football

and farms

and not to disappoint carly, this post was supposed to be longer and include pictures, to please all of you people (Cameroonians say "we people" and "you people" in place of "us" and "y'all"), especially haynes

the pictures will have to wait though because i forgot my harddrive

we people took a trip down to Buea today and just got here an hour or two ago, we will be here for the night and then head to Yaounde tomorrow to make it to the embassy for the 4th of July party (on the 3rd of July) with a swimming pool and all (i hope fireworks and hot dogs too)

well, the initial subject of this post was football and farms because i have been around to all but one of the community farms in the past 2 weeks and seen the crops and talked with the boys who help run them as a part of the program i am working with

i also have seen more football, finally a women's team was out to practice when we visited one of the villages and yesterday was the kick-off, the inaugural ceremony for the "UAC Special Summer Jamboree" - it was supposed to start at 1 and i was there to get things started, but only me, George, and the man doing the lines on the field were there (and a few of the local kids who followed me there)

not until 3:30 p.m. did things get started but the villages showed up one at a time stuffing 25 or 30 into a 12 passenger van (our UAC van, actually) and then the Lord Mayor came and then the District Officer and before that the radio personalities - Lucas, Obie Joe, and Adams (all of whom Chance works with at the Voice of Manyu - Voice of the Voiceless - 91.6FM) - and they commentated introducing the Coordinator and Coach from each village and then announced for the donations that took place - we gave each village coordinator a set of jerseys for the female team

and then the kickoff with the DO, Lord Mayor, head referee delegate and myself and the DO back heeling it to the Bachou Akagbe team and the games begin

Bachou Akagbe beat Egbekaw 1 to 0 and then Banya and Bachou N'tai tied 0-0, each game lasting 50 minutes

while at the game another white man showed up, from the Netherlands and with a friend, his neighbor from back home, who is from Mamfe originally and they came over last night to the hotel to hang out for a bit

things have been good, hot, rainy, and getting busier, especially with this 5/6 day trip we are taking to Yaounde and then Douala for a day


other sites and events that i have yet to mention: people use the streams and rivers as car washes (this was especially common right north of Buea on the way to Mamfe); our cook, Stella, is both hilariously dramatic and lazy in the kitchen so our food is lackluster; it rains everyday and my roof leaks but hopefully it is fixed now so i won't have to sleep in a puddle at my feet; people are crazy about pointing the finger with blame, especially the people we work with but we have cleared some issues up and agreed to communicate

well, i am tired and having a block on what else to tell you

but i will post photos soon, some of people, some of interesting things, some of the 4th of July party, some of football and some of farms