What? You’re never going to eat chicken again?

Monday – Tuesday, October 15 – 16, 2012 – What?  You’re never going to eat chicken again? 

We had chicken for dinner tonight, one in which my host-mom couldn’t stop telling me my host-brother killed.  The entire dinner all she talked about was how brave he was for killing it, and how it was my turn next time.  I said I didn’t really want to, and she said “what?  When you get to the north you’re never going to eat chicken?”  I said if I have to kill one I can when I get there, but I don’t really want to now.  The whole family thought that was pretty funny.  I can’t tell you how many times she pulled her thumb across her throat saying egorger, which means to slit the throat of something.  Of course, I already knew that from the French gangsta rap I’m writing; which is terrible, by the way.  At least it’s a way to pass the time and learn some new vocab while others in my class are talking (a lot). 

I am making sure to keep the conversations pertinent though.  Today I was supposed to talk to my teacher like she was an old friend and we were catching up about our lives and our jobs.  However, I told her I was a drunken homeless guy.  By the end she was telling me she was going to send me to rehab and I could stay at her place and be her servant.  I am learning useful stuff too, I promise. 

Well I finished the two seasons of Burn Notice that I had, which is pretty disappointing.  I was really enjoying it.  Luckily, I have five seasons of Breaking Bad, so I’ve started on that now.  I realized that I stopped watching midway through episode five, so I’m almost done with the first season already.  Oh yeah, I think this guy who is the new distributor was in Training Day too.  I’ve also been watching The League with a friend from school; it’s nice to watch something funny as a break from this serious stuff. 

I definitely got sick.  Diarrhea has been on and off since I got here, but now I’ve got a head cold too.  I’m hoping that I’ll get better soon, but based on the other people in my training group, I think it will probably get worse before it gets better.  It’s pretty much just a head cold, but no too pleasant.  I broke in to my med kit today and took some acetaminophen and bismuth; maybe they will help. 

We played an epic game of Uno today in the bar.  The first and second place winners were out within ten minutes, but we continued the game for another hour or more.  Don’t worry, I didn’t get last place. 

I think I’ve said this already, but our swearing-in ceremony is going to be a pretty big deal.  We actually got into the country on the same day that the Peace Corps had their 50^th anniversary for being in Cameroon, so we are going to celebrate that at our ceremony.  We are planning on all learning the Cameroonian national anthem to sing at the ceremony too; it’ll be nice to know when the next soccer game comes around too.  We are also going to all have the same fabric for our outfits.  The fashion committee showed us our five options today.  I wasn’t a huge fan of any of them, for some reason they were all blue, and my least favorite got chosen.  I can’t really complain though – it’s not like I went to Yaounde to pick them out.  I’m sure we’ll look good, and I didn’t see the other choices or prices. 

I think we are going to have a Halloween party at one of the trainee’s host-family houses.  I would rather just have it at the training center or something, but it should be fun.  Unfortunately I don’t think they are going to let the Bokito people come.  We might be able to have Thanksgiving together too.  That’s the one I’m really hoping for; I just want burgers, pizza, and to have the entire training group together for a whole night.  A night without a 7 PM curfew will be nice too. 

I’ve got to stop thinking about things in terms of American money.  Like my parents used to say when we lived in Canada back when the Canadian dollar wasn’t great and we visited family in Colorado – things may look like the same price or cheaper, but we aren’t making American money.  Beers here may be only a dollar USD for 22 ounces, but I don’t make American money.  I’ve got to just think about what I buy in terms of the money I make here.  It’s hard to shift your mindset like that though. 

We have our next language test on Thursday, which I’m pretty nervous about.  I really want to get up to intermediate high, but I haven’t been practicing outside of class enough.  I’ll probably put some work in tomorrow with it and see how it goes.  Time for bed – can’t get healthy without some decent sleep.  

My host father and his best friend, me, and Adama.  That is a bottle of whiskey in front of us, apparently just for the picture though, not to drink.  

During breaks in training, we try to get some sleep anyway we can.  

A few chairs put together sometimes works

Trying to make a Wookie call during our epic gamee of Uno