Thanksgiving (no Gigli references, please)

I'm going to get to Thanksgiving in just a second, but first I want to say that my homestay father is a butcher.  Last night, getting ready for bed at the late hour of 8 o'clock, I was about to walk out to the pit latrine to brush my teeth.  Lo and behold, my family was cutting up a cow right in front the latrine door because today, Sunday, is market day in Pitoa.  I promptly went back into my room and when I woke up the next morning, I saw four cow legs hanging down from the roof and the head drying out in the sun on top of the house.  Okay, back to Turkey Day...

 

Well, there wasn't a turkey.  There were two chickens and an excellently prepared goat.  There was also some very good stuffing and mashed potatoes, along with some other stuff.  All said, the food was very good, especially since it wasn't cous-cous and gumbo.  Sarah L. and Kate pretty much planned it all, and the PC staff in Garoua let us use their offices and houses (Peace Corps-owned) to cook and to eat.  A few of the language trainers actually cooked the goat, and I don't know what they did, but I didn't think I would enjoy goat as much as I did.

 

It wasn't particularly strange to me celebrating Thanksgiving over here.  It only gets weird when I think about it being the fall and winter back in the States and the leaves turning and people wearing warm clothes because it's legitimately cold (Cameroonians are wimps during the "cold season" now) and it being the middle/end of football season while I'm dodging sheep and piles of trash on the way to language class in the morning.

 

We only have two-plus weeks of stage left, then it's finally time to go to post.  We had a French exam yesterday morning, and I think there's a good chance I reached the level that Peace Corps wants (Intermediate High.  I started off as a Novice-Mid and got bumped up to Intermediate Low after the last test a few weeks ago).  We also have to do a cross-cultural presentation in French that has to last atleast 15 minutes. The fact that we have to do this presentation is a joke, considering that everyday in Cameroon is a freaking cross-cultural experience, but c'est la vie.  My topic is how the Fulbe tribe, the dominant tribe in northern Cameroon (where I am and will be), and Islam intersect and diverge.  I know that sounds kinda complicated, but really, I'm going to be throwing it together at the last minute.  I think Matt said it best when he said that these presentations are made just to piss us off.

 

Yesterday was a pretty good day.  After the language test in the morning, a bunch of us went to Super Restaurant in Garoua then to the Relais St. Hubert, a hotel that's pretty much my home away from home away from home (it goes like this: St.Hubert-Lagdo/Pitoa-Kennesaw), to go swimming.  I had my usual (it's just about everyone's usual), beef with french fries and a jus melange (Cameroonian smoothie).  It was quite delicious. Then at the pool, I ate a Snickers bar.  Then for dinner, karma slapped me in the face and I had yams with this nasty fish sauce.