marching days
on Camarooned Clara (Cameroon), 06/Oct/2009 17:19, 34 days ago
Djam na!Sorry to slip of the radar a while back there. But i don't even know who i'm apologising to...?Blogs blow my mind!Moved into a house at last which has been a useful step in helping me feel settled. It's entirely unfurnished; navigating dusty market stalls frantically negociating prices for colanders buckets bedsheets and the like, well it's twice as much fun as you might imagine let me tell you.Climbed 'mount maroua' yesterday, pretty modest at 600 metres but in the perpetual 40 degree heat it felt epic enough to me. When we got to the top the local lads who accompanied us proclaimed 'ah, t'es fort comme les camerounais!' which i took to be high praise indeed. (for the record - i am far from it and the feted african art of balancing my life's possessions on my head continues to elude me.) felt so nice getting away from the chaos of the city (which n.b. just 3 weeks ago seemed sleepy and relaxed in itself! guess that's the inevitable reaction when comparing any city on earth with london!)today is teacher's day which i got super excited about, principally because it provided the perfect pretext to don my first local dress. (note to self: your ONE promise of not returning home in possession of gawdy african prints - already broken. whoops!) In true african style, the event was marked with a special uniform and lots of street parades and marches (not to be confused with a walk... a matter of the utmost import!)had a good giggle in the tailors getting our dresses made, the fitting and end result were met with trademark cameroonian whooping and delight. The local approach to clothes seems highly enlightened to me. Where we go to primark and end up a) wearing ill-fitting clothes, and b) all looking the same, the african approach of buying a fabric, taking it to a tailor, explaining exactly what you want them to do with it, it just seems so much more creative and sensible. Least of all at£2.50 a pop! I mean imagine when I actually learn the french for 'ruffled sleeves, slim fit, cocktail dress' etc and so on! Sky's the limit ay!lots more to say but the heat is sapping me as per - i wilt!clara