On Expectations and Realities

I don't know if any of you have ever applied for the Peace Corps, but those of you that have know how little say in the decision-making process each applicant has. I had jokingly decided that I would be posted with Peace Corps Fiji, (little did I know that Fiji apparently cancelled their Environment program a while ago and this wasn't even a remote possibility) even though I had been told relatively early on in the process that I would be posted somewhere French speaking. And even when I received my assignment for Cameroon I did relatively little research about the country that I would be spending the next two years. I'm pretty sure that up until the day I left, my dad knew far more about this place than I did.

It's kind of funny how little say we as PCVs have in determining how two years of our lives are spent. I certainly didn't pick Cameroon, and even though I did list Upstation Bamenda as my top choice on the preference sheet that we filled out, I did so knowing next to nothing about this place (in my defense, doing research during stage was much tougher than it had been in America). And despite all that, I'm doing just fine here. Today I saw a couple of volunteers from my stage for the first time in a month. I do have pretty frequent contact with other PCVs, but this was the first time I had seen anyone from my stage other than TJ, who is posted quite close to here. So it was really interesting to hear how things are going for my friends posted in a different part of the country after our first month after at post. 

We met at PresCafe, the closest thing we have to an American style restaurant. It's a pretty incredible place-my standby has become the caprese pasta salad with feta and a paw-paw (papaya) smoothie. Of course, PresCafe is still in the craziness that is Commercial Avenue (in the craziness that is Bamenda), but it's a nice refuge and I'm lucky to have it nearby. But to my friends, PresCafe was an unbelievable haven and lightyears away from their lives in village filled with fufu and eru (I think it's a leafy green stewed with pepe, but I've never seen it here). I certainly didn't come to the Peace Corps thinking that I would be living the way I do now; my neighborhood is considered to be one of the fancy parts of town and I live quite close to the governor. My apartment has relatively consistent electricity and running water, and I don't think I'll ever have this much space to myself again.

It's not fair to try to compare Peace Corps experiences, but I couldn't help but think how different our lives have become in such a short time. Both Julia and Val are Health volunteers, and have been assigned to local health centers that they have already begun reporting to each day. Meanwhile, I'm still trying to get my feet on the ground with Heifer and frantically try to learn about agroforestry in the meantime. And they're both posted less than a day's travel from me-my friends in the North and Adamawa regions are without a doubt faced with issues and successes quite different from mine. 

I certainly didn't come to the Peace Corps thinking that I would be living the way I do now; my neighborhood is considered to be one of the fancy parts of town and I live quite close to the governor's residence. My apartment has relatively consistent electricity and running water, and I don't think I'll ever have this much space to myself again. And when I really get a craving for Lucky Charms, all I have to do is head back to Commercial Avenue and resign myself to paying 3200 CFA (just over $6). I've never considered myself much of a city person, and it's a little strange that my first real experience with urban commuting has been in Cameroon. But the cool part of my lunch with my stage-mates was how happy all of us seemed with our assignments. Each post has something different to offer, and I think all of my friends have been great about looking for the highlights of our situations. We do have to live here for the next two years, so we might as well enjoy it. A few weeks ago, just after we got to our posts I exclaimed to one of my friends from stage that I had been given the perfect post. She corrected me, telling me that no, I had been assigned the perfect post for me. Time will tell if that description holds, but it's nice to hear that my friends are doing well scattered throughout the country.

In other news, I visited the Cameroonian equivalent of the State Fair today. It was the Northwest Agricultural Expo, and was filled with farmers showcasing their crops and livestock, with prizes being awarded in each category. I met a local beekeeper who invited me to come check out his beehives (apparently they're in the bush?) and ate some local "ice cream" that came in a little plastic pouch. There were even women standing proudly around their prize-winning vegetables, which was a nice reminder of life back in the Midwest. Unfortunately, no prizes were awarded for "largest squash" or "best seed art" (no seed art at all!) and it was severely lacking in terms of available sweet corn or Giant Slides. But there was enough fried food to go around, and a great opportunity to see a cross-section of the Cameroonian agricultural industry. I even was able to find some brown rice to purchase, something that I had previously thought was unavailable in this country. It was even grown in Ndop, the site of our mini-excursion last weekend. A highlight of the visit was when I tried to buy some honey from one of the competitors (not my beekeeping friend). I asked for a sample, as my friend Katie has introduced me to the complexities of honey and the differences that come from bees that have pollinated various plants. She informed me that she had no sampling sticks (of course), which I took to mean that sampling wasn't a possibility. I laughed at myself for thinking it might be. But then she unscrewed the cap and told me to stick out my finger. Sticky, but yum. (I bought it. Banana pancakes with honey tomorrow). Maybe it wasn't that similar to the State Fair after all.

Other exciting recent developments: I finally purchased a mop and broom this afternoon. Talk about a long time coming (today marks a month at post!). I caught myself smiling as a swept up this evening. Terrifying. And the hot water coil saga continues: today I partially melted my plastic bucket that I heat water in with my new(!) heater. It never ends.

TL,DR: It was cool to see how happy my friends are at posts that are so different from mine, and got me thinking about the different directions my life could have taken as a Peace Corps Volunteer, even in Cameroon. For a lifestyle that none of us had much of a say in, it's nice to see how adaptable everyone is so far and learn about the different ways of life in this country.

P.S. I have been dashed a coconut on two separate occasions in the past two days. It definitely doesn't feel like the holiday season here.