There goes my staj

Thursday, October 16, 2014

I haven’t posted a blog in a while – that isn’t to say that I haven’t written any, just that I haven’t posted any.  This saga with my tooth went on so long that honestly, the last blog I wrote shouldn’t see the light of day; it was a bit… incendiary.  Inappropriate at least.   Plus let’s be honest, I was as tired of writing about that tooth as anyone still looking at this blog was of reading it. 

About a month ago a solution was finally reached.  I was sent to Denver, where I’m from, to get the tooth extracted and an implant put in.  I was a bit surprised – the people in DC told me that I would be going for treatment to South Africa.  I’m not sure what happened but I’m assuming it had gone on so long (more than five months) that they decided to just let me go home.  Not going to lie – South Africa would have been awesome, I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to go there.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, but I’ll be going home in a month and a half for home leave anyways.   

Regardless, home was great.  I saw a lot of friends and family, watched football and hockey, played with my dog, ate great food, drank great drinks (it’s Colorado, home of the best beer in the world), and relaxed on the couch.  Everyone always thinks that I want to go do crazy things when I’m home, but really I just want to relax, eat, drink, and see people.  It’s the little things that I miss when I’m in Cameroon– being able to drink water from the tap (with ice!), sitting on comfortable furniture, getting my own seat in a car (or even driving), and using a microwave.  Of course, getting to go to the Great American Beer Festival was pretty awesome.  If you don’t know what that is, look it up and be jealous. 

Last night was my fourth time flying into Cameroon – when I first got here, xmas last year, Morocco, and now for my tooth.  Other than the first time, this was the weirdest.  Since I’ve been gone, another couple of my closest friends left.  I should get used to it – all of my staj (training group) will be gone by November 7^th.  I know I made the right decision to stay in Cameroon; my position working with M&E is exactly the job experience I want.  Plus I just wasn’t done living here; I would have already been gone for a couple of months by now.  I like Cameroon.  Coming back now though it seems like I underestimated how difficult it will be. 

Over the last ten years I’ve been lucky to find myself in situations with groups of people where we are all out of our comfort zones and go through everything together.  From college to Teach for America to grad school and now the Peace Corps I’ve met some amazing people that, partly because of our shared experiences, I am incredibly close with.  Even more than TFA, Peace Corps has probably been the most intense of these experiences. 

I think the work in TFA was more difficult, but the thing about Peace Corps is that you never leave work.  You are always viewed as an outsider and live life in a fishbowl; the hard part about Peace Corps isn’t the work that you do, but everything else that goes along with it.  Not only that but unless you’ve done something like it, you won’t get it.  Even the people here that I don’t like I’ve got a shared experience with, something that will always keep us connected.  Within a couple of weeks there will only be a handful of people left in country that I’m really close to.  I don’t know how I’ll get through the next year like this without so many of my people.  It’s been a great two years and I’ve met some of the strongest, smartest, and most fun people I ever will.  You guys will be sorely missed. 

Adventures of a Tooth… to Morocco!

Friday, July 18, 2014

In the beginning of April right before the National Girls’ Forum (NGF) my tooth fell out.  Don’t worry, it was a crown.  I got it knocked out in sophomore year of college.  I was playing hockey in a rec league and decided – like an idiot – to play without a mask.  Until then, I always had to wear a mask, it’s a rule in minor league hockey.  So when I started playing and didn’t have to, I took it off.  I played maybe four games before I had a big mid-ice collision with a guy and his helmet went straight into my mouth, knocking out one of my front teeth and one beside it.  Of course, I had to go to the first week of classes with two teeth missing, but since then they haven’t been a problem. 

Until one day I was in Yaoundé eating chicken at Container Bar close the old case.  Container Bar, of course, had that name because it is made out of an awning on the side of an old shipping container.  I finished the chicken, was getting a piece of meat out with a toothpick, when instead the whole tooth came out. 

Great tram system

Unfortunately, not only did it come out, but it fell on the ground and about a third of it chipped off.  Apparently making a crown isn’t something they can do in Cameroon, so that meant a medical trip to Morocco.  Of course, it happened right before NGF, a conference that I had been working on for seven months or longer and is one of the best projects that I do here.  The doctor in Morocco wanted to send me right away and wouldn’t listen when we tried to explain the situation.  Luckily, the medical officer here took pity on me and scheduled the trip for later. 

Roman ruins, still damned impressive

Of course, that meant having the chipped tooth cemented back in here.  I was able to get that done quickly …but it fell back out within a 24 hours.  By the time I finally got to Morocco, I had it cemented in and it fell back out three times. 

The Casbah, hundreds of years old and standing strong

I finally got to Morocco and had an amazing time.  I had probably the best medical reason to go – I wasn’t in any pain and I had a lot of free time to explore.  I was there for 8 days and had maybe 4 appointments, plus I had to go to the Peace Corps office every day to get my per diem.  Rabat is absolutely gorgeous.  It is basically like being in Europe but with Moroccan culture.  There was a great tram system, fast internet, running water, parks, fountains, great food; in other words, my trip was amazing. 

So much fresh juice, for a dollar each!  

Every day I went to the medina, or the market and just walked around.  The food was cheap and delicious and the market was clean and colorful.  It was kind of like a market here, except with tiled floors instead of dirt, a wider variety of nicer things, and not near as derangey (bothersome).  I bought a bunch of souvenirs and drank a ton of freshly made juices.  I explored the rest of the city too, going to see the roman ruins and the other sites.  Luckily, there were PCVs from other countries there and Moroccan PCVs that I could hang out with.  The PCVs that were with my friend who was in Morocco were there COSing (leaving), so she emailed a few of them and told them to make sure they brought me when they went out.  It was really nice, I just had a people knocking on my hotel door and telling me when they were going places. 

The Medina was awesome 

After they left, other people from Morocco came in, and throughout the trip I had a couple of friends from Cameroon there with me, one at the beginning and one at the end.  I had people I could explore with, and couldn’t have asked for a better trip.  The tooth was made and put in and looks good. 

…then I got back to Cameroon and a few weeks later the tooth fell back out.  I can’t tell you how frustrated I am with it; it’s a ridiculous situation.  I got it cemented back in here, again, so we’ll see how long that lasts.  I don’t know what I’m going to do.  They don’t really want to send me to Morocco again for the same situation, and of course they’ll do nothing until it falls out again.  They keep asking me to move my home leave up, but I’m not going to do that. 

Rabat is a beautiful city

Did I mention that I keep having nightmares about my tooth falling out at… inopportune times?  Yeah, that’s been happening. 

Oh yeah, because I extended, I get 30 days of home leave with a paid flight.  I’m also taking an extra 15 days of vacation, so I’ll be home from Thanksgiving passed New Years!  I’m hoping to go to NYC for a week before xmas too.  I can’t wait.

Look how awesome these colorful chicks look!
I mean, it probably isn't healthy for them, but still!