Tuesday 29 March

Sunday was great. And why? well because (three reasons, makes life so much better, hihiih) (1) I found a better cyber café in the early morning. It’s cheaper, the man is more winsome and service is better. By the way, we also get (all students of CEDC) now get a discount. So what else does a student want….uhuhuh…:)!!
(2) The rest of the morning and the afternoon we went swimming in the nearby swimming pool. It belongs to the hotel; the water is quitte clean and it’s safe to swim (max. 1.40 m.). Mennn…..that was awsome, chilling, eating and drinking at the same place.
(3) The ‘finalement’ was eating at Chez Amos that evening; the students (me too) looked forward to it, because of the excellent food they have there. And it was a banquet, unbelieveble! Also an African experience……and I tell you why. Everyone said what he/she wanted to drink, then the men came back, announcing that there’s no beer and sprite. So most of us made a second choice, if lucky they got the right drink. Sometimes they confuse all orders. So 2 things are typically: 1) not everything in stock or on the menu and 2) confusing the orders. It took 15 minutes to supply everyone with a drink…..hihihih, but the food was ok. Maybe because that the order was before passed on to the restaurant. The first course was a plate full of vegetables; carots, courchettes, cauliflower, cooked eggs, sauces and tomatoes. Gues what the subject of the conversations was…..turd (shit???). Men unbelievable, it started what kind of synonyms excists for the word turd in French, well I mention: caca, fiente, fécales, merde……..so as you probably can imagine, the level dwindled (if possible of course)…..Then there were different noises during the release of turd…..great! Conversations continued…..the main course arrived. A huge plate (I estimate the diameter on a considerate 60 cm.) existing of chips and chicken on a skewer….well kind of skewer, ‘cause they use often spokes of a bicycle. Let’s say it’s efficient, most of the time far away to look for. But we were with 8 students and our two field supervisors, that makes ten (how logical). So there was also pizza without salami. In 45 minutes stuffed with a lot of food….awsome…spoilt. Yeahhhh. almost forgotten; the conversation continued; the colours of your poop…….again great…mmhhh; orange, brown, black…..whatever you want! If you’re still not disgusted by this kind of talk…..mhhhh. Then what was the dessert? Well, chocolat cake (kind of brownies), take from me it was finished within few minutes. It was delicious. My stomach was almost exploding and gues what they asked…..if we wanted a bit of yoghurt as dessert. Well, if I had done that, my stomach definitely would have exploded. 🙂

This sunday the number of students increased from 9 to 10, because Anna arrived frm the field. She’s an antropology student from the University Maastricht. Both Anna and Adinda are leaving the dortoir at the end of the week; they’re going to travel in Cameroon. So it’s a pressure of activities now in the dortoir.

Next day, a lazy day. First thing in the morning; putrefied yoghurt through my throught; let’s say it was a fresh start. In the afternoon we chilled at terrace ‘Artenant’, near the central market. After chilling (and talking about….yeah…the turd) we moved to the touristique market opposite of the terrace. Of course…..all sellers just crowds round and pound you; just madness. Besides that they had some nice little bracelets and necklaces. Sadly also illegal killed (poached) animals were hung up (snakes, crocodile, antilopes, and lots of bags and belts). :(…..horrible. Hanging around there for almost an hour, we took the clando to CEDC. Unfortunately Anouk burned her leg on the exhaust pipe of a clando when getting off. Mhhh anyhow a second degree burn (red and blisters) 🙁 Just too bad. the rest of the day we chilled at the CEDC. we have to be very careful for not getting a lazy piece of uselessness….:) ….yeahhhh great! Perhaps we already are. By the way this is my second latest message. The very newest message appears at Thursday, just before we’ll leave for Benoué National Park. Then, after three weeks, I’ll be back (what an unfortunate choice of vocabulary) in Maroua to update my diary. During this period we might be in reach with the telephone network (MTN), so you can call me :)!!!!