The first week in Africa

This is going to be a long post about my first week here in Africa. So if you don't want to read it all, there's a light in the end of the tunnel: I will write a short summery on the end for you.

The first few days here in Ngaoundéré went by quite quietly. On the first Saturday we looked around at the station together with the "one-year-volunteers" and we also went to some shops in town where they have some European groceries. That comes in handy when we feel a bit homesick :) In the evening Sara-Jeanette and me went over to Runar and Kristian, who live in the same house as us, just in an other apartment. We watched a film and ate some chips that the boys made themselves.

As it was election time here in Cameroon everything was a bit out of the ordinary that first weekend we were here, at least that is what we were told.. We couldn't really see any changes now, could we? Since we came two days before the election... The Sunday was therefore spent inside the Missionary Station, playing volleyball together with the boys next door and with some of their African friends.

Our teacher and the classroom in  L'ecole Norvegienne

Monday one week ago was the first day we had french class. Our teacher is a former Hald student who lived in Norway three years ago. (It took a while before I figured that he knows my sister who attended Hald at the same time...) After school we went to visit Bernard, a friend of the boys here, and we were served Couscous. This was the first time I tasted it and we ate it like the Cameroonians do; with our hands. In the evening we got a visit from some girls who we played cards with. The communication was a bit poor as we struggled with french and the understanding of the English was not so good at their part either. But it was really nice to have someone over and to feel like we were welcome here.

Me eating Couscous

Tuesday we started school at one o'clock, right after diner. It was a bit hard, because we were working hard to understand all the grammar rules and I was really tired after I ate so much food.. Not used to having four hours of school after diner..But it went alright. In the evening we went to the College Protestant where the Gospel Singers are practicing. It lasted for three hours.
Not so bad you think? Well imagine trying to dance and sing in a language you don't understand for the whole time without any breaks..But it was a lot of fun!! We had to introduce ourselves on the end but it wasn't so bad, Sara-Jeanette did most of the talking..


Wedesnday went by quite fast, we were in school and tried to speak some french, it helps a lot! We had a visit from a girl after sunbathing by the empty pool. And when she was here we managed to speak with her quite alot in french!
After she went home Sara-Jeanette and me watched Merlin and had a good supper, our cook always makes something good for us!


On Thursday we got a visit from a deaf boy and we learnt how to say our names and some words in signlanguage.  It was fun! And we actually remembered some of it afterwords! We're maybe going to work in the spesialised school for deaf pupils so this might be useful to remember too...

The second weekend here in Cameroon was great! Friday was spent on visits to a friend of the boys where we got to taste some good Cameroonian food again and joining in on leading the Sports Club for the kids at the station.
This Saturday we went in to town together with two other norwegians to buy some material for new Cameroonian dresses that we want to get sewn for us!

The rest of that day went by while we were trying to read some corriculum and write some updates on the blogs and being interupted every other hour by someone who was at the door selling stuff.








"When you hear a knock on the door for the umteenth time the same day, it is difficult to be polite to the person who is there to sell something to you"... From the frontdoor: "Knock, knock!"

Inside the Millenium Church

In the early morning on Sunday Sara-Jeanette, Runar, Kristian and me attended the Sundayservice at the Millenium Church. It was a bit boring as we did not understand much. And it lasted for three hours!!! When one and a half hour had passed by the Bishop still hadn't preached! But they had a lot of songs and many of them were in english so at least we understood that.
We went to eat diner at a resturant in town with the boys. And in the afternoon Sara-Jeanette and I went to visit a girl called Lora. We looked at some pictures of her and her familiy (that's normal here, to show your visitors photos of your family and friends) and sat and talked in her room for a long time.We were also served some fishtales which were kooked whole. It tasted really good! But I'm not sure my stomach thought so.. 



For this monday we had some homework. We had to write a text in french which we went through in class. We were then supposed to say it by heart and try to keep up a conversation on french about what we had written.
I have never been this good in speaking french and it feels great!! After school and diner we went to the College Protestant and joined a volleyball team practice. It was fun, and it felt good to come out and do something with other girls and to get some new friends!

College Protestant

The summary:

I have this past week attended an intensive frech course; our teacher is a former student at Hald, and is really nice and good at teaching.
We have gotten a lot of visitors here throughout the week. Some who stayed to play cards and others to teach us a little bit of signlanguage. We might be working in the Specialised School for Deaf Pupils.
We have eaten our first Cameroonian meal, Couscous, which we ate with our fingers. It was good, especially the sauce!
We have also been to the first choir practice with the Gospel Singers. It was difficult as the songs were in french, pere and english. And as if that wasn't enough, we had to dance too! But it was fun! Even though we were standing all the time and it lasted for three hours.
Sara-Jeanette and I have bought our first material for some Cameroonian dresses. And we have been to church on Sunday that lasted for three hours! And another choir practice.
Monday afternoon we attended a volleyball team practice, it was fun and we got to know some more girls and got more friends.



I'm looking forward to the next week. I have not been able to post often because my computer has been almost broken, and when it has worked, the internett has not.
But now this is finaly out there and I can blog a bit more often, as the rainseason is almost over and the internett is more stable than before.

Johanne Teresie