Arrival!
Arrived Sunday evening in Yaounde! Embassy person met us at the airport and took us to Gilbert Doho's home in the Mendong neighborhood of Yaounde. It was dark out (sunset at 6pm) so Linden couldn't see much. Lots of warm welcomes at the house, some that we didn't sort out until later. Maman Martine, Gilbert's mother, whom I recognized from the last time I was here and from her trip to the States. Although we don't speak the same language, she only speaks Funda, we have a warm interaction always.
Guy is living in Gilbert's house and is a wonderful friend. He has helped us so much these last few days, most recently helping me get a mobile phone to set up for internet on the computer.
We also met Geraldine who will live with us as a cook/housekeeper, and Elvis, who will live with us as our driver. They are both from the Anglophone part of Cameroon. Both very friendly; turns out that Elvis has never heard of Elvis Presley . . .
Unfortunately, we got terribly ill on Tuesday night after eating fish with a lot of Cameroonian spices. Not sure that was it, but boy did we have an up all night experience. Poor Linden has never been that ill and was in shock, really, as well as having a very high fever. I won't go into the gory details any further. We were in bed all day yesterday and managed to get up at about 9 this morning. Didn't eat all yesterday. Took about three hours before I felt I could walk around well, but Linden was playing soccer with her new ball soon after getting up.
Went to the Embassy BS (Before Sickness) and got debriefed, yep. Today went to the Casino in town, a French grocery store. I wanted to get at least a few familiar things for Linden, some things she has had in France--yogurt, milk, jam, petit ecolier chocolate cookies, Rice Krispies, etc. We'll go a bit bland for a few days!
We are in a neighborhood that is typical, many small homes close together, made of cement or of wood (the poorer ones). Red dirt roads leading all over, up and down the sometimes steep hills. The main roads are paved but with many potholes. Everything has that red dirt tinge to it. And it RAINS every afternoon, bringing on the red mud. Palm trees, small hills outside of town, papaya and prune trees. The red/orange and green together can be lovely. We walk around hearing "les blancs, les blancs" (whites, whites--they think Linden is a boy with her short hair), from the children, who are very interested. Linden has played soccer with a few of the local kids, and learned a few French words.
Maman Martine and the others from the village left on Monday because her youngest brother had died in the village and they went for the funeral. He fell from a basket that was hoisted up so he could pick something from the trees. Very sad. Little Vanessa, his girl, was here as well as a young boy named Ambrosino. The kids are returning here this evening, and we will all go to Batoula on Saturday.
I'll stop now because of thunder and lightening, which made us lose power for a long time the other day. Also, children on the way. I think this will cheer Linden up. The illness and the malaria pills (she hates pills and must take three a day) really got her down. But she's a trooper. I hope to have pictures for the next blog entry, or the one after. Bonsoir to all.
Comments
Posted by: Peggy
Posted on: September 4, 2008 03:47 PM
Hi Marie and Linden,
I have been following your adventure and can't wait for the photos. Glad you finally arrived safely, though I'm so sorry you had to suffer from food-related illness. Suppose that was inevitable, but hopefully will be a rare occurence. I should surf for some photos of Cameroon--your description makes it sound stunning and to me exotic. Can you skype?? I would love to talk with you. Don't know if you ever received my e-mail in May from Rhodes--a lot of things did not make it through the hotel internet connection. Want to hear about your summer, too. You and Linden are such great models--I find it so hard to step much outside my comfort zone. I'm trying to figure out exactly where you are on a map...