PST Week 9

Old Car next to a mud hut with a kid playing the tire game - typical of my quartier in Pitoa (this is outside my homestay house)


Me with the cookstoves in my pagne dress



So I made a cook stove this week with mud. An improved cook stove to be more accurate. And, when I say that I made one, I mean that I attempted to make one, but I sucked pretty badly compared to the local women who showed us how to make one. She made a beautiful, perfect cook stove and made it look easy. Then, I made a mini version of something that a 10 year old would bring home from pottery class – but I got the basic idea down and I have 2 years to perfect it. I do have pictures of them that I will try to post. I feel I need to share this experience because it was very interesting, amusing, embarrassing, etc.

In French class this week we did riddles (enigmas in French) one day. Surprisingly many riddles do cross cultural barriers. For instance, the “what is black, white, and read (or red since they sound the same when you say them) all over” has a French counterpart. The answer is of course newspaper (or journal in French). As does “what first walks on 4 legs then 2 legs then 3 legs”. Kauleen and I introduced our French teacher to the “a child and father are in a car accident and get taken to separate hospitals, the doctor at the hospital with the child says that they cannot operate on the kid because it is their child – how is this possible?” She didn’t know and we had to tell her it was because the doctor was the mother! When I tried to play these enigmas with my host brother that night I got to the one about “what is black, white and read all over” he knew the answer was journal. I then tried to explain to him that in English the word for red and read sound the same and so in America many children answer “a sunburned zebra” to this riddle. He found this extremely amusing – which it is. Keep in mind that all of this is occurring in French and feel free to be impressed by how much French I have learned since being here – I am a bit impressed with myself to be honest. I have a huge test to see if I have reached my required “intermediate high” level in a few hours and so I have my fingers crossed. My host brother has wished me “bonne chance” (good luck) and so we shall see I suppose. I won’t know until Monday.

One night over dinner my host brother and I got to discussing recipes for the local food. He explained to me the dishes that he thought I would be able to figure out and when I asked about how to make these coconut balls they sell he told me it was too complicated for me. That made me laugh. He is probably right but I will try nonetheless. That is the things about Americans, we like to try and see for ourselves before we accept defeat. But, I know now how to make ham ham and fullery sauce and peanut sauce. That should hold me for awhile.

My trainer told me yesterday that he was impressed with me and my willingness to try all the different foods off the street or whatnot. He said he hadn’t ever seen a volunteer jump into the food like I have. I suppose that was a complement and took it as one. I figure, the sooner I figure out good food that is here and how to make it, the happier I will be. I told him about my love of piemont (peppers and spicy food) and he seemed fairly impressed with my stomachs ability to handle the spice and food. Apparently the majority of Americans that people here have come in contact with have weak stomachs and don’t enjoy food with copious amounts of piemont in it the way I do. I have started to be known in Pitoa for my stomach and experimentation with food. For instance, the women who sell ham ham get upset with me when I don’t have it for lunch. The children who sell the sesame seed balls know me and what I am buying and are ready for me. The children who sell the coconut balls sell them out of a closed pot you cannot see through – when I walked down the street they removed the lid to show me that they had them, knowing what I was looking for. The omelet man was shocked when he was being a jerk and took a huge scoop of piemont and was pretending to dump it on my food (after I asked for more piemont) and I told him to drop it and he did and then I ate it and he was shocked. It was hilarious to me.


This past weekend we all went to a huge soccer game in Garoua. It was the finals for this inter Africa cup. The two best regional teams in African were facing off and one of them happened to be from the province I will be living! The Coton Sport team from Garoua is one of the two best regional teams in Africa – pretty cool right? Well, the other team was from Egypt and they beat us. Egypt always beats us. But, the game itself was so entertaining. They gave all of us these awful marigold yellow tshirts that we had to wear. Then, two guard stood on either side of our section – real “immersion” type situation right? Well our group was quite the commotion. One of us (the boy who will later be my post mate) got the entire stadium to do the wave. Multiple times. It was so funny. It may have been televised so try to you tube that if you get bored. I would love to know how far this made it around the world. The final score of the game was something like 3-1 but it came down to this stupid penalty kick that gave them the lead and took the steam out of Coton Sport. Prior to the game I went to the market and attempted to find a jersey and realized this is a complicated process with many options, many different styles, many different qualities, etc. I have started the process of shopping around and I will eventually find one that fits all of my qualifications I am sure of it.

Found a store in Garoua that sells cheese and wine. Last weekend directly after finding this I ate a block of swiss cheese, a box of crackers made with olive oil and rosemary, and drank a bottle of South African Merlot. Be jealous. It was the best thing in the world and I ate it with my hands at a bar with two other volunteers. It is pretty much awesome and I know call it the magic store – a name I had previously conserved for a store here in Pitoa that sells vashe (the cheese that doesn’t need refrigeration).

So today we have our “final” language exam. Cara and I took bets yesterday that we would go last because this seems to be the general rule with language tests. Low and behold Cara and I arrive at 7:30 to find that our exams are the last and will occur at 12:30 and 12:00, respectively. You would think they would work on switching it up a bit. But, no, you would be wrong. Anyway, wish me luck – time to watch a movie and consume a lot of peanuts in preparation for my exam!