Superbowl Early Monday Morning

I didn't even realize the Superbowl was this weekend until our Country Director called to say the US Ambassador had invited us to his Superbowl party. Did we want to go?!

The festivities started around midnight when we showed up at his house. When I say house, I should say giant compound including swimming pool, tennis court, sunken garden, etc. The place is enormous. His big screen TV seemed tiny in the massive living room. We ate chili (with cheese and fritos!!) and chips. It was great. I slept through the second half of the game...who can blame me, it was like 3am.

We watched the game on the Armed Services Network, so we didn't see any of the commercials. Just Pentagon-produced PSAs for the troops, reminding them that sexual assault and going AWOL are punishable under the CMJ; smoking is bad for you; if you want to marry an HCN you need special visas; and that taking war trophies must be approved by your CO.

Obviously Peace Corps needs its own tv channel, or at least a reality TV series.

New Pictures

I uploaded a few pictures from Bilingualism Day and also of my namesake, Jessica la Petite.

http://arkansas.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2069600&l=78732&id=20601980

Le Rat, It's What for Dinner

28/1/07

Le Rat, It’s What’s For Dinner

I happened to be at a friend’s house for dinner a few weeks ago, when I was informed that we’d be eating rat.

Rat, when well prepared, is sweet and tender. It tastes like chicken. I enjoyed the meal: rat and tomato sauce with cocoyams. I ate the rib cage (the breast?). It was nighttime, so I couldn’t actually see what I was eating. Cameroonians are entertained when I tell them “J’ai mangé le rat.” I ate rat.

I went back one afternoon this week and was given another plate of rat, a leg this time. Rat looks like chicken. Fortunately, my friend’s husband brought a freshly killed rat so I witnessed the preparations. Rats here are the size of a cat and have scary, yellow teeth and long tails. And yes, the tail is edible.

Her son grabbed it by the tail and chased the younger kids. That is, until someone put the carcass in the kitchen and we told him it had run away. He took off into the bush with a stick to catch the escaping rat. When he finally found the body, he told everyone he’d killed it on the hunt.

So the next time your loved one traps a rat, here’s how to prepare the meat.

To prepare rat:

1. Build a fire, grill the rat until the skin is burnt
2. Scrape off burnt fur with a knife
3. Cut off ears, nose, teeth, feet
4. Remove intestines, set aside
5. Chop into pieces (legs, breast, head, tail)
6. Wash thoroughly
7. Cook as desired, in sauce of your choice, and enjoy your favorite rodent

La Journee du Bilinguisme or Bilingualism Day

Cameroon, as many drunk people have told me, is a bilingual country. That means that everyone speaks two languages! Or rather, the majority of the country speaks patois and French, and a small but vocal minority speaks pidgin and refers to English as “grammar.” For some reason, we must celebrate this bilingualism with a national holiday.

At the Lycee de Bokito, we will celebrate by switching languages. The principal has forbidden me to speak English on that day, whereas everyone else must only speak English. I’m sure with everyone speaking their 2^nd (or 3^rd or 4^th) language there won’t be any misunderstanding or confusion.

English Club is responsible for promoting the use of English on Bilingualism Day, so we’ve prepared a conference and other activities, including the singing of the National Anthem in English, poems, sketches, a news bulletin, and popular songs by groups like Westlife (or rather, “le Westlife,” haha) and Destiny’s Child. The only problem is that we’re celebrating on Friday, it’s Sunday, and nothing is ready. We’ll see how things come together in the next few days.

03/02/2007

Bilingualism Day Wrap-Up

Well, at least we can say it’s over. Phew!

Thursday evening the English Club hosted a conference on the importance of English in schools and society. The Francophone professors had a tendency to complain about the emphasis on English but since Bilingualism Day in Cameroon is to celebrate the two official languages, French and English, it seems only natural to promote English in the Francophone zone.

Friday started off with a terrible rendition of the National Anthem in English, and only got worse afterwards. The sound guy the club president hired went to Bafia and when we called him he told us he’d be there until late in the afternoon. Huh, okay. After much yelling and accusations between club members and the president, we hired someone from the center of town. In the meantime the proviseur and his wife yelled at me, complaining they had many funerals to go to and accusing me of wasting their precious time.

Finally, two and a half hours later, the celebrations began. We sang the National Anthem (again, and better). Students recited poems, acted in a few skits, danced a few times and answered trivia questions for prizes. It wasn’t great. It wasn’t terrible. It lasted far, far too long (yet somehow we didn’t have time for the bilingual news).

Afterwards, the English Club invaded my kitchen, where the girls prepared hamburgers and French fries (I made mac & cheese). The boys sat in the living room and complained of hunger. Typical!

I want to thank everyone who has sent me school supplies (pencil sharpeners, pens, pencils, erasers, markers, post-its). We gave them out as prizes. The leftovers were divided among club members, who fought over the Bendy Pencils. Another hot item was a heart shaped pack of post-it notes. And the William Clinton Presidential Center pencil (because Bokitoans would be Democrats if they could vote, yeah).