Dance party
I know many of you are wondering when I will start teaching; so am I! From what I heard this morning, it will be two more weeks. Almost time for winter vacation. I’m getting a lot of reading and writing done, so I shouldn’t complain, but I’m also very excited about teaching! Scott (Linden’s father) will arrive on December 16, so I will have to cut out of that week of classes.
We are planning to go north, to the Muslim and more desertlike parts of Cameroon, also on safari at Waza Reserve. Can’t wait!
Thanks to Lucienne for the nice message about seeing Uncle Guy in the photos! I’m downloading a photo of Isabel, Mercy’s sister, and her new baby, Mikebella--with Regina! We were in Bamenda a week ago, where I took the photo. Also a photo of Linden and me in our African outfits, made by the women in Bamenda. We love them! I asked for trousers instead of a skirt, which may not be very African, but I’m into pants this year, what can I say.
Ann and Guy came last Thursday and Guy just left. Ann will stay until Sunday. Ann is a Fulbright graduate student living in Yaounde. She’s happy to get away from the big city and see village life.
As far as village life goes, a woman passed away last week, I believe she was the cousin of Pere Martin’s wife Helene, but I may be mistaken. A young woman who was a nurse in Douala. She was married but did not have children yet. That is considered very sad here, since when people die without children they are “more quickly forgotten. . . there is no one to carry their memory.” The mourning at the compound, right near here, started and will last a week. I went down the first day to pay my respects. For women, it means crying and dancing (slowly) as the family women move in a circle and hold hands and cry with each person. The women wipe the tears from the family members’ faces. I stood there and held women’s hands but I didn’t realize that in fact I was supposed to cry. I probably could have, but I wasn’t sure what to do. The men sit on benches. In fact, Guy and Fundi said they would go at night because they have trouble crying but don’t want people to think that they are not crying. Then a sister of the woman made a speech about her, crying and wailing. It was very moving, really. They will bury the body soon and then hold the real “funeral” in two years, if I understand correctly.
In fact, I am going to a funeral this weekend and that should be interesting.
We had a “dance party” here last Friday night with Guy and Ann, Fundi, Geraldine, Elvis, Linden. Quite the dancing. We have heard a lot of two Cameroonian groups that I like a lot, P-Square and 2-Face. Kind of a reggae sound, but not as repetitive. More later . . .
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