Two weeks have passed, lots of things have happened

One of the cute lizards outside our apartment.
We had (or have...?) one in the kitchen also :-)

Already I've been here for more than two weeks! And I'm really enjoying each day! Now I've been so lucky that I've tasted something called "banje" or "makkala", in the local language fulani. "Makkala" are small rolls that are sold all over here, and it's really, really good. Once you start eating it, you can't stop.

I also have to mention all the great insects here! Outside (and sometimes inside...) there are lot of lizards, but they are nice and don't bother us. The grasshoppers are worse. They are outside (and always also inside!), today I even found one climbing in my net against mosquitoes...Now when the rain season are ending, there will be some weeks with lots of the grasshoppers. They are big, and really good jumpers I can assure you! It happens that I kill them by stamping on them (even though it's not my intension...). That's because they jump (around one metre) and land under my foot just before I finish my step. For once I think it's okay to say that: "It's not my fault...!" :-)

An ugly grasshopper

 On Fridays we have used to join a Sport Club for the children on the Mission Station, because there are also many Cameroonians living in the Mission Station. The Sport Club is run by a Cameroonian boy and the "NMS one-year-volunteers", but it's fun to join.

The seller and me in the fabric store.  

Last Saturday I finally got to do something I've really wanted to do. I bought fabric to a Cameroonian dress! There were so many different fabrics to choose between, but finally I manage to pick out one with a really nice pattern. Someone is going to sew the dress for me, and I'm really looking forward to it's finished and I can wear it. The seller in the store asked me if I had a husband. When I answered: "No," he was quick to make this photo of us together...Funny!

It seems like everything lasts for a long time here in Ngaoundéré. When we join the choir "The Gospel Singers" on Tuesdays, we always end up standing, singing and dancing for nearly three hours without any breaks. (There's also practise on Sundays, but then it only use to last for one hour!)When we went to the Millennium church for the first time last Sunday, it also lasted for three hours, and when we attended the volleyball training Monday, it lasted for two hours. Anyway the choir and the volleyball training are really fun, and there are a lot of nice people there! The service in the church wasn't that fun because I didn't understand much of the French. All I understood was that the service was about "la vie éternel", eternal life. But then who actually decides what's long time? Maybe things rather last for a short time in Norway...Anyway I think I will train my patience during my stay here, and that's good.

Our French teacher in our classroom

We haven't started to work yet, because these two first weeks, we have attended a French course from 8-12 o'clock every day. On Tuesday we visited the hospital and the high school Collège Protestant. Both of them are just outside the Norwegian Mission Station (where we live), and they are run by the church, l'Eglise Evangélique Lutheriénne au Cameroun (or EELC).

Visiting the hospital and the high school was part of the French class, and it was very interesting. Of course I've heard before that in other countries the classes are really big, and that that makes it difficult to learn at school. But now I think I understood this better. I saw the big classes, with around 70 students in each class. The teacher had written something on the board, but for those who sat behind it was very difficult, almost impossible to read. At the same time the sun was shining on the blackboard through the windows, and making it even more difficult to read. That's because they don't have curtains in the classroom.

Collège Protestant

When I saw this, I thought that I should really be more grateful for the material standard of the schools in Norway. It's too easy to find something to complain about, even though we have so much to thank for. While many students in Norway use their time at school playing games or being on Facebook on their computers, here in Ngaoundéré people are very grateful when they can afford to go to school. I think that is because it is really expensive going to school here, so people don't take the school for granted. But they are happy that they can go to school, even though they risk ending up behind in the classroom, not seeing what's written on the blackboard. This is something I think us Norwegians can learn a lot from!

We get more and more friends here. Last Sunday we were invited home to a really nice girl here. There we were served fish grilled with skin, and it was really good :) And we had a really great time, as well as with taking a lot of pictures of the family, together with all her little sisters and little brothers. They really enjoyed being taken pictures of, so that was really fun!

The main road, where we use to go to the shops. The traffic consists

 of some taxis (cars), but mainly of motorcycles.

"Injam" sold along the road, the green, long roots in both sides of the photo

Thursday we went to the marked in town for the first time! That's part of the French course, because we were trying to speak French while we were on the marked, and after the trip we talked about what we have seen and experienced. It's really interesting! There were so many people in the marked in the middle of the day, selling all kinds of things. They sold a lot of different kinds of nuts, fruits and vegetables, for example a root called "injam", which we have tasted in several visits. They also sold used (and some new) clothes and shoes.

Prepared "injam", ready for eating

I have also payed attention to that everybody greets each other here when they pass one another. Often they also stop and ask "Ca va?", which means "How are you?" I like that! People live very close to each other, and I think that it's why everybody knows each other here . The Cameroonians are glad people, and I really like that they laugh a lot. Many people want to get to know us, and that's really nice! And they are really trying to understand our French, which I appreciate.

Now the two weeks of intensive French course are finished, and we will start with some of the work this week. But luckily we will continue having eight hours with French course per week for a while. I'm looking forward to start to work here, and to find out what will be our new routine! Tomorrow we have pratice with the choir again in the evening, and I have just found out that the choir is going to have a consert this Saturday...

Anyway, as you may have understood, I'm really enjoying my stay here so far! (For further information of what Johanne and me have done these two weeks, also look at Johannes blogg).

À plus tard!

What's that sound?

"It's just the Muslims praying." "Ah...!" I've never actually heard it before...But now I hear that sound many times a day. When I sit in the classroom learning French, I suddenly hear something that sounds like shooting. I react at once. Then our teacher tells us that it's just the military training. The "one-year-volunteers" also tell me that they found out that the military has shooting training in the "mango forest", as we call it, where the boys are jogging regularly. One day they saw many soldiers training... So we should be careful when we go into the forest.

There are many different sounds here. Suddenly I hear someone outside whistling for me or saying "bonjour". I open the door, just to find our parrot sitting in his cage, expectantly awaiting a pat on the head. Then when we are driving in the town there's a lot of honking. No one follows the traffic rules, so it's just to make people watch out. Honk when you want people to be aware of the situation. That's every time you pass a motorcycle or pass people walking along the road, in other words; almost all the time!

Right now I hear the sound of the grasshoppers just outside, and the wild dogs barking from far away!

"New sounds in another country are always a wonder!" (Quote: Johanne Teresie)

Salut du Cameroun!

Now Johanne and me have been in Ngaoundéré for four days, and we have already experience a lot. On Oct. 5th it was really sad saying good bye to my family for six months, and some days earlier saying good bye to my friends at Hald. But since then much good have happened. When Johanne and me arrived at the airport in the capital of Cameroon, Yaoundé, we met our contact person Amos. He's really nice, and speaks Norwegian very well because he has also attended Hald. Together with him we drove to a hotel, where we stayed one night. The next day Amos showed us around in the city of Yaoundé, before we went together by train to Ngaoundéré.

Breakfast in the hotel in Yaoundé. "Nam, nam!"

Youndé, view from the hotel

In the city of Yaoundé. All the yellow cars are taxis ;)

That trip was a really new and special experience for me! I have never had a trip by train like this earlier. One minute after the train started, it stopped. We got to know that there was a problem. Then the train started again, struggling and making a lot of sounds, but still starting. During the 14 hours long journey by train we learnt that this was a regular event, the train stopping, starting and struggling further on, because of technical problems. Still we had a really nice time in the train. We could even by fruits and vegetables through open windows: mangoes, bananas, oranges, mandarins, pineapples, avocados, roots etc. That was very new for me! All the way it was also lightning, without thunder...it was beautiful to watch!

We went further and further away from the city and more and more into the village until we arrived in Ngaoundéré at 9 o'clock on Oct. 7th. Here we got a nice apartment, and a funny, speaking parrot just outside. We also got two really nice Norwegian boys as neighbours. They are "one-year-volunteers", or in Norwegian "ettåringer", for NMS. There are also other Norwegians here, and many Cameroonians here who speak Norwegian. Ten of them have actually attended Hald. The first day here we got to know the place a little bit, and we really got to know that it is still rain season here!! But it is soon finished according to what we have heard...But the rain doesn't stop the Cameroonian boys from playing football. They just take off their t-shirts and continue having fun : )

Our apartment

Our parrot "Aco"

The Cameroonian people are really nice. Every day new people come to greet and welcome us. It's difficult to communicate because I don't speak French very well, but I think it will be easier after a while. Today I actually noticed an improvement from yesterday! Probably the French course I started attending today, helped a little bit. I am not starting to work until two weeks, because in this time I attend the French course, and I think I need that..Yesterday my most exciting experience was definitively to taste "couscous" for the first time. It is the most eaten food here in Cameroon, and people eat it with their hands, so we did too!

"Couscous"

Today I have been to a local store for the second time. There are holes in the roads and motorcycles driving all over, so we have to watch out. But until now Johanne and me have not driven the car, so the "ettåringer" have to do that, and so far, so good ;)

 This evening Johanne and me attended the Gospel Choir in the church here for the first. I have not attended a choir since I was a child, but today I did. We practiced from 18-21 o'clock, without a break, standing all the time. Or maybe it is better to say dancing, because we actually danced more than we sang. Dancing in Cameroonian way while singing songs I do not know in French was really a challenge, and I think it would have been funny to watch myself while doing this! What I also think was really funny, was that there were more boys than girls in the choir. That's different from in Norway, at least from what I know about choirs in Norway.

So far I really enjoy the stay here, I have got so many impressions and I think the Cameroonians are really nice, hospitable, smiling and sharing what they have. I really admire their good attitude! And I'm really looking forward to get to know people better!

À bien tôt!