Marie Lathers's Cameroon Journal: Day of the Termites!

Day of the Termites!

I was going to write last night and upload a photo but we lost electricity, which happens fairly often. It was a good thing we lost it last night, actually, cause it ended a plague of the termites! Apparently when it rains too much, the termites come out of the ground and fly around and go for the lights! At dusk we were suddenly inundated with them, they got into the house no matter what! It was a comical scene trying to get them out of our bedroom: I had a sandal in one hand, a hiking boot in the other, and was splatting them on the walls; Linden was dancing around and screaming in delight; Elvis was picking them up off the bed and . . . eating them? (he says the kids do). When the lights went out they all left. We went to bed early, needless to say, and woke up with wings all around us, sans animal body. Wings in the bed, on the walls, on all the floors and all the dirt roads . . .
Someone has asked if I've been to my department. Actually, I went yesterday to the University of Dschang, about a 45 minute drive from here. This was delayed by the fact that Geraldine got stuck on one of our balconies, the door was jammed shut for some reason, and we had to rescue her.
I will be in both the Departments of African Studies and French, and I will teach a course on African-American film and Literature and the representation of women. Everyone at the university was very nice and I have an office to share. We came at the beginning of September for Linden's school; the university won't start until mid-October, and in fact they say it won't "really" start until early November. So, I have a bit more time for settling in!
i will add a photo of Maman Martine and me this afternoon, electricity willing!