Rationing

There's more than enough food around here and we've had no trouble finding enough to eat, too much in fact!  However, there is a VERY limited* supply of certain foods that are more common place back home and our stashes of imported goods are something we ration quite frugally! 

Friday afternoon we put together an AMAZING chip dip!! We had it planned the whole week and I almost couldn't contain myself when the big moment finally came!

A layer of Taco Bell beans (from a can!! didn't even have to soak and cook them for hours!) on the bottom from my mother in the Dakota conference package; a nice thick layer of fresh tomatoes, then a very generous layer of avocado from our very own tree, on top delicious corn from Rachel and Lauren saved for months from our Christmas box from Union; and Frito Scoops imported by Cheryl a month ago when they visited... all saved and treasured for months to be combined for the most amazing chip dip deliciousness!

In the last package from the Schumacher gang we received poptarts!  We got a pack once before and they are rationed to last weeks, a special treat once a week before church, one box lasts both of us a whole month!

Another treat one week later, our morning faces in all their glory!

We've saved some things so long, now that we have only 3 weeks left we've realized that it's ok to go ahead and indulge a little ;) These last weeks are going to be, and are already crazy with the process of beginning to pack, sort and organize what's coming home and what will be staying behind.  Also doing all the "lasts," visiting and soon the dreaded good-byes!

200

I've pointed out 50, 100, and now the count is 200 days in Cameroon!

Back in November I said, "50 days in the scheme of things is no time at all; it’s not enough time to learn a new language, understand a different culture, or reverse lifelong habits.  However, 50 days is more than enough time for the 'little things' in life to trade places with what used to be the 'big things.'  It’s plenty of time to start counting your blessings, and forever change how you see the world!"

50 Days is plenty of time to miss a lot of things and can seem like a long amount of time.  I learned incredible amounts of amazing things in those first 50 days.  However, now, since 200 days have slipped by since I stepped so far out of my familiar comfort zone where I had spent of all 21 years of life, each day, week, and month seem shorter and shorter!  In 24 short days we'll say goodbye to our Cameroonian lives and re-enter the homeland!  I could talk for hours about the things I've learned in the past 200 days, but underneath all the cultural, ethnic, religious, gender, and age differences and things that set us apart as people; we've come to realize, that deep down, we are all simply humans.  We have the same feelings, desires, and needs; even though we may express them in vastly different ways, if we try, we can understand anyone.  It's been said countless times, but we're all children of God and building relationships with each other is one of the single most important things we can do on this earth. 

(Kingone - it didn't show up in the picture, but he had yellow pollen all over his nose from smelling the flower, CUTE!)

(Mauye)

Like I said, the things I've learned here would take hours, and even then I don't think I could really quite explain, but here's a list of the more humorous things we've learned in our time in Cameroon.

1.  When shopping, especially in the market, everything is "NICE!!" "it fits!!" and "it's your size!"

2.  A taxi is not full until there are at LEAST 2 more people than seats.

3.  When bread has dirt on it, it's edible; when bread has mold on it, still edible.

4.  Being called big is a compliment.

5.  Even if it takes 4 people to lift it, you can carry it on your head.

6.  Bigger vehicle wins.

7.  He who talks/yells loudest wins.

8.  It is possible to have a "conversation" for at least 1 hour using the 5 words you know of the          native language.

9.  Laundry, body, and dish soap are really all the same.

10.  No matter what... "worse things have happened."

View from the hospital, my school (CRC) in the background.

CRC from the roof of the hospital.

Visitors

There's no school this week because of new term, essentially it's "spring break."  So our little buddy has been spending some quality time here, I thought yesterday's visit that was close to 4 hours could be considered a substantial visit...

Today however he was here around 7am and after being sent home several different times he stayed home for good around 6pm.  I enjoyed a full day of visits, starting with Kingone at 7am there was a steady overlapping flow the entire day.

Ruth stopped by this morning and we had a very nice visit, she asked if I knew how to "plate" her hair.  I have sisters who have provided me with plenty of practice for my braiding skills but knew this would be a different story.  I tried and failed at a couple different styles, then she showed me to just take a chunk and braid it straight out... I did and the cool thing about her hair is it just stays all by itself!! .... four hours later I was done!

Kingone was around the whole time I was braiding and Mary (who was now off work) enlisted his help with little things in the room.  A teacher from my old school came when I was around half done with Ruth's hair and just visited and waited until I was done.  

When I finished Ruth's hair I had a little visit with Mr. Finjap which overlapped with my hour with Knomsey.  around 5 I broke out the bubbles again and played with Acono, Shadrach, and Knomsey until they were collected and taken home.
All visitors gone, I started to walk upstairs and just had to laugh when I saw a chicken on top of the wall at the top of the ramp going up to the hospital, guess all visitors weren't gone.  I came in the room and had barely commented to Mary about the full day when I saw huge eyes staring in the window, Kingone was looking right at me with an enormous smile, "I've bathed!" he said with an accent I only wish I could capture and satisfaction in his voice.  I laughed so hard as he came around the corner and into the room, still wet from his bath he was ready for another 12 hours!

Bubbles!

Today I had Knomsey for about an hour and toward the end he was getting tired of the papers, colors, and other things in the conference room, so I busted out the dollar tree bubbles and he loved them!!

I loved it too! I don't think I've ever played with bubbles quite so plentiful and colorful!! I'd run out of breath on each blow long before the bubbles were done coming!  hundreds from each dunk! (pictures just don't 'catch' them all!).

Knomsey is special needs, it's hard to get a real diagnosis here, but the closest we can come up with is autism, most days we work on colors, but IF he talks, he mostly just repeats whatever color I say.  Getting him to say anything is a challenge.

He is a sweet boy and when I can tell his attention is on it's last, we switch to something more fun; the bubbles was a hit!

One Month...

...One month from today, May 2, 2012 we will be boarding a plane to go home, leaving our new Cameroonian home behind.  It's so very bittersweet.  Sometimes I think to myself, this is one of the most terrible things I could have done to myself, throw yourself into a completely foreign country, culture, and surrounding, adjust, adapt, bond, and find a family... then leave, with no guarantee you'll ever see your dear friends again.  But then, in the same thought I realize that I wouldn't trade my Cameroonian experience for anything!  And if we don't meet again on this earth, we can make plans to meet around the tree of life some blessed morning!  Living on volcanic Mt. Cameroon has been incredible, there was a fantastic light show again tonight, what a mighty God we serve! 

(yes, the colors are a result of contrast, saturation, tint, and temperature when I edited the pictures, but I can honestly say they still don't even capture a fraction of how beautiful it was in real life!!)

Thirteenth Sabbath Investiture

Pathfinders has and I'm sure always will be a huge part of my life.  Our very first weekend here in Buea was Thirteen Sabbath back in September and when I saw the club have their little investiture ceremony I knew I had to get my uniform here as fast as possible and be a part of the club here.  I've enjoyed working with the club and being a part of AY across the world from my home church!  My district and conference back home has been very supportive of us through the years and when they heard about our club here and our lack of pathfinder patches and supplies they decided to do something about it!  After a process of months, the bulk of the supplies came Friday afternoon, the very latest it could have possibly arrived for me to invest the club members with beautiful badges and patches for their uniforms on this quarter's thirteenth Sabbath.

They were thrilled and extend many, MANY thanks and I was honored to have the privilege of being the one who got to deliver the blessing. 

I even had the honor of investing a Master Guide!

It was so special for me to explain where these things were coming from and how much their sister club, my home loves them!

Jean Paul, Mary, Christian, and I

Buea AY Pathfinder club members

April Fools!!

Thirteen years ago TODAY 

we got the best April fools ever!

...

Happy Birthday little man!!  I miss you tons and I hope you have a wonderful birthday!  Be good and work hard, help with all the farming things and I'll see you in a month!!

Another TEENAGER!?!?!?

Love you and miss you little brother!! Can't wait to give you a great big squeeze!