Well here I am!!!

Let me first say, that this is as much therapy for me as it is about keeping you informed. I will not be insulted if you skim!!!
Well I made it, even though it really was quite the trip. Douala is not unlike where I was in the Gambia, busy all the time, lots of traffic, and people and beeping horns and people selling everything you could imagine on the side of the street. We got the night bus from there to Belo, and if I go to hell it will be that night bus for eternity (Beauvais airport with food poisoning on the school trip ain’t got nothing on it!) It was about a thousand degrees, and packed and there was jesus pop playing full blast all the way through the night, and the bus kept stopping in random places for half and hour/ forty minutes for no apparent reason except that the driver seemed to feel like it cos there was no place for the passengers to go. And needless to say the lack of sleep for a few days had made me extremely receptive of these conditions!!! (I have truly no idea how I managed not to cry several times!!) But eventually I got here, and the good news is that the sauna bus probably made me sweat out about a third of the yummy things I’ve had no problem justifying because I won’t get to have them for a year!!!! Also I haven’t had a shower yet so if you’re wondering what that funky smell is I’m pretty sure you can probably smell me from there!! I have washed though (see below for more info on my new forced hygiene habits)
Let me say at this early juncture that if anyone is thinking of coming to visit, we will DEFINITELY not be doing the night bus. I will do some research and hire a driver. Even a Cameroonian death cab would definitely be infinitely better than that horrific experience. I have already made the decision that even if it means that I can’t eat for my last two weeks here (there’s no fear-everything’s as cheap as chips) I am not going on that night bus as the first leg of my journey home!
Truth be told yesterday was a bit overwhelming and I had a few minutes when I really asked myself what the hell I was doing here! Had a bit of a cry too, cos the internet was down too and I really felt lonely but I couldn’t talk to anyone about it. I felt like even if I could just write an e-mail chatting about how I feel then it would be better, so indulged in a spot of tear-therapy and then read my book and fell asleep. I met a few of the other volunteers too including Daniel who I will be living with who seems nice, and five others who live in a big compound down the road. I felt a bit intimidated and green but I’ll shake it off! Feeling a lot more confident in myself again today so that’s good cos methinks I’ll need to be feeling ok to cope with this! Still mainlining the pharmaton every morning so that’s good-thanks for the year’s supply mum and dad, I sense it will prove to be worth it’s wait in gold.
Also, today, I slept late, which may have helped to make me less irrational and over-emotional, and Francis and Max went to Bamenda. I get the feeling that Max is going to quite important in my life here. He’s a young guy that helps Francis out in the charity and Francis has put him on the case of making sure that I have everything I need, and he’s doing a pretty good job. Yesterday he took me for a walk to see the ABC school where I’ll be teaching (Acha Baptist College), and he just makes sure that I have all the food and stuff that I need. He’s a terribly sensitive soul, writer of poetry, and singer of songs (yesterday on our walk I was serenaded with a sentimental ballad and a rap), but so nice and kind, and genuinely feels honoured that it’s his job to look after the white girl.
I was also somewhat re-assured by the fact that I should be able to handle the standard that is expected of me with the computers, as I had to teach the Pastor how to work a portable discman today!! So those of you who laughed at me, please take it all back, it turns out I am perfectly capable of teaching computers!!
I was also properly greeted today by all of the head honchos of ABC, kind of like the Board of Management, and we had a welcome meeting and dinner (which was lovely by the way!!!) A number of people spoke, including the principal, who I think I can get on very well with, and Francis, as he has been prone to do for the past two days gave me a laudatory introduction. He’s such a sweet man, although I think yet he still does not really know what to make of me. The funniest thing in the world is to see him giggle! And then I had to say a few words, so I did and they were just so nice. It was just what I needed I think.
Now for the other more dramatic parts of the experience, The scenery is AMAZING!!!! It is lush green and mountainous, which I wasn’t really expecting to tell the truth. It’s extremely dramatic and beautiful, with lots of fern gully style waterfalls. It’s the rainy season at the moment, so there’s lots of water in them, and the roads are pretty muddy, which is a bit of a chore because I was slightly foolish and didn’t pack any runners because my faithful pumas practically took the opportunity of my leaving to walk to the bin themselves. So Thursday on market day I’m going to recruit Max to help me to buy runners or walking shoes of some kind, and a rain coat. (Smart thinking Dee-even though I knew it was the rainy it would appear that I somehow managed not to pack a raincoat even though I have about six of them!!)
Since I’ve arrived, we’ve only had running water for about an hour, which is interesting for someone who likes a bit of cleanliness and had been known to shower three times in one day and not think it’s a big deal. Ladies and gentlemen I give you......the bucket wash. Never again will I complain about a crappy shower in a hotel room, although the experience is very back to basics, and a bit invigorating. I have a dwindling large basin of water in my shower room which I use for everything, from washing to flushing the toilet. Although the ever-reliable Max is bringing me a big drum of water tomorrow morning. I did the bucket wash thing for two days the first time I was in the Gambia, and it was a novelty there, but it’s quickly dawning on me that I had better get used to it, now I know how come we really started to use face-clothes!!! They are your indispensible companion in the bucket wash experience!!
Also, electricity is pretty patchy up my side of town, we’ve lost power a good few times tonight, so I now have a little supply of candles to find my way around and keep the laptop plugged in so that it’s fully charged for when the power is out. Proper living in the bush. This is what I wanted in theory. I hope I like it as much as I’d like to think I will in practice. And tomorrow I will go locating batteries for my trusty torch, which I am quickly realising is pretty darned important for my time here, as it gets dark pretty early here, but I suppose it is Cameroonian winter, and there are no street lights or anything here. The locals are going around in wooly jumpers and about six layers and I’m happy as a clam because Douala was darned hot and everyone knows the melting point of an Irish person is about 28 degrees, but thankfully it’s nothing like that here, which I really like, because after the first day and the sauna night bus I had pictures of a puddle with two eyeballs and my cool Diane Kruger hat floating in it. (So far I’m still managing to channel my style crush a little bit here though we’ll see how long I care!!) A big bonus of the cooler temperatures was that even though my feet swelled to epic proportions (seriously all I was missing was the Hendersons!!! A nice childhood tv reference!!- quite proud of that one) they didn’t stay like balloons and are now back to their slightly chunky selves. I’m still in my shorts all day, and just put on my jeans at night but that’s mainly to keep the mozzies from chomping me!! I don’t want to do a Cheryl Cole (or is it Tweedy now) on it!
And now a little about the food, with particular thoughts of Mary O’D and Susan.......
So the main thing that’s eaten here is called fou fou corn, which is pounded corn into a kind of stodge. It’s completely tasteless but cheap and filling so a big part of the diet here. There is also no shortage of potatoes which is good too. I’ve also been eating a lot of fruit. There’s mangoes everywhere here, I can reach off my porch and pick one right off a tree when I feel like it. There’s also plantains which are a kind of banana thing only much smaller. My first night here I had roasted beef (which is not like a Sunday roast, more like a kebab style-thin strips of meat roasted over a coal fire) and roast plantain, and when it’s cooked it tastes like a really flavoursome sweet potato-mm mm good. It was street food, but no funny tummy so YAY!!!! They eat a lot of a vegetable called huckleberry which as far as I can see is literally leaves, and tastes accordingly (not my favourite- the taste and smell reminds me of silage) and cabbage which is delicious-done in a sort of sweet and tart mix. Then there’s fish the odd time and chicken too, although, I think I will spend much of my time here as a vegetarian because if you want chicken you buy Henny Penny or Chicken Licken and kill them yourself, which I don’t think is my cup of tea!! I suspect meat will be a bit of a luxury that I will have when invited to eat with other people and when I’ out.