Cameroonian Christmas
on The Road Less Travelled (Cameroon), 25/Dec/2009 10:17, 34 days ago
Merry Christmas Friends and Family!Christmas in Cameroon is like most every other ay - hot and dusty.  WIth the majority of Maroua's population being Muslim Christmas is not a big deal here, people do wish each other a "Bonne Fete" (most people refer to Christmas not by the French name of Noel but as Fete which just mean party).Let me start with Christmas eve.  Last night Greg and Caroline and I cooked a chinese dinner at my house with chili ginger stir-fry and green onion cakes.  It was very tasty despite the somewhat burnt rice. After dinner we went to the baptist mission for their Christmas concert.The Christmas concert in true Cameroonian fashion started about an hour late, but it was quite enjoyable. Children sang Christmas and church songs in mostly Fulfulde. The only song I recognized at one point was silent night. There was a lot of singing and reciting of verses. There was also a choir of older women as well which was nice. They also put on a sketch which was in Fulfulde so we didn’t understand it but everyone was in stitches so we assume it must have been well done and funny.We got home at about 11:45pm and I was able to talk to my family on the phone for a little while. I fell asleep easily and wasn’t even woken up by the 4am prayers. On Christmas morning I went to Greg and Caroline’s house and we decorated a plantain tree that my boss had given me. It was not intended as a tree but we figured it could be a dual purpose plantain tree – both for eating and Christmas-ing. Caroline made cinnamon buns which were amazing (the first baking attempt we have made since we arrived).This evening we are going for dinner at another volunteer’s house – Marie-Josee. We will cook a meal together and then have an early night as we leave early for Waza national park tomorrow morning to see giraffes and other animals.