Choir, taco and mountain-trip

When I haven't written on the blog for quite a long time, it's not because little has happened. It's actually opposite. So much have happened, that I haven't had time to write. But now follows a little update of the last 10 days.

Last Sunday I preformed with the choir Gospel Singers for the first time. Then we sang in a church, called Bethlehem church, and that Sunday they celebrated Thanksgiving there. That means that the service lasted for 5 hours, with singing and dancing, while giving money and vegetables to the church!
 
When the choir sing, they use to wear African dresses (girls) or trousers and T-shirts (boys) made of the same fabric. So we also got African dresses to wear during the performance. And I think it was really nice to participate, but I was also quite tired when we were finished after 5 hours! Then the whole choir was invited to eat dinner in some one's house. We got pasta, rise, fried bananas, fish and meat with sauce! They gave us Norwegians a dish each and cutlery  to eat with, the rest ate with their hands from the same, big dishes, which the food was served on... I guess they didn't have enough dishes to everyone...


Wednesday we grilled in the evening, by the swimming pool! There were the two Norwegian missionary families, the Ethiopian missionary family, some of the Norwegian nurse-students (taking some of their practise in the hospital here), Runar and Kristian (the "NMS one-year-volunteers") and Johanne and me. We had a nice time eating hamburgers and hot dogs. Actually there's a hearth by the swimming pool, so after eating we sat by the hearth, singing songs and talking ;-)

Computer teaching at Centre Socio

Friday evening, after teaching at Centre Socio Ménager, Runar, Kristian, Johanne and me had "taco-kveld" (taco-evening)! Johanne had brought some Norwegian taco-spice. And after Centre Socio Ménanger, we went to the market to bye the vegetables. That was really fun! The sellers always tell us a higher price because we're "nascarra" (white people). Therefore we just went to the other sellers, checked their prices and used the cheapest one. Then the pther sellers laughed at us, and said that "nascarra sont pauvres" ("the white people are poor")...

When we walk in the market, there's always a lot of people shouting "nascarra, nascarra!" when they see us. But last Friday Kristian wore a  tunic/dress and hat, similar to those the men wear here (both Muslims and Christians). What was fun, was that then people shouted "Alladin" after him, instead of "nascarra"... As you may understand we don't go to the marked unseen, we always draw  a lot of attention, even though it's not our intention...


So, after having bought vegetables, we made "pitabrød", Guacamola and Salza sauce. And then we had a delicious meal, and a "filmkveld" (movie-night). But some of us were too tired to keep our eyes open during the films...

Taco! This is how the picture was when I tried "selvutløser", (and the boys were too impatient about the food that we could try again... ;-) )

The mountain that we climbed

Saturday morning Kristian, Johanne and me went on a mountain-trip. That's part of a birthday to some friends of us here. We walked for around half an hour, and then we were on the top. From there we could see the city of Ngaoundéré! We played games, ate and took pictures, which is always very popular. Among other things, we ate popcorn with sugar, because here they use sugar in stead of salt on popcorn... In the evening Runar, Johanne and me were at the nurse's house. There we had a nice evening, eating sweets and talking.

Just reached the top. Eating popcorn and drinking soda

Playing card-games in the shadow of a big stone

Sunday we ate at a restaurant in town, Coffee Shop, as we normally do on Sundays, when our cook has free. After that I went to the swimming pool here, sun bathing while reading, and then swimming. (The reason why there's a swimming pool here, is so that  the Norwegian missionary children may learn to swim).

Monday was my second time to work at Rainbow Orphanage. There we are having English teaching and playing with the children. It makes an impression on me working here, listening to stories from some children's life and watching the children taking care of each other. The orphanage is their home, and they're like a big family. There are some workers there, but they also have to make the food.

Therefore, at least this is how it seems to me, it' often the older children who look after and raise the younger ones. I feel sad for these children, but at the same time it looks like their having fun. After all, this is the life they know. To them, just us being there, is really fun. That we watch them throwing their paper-planes, or joining them playing... Being with them, who enjoy so much for so simple things, as a paper-plane, also make me happy inside.

Okay, this was some of my impressions and experiences the last time...


J'espére que vous allez bien!

Thanksgiving!

This Sunday I experienced something new! I learnt that the event of Thanksgiving is very important in Cameroon, and I participated in the celebration in church. The people in church, divided in groups, had saved money for a long time. And on Sunday they brought an envelope with these money to the pastor. The money is going to be used in the work of the church. Actually the gifts given this day, stand for more than half of the income of the year!

When they delivered the envelope, they walked from outside church, on a passage through the people seated in church, to the altar where the pastor was standing. They brought a dish with the envelope with the money, and the dish was decorated with leaves from plants, flowers and some also with vegetables. The money is given to thank God for all He has given and done. While they brought their gifts to the pastor, they danced and sang of joy, giving thanks to God. It was really beautiful to watch! The missionaries (including us) were also one group, so then I participated trying to dance through the church together with the other Norwegians, bringing our envelope. I also joined when the youth choir I'm singing in, Gospel Singers, danced through church, bringing their gifts.

It was both fun to join and touching to see how much money people gave (the numbers of the contribution of each group were actually published on power point in church, so everybody could read...). I also think it was nice seeing some people who danced, waving with leaves in their hands. Here you can look at some pictures, but I recommend you to read more and look at pictures on this link to Familien Bischlers blog. 

People bringing their dish with the envelope

People dancing while bringing their contribution

The choir; Gospel Singers, singing at Thanksgiving

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Becoming a (French-speaking?) teacher

My new Cameroonian dress (or skirt+t-shirt)

Now it's two weeks since I started working, and I want to tell you about one of my working places and my experiences there (I know the pictures don't match the text, but I haven't taken any pictures at work yet. Therefore I just added some pictures); Today was my third time being a teacher at Centre Socio Ménanger, which is a "housewife school" (husmorskole). It's run by the church EELC (Eglise Evangelique Luthérienne au Cameroun), but most of the students are Muslims. There are 50 girls/women between 13-21 years old, attending the school. Even though they are so young, attending this school, is for many of them, their possibility not to have to go into an arranged marriage. In the school they learn how to sew and cook, they have sport and Bible classes and learn English and computer skills, in addition to other subjects. This is so that they get some education, that hopefully also will make them able to earn money by themselves when they have finished school. For example they can earn money by sewing.

At this school Johanne and me are responsible for the English and informatics/computer teaching. But since our students don't know any English, we have to speak in French...And for me, struggling with French, I can assure it is quite a challenge! In the first lesson I had I managed to mix the words to forget (oublier) and to remember (se rappeler) in French, so I ended up emphasizing that the students shoud try to forget what they had learnt to the next lesson, and then that I would check that they had forgotten it ;) Hehe... Fun to think of! 

"Makkala", which we ate yesterday. You can guess why there are so few left in the photo... ;-)

The two first times there Johanne and me have had the classes together. But now we have divided the classes between us, and I'm going to have the first year students. They are 20 girls between 13-18 years old, most of them are 15-16 years old. I'm going to work at Centre Socio Ménanger on Wednesdays and Fridays, teaching the first year students both English and computer skills. On beforehand, I have to admit, I was a little nervous because I'm not that good at speaking English, and I haven't got any experience in being a teacher. Therefore the first lessons, where I got to know the level of the students, were a relief to me. Then I figured that my students don't even know how to say: "My name is...", and they have never written on a computer before, so that's were I start. I hope I will manage to learn them some more during this year.

However, I was a little bit unsure about that, after having a lesson with the second and third year students. They have had English for at least one year. Despite of that it was really difficult for them to present themselves in English. That was even after I had written; "My name is....", "I am...years old", "I have...sisters and...brothers" and "I like to ...(sew)" on the blackboard, repeated it a lot of times and got them to repeat it after me...

Consert with the choir "Gospel Singers" last Saturday. Fun to watch them sing and dance!

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to continue with the teaching there! I'm actually glad they didn't know much English, because then I think I'm capable of teaching them, and I can start with the basics. I learnt the students the song "Head and shoulders", and I think it was very fun, because they really enjoy singing!


But the first lessons I had were very exhausting. The reason is that the students were not that quiet all the time. (And I don't like to be strict. But I have found out that I really have to train myself in that this year, as the students are used to the strict teaching style.)  That I had to think about all the French words and grammar I know, before making a sentence, also made it hard... In spite of the difficulties, being a teacher is much more fun that what I had expected! I love it! And I think I will learn a lot of French this way, as I have to prepare what to say before each lesson. I have to figure out how to teach them English and computer skills in French...

I also think it's so nice and fun that all the people here manage to say and remember my whole name. That's because Sara-Jeanette is a French name. In addition, they even pronounce it the same way as me, with the beautiful "skarre-r"! I think it's so lovely! And it's also quite fun when some of my students call me "Madame Sara-Jeanette"!

Visit from some friends in their school uniforms (they came to visit on their way home from school) :)

Today I had my first lesson alone with the first year students. After this lesson, I'm more optimistic about teaching. In the end of the lesson, the students actually managed to present themselves in English and count to 20! And the students were more quiet when they should be quiet, and active when they should be active. So I was very satisfied :) I think I got more respect from them this time, and I think I will adjust more and more into the role as a teacher after some time. 

Je me réjois à continuer être un professeur! Bonne soirée à tous!

In this time grasshoppers are everywhere, even on the tables in the finest restaurants...