i'm racing agianst my 22 minutes remaining at the cyber...so this is going to be brief!

i have spent the last week traveling with the group the the extreme north. actually, i think we may have spent more time in the bus than at the places we visited! the highlight of the hot dusty cramped and bumpy adventure was the village of Rhumseki. "touristy", at least for rural
Cameroon, Rhumseki is nestled in a valley between these amazing rock formations which, according to Emily (who got an A in "intro to geology"), are the left-over cores of volcanoes. Apparently the inner rock is much harder than the outer...the outer erodes away leaving giant jagged pillars.

Our 'tour guide', the 16 year old that lead us on a hike, told us the most interesting story.
Picture in your mind first an absolutely enormous rock pillar jutting out of a relatively flat area. See it?
Ok, so, if a woman in the village is having fertility problems, she must go, with the traditional doctor, to this 'mountain' and walk around it's base with a basket of eggs on her head. If none of them break, she will be cured of her infertility.
Hope you're smiling.

The traditional doctor in the village also tells futures...but he uses crabs instead of sand. You pose your questiong and he picks up the crab, asks it the question, shows you to it (by holding the crab in your face...so the crab knows it's you) and then places it in a basin with little wooden objects that represent different things. The crab scurries around and knocks some over and then gets picked up by the doctor. The doctor holds the crab to his hear and listens to your future, interprets the knocked over objects...and sends you on your way. The strangest part actually, is that Rhumseki is in the driest region of the country, and I have no idea where the crabs came from.

Also, we caught the end of mango season in the extreme north. i've never tasted anything like them!

Tomorrow we are leaving Ngaoundere for Yaounde, the capitol. Thankfully, we will be traveling by train and not bus...although the train promises to be just as much of an adventure! We have all come up with cameroonian themed halloween costumes and are going to trick or treat in each other's sleeper cars! I'm sure that all of the cameroonians will think we're crazy. I'm wearing the dress my family made for me and tying a pineapple to my head and going as miss chiquita banana!

miss you all!
bisous
brianne

hi everyone!

i am not a big fan of catch-up journaling or catch-up blogging for that matter. But it has been so long since I've had the opportunity to post, that I believe an up-to-speed post is in order. I'll try to make it as intertaining as possible!

Things that have happened (in attempted order) since my last post:
1. I left Dschang at 530 on morning with 3 kisses on the cheeks from each family memeber, with 1 backpack nearly the same size as me, with 1 heart shaped cake from my sisters, and with 15 americans and 3 cameroonians in a 1970something vw bus. We bounced and jolted on a red clay road for 9 hours until we reached Banyo...where we thankfully stopped for a day to recouperate! The second day of off roading in the beat up van last from 4:30 am until 10 pm. Imagine a cracked leather bench seat, four students across, sweaty legs sticking together, and enough red dust blowing in the windows that i actually commented on how tan and pretty everyone looked before realizing that it was just a- very nice and even- layer of dirt!

2. On the bus voyage adventure we saw: a huge posionous snake, monkeys in a tree, a tarantula, and an owl. We also accidently peed right next to someone's corn field and got chased out - pulling our pants up- by some crazy ladies yelling in french that "would we pee on our own food??!!"

3. We are now in Ngaoundere...the capitol of the Amadowa province in the northern part of Cameroon. And, it is like being in a completely different country. The people are predominantly muslim, and the buildings, clothing, and interactions reflect this. It is the last week of Ramadan right now as well. My new maman gets up at three am to make breakfast so that the family can eat before the sun rises and then we feast at about six at night when the sun sets. The streets beside the mosques are nearly always packed with robbed men, and women, listening to the Koran, which is read over loud speaker 24 hours a day during Ramadan. Excitingly, I will be here for the end of Ramadan which everyone celebrates with a three day party! My maman, who by the way is 23, started jumping up and down when I told here that I was staning for the fete. In addition to the religious and cultural differences (which i've really barely touched on), the dirt is tan here and there are lots and lots of cows... which means milk and ice cream!! Also, did i mention that there is ice cream here?


I have to head home soon, but I want to end with this story.

Imagine a dusty bus ride to the outskirts of town, well past the outskirts into the fields, arriving at the clay brick compound of one of the areas traditional doctors. We are here to learn about traditional medicine...did you know that heat can cause malaria and too much studying will make you crazy? We all ask tons of questions....but the traditional doctor (this is astrology and traditional herbs and such...not witch craft) insists on giving us an example. He bring out the Egyptian sand and we each take a turn placing our sweaty palms in the center. Sitting cross legged in front of him marveling at the bizzare nature of the situation, I discover that: "hmmm, you have many plans, but you will get married sooner that you think. For sure within the next ten years and you husband will be someone who works with money. For example, a banker. Oh, and there is a girl. Yes, your first child will be a girl." Quite the opaque future... bankers beware!!

i really wish that I had the time and ability to share all of my stories with you. hopefully, this will satiate your curiosity for now! Keep writing...i love hearing that there is actaully a season besides summer in other parts of the world.

bisous
brianne

ok, please tell me how much you love the pictures....

because i've been here at the internet cafe forever!! they actually are in order from bottom to top because of the way the site loaded them.

hopefully seeing the beautiful faces, my favorite places, and the stunning countryside will help you imagine my life here.

Enjoy!!

Another view of Dschang from the SIT office. The dark area that looks like a rainstorm is actually a mountain range. It is so beautiful here...hardly captured by these pictures.
This is a picture of Dschang taken from the SIT office which occupies the third floor of one of the few three story building in the city. The street is lined with tailor shops, 'grocery' stores, clothing boutiques, hair salons, etc.

Perhaps my favorite picture so far! In the foreground my 7 year old sister Raissa and Eugene my 14 year old sister next to me. This picture was taken during the nightly power outage...we really didn't have much else to do, so my camera serves as constant amusement. "Film me! Show me!" It's great.
Me and Jen at Cafe UCCAO...the local JP's! The cafe serves only 100% Cameroonian coffee and a random assortment of dishes depending on what the owners wife bought in the moring. The coffee is espresso strenght and comes in a mini mismatched tea cup with two sugar cubes. Also in this picture...my fabulous micro braids with extentions!

This is my aunt Colette selling beignets (see the post about beignets :) and assorted biscuits and candies. She wraps all of the goods up in that plastic tarp (in the right hand corner) and carries it all on her head to this spot on the side of the road every morning.
Just to make everyone smile...me in front of my house with my breakfast... half a baguette stuffed with avacado and scallions or a palm oil soaked omelette. Yummy!

My house, my Camerounian home. This is where I live with 2 sisters, 2 brothers, papa, maman, an aunt, and inevitably someone's cousin or friend. Nearly everything here is painted this color of tealish blue or peptobismal pink. I don't know why. The line through the picture is for drying clothes and the big bowl catches rain water.
This is a picture of a petit magasin, or little shop. The streets here are lined with store fronts that look like this, selling grains, fruits, dried fish, used shoes, you name it.

Hahaa, this is the University of Dschang and the cow of the University of Dschang that is free to roam, eat trash, and frequently interrupt class. Our class room is the door on the far left.
Me and my darling little brother Junior. He is three and as cute as he looks. Well, actually maybe even cuter since he speaks French! Every day when I get home from class, he comes running up the dirt road shouting my name and then bearhugging my knees.

Here is the only picture I have so far of the entire group. Christiane, the director is on the far right... and in the middle is the head chief of Fongo Tongo wearing lion furs... yep, he's the one who thinks I'm a good dancer!
Yay! After about eight hours of waiting, I'm actually getting to put some pictures up for you guys! This is the waterfall Mamy Water that we visited in Fongo Tongo during our first week here. The topography here is unbelievable, lush and unspoiled in many places. I hope that this series of pics will give everyone at least a little idea of what my life looks like here.