteers and some people from ACMS (a branch of PSI) who came to give presentations. It’s pretty cool and very encouraging to see all of the things that a small group of people have accomplished. Yours truly also did a session this week. I presented to both the Agro and the Health groups on the immune system (aka- Le systeme immunitaire). It went very well, so I am told :D Yesterday, some of the current volunteers had a district meeting/Halloween party at a hotel in the provincial capital. Though our stage was not part of the meeting, we took the opportunity to go into Garoua and use the pool at the hotel, while the PCVs held their meeting. The hotel was nice, the pool was not all that impressive, but water never felt so good and I am told that the boxed wine was off the charts (Yah, I said “off the charts”) :D
Anyone want to fill me in on what is happening on the following please? America’s Next Top Model (Are those fugly twins gone?), Gilmore Girls (Is Jess back?), Entourage, Arrested Development, Arthur, Rick Steve’s Europe, Dinner Takes All, Take Home Chef (Is Curtis engaged?), What Not to Wear (Will Clinton and Stacey ever come to Africa?), Little People/Big World, Grey’s Anatomy (Is Meredith dead yet? Can’t stand her! Where’s Addison??), Mystery Diagnosis, Untold Stories of the ER. Take your pick and leave me a comment, thanks! :D
I had a Twix bar yesterday :D I cannot even put into words how good that junk was. I licked every last bit of melted chocolate off of that wrapper. Fin.
“A pessimist looks at the glass of water and says it’s half empty. An optimist says that it is half full. A Peace Corps Volunteer looks at the glass of water and says, ‘I could take a bath with that.’ “
~ One of many PC proverbs
posted by Me at 11:11 AM
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