See you soon, little sister!

This morning, my sister set out for Yaoundé again.

She flew from Zürich, but they left at 3.30 am, so I was not able to see her anymore.

However, she called me during her layover in Paris and sounded so very happy and excited. I am thrilled for her, but will miss her like crazy.


The last time she flew, she took this unbelievable picture - just thought I'd share... - :

                                     

We will see what she experience this time. But I am sure that it will be just as big an adventure than the last 2 times she went down to Cameroon; even if she will only stay for three weeks this time.

I sure hope she will bring some "arachides" with her.  :) 

Wrapping up my Cameroon story

My sister is leaving for Cameroon in a few days and I still haven't finished all my posts about our trip…

I won't bore you with travel details anymore, but will try to summarize the last week in one post.

Ok, let´s try this:

After our time in Kribi, we found a driver who owned a pick-up truck with which we could master the 4-hour drive through the jungle to Ebolowa (it was AMAZING!) to spend a day at La Comice, the biggest agricultural fair in Cameroon. Ebolowa was the city I liked the most. It was very modern and not too big, quite clean and not too far from the capital, but still really close to the jungle. 

On Sunday Andreas and I took the bus to Limbé and spend 4 very intense days that definitely brought us closer together.
Limbé is a small beach town in the Anglophone part of Cameroon, however I had the feeling that the Limbeans neither spoke English nor French. It was quite amusing.
We stayed at a hotel in the Botanical Gardens, enjoyed even more delicious food, walked around the various markets and spent most of our time sitting at the Atlantic Ocean letting the mind wander. I had a feeling of freedom that I hardly ever experience.
The Limbeans astonished us. We had been a bit worried about traveling alone because of the color of our skin, but we were welcomed with open arms. Unlike the people in Yaoundé, the Limbeans waved at us, smiled at us and made us feel at home. It made everything even more special.

I was a bit heartbroken when we left.

We returned to Yaoundé on our 6 months wedding anniversary, which we celebrated with Valerie and Joseph at the restaurant we went to when I was sick. 

The last day in Cameroon was filled with tears, wistfulness and the attempt to soak in as much of the African way of life as possible. Andreas and I went to mass before we headed to the airport. The parting was really, really difficult and almost nobody could hold back their tears (it was, of course, especially painful for my sweet sister).
I cannot believe how much time has passed since then. Craaaazy.

Thinking and writing about this journey now makes me want to go back again. I think I will have to find a way to fit into my sister´s luggage. lol

Learning from a friend

I just listened to last week`s episode of Balanced Living Weekly (http://gspn.tv/057-balanced-living-weekly-cruising-chickens-parsnips-and-much-more/). Cliff Ravenscraft shares in this podcast episode some memories of his recent cruise, his weight gain and how he enjoyed every minute of it, not once feeling guilty about eating too much.

This reminded me of how I took our bathroom scale with me on vacation when I was about 10 or 11 years old. Now, who does that at this age? Isn't that just crazy? I remember what a nightmare this vaccation was for the whole family. I wasn't just ruining our trip to the South of France for myself, I was making it almost impossible for my parents or my sister to have an enjoyable, relaxing time.
I was so concerned about my weight that a regular meal was impossible and dining out was a nightmare. I remember the fights I fought with myself, the yearning for a cup of ice-cream when everybody else was enjoying one, the wish to just eat what everbody else was eating. But I couldn`t. I just could not lose control.

So, even at the age of about 10, this issue did not leave my mind for a single minute.

I am so very glad that Cliff did what he deserves to do: he took a break from his everyday life and just took it easy. After all, this is what vacation is for. This is the whole reason for going away. And once you come back home, you are refreshed and fully energized, ready to have a bit more control and discipline about every asepct of your life again.

Who cares about a few more pounds if you spent a wonderful time with your family or friends? (In fact, writing this makes me feel so stupid because it IS so very trivial..) People and realtionships are what counts in life, not your weight. I regret how many valuable hours, days and weeks I have lost because of the preoccupation with food and I pray that I will be able to make up for all of it once I am healthy.

I hope that very soon I will be able to adopt Cliff`s mindset, because he figured out what really matters in life.  

P.S. I have been a gspn.tv Plus Member since 2008 (or was 2007?) and I have enjoyed every minute of their fantastic podcasts. If you haven`t done so yet (which I doubt), you should check them out:

http://www.gspn.tv/

"La vie est la drogue."

Can you believe that it is already March? 
Where did February go? What have I done in this month? What happened to the first 2 months of this year? Wow.
And I still have so much more to tell you about our Cameroon trip.
So, while I am trying to wrap my mind about the fact that 1/6 of the year is already over, I will take you all the way back to January.

On our 2nd day in Kribi, we went to a Pygmie village and to the Lobé Waterfalls.

It was a very controversial trip that sparked a lot of discussion among us.
 

We boarded a pirogue and enjoyed a wonderful, quiet ride on the Lobé River. After about 30 minutes, we arrived at the Pygmies village. We walked around for a while before the chief of the tribe showed up. Our guide commented on the fact that the chief was clearly drunk with the words:
"Sa vie est la drogue." And that drug is called palm wine.

Despite drinking hard wine the way we drink water (even the babies drink nothing but wine and mother's milk) and eating hardly anything, walking 100 km a day is not unusual for the chief who is about 60 years old. However, he cannot be sure of his own age because they obviously do not have any kind of birth certificate and they do not have to go to school or any other official institutions. So, the mother determines the age of the child. They can get older than 100 years despite their self-destructive behavior and way of life. 

The chief of the tribe was much smaller than me (I'd say he was about 1.40m tall), but his children and grandchildren were already much taller. So, it is clear that this type of people won't exist much longer.

I am not certain about the morals of going to that village, walking around and watching them as if they lived in a zoo. On the boat ride back to the landing place we had a lively discussion about the morally, Christian and humanly "correct" thing to do (if such a thing even exists), and we did not come to a conclusion; quite naturally. I have to admit that my curiosity, my thirst for knowledge and my fascination for other, alien cultures won and I looked into their huts and I talked to the chief with the help of our guide who also served as a translator.

Since I was 11 years old, I have been reading many, many autobiographies about people who grew up in cultures so different from ours that it is almost impossible for us to even fathom their way of life. So, I have always been fascinated with this subject. My husband does not and did not understand my "behavior"; he could not look into their huts because it goes against his principles and he felt 'very' uncomfortable' during our time in this village. He is probably the better human being for that, I was just captivated by everything I saw.

In the end, it is up to each individual to decide what he thinks is justifiable. What are your thoughts?



The Day (and more) in pictures:

Trip to Kribi

Valerie buying our tickets.

Le Centre de Voyage.

On Tuesday morning, it was time to set off on our excursion ot Kribi.
After we arrived at the bus station at about 7.30 am, we waited in the bus until it was full – 5 people had to sit  in every single row, no matter how tall or how big they were; this lead to some VERY funny scenarios (I wish I could have taken pictures, but I did not want to be disrespectful).

Waiting for 2 hours would have been fine, had there not been vomit on my seat. But, I survived… The ride was actually quite good and the road was not bad at all.

Our bus.

The cute thing is that there is only one road leading out of Yaoundé and after 2 hours, there is a traffic circle with one exit to Douala (the commercial center of Cameroon) and another one to Kribi. It was fascinating to drive through the rainforest with vegetation that is so different than what we see it every day. The bus stopped a few times in order to give street vendors a chance to sell “arachides” (the best peanuts I have ever eaten), manioc, bananas, banana chips, melons, water, soda, but also toilet paper, books, bibles or handkerchiefs.

It only took us about 3 hours, instead of the 4 that Valerie had told us, until we arrived in a still untouched beautiful, little fishing village.

However, this will change soon as the government decided to build a huge port in Kribi at one of the most beautiful, heavenly beaches I have ever seen. Chinese companies are already building new roads and I am sure that it will not take long until this little piece of paradise is destroyed. 

The taxi driver that had taken Valerie and Joseph all over town the first time they had been to Kribi recognized Valerie right away and was smiling like a child when he saw her, knowing that he would make a lot of money in the next few days… 

Our beach.

Our hotel was cute, clean and right at the beach. I instantly fell in love with this it and could have stayed there forever just feeling the breeze of the ocean on my skin and listening to the sound of the waves.  There is something about sea air that makes me feel alive and fresh and able to think clear; I always feel 100 % better when I am staying close to the ocean.

But I digress… 

Marina de Kribi

We had dinner in a wonderful restaurant at the marina and were able to take a very romantic walk on the beach until sunset.

It was the perfect start to 3 awesome days on the beach.

Full Moon in Kribi.

The day in pictures:

A random anecdote:
There were a few children playing at the beach who, upon seeing us, wanted to touch “les blancs”. Joseph told Valerie never to let them touch her because nobody could know whether they were really only children or demons hidden in the bodies of children.
This statement surprised us a bit.

Even though Joseph is Catholic, reads the bible every day and goes to Church at least once a week, the traditional set of beliefs of the Cameroonian nature religions is still omnipresent in his everyday life.

New beginning

Today is the first day of the new semester and it feels weird to be back in my university.
I have been lethargic all day yesterday, crying all night and was in a really bad mood this morning. I am a routine kind of girl. I like routine, I thrive on routine and it is always hard for me to adapt to change; however little it is.
I stayed in my pyjamas all day yesterday thinking about everything that happened in the last 2 months. It feels like an eternity. All the changes inside and outside, the travelling, celebrating Christmas, New Year`s, fighting with my body and mind, the creative wave I have been riding on, spending all this wonderful time with my husband, having soooo many ups and downs in my personal development; how can all of that fit into such a short amount of time?
And yet at the same time, I wanted to do so much more. I had planned on working and experimenting with Photoshop, Dreamweaver, InDesign etc., wanted to create a new wordpress website or even design my own website, clean my computer and organize my pictures. Oh well, I am human and can`t do it all.

Even though this semester just began, it migh be a short one for me. More about that in a later post.  

... we have to live with the consequences of our choices!

... and make the best of it.

Well, Andreas and I ate so much of that meat prepared with Cameroonian spices that we were sick on Sunday and Monday. Especially I was the one who felt as sick as never before. I will spare you the details; let's just say that it wasn't pretty... Every time I caught my reflection, I startled: I totally looked like a drug addict or a living dead with huge black rings under my eyes. 

However, since we expected to get sick at some point, we were prepared. Also, the fact that my mom is a pharmacist helped with our first-aid kit. :)
We talked to Joseph’s mother and sisters and they told us that even locals would get sick from these special kinds of spices. The only thing that was a tiny bit unnerving was the fact that we still did not have any water at home. So, we decided to go up to Mont Fébé and spend the day at the pool there. It wasn’t ideal, but we could at least use the restroom…

It was an especially beautiful day, but I don’t think that I even noticed the wonderful view of Yaoundé on that day.

At the end of the day I felt so sick that I had no scruples anymore. When I saw that there were couches in the very fancy restaurant we went to, I decided to change the table and lay down while the other three were enjoying their delicious dinner. By the time we got home, I couldn’t even walk on my own anymore. I was so very lucky that we had to postpone our trip to Kribi for 2 days; I would have never been able to travel for 4 hours as we had planned.

On Monday we felt a bit better and we had water again, so we could take a shower! YES!!!!! :D

Since Joseph had to go to a meeting, which could take an hour or 5 (time is irrelevant in Cameroon), Valerie, Andreas and I took it easy. We had breakfast and then strolled around a beautiful garden in the center of Yaoundé, “Le Jardin d’Amour”, where all the young couples spend their time.

It is still very uncommon for lovers to show affection in public, kissing is basically a no go and holding hands is also seen as reprehensible. Being gay is still considered a punishable offense. So, one has to be careful walking around kissing or holding hands. A lesson, Andreas and I had to learn the hard way. But you have to respect the customs and points of view of the country and just adapt in order to not offend the locals. 

The rest of the day was rather quiet except for the fact that I had a fit of laughter while standing under the shower soaped from head to toe and the turned off the water – again. Supposedly for 5 minutes, BUT this being Cameroon, I decided to use mineral water instead in order to not catch a cold and it was the right decision as it took them about 50 minutes… The best thing about it was that the family knew that I was taking a shower and they still went ahead and turned the water off, instead of waiting 3 more minutes until I was done. I thought it was hilarious. We could learn something from their serenity.

The day in pictures:

Cameroon Continued... Day 2.

The second day of our trip was one of the most eventful.

After breakfast we went to the market close to the Muslim quarter of Yaoundé to buy some fabric for the Christmas gifts that Valerie and Joseph had promised us: a shirt for Andreas and a dress for me.

This market was UNBELIEVABLE. I don’t think I have ever seen so many, many people and cars in between, such chaos, so many colors, so many different smells and so much noise.

We did not take the camera with us, so I don’t have any pictures of this market (it would have been too dangerous because of thieves), but I found one on the internet; just to give you an impression. 

Armand, our driver, did the miraculous and found us a parking spot (I have never seen a person back into a parking space more skillfully!!!) and so we went on our quest for some fabric. Again, it wasn’t easy to enjoy what we were seeing because of the slight harassment. I have never seen so many beautiful kinds of fabric. They have patterns that are totally different than those that we are used to. We had decided before that it was best to buy the same fabric for Andreas and I and, even though, the variety was enormous, we decided on the same fabric within just a few minutes. Valerie was amazed and could not

Joseph and Armand.

believe it. We are true soul mates. Hehe Andreas also found a highly qualitative fabric for a suit.

After that, I also got some sandals that would fit the dress and then we went on.

We were amused to see that while we had been gone, our car had been used as a stand for sponges; but since we needed them anyway, it was quite convenient. LOL

I still have that sponge and use it to train my broken thumb… 
 
After that, we went to the Muslim quarter and bought all kinds of meat with special spices. It was fascinating to see how they cooked and prepared the meat right in front of our eyes. Thank goodness that we are no vegetarians, but Valerie felt a bit queasy because of the smell and the blood.

Buying lunch.

Trying typical Cameroonian food.

We spent a long, long time sitting in a bar on a balcony eating the meat we had just bought; I have to stress again that I tasted things that I had always refused to try and it tasted so very good.  




Andreas and I like it hot (*cough cough*) and so we had to live with the consequences of this fondness on the next day… But more about that later.

At the tailor.

Armand drove us around town for a while (he and Andreas got along perfectly without speaking each other’s languages; it was so cute!) and I think we saw almost the entire city. We stopped at the tailor to get measured and to order our cloths. The tailor was super nice and kind and we were both thrilled and already anxious to see the finished products… Yes, we are both quite impatient. 

Then the day took a slight turn to the sad side. This is an anecdote that I would like to share, just to show you how much of a difference between white and black there still is. It was such an honor for Armand, the chauffeur, to drive us around on that day that he insisted on introducing us to his family. His wife had just moved out and he wanted to ask her to come back home with their children.  Can you believe that he thought he would have a better chance of convincing her, just because there were 3 white people with him? I am still shocked about this worldview and, I may be very, very naïve, but I had no idea that people still thought that way. I had no idea that it was such an HONOR to be surrounded by “les blancs”.  This had me thinking for many days and I still cannot grasp it.

This impression was reinforced later that evening when we went to a restaurant called Café de Yaoundé, where we sat in a beautiful garden surrounded almost exclusively by whites…

Impressions of the day*:

 

Don’t look at the pictures if you do not want to see dead animals!

Winnie

Last week, my sister and I met up with my good friend Winnie in Cologne.

Winnie had a break between semesters and had asked me a long time ago if I wanted to have a girl's trip for a few days. When Valerie had to come back home from Cameroon a month earlier, we decided to taker her with us.

Unfortunately, it was very cold during the 3 days in Cologne and on the last day, it was pouring with rain. So, we spent most of our time in cafés, restaurants and at Starbucks (*grin*) chatting about everything you could possibly think of. I was very happy to see that Valerie and Winnie got along really well right away. 

Winnie is from Belgium and I got to know her through gspn.tv a long, long time ago. We were among the first members of the wonderful community Stephanie and Cliff created through their podcasts.

Being the same age, having the same interests and very similar fears, thoughts and goals in life, I felt a deep connection to Winnie from the very beginning and our friendship has grown consistently over the last few year using social media networks like twitter and facebook. 

Naturally, we also did some sightseeing (the Kölner Dom is a must-see, incredibly impressive; I have seen it so many times, but it never gets old!); we went to the Chocolate Museum  (there is such a strong, delicious, yummy chocolate aroma in the whole factory that it almost drives you crazy. Hmmmm), walked around the town for hours braving the cold and on the last day, Winnie and I went to the Roman Museum while Valerie was looking at art in the Ludwig Museum. There was not a single dull moment as we were laughing and talking ALL the time.

This just goes to show you that relationships that you form over the internet ARE real, sincere and true; they aren’t superficial or imaginary as most people still claim. Winnie is a much better friend than some people I have known all my life. She has been a source of inspiration and encouragement and I could not imagine not having her in my life anymore. I really hope that we will find a way to meet again very soon; preferably in Belgium (I have never beeen there...).

Some impressions of our time together:

Interesting fact:

Ironically, it took the premiere of the last season of LOST for the two of us to meet for the very first time – in KENTUCKY. What a funny little world we live in...

Breakfast at Cracker Barrel with the gspn.tv community
in February 2010

Cameroon continued.

During our time in Cameroon, we stayed in the Centre and the South of the country. Our journey started -as I have written before- in Yaoundé, then we went on to Kribi (a beautiful little city at the Gulf of Guinea), we drove through the rainforest to Ebolowa and finally traveled to Limbé (a coastal city near Mount Cameroon).

We spent the first 4 days in Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital, going to different markets, getting to know the way of life of the Cameroonians, eating traditional food, getting sick (we knew it would happen and were prepared...), spending a day at a pool on top of one of Yaoundé’s seven hills and strolling around the “Jardin d’Amoure.”

Joseph showed us his hometown, taking us to all kinds of wonderful and very, very interesting places. You usually take a taxi to go from one place to another, but on our 2nd day we had the luxury of having a chauffeur, Armand, who drove us around all day long.

After a good night’s sleep, our first “African” shower with ice-cold water (my tip for your next Africa trip: you should not leave your towel, your clothes or anything else that you don’t want to get soaking wet in the bathroom; due to the extraordinary African craftsmanship, the entire bathroom will be cleaned while you are showering.) and a few cups of delicious coffee, Valerie, Joseph, Andreas and I sallied out to spend the day in the city.

What impressed me the most on the first day were the colors. You hardly see dark fabrics; almost everybody is wearing beautifully cut dresses with incredible, colorful prints. I found it wonderful and charming to see the way the Cameroonians combined traditional and modern cloths.

It wasn’t easy to enjoy strolling around the markets because of the crowds and the vendors trying to get “les blancs” to come to their market stands. However, the flavors, colors and the variety of the produce were so impressive, extraordinary and so unfamiliar that it was almost too much to take in all at once.

After a few hours we had enough of the crowds and went up to Mont Fébé, one of the 7 hills that Yaoundé was built on, and enjoyed the beautiful view of the city. Leaving all the craziness and business of the markets behind, we used this time to have a cup of coffee, talk and get to know each other a bit more.

our view from Mont Fébé

The day ended very harmoniously with another delicious meal that Joseph’s sisters prepared for us. Again, the taste of the fish and crabs and even the potatoes was totally different and unfamiliar. Andreas and I LOVED it.

At some point during the afternoon hours, the water was turned off and we were left without this luxury for the next 3 days...

Before going to bed, Andreas and I had to chase a nasty mouse that I discovered on our mosquito net around the room, trying not to giggle too loud in order to not wake the family... We ended up spraying it with a spray we had bought against cockroache

Andreas and Joseph; or as Andreas put it: "2 cool guys"...

The beginning...

After a VERY hectic day of last-minute shopping, packing and trying to clean the apartment at least a bit before our journey, my husband came home long past 11pm because of a business dinner. We went to bed without having finished packing our suitcases. My husband had not packed ANYTHING at all. We slept for about 2 hours and got up at 3 am to get ready. We left the house on time at 6 am, but we were already stressed out by that point.

From that point on however, everything went very smoothly.

We flew to Paris, both falling asleep right after boarding the plane.

We changed flights there and all I remember about the Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport is the yucky weather and the long time it took us to get to our terminal.

You cannot really see it on this picture, but it was rainy and cold and grey and we were glad to leave! J

Both Andreas and I were incredibly excited. We kept saying over and over again how we would have never thought we’d ever go to Cameroon. I remember us staying at our gate waiting for boarding and just grinning from ear to ear, everybody else most have thought we were crazy…

The flight was VERY comfortable, also we did not have a window seat and the woman next to me refused to open the window; so we didn’t get to see anything of the African continent before we landed.

The food was the best I ever had on an airplane. Good job, Air France. B (However, this fact made it hard for me to enjoy the first few hours in Cameroon and made me feel guilty about eating a darn Kitkat for the next few hours and days – darn eating disorder!!!!).

The flight was short (6 hours), Andreas slept most of the time and I FINALLY had the chance to watch THE SOCIAL NETWORK and, oh my god, what an incredible movie it is. I have heard Cliff Ravenscraft (@gspn on twitter) rave about it for months now and couldn’t wait to see it. Cliff, you did not promise too much. It IS a fantastic movie and had I not been too tired on our flight back home 2 weeks later, I would have watched it again. I also watched LIFE AS WE KNOW IT with Katherine Heigl; a typical movie for her: cute but rather insignificant.

We arrived in Yaoundé at around 6pm and this is the very first view we had of AFRICA. :D

The first thing we noticed was the enormous amount of people. It was pure craziness.

Valerie, Joseph (her boyfriend), Serge (Joseph’s brother) and his driver Armand picked us up from the airport and we drove to Joseph’s home. 6 grown-ups, 4 suitcases and our hand luggage (we had to bring some things for my sister too) in a small Mercedes.

We were welcomed by the whole family with such warmth, love, affection, sincerity and joy that we felt at home instantly.

They had prepared a delicious dinner for us and we spent the night catching up with Valerie and Joseph on what had been happening in the previous few weeks.

And thus our adventure began…

Our home in Yaoundé: