Update
Life continues to truck along. We're in the height of the hot season (which is also the dry season), and apparently it was over 130 degrees in the sun last week. Yeah, REALLY hot.
So needless to say, during this time of year people really just hang out in the shade and play cards... it's too hot to do anything else. That, and, almost everyone is a farmer, so there's not really any work to do anyway since it hasn't rained since October.
I came into Garoua for the past week for a weeklong training in the local language, Fufulde. There are a LOT of local languages, but everyone speaks Fufulde, even if it's not their first language. It's kind of the language of commerce and everyday life, rather than French. I think this says a lot about the development and education of Northern Cameroon, because in the South most people are speaking French in everyday conversation. Not the case up here. Either way I've already learned quite a bit of Fufulde, but I couldn't resist a week in an air conditioned hotel, and a per diem. And I learned a lot on top of that.
I've been thinking a lot lately about how people from America (and readers of this publication) receive information, and how it differs from they way I intend it to be read. Or if not, then how my reality differs from how people imagine my life to be. For example, I've got quite a few friends in village, including one really good friend named Hamadou. And I've realized that for me, they're just friends that I spend my days with. It's not always a profound cultural exchange the way I had imagined my life to be before I got here. There is not a difference between "me" and "them". I AM them, because they're my neighbors and friends. I suppose this is the essence of integration into another culture: when it stops being another culture and just ends up being everyday people and everyday life. Eating with my hands and talking in the local language stop being profound moments or Peace Corps photo-ops, and instead are just what my life is. It's remarkably different from how I imagined my "integration" to be before I got here, and surely different from how I think you imagine my life to be.
With that, I'm heading back to my village today. Thanks again for all the kind words, and keep in touch.
So needless to say, during this time of year people really just hang out in the shade and play cards... it's too hot to do anything else. That, and, almost everyone is a farmer, so there's not really any work to do anyway since it hasn't rained since October.
I came into Garoua for the past week for a weeklong training in the local language, Fufulde. There are a LOT of local languages, but everyone speaks Fufulde, even if it's not their first language. It's kind of the language of commerce and everyday life, rather than French. I think this says a lot about the development and education of Northern Cameroon, because in the South most people are speaking French in everyday conversation. Not the case up here. Either way I've already learned quite a bit of Fufulde, but I couldn't resist a week in an air conditioned hotel, and a per diem. And I learned a lot on top of that.
I've been thinking a lot lately about how people from America (and readers of this publication) receive information, and how it differs from they way I intend it to be read. Or if not, then how my reality differs from how people imagine my life to be. For example, I've got quite a few friends in village, including one really good friend named Hamadou. And I've realized that for me, they're just friends that I spend my days with. It's not always a profound cultural exchange the way I had imagined my life to be before I got here. There is not a difference between "me" and "them". I AM them, because they're my neighbors and friends. I suppose this is the essence of integration into another culture: when it stops being another culture and just ends up being everyday people and everyday life. Eating with my hands and talking in the local language stop being profound moments or Peace Corps photo-ops, and instead are just what my life is. It's remarkably different from how I imagined my "integration" to be before I got here, and surely different from how I think you imagine my life to be.
With that, I'm heading back to my village today. Thanks again for all the kind words, and keep in touch.
posted by Ryan @ 2:29 AM
1 Comments:
At 4:02 AM,
-B- said…
Who would EVER say no to a free hotel and a per diem? It's unimagineable.
What's your address, crazy boy??? I wanna send you mail!
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