Small adventures
on The Road Less Travelled (Cameroon), 04/Nov/2009 16:00, 34 days ago
I am slowly getting used to the way of life here and not being hit by the crazy taxis which are everywhere.  The way toaxis work here is quite interesting.  You stand by the side of the road and shout at taxis where you want to go and how much you are willing to pay and if they accept they honk and you get in...while they are taking you to your place they may pick up other people who are going to places on the way as well.  Needless to say it can seem quite confusing and hectic and can actually be quite time consuming to get somewhere.  You can pay more and have the taxi not pick up anyone else.Tomorrow we are all taking the train to the North to the city we will be working in.  It is called Maroua.  Essentially we will take an 18 hour train ride and then a 8 hour bus ride and the bus only makes one pit stop and has no toilet on it.  Needless to say I am interested to see what the journey is like but not necessarily looking forward to it.I did get a cell phone.  My number is +237 7014 38 52.  I think from Canada you need to dial 011 237 7014 3852 to get through to me.  I probably won't be able to reply to each text you send because it is suprisingly expensive for me to text internationally but I will try to reply as often as I can. I have been getting your text messages and thank you :)  I like hearing from home since I am a bit homesick.  It is really culturally different here and people aren't necessarily what I would call  "nice", a lot of them have agendas and you have to be careful not to be used. I am shortly going to the market with some friends to try to buy battery backups or UPS for our computers which should help make sure my computer doesn't blow up from power surges.  Sounds like a good idea to me.I have been told that the internet up north is fairly slow.  I hope to be able to put up some pictures of Maroua shortly though. I don't think we are staying in our houses for a week or so because during our regional in country training in Maroua we all stay at the Baptist mission.  I hope to get internet at my house when I get there but it seems as though Maroua may not have mobile internet until the end of the year so I may have to rely on internet cafes until then. Some things that are difficult to find here are: decent candy (twizzlers etc), empty dvds to burn onto, burnt dvds with movies and tv from home in english,  north american soup mixes and spices, asian spices and mixes, and green and herbal teas.