Day 9 of  71
Sunday


Yesterday, the girls and I visited Limbe. Before we set off we went to the Monye market (which only occurs twice a week) in search of more fabric. The market takes place Uptown in an area where makeshift stands have been built crowded together. Twice a week the stands are filled with produce, fabrics, toiletries and other goods shipped in from China, dried fish, oils, shoes, clothes, jewelry and pretty much any other item that could possibly be sold. Thousands of people swarm the stands to shop and those selling goods call out  to you as you pass by or grab you and attempt to pull you into their stand saying “white man white man, come see!” 
I've become quite accustomed to hearing “Hey white man!” when walking down the street. We reply with “Hello black man!” and they think it's funny. Friday on the way to the Uptown tailor a woman stopped us on the street and welcomed us to her country and shook our hands and told her children: “shake de white man hand!” They really get a kick out of it! It's not just our skin they like, my hair has gotten quite a few thumbs-up (a compliment here). The ladies at the hospital and Mr. Orock's children like to pet it. I don't mind at all. People playing with my hair puts me to sleep!
Anyway, Limbe.
After Monye (a small child gave me the spelling so sorry if it's wrong...) we came home at packed for Limbe. We took a cab to the edge of town and had it drop us just past the bus station. Cameroonian bus stations are quite possibly the most annoying and stressful places on Earth. The drivers hire men to yell at you and pull you onto the buses and chase cabs away. After having them chase three cabs away from us and yelling at us for several minutes to get on the bus I finally stepped away from the crowd and stuck my head in a cab and said “Limbe Half-mile?” and he told us to walk away from the station and he'd pick us up further down the street. I motioned to the girls and we began walking. The hired men picked up on it and chased after us and tried to pull us out of the cab but after climbing under their arms and through the windows we got in and locked the doors and we were off! A few more cab changes and a bike ride later we were in Limbe! We visited a shop with wooden souvenirs and walked around Down Beach a bit before having a lunch of grilled fish (as in a whole fish grilled that you eat off the bone with your hands) we headed to Tsaben Beach.
Tsaben was a paradise! When we arrived it was raining but it did not matter, we were there to get wet anyway. You took a stone path down a hill a small ways to a landing where white wooden chairs were set out overlooking the black sand beach with giant volcanic rocks scattered about the beach and near the ledge. The path turned to grass and continued to a white wooden hut with a bar and tables and chairs. There were only a handful of other people there (foreigners you could tell). We left our bags and went to the beach. The waves were huge! I've never seen them so big! Oh...and the water was warm. The cold rain hitting my skin while swimming in the warm salty water was absolutely amazing. It was so vacation-like that I forgot for a moment that I was in Africa on a volunteer mission trip. It was so very nice to be able to travel about in this country with three other women, all from different countries than my own, and it feel like we've known each other for years. It was just surreal. I really feel as though I've known all the other volunteers here for ages. It's going to be weird when they leave. I look forward to the new ones coming though.
Day 11 of 71
Monday
So..After typing that part, Amelie came over to invite us to meet her boyfriend's friend's monkey. How could I say no? I put my computer to sleep and set it on my bed. When I came back it was scorching hot and dead. After several failed attempts to restart it, I gave up and stored my poor baby laptop in my bag. I felt so cut off from home. My texts don't go through because my SIM card won't connect to the MTN network for some reason. The phone I bought here will only allow me to receive calls unless I pay for more credit (which I'll probably end up doing tomorrow. Dumb). And then my laptop died. How was I going to apply to med school? Practice MCAT? Communicate? 
I let it rest until this afternoon. When I turned it on it told me to boot it up through Safe Mode then went to a blue screen and did nothing. I shut it off and it wouldn't do anything else...until now! I know it's corny but I don't really care. I sat down and prayed to God and asked Him to please let me have my computer. It's a necessity! I tried again and it booted to a black screen but a lit-up black screen. I tried typing in some F keys and a box came up saying to do a Start-up repair, then I did a System Restore and BAM we're back in business. God is good!
Today was a learning day. The others decided to climb on the mountain since they will be leaving soon, but I chose to go into work. I came here to work and I've only had the opportunity to really do so for three days, it was not time to take a day off. Some of the normally cheerful staff seemed to be a bit cranky today, but Africa has a rough culture anyway. People are abrasive and rough all the time. A nurse I've never met before was working today and told me to do the dressings for a man who has had a ruptured bladder due to a crushed pelvis. He has abdominal wounds, two abdominal drains, scrotum wounds and a sacral bed sore. It is the most complicated dressing in the hospital, but I was happy to tackle the challenge. I'd only seen it done twice and here they are so particular about certain things! But both times I'd seen it done differently, so I assumed as long as I did the important parts in the correct order the correct way I couldn't go wrong. Unfortunately, the head nurse was one in a rough mood today and saw me flying solo on my fourth day of work (third day of wound care). She came in scolding me for everything I was doing (which was not wrong) and barking orders at me in Pidgin (even though she was fluent in english) so when I questioned what she said so she'd stop correcting me, she pushed me aside and told me to watch her do it herself. I was almost offended or upset and then I realized that this culture of anger/bullying equated with strength/power and abrasive and rough nature is only preparing me for the harsh world of academic medicine. In medical school I will not have academic doctors sugar coat things for me or praise my good works. No, they will always find something wrong with what I do or criticize my amateur techniques so that I will strive for perfection in an effort to provide the best health care to my future patients. What I am learning here in Cameroon, or at least what I learned today, was to be able to absorb the education and technique and allow the rest roll off of me. I learned how to handle my overseer questioning my every move and attempt to make me question myself but remain confident in myself and my abilities while still remaining humble enough to learn what they have to teach without getting caught up in the rest. (wow, convoluted run-on there...but it's late and I'm too tired to fix it.)
Yesterday, I also learned that I am having a hard time “falling in love” with this place because I am having a hard time becoming numb to it. After speaking and observing the other volunteers here I've realized how strange it is a person comes to a country and in an effort not to offend the natives they are willing to set aside their own culture, convictions and beliefs. I don't think that is correct. I'm not saying that I won't follow the customs and respect the culture here, but I will not stand for the disrespect. I will not be numb to the violence among the children, at least not where it is my business (like in my front yard) or the “hey white man!” in a taunting manner and the kissy noises from the doorways as I walk by.
It isn't a horrible place here. It is just like any other place, really. There are really great people and really corrupt people. Because I am around mostly poor people and living among them I see mostly corruption, but that is what I signed up for. I am enjoying my time here in Cameroon and my work at St. Luke's very much, I just know that it will not change me or numb me to the world. Instead I think it has made me more aware and more sensitive and more self assured.  I am only ten days in, I can only imagine what the next 62 here in Africa will bring!
Tomorrow we have three surgeries in the Theatre. I will be busy observing all day! I am excited and I have my camera charged up.
Good night!


Day 13 of 71
Thursday


Yesterday I missed work and spent eight hours watching a man only a few years older than I completely gut my computer. I now understand how parents feel when their children are injured and need surgery. After being gutted and reassembled four times, she works.


Last night we had a going away party for Roosa. We ate at the local Red Lobster (bahaha) and bought wine. We took the wine uptown to a night club called Jupiter but it was dead, so we turned our house into a night club instead. It was a group of about nine or ten people: the UAC volunteers, some cameroonian friends and some volunteers from another agency that are here working in town. It was a good time. We were all very sad to see her go today! 


I am going to cut this short and attempt to upload photos...cross your fingers?


Em

Not quite The Cloud, but it will do.

The Common Room

The Theatre