On the Road Again

These past few days have been really busy, so here's what I've been up to:

Thursday:
The SITers travelled to Batoufam (around 2 hours from Dschang)to meet the chef superieure, an important chief in the area. He showed us around his palace, which was decoratd with a lot of really cool traditional artwork, and told us about his duties as a chief. He also gave us a great lunch which included goat, wine, and champagne mixed with coffee syrup (a great combination).

Friday:
I packed up my things and headed to Bamenda for the weekend. This city is in an anglophone province, so everyone spoke English. However, the accents are very strong and a lot of Pidgin is spoken, so a lot of the time it was easier to understand French than English. Later in the day we met with members of the SCNC, an organzation that wants independence for anglophone Cameroon. The government doesn't like the SCNC (the people we talked to had been arrested a few days before) so the meeting was very last-minute so as to not tip off the wrong people.

Saturday:
Free day! I went shopping for crafts and generally wandering around the city with a few friends. We ate at the Obama restaurant for lunch-slow service, but the name made up for it-and watched pirated Disney movies that some other people had bought in the evening.

Sunday:
We met with John Fru Ndi, the leader of the main oppostion party in Cameroon. After answering our questions he took us to meet a local fon (a chief) at a celebration that his supporters were holding for him. It was cool to meet the chief and to see traditional dancers there, but I definitely got the sense that Fru Ndi really wanted the American students to enhnce his rep.

Monday:
8 hour drive back to Yaoundé-I had forgotten how hot it is here!

A guide to the pictures:
1. The Waterfall at Mamy Wata, near Dschang
2. Neighbors/cousins of my family in Yaoundé
3. My Yaoundé sister Flore and me
4. A view of Yaoundé from the SIT office
5. My room in Yaoundé