Rouge, rouge earth

The ground here is a bold, brick red. It is a very beautiful landscape with the lush green trees and fairly blue sky. Only thing is that it gets everywhere! Inside my shoes, on the desks we sit at, inside the house and more. Although Cameroon is a developing country, it has a very up-kept appearance. The Cameroonian culture is to keep your shoes clean at all times. It is said that a Cameroonian will look at your face to meet you, then look at your shoes to judge you. So I try to stay as clean as possible, although this is hard when there is a rain burst every afternoon or so and the red dirt turns into a slippery, red mud slide. I have yet to fall but I am almost expecting it to happen at one point. But the mud gets caked to my shoes by the time I get anywhere. So it is common to wash your shoes about everyday to every couple of days to keep them clean.

Speaking about up-kept appearances…yesterday after class, a group of us went to play futball (soccer) with some of the Cameroonian trainers and locals. It was awesome just to have some fun and de-stress from all the class! It was also great exercise with the Cameroonians practically running circles around us. So this red dirt would collect on the ball and then deposit itself on us as it hit our legs, thighs and possibly arms and clothes. By the end, we were all basically covered in a sweaty, red dust with our shins a dark maroon. In Cameroon, women do not really play sports or wear shorts. Both of which I was doing. On my way home I just happen to run into my host mother and her friend. My mother knew I was playing futball but they both couldn’t stop staring at my dirty legs. I tried to explain/joke about it in my basic French but I can’t imagine what was actually going through their heads. Very uncomfortable so I rushed off to shower. And clean my shoes, of course.

I came and I saw

I have been in Cameroon for a little less than two weeks and already I know that Cameroonians (and most of Africa, for that matter) LOVES President Barack Obama. And all caps on love is not an exaggeration. They believe that since Obama is black, his family has originated from Africa, which it has. But since they don’t know exactly where, they believe he came from Cameroon. And Cameroon is extremely proud to have a Cameroonian United States of America President. I’ve seen Obama’s face on billboard advertisements for a cell phone service. His face is painted on the fronts of barbershops so you can get the Obama haircut. Today, I even saw a sign saying Club Obama but I am not sure what it was…maybe a restaurant?

Most of all, I just find it interesting that they are so interested in America and know so much about us but we know very little of them. I couldn’t even tell you where Cameroon was in Africa before I received my Peace Corps invitation. America is just known to the rest of the world, developed or not. It just amazes me that this place with unreliable electricity, poor Internet access and such a different way of life, knows America. But the majority of America does not even realize that.

More observations: I saw a bee for the first time yesterday. Not really a big deal except that it was the SIZE OF A HUMMINGBIRD! Cant imagine the sting on that. And the keyboqrds are wierd and mqke me type like this.