Snake in the House! 12/2

Power has finally just returned after a month of being out at post! I was thrilled to be able to turn on my computer and immediately seized the opportunity to relax and watch some TV. I took a break from my movie and went to my kitchen for a snack. I flicked on the light and then entered the kitchen when a slight movement caught my eye. Under the door that leads to the backyard I saw a dark, scaled tail. I immeadiately thought lizard… or snake! The tail slowly retracted and vanished under the door. By its slow movement I was convinced it was a snake. I thought about letting it go, but then also thought about it coming back or all my neighbors who would be walking out there to the latrine that evening. I opened the door slowly, and sure enough, there was a two-foot long snake! It was relatively thin, with a dark black green color, just sitting on my steps. I ran around to the front of the house and called my neighbor. By just saying there was a snake, all the Cameroonians in my compound jumped into action. A snake is not to be taken lightly, apparently. She ran and called for one of the men. He came out equipped with his machete. The snake started to climb back up towards my door. The women looked on anxiously and with extreme caution. They were all leaving ample space between them and the snake. “This is a bad one,” the man said. Then he swung at it with his machete, leaving a hefty blow. The snake writhed and tried to lash out and bite at the machete. The man continued to hit it until it was clearly dead, and then he continued to hit it some more to really make sure it was dead. I guess they really don’t want to take any chances. They even decided to throw it into the latrine for good measure. My neighbor thanked me for getting her and continued to make disgusted noises for several minutes before everyone disbanded. I was very glad that power returned when it did, that I turned on the light before entering the room, and that I decided to get someone about it. My next step will be contacting the carpenter to extend the bottom of my door a bit. 

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I had my second Thanksgiving in country! On Thanksgiving day itself, I had a small celebration with my friend from home (who also happens to be serving in Cameroon—it’s funny that our first Thanksgiving together required us to travel all the way to Cameroon). We did not exactly have a traditional meal, but it was delicious nonetheless! What we ate was by no means what I would want back in the US, but it was incredible and definitely felt like a real celebration in this country. We had kraft mac-n-cheese, zucchini, and sweet potatoes. All of which are luxuries and were absolutely amazing. Is it sad that those items made me so happy? Very possibly, but I stand by it. And in the true spirit of the holiday, I was very thankful for that meal. I don’t think I could have imagined a better dinner here. To top it off, we even had oreo pudding pie for dessert! We are so incredibly grateful to those who sent care packages and made that meal possible.

That Saturday we had a more traditional celebration with all of the volunteers in the region. There were maybe 30 people present, including some Cameroonians. We started cooking early in the morning on our camping stoves and broke out the dutch ovens. We made pumpkin seeds, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, salad, green bean casserole, dinner rolls, pasta salad, baked mac-n-cheese, key lime pie, pumpkin pie, cookies, and several other dishes. We even had a real turkey that one of the volunteers killed and cleaned herself that morning! It was fun to have such a big celebration that felt so legitimate!