"things are looking up for old liz lemon"

Two pieces of great news!

First, I found a house! I'll move in December, when another volunteer(s?) will move into my current house, and take on all the transit house responsibilities. I'll miss this wireless internet and hot showers... it's like i'm leaving the first world all over again. Though, at least the world I'm moving to has a yard for honey, a modern bath and a kitchen sink. (At first I typed modern kitchen, but realized that would give Americans an entirely wrong impression). It's the right size too, and while further from town than I had hoped, it's in a safe little concession, and I'm excited to be moving there.

Secondly, the funding for the Adamaoua Girls' Scholarship finally arrived. The scholarship was started (and mostly funded this year) by two American women, Anne C. and Anne R. You can read more or donate for next year here: http://www.a2empowerment.org/ It was a pretty complicated process getting the money here, and I'm glad it's finally going to the intended use--providing school fees, uniforms, and books to 25 rural Adamaoua girls to attend high school.

saro--pagne's brother

In my post about pagne*, I failed to mention saro. Saro** is the other type of fabric popular here. Unlike pagne, it is always a solid color. There is a design woven into the fabric, but this is very subtle since it's all the same color thread. Saro has a shinny, waxy look until it's been washed.

The traditional man's outfit in the north of Cameroon is the boubou--it's basically a loose, knee length shirt over drawstring pants. The whole ensemble is made of the same fabric, and finished off with embroidery on the front of the shirt, around the collar and cuffs.

Cameroonians prefer colorful saros--either bright colors, or pale pastels, but rarely neutrals. Blue is the most common boubou color, but I've seen every color except black.

Women can wear saro too--as long as there's plenty of embroidery to keep it expressive. Women usually have long sleeve, loose fitting tops and matching ankle length wrap skirts.

Check the slide-show for some things I've made on my pedal sewing machine out of saro. The pink and white dresses were from patterns my mom sent me. Both yellow projects I designed myself.


*I've added a picture to that old post, if you're interested in a sampling of pagne designs. More pictures of finished pagne garments to come.

**Saro is my imagined spelling (say sorrow, as in sadness) since I haven't been able to find reference to this name on the internet. Websites seem to call this fabric brocade or basin fabric, but when I asked the market vendors where I could buy boubou fabric, they told me i was looking for saro.

ca fait longtemps

I don't have any excuse for how long I've neglected this blog. Not that I haven't been thinking of you all, my readers. I did write an entry about two months ago that I never got around to posting. My apologies.

Catching Up:

My (tiny) teacher training course that lasted all summer is on hold for now. We used openoffice for the entire course, which worked well for learning the basics of Writer (Word) and Calc (Excel). Beyond that, my students want to learn basic desktop publishing (making business cards, invitations...) and we've found openoffice just doesn't cut it. So, we are waiting until we get Publisher, and can complete the class. The photos for this post are all from Mbideng.

The group I started with back in April at the CPFF (center for women and families) has finished the course! They are already settling in at their internship positions in the local government offices, and we will have a graduation ceremony in the first week of November.

As both these classes wrap up, all my students hard work shines through. Both groups have progressed so far, and I'm extremely glad I made the job switch and get to work with my f a n t a s t i c new-ish counterpart.


The Near Future:

So I have a bit of down time until my classes start up again. I've been doing a lot of sewing lately, and think I'll be taking advantage of this huge excess of spare time to compete some projects and start others.

Otherwise, I'm searching for a new house at post to move into in December. I need a place with a yard, since Honey will be coming too. I would l o v e to go back to my original house (even though they've since built a two story building in the front yard) but I doubt that will happen. So, I've been asking around for studios. Though I think I'm going to rethink that strategy--I've seen some pretty dismal rooms. House hunting is very different here--there are no listings (online or in print) and you have to specify electricity, running water, and modern toilet. People keep telling me they have a place to show me and then the toilet is a hole in the ground. One guy said his place had running water, but really there was one spicket serving the concession (group of buildings).

For a while I wasn't sure I would come home before my close of service (early June of next year), but my family has made an extraordinarily generous offer to buy me a plane ticket home. I will be in Portland for a spell around Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, so many of the people I love will still be far away (unless they decide it'd be a good time to visit Portland***).



So, especially with extra time on my hands, I will renew my promise to update at least once a week.

***No one in their right mind thinks late November is a good time to visit Portland.

since last monday (update)

A week and a half ago, I taught my first class at the women’s center. My French came out surprisingly steadily. I felt accomplished afterwards, though the success of the class was due to the students: the adults were genuinely interested in the material, and asked questions showing they had thought things through. Since they are motivated, they have the patience to piece together my improvised explanations. Unless someone is patient enough to work through the linguistic puzzles I create, it’s just not worth the breath to speak French at them. It is however, far from my true niche, since I have yet to find a way to teach a class without being the center of attention.

Alternately, I felt pretty confident in my French communication skills after my meeting to break the news at school. I went into my counterpart’s office and explained that I was disappointed with my work over the past year, and that I had found another job. I pointed out that at the women’s center I would be able to teach a practical course. He said that the school was not disappointed, and that he thought I had done a fine job. He then said he suspected I preferred the women’s center since I will be teaching all women, adults, and not struggle with discipline. Officially, I am motivated to make this change because the lycée relegated me to theory-only classes. However, he correctly surmised that is not the sole reason. Binary doesn’t frustrate me to tears, where as discipline problems have proven perfectly capable of ruining my whole day.

For the time being, I am observing the afternoon class at the CPFF (last Monday I substituted) and filling out the rest of the paperwork at school. This past week my troisieme, premier, and teminale students took their exams, and yesterday my quatrieme classes did. I plan to have the tests marked and the grades turned in before heading to Yaoundé for the Education Steering Committee meeting. I am really looking forward to a short vacation from Ngaoundéré. I grow increasingly annoyed by the harassment white skin attracts, and feel more ready to confront the harassment Yaoundé offers. Somehow, it’s less grating if it’s not happening on the same block I live on.

tuesday: quiche à la camp stove

A conventional oven is a high ticket item here, so we Peace Corps volunteers have embraced an alternative baking method of which our camp stoves are capable. Along with the gas stove, you need a huge pot (marmite) which serves as the oven space. We place the marmite on the gas burner, and add a few empty cans. The cans are basically the grate in your oven at home: they lift the dish so that it’s surrounded by hot air, instead of being placed directly on the heat source. You can see this configuration in the picture above, except throughout cooking the lid covers the marmite.

This recipe is once again based on Chop Fayner. For the quiche, you will need:

Crust:
1 ½ cups flour
½ cup chilled butter
3 T cold water
½ t salt

Filling:
3 American-size eggs
½ to 1 cup grated cheese (or five slices vache qui rit and three or more slices vache cheddar)
1 scant cup milk
1 small onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
Handful of mushrooms, chopped
Salt, pepper, basil, paprika

If you make this recipe in a fancy conventional oven, preheat it to 350° F (180° C). Otherwise, just light the stove and let the marmite air warm up.

Start the crust by combining the flour and salt. Add the butter, breaking it up with a fork. Once the butter is well distributed, add the cold water by the tablespoon. Once the mixture can hold a ball shape, you’ve added enough water. Chill the dough for half an hour to an hour. To chill, I just placed a wet cloth over the bowl in lieu of a refrigerator. Roll the dough out on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin (or a wine bottle), then lay the dough in your well-greased baking dish.

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the milk and spices. Place the vegetables into the uncooked crust, and spread the cheese over them. Pour the egg mixture over the veggies and cheese. Bake 30 minutes to an hour. The top will turn golden brown, and a knife stuck in the center will come out clean.

It took an hour to bake my quiche, I believe because my oven did not reach to 350°. As always, cooking with vache qui rit requires generous spices, since it’s so bland. Vache cheddar can really improve this recipe, so get it if you can. Also, even though Cameroonians seem to insist on refrigerating the vache cheddar, it does not say “keep refrigerated” on the package. I have bravely risked stomach discomfort to tell you that the vache cheddar can be kept on a shelf without refrigeration for weeks, and consumed safely. For those reading in America, vache cheddar resembles Kraft American Singles in taste, texture and packaging. And yes, this is considered a fancy cheese.

pagne

Pagne refers to the colorful, patterned, fabric everyone wears here. I believe it is based on the original cultural dress, but it is now manufactured en masse. It is sold pre-cut to six yards. I cannot explain why all fabric is sold in yards, but tailors measure you in centimeters.

To have an outfit made of pagne, and therefore look well integrated, you first go to the market and pick a pagne design. There are plusieurs choices, and I could spend all day at the market admiring them (though there are the appallingly tacky choices). Once you’ve chosen your pattern, you bargain for the price. There are many qualities of pagne, and the prices reflect that. They range from 4,000 cfa (eight dollars) to 20,000 cfa (forty dollars) or even more. If I ever fell in love with a fabric I would consider paying up to 10,000 cfa, but so far I have stuck between 5,000 and 7,000.

Once you’ve bargained the price, you take the pagne to a tailor. The tailor’s shop usually has poster collages of Cameroonian fashion, and you can point to a style you like. Then the tailor measures you, and you schedule a time to pick up the finished product. Once you come back, you try it on to check if adjustments are needed. Then you pay and take your garment home.

Cameroonians favor big sleeves (the poofy and the long-flowy are very popular styles), and decorative necklines. Americans tend to prefer their sleeves more subdued, (especially when the fabric is already so expressive!) However, since the tailors never write down anything but your measurements, they seem to often forget the request for something boring. This, and their artistic pride, often leads to a garment nothing like you pictured. It takes some time to find a tailor who will embrace our dull fashion sense, and make quality pieces.

I bought a sewing machine and have experimented with my own seamstress abilities. I’m just as good as a mediocre tailor here, and I like controlling the project. The best part of sewing with pagne is choosing how to incorporate the pattern into the overall design.

One way people celebrate here is to buy the pagne manufactured for a specific holiday. While festive, this pagne usually is not the prettiest, in my eyes. It often consists of a poorly chosen background color, and a series of drawings depicting the holiday’s theme. The drawings are splashed around the pagne with no real structure, and bear an uncanny resemblance to clip-art. Special pagne is manufactured for annual holidays: Women’s Day, Mother’s Day, Teacher’s Day, Rural Women’s Day; to celebrate unique occasions: the pope’s recent visit; and to celebrate certain people: the Virgin Mary, President Paul Biya, and Francoise Mbango Etone (who won Cameroon Olympic Gold: http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/blog/fourth_place_medal/post/Francoise-Mbango-Etone-Cameroon-s-indomitable-l?urn=oly,101257). I’d say a head-to-toe ensemble of Olympian pagne is a pretty outspoken souvenir.

friday is laundry day

In Peace Corps, we have the same weekly chores as we did in America, but none of the modern conveniences. Therefore, around once a week, I carry my clothes and a couple buckets to my outdoor sink and soap up. I start by soaking them in a detergent (I use the brand Blu). I swish them around in the water for a minute, then pull each piece out and wash them by hand. Hand washing means rubbing a lard soap into the tough spots, then forcefully pushing the cloth down your forearm. The work of laundry is mostly wringing out the soapy water to eventually rinse clothes clean. I usually use two rinse buckets, refilling them periodically to clear the water. After a few rinses and a final wringing, I hang the clothes on the line to dry. This process is rough, and some of my clothes have started to show wear from it. During dry season everything dried fast, but now I have to time laundry day to coincide with a sun break.

I actually think of laundry as a more enjoyable chore here, even though in the developed world it’s hardly as much work. I bring my ipod and speakers out with me. I wear my swimsuit and sunscreen and “play” in the water. (I only get away with this because my backyard is walled in). It’s time consuming, but no one in Africa is ever in a hurry. Once finished, I feel much more accomplished than I ever felt after loading a machine and pushing the buttons.