My First Cameroonian Bar

My first Cameroonian bar, Friday, September 28, 2012

I just had an interesting experience at my first Cameroonian bar.  I went with four people from training group (also called stage) with one of their host brothers who didn’t speak any English.  We sat around talking for a while asking him questions, though he didn’t really understand what we were saying most of the time.  While we were there, a guy came up to us and started speaking the local language of Bafia – I don’t really know what that is considering there are over 200 languages and ethnicities here.  He started the conversation by telling us that if we were going to be in his town we needed to learn the language of it, which is not French, apparently. 

According to him, the best way to learn the language was by getting a local man or a woman, which he was happy to provide to each of us.  I’m assuming it would be the opposite sex for each of us considering being gay is illegal.  He seemed like a pretty important guy; he had an entourage and drove around in a big Denali, the nicest car I’ve seen here.  Apparently he has 10 children.  Five of them are in the States, one of which is the only Cameroonian NBA player.  Another is in London, another in France, another in Brussels, and two more still in Cameroon.  He called himself a ‘Patriarch,’ not just for Bafia but for the whole country. He said what he was the Patriarch for, but none of us really understood.  He even told us to stop by his gigantic house down the street. 

The host brother, Samuel, tried to explain it to us, but he wasn’t sure what we had heard from the guy and the language barrier didn’t help.  Apparently he didn’t explain it well enough.  A guy at the next table in a suit, drunk, started yelling at him because he wasn’t representing Cameroon well enough.  Samuel went over and talked to him, but apparently this wasn’t enough, and eventually Samuel and Vanessa had to leave, it was really awkward and we hurried up, finished our beers, and left.  

We finally had our first language classes today mixed in with another round of completely useless Peace Corps stuff.  Why on earth we would need to know the definition of development, why they wouldn’t just send it out in a reading or something, and why we had to spend a few hours on it, is beyond me.  It’s amazing how they can have so many useful trainings mixed with so many useless ones.  Seriously, in what world would us choosing a word for each letter in development help us as Peace Corps volunteers?  It doesn’t help that I just spent the last year studying this in grad school.  I know that they can’t have a special training for each of us, but almost everyone there had experience in development, surely they can modify this training somewhat. 

The language class seemed pretty good, but I hope it has a bit more structure as we go.  We spent most of today arguing about whose hometown was the best and asking things that we wanted to know how to say.  Luckily, there are only four of us in the class, so we have a lot of personal attention.  My French is still improving, Samuel even asked why my French was so much better than everyone else’s, though I thought Lola’s was just as good as mine, if not better. 

My host brother, Willy, likes to be called Wiz Kalifa, and seemed disappointed that I didn’t have any of his music on my computer.  Apparently he studies French, English, and Spanish in school, and wants to practice that last two with me, which can be really confusing when I am trying to use the first one.  I used my water filter for the first time today too.  So far I don’t like the taste, a lot like sulfur, I’m hoping that it will clear up as I use it more. 

We had our first ET today – that stands for Early Transfer or Termination, not really sure.  Either way, the first one to leave.  I’m really bummed out about it too, I thought she was a really cool girl; I hope she’s able to come back.  I guess it had to do with family problems, so you can’t blame her.  Either way, every country placement has a fair share of ETs, so I’m sure this won’t be the last one. 

I thought that we would have tomorrow off, I guess I should look at our schedule.  Luckily, we only have the morning, and then all of Sunday off, so it’s almost the weekend!  Still have to get up early though.  

Holding hands for some reason during training

At the bar

My house