I have a house :)
on The Road Less Travelled (Cameroon), 13/Dec/2009 07:53, 34 days ago
The month of december has been going by quickly here and with lots of activity. On December 8th it was international volunteer day and I participated in the VSO event that was organized at the local Club Kaliao.  All the national VSO volunteers (who primarily work in the area of Education) and the international VSO volunteers along with our NGO partners attended a day-long event which involved speeches, awards, a comedian, lunch and some soccer.Here is a picture of myself manning the registration table with another volunteer called Ruth. She is from the UK and she works in a village called Matoua.I have also attended my bosses church one Sunday which was quite interesting. It is a very different experience from church in Canada. In Canada when people pray they usually do some in a relatively quiet and in their head sort of way. At the church here everyone prays out loud so when the Minister says“say a prayer to thank god for this and that” you have 50 people shouting their prayers to the heaven, flinging their hands up to the sky, and falling on their knees. It is quite noisy and was a bit intimidating for me. It was in French which meant I could follow the service. There was a lot ofsinging and dancing and the songs go on for a really long time. One of the songs we sang lasted for about 15 minutes. It was a nice experience though but I won’t be going every week. Maybe once every few months.This is a picture of my Boss Pierre (who is a minister) and his wife.I have finally moved into my house. It was a bit of an unorganized move given that the toilet was leaky, the gas stove almost exploded and the fridge doesn’t close. I have managed to fix the stove (i bought a new one). The old one had flames coming out of places where flames should not have been coming out. The toilet works as long as I turn off the water supply once the tank fills. The fridge is going to be fixed or replaced in the next couple weeks. It is a large house for me, two bedrooms, a large living room, a kitchen and a pantry and a bathroom. I also have a little yard. I got some kitchen and bathroom cupboards made since I had no storage space and I didn’t want to keep all my food and dishes on the floor. I should be getting internet for at home next week. It will be nice to be able to have internet at home because from 8pm onwards it is too dark to be outside and for a single girl like me it can be quite unsafe. This way I can remain inside and be entertained and chat to friends and family back home. Here are some pictures:A couple people have asked me about safety here...well I usually feel safe. I find that men don’t harass me as much on the street when I tell them I am married, I feel better at night if I am out to carry my whistle and headlamp just in case. I recently tried to find some new padlocks for my gate but have learned that in Maroua every door can be unlocked if you have three keys. Locks of a certain brand all use the same key and there are about 3 brands of locks here. I was at the market checking some padlocks and I tried my key from my house and I could open almost all the locks. It was a bit disconcerting. But locks are just a deterrent and a hassle people can break in if they reallywant to. I am happy that my parents are wonderful and are sending me a bicycle U lock for my gate. That should be a lot more difficult for people to get into. I also lock my laptop up when it is not with me in my armoir which has a lock, in my bedroom which has a lock.