Time escapes me and yet continues to drag on

Some how or another, I've managed to stay away from blogging for the better part of two months. I can't believe the last time I wrote anything was on Thanksgiving. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years.

It's hard to believe that it's 2010. A year and a half ago that seemed like such a long time away, and now I've got 4 months left to live and work in Cameroon. If you would ask me today if I will miss living here, I would probably say no. Until right now, I don't believe I would miss anything, but I imagine that I will one day, sooner than I think. I'll miss how easy going life is here and the extended family of volunteers that I've become a part of.

But, all good things must come to an end and I've started to look ahead. I've started to apply to graduate school, specifically George Mason University in Northern Virginia. They have a Peace Corps Fellows program there for ESOL licensure and a Masters in Education: Curriculum and Instruction. I feel like it will make it easier to find a job and will help with my teaching abilities.

The rest of my time here is pretty well planned out and should pass fairly quickly even though the day to days will pass excruciatingly slow.

The dog, the dog, the dog......has turned into somewhat of an obedient K-9 but has his relapses from time to time. His worst problem is one of two things, 1. he keeps getting parasites that enter into his body through his paws (as the vetafric tells me), or 2. he's allergic to something and I have no idea what it is. The reaction to either of these is for him to continually lick the back of his left leg so much that he has no fur there, and he'll choose other spots on his body to do the same. Currently he's chosen his left front paw nail to lick raw. I've got it bandaged and covered and beginning today I'm starting to wash his paws off with flea/tick/parasite treatment in the morning and before bed. If this doesn't help him then there is nothing I can do for him here. He'll have to wait for America to be fixed up.

I wouldn't hope for too many more posts on here, at the current rate I've only got about 2 posts left and I can't imagine that they'll be much different than what I'm writing today. Unless you would like to send writing topics or questions you want me to specifically blog on, I'd be more than willing to do such a thing. Nearing the end of my stay here, I'll stop fearing accusations of being a tourist and make myself a target for theft by getting my camera out for photo's and video ops throughout the town.

Believe it or not, I'll see you soon!

To You It's Thanksgiving but to Me....It's Just Thursday

Thanksgiving is upon us, even here in Cameroon. When I sit down and think about it, I imagine that most Americans spend major holidays with their family. Everyone gathers at a relatives house to share a meal. Togetherness and eating, they go hand and hand. There's a lot of build up to a day like Thanksgiving. There are decorations of turkeys, pilgrim hats, and indian headresses. Grocery stores start to stock 25lbs turkeys and cool whip goes on sale. You have to figure out when and where dinner will be, although most have traditions so the when and where may not change often. You get time off of work or school.

Side note: As a Peace Corps Volunteer, we dont' get any U.S. holiday off, just the Cameroonian ones. Thus, tomorrow really is just Thursday to me. Christmas and New Years are the same of course, so we get those off. However, PC admin in Yaounde get both, U.S. and Cameroonian holidays off and paid for. Someone tell me how that works.

While America gets ready for Thanksgiving, Cameroon is getting ready for the Fete de Mouton. This is celebrated 30 days after the Fete de Ramadan. So I have Friday off of work along with the rest of the country. There will be a lot people marching, wearing fancy new clothes, eating sheep or goats, and having a good time in general. The downside is, this means parties, and with a party you have to follow party protocol. The horror of which cannot be expressed in words completely. Nothing starts on time, you wait forever for all the guests to show, but the host is expected to have everything prepared at the announced time, then when people do show up, you can't eat right away, it's a whole ordeal that is so completely different from an American party it takes a long time to understand, even then you can never appreciate it. Hopefully you make the most of it, have a good time, and go home.

Ramblings:

I don't know who made the first NFL schedule where there was football on Thanksgiving, but God bless that man, otherwise who knows what type of horrible things we would be forced to watch.

I think Thanksgiving dinner would be best served with (Barberton) fried chicken. Turkey....to me, is overrated.

That's all, have a great holiday!!!

Once Bitten, Twice Shy: Buddy and the Spider

As many of you know, I have a dog here in Cameroon (Buddy Reperton is his name). I've had him since he was a pup and really he still is, I don't even think he's a year old yet, but he should be close to that. Recently, he has gone through some problems. Carol and I noticed that he lost a lot of the fur on his hind leg, so we took some photos and showed them to the vets here. They came over to my house, yep vets do house calls here, and they both agreed that it was a parasite and that the treatment was 3 days worth of shots. I'm pretty sure they gave him amoxyciline along with something else but I forget the name. That worked out well, his fur is growing back and his skin isn't flaky.

Unfortunatly, hours after the third and final shot he got bitten by a spider. What kind of spider? I have no idea what to call it, but they are usually about a little smaller than the size of my palm and really flat. I've seen these on walls everywhere since I've been in country and really have never had a problem with one other than it creeping me out. They have uncanny speed and are hard to kill. What had happened was Buddy and Honey were chasing each other around and he ran towards the wall and that's when I saw the spider run up the wall but I didn't think anything of it. With in seconds he started getting bumps on his face and all over, after a few minutes his face had swollen up and his body covered in bumps. So I called the vet, he came back to my house and gave him another shot and after a few hours his face was back to normal. It took about a day and a half for him to be completely bump free. (Spider bite pictures below)

Now, today another problem arises, he has some other spots where the fur is gone. The vet told me to put some Ektocip (flea and tick treatment) on a rag and wipe the spots on his legs. After I did that, he felt the need to clean his legs off and ingested some of the flea killer. I found where he had thrown up 2 times out back and he wouldn't stop salivating. So I was worried and called the vet and what's his answer to this problem? Another shot!!! He didn't like getting that one.

I'm not sure if all these shots they give him are totally necessary. One time they gave him some shots and he got sore that night from it and I wasn't sure what was wrong with him. I called the vet to ask what was going on because he wouldn't eat, he wouldn't move, if I picked him up he'd cry. Then he came over and said he was stressed because of the shots and then proceeded to give him another....what??? lol. After, I just decided it was like when a person gets a tetnus shot and is sore for a few days. They are a bit shot happy with dogs in Cameroon. I hope that we can go the rest of the time here without having another shot until March when his rabies vaccination is due. I've heard that people gossip about me and the dog. Some think I brought it from America, some think I paid 5,000 or 8,000fcfa for him...which is actually lower than what I actually paid after the theft fiasco earlier this year. My landlord thinks I'm insane because I sent money to Yaounde and had 5 bags of dog food sent to my house. Having a dog here really attracts a lot of attention, especially if you treat it properly, you know the normal things like feeding it, bathing it, vaccinating it, etc... My neighbor asked me if I was a veteranarian because Buddy looked so healthy.

Work wise, school is in full swing here now and the library is up and running. The good news about the library is that this year I have student who I can trust and another teacher who have been running the library when I'm not there. So that is becoming sustainable with out me, although no one has an idea of how to put books back or they are just lazy. I have to give the second sequence test next week. Pretty soon it will be Christmas break and the school year is half over.

The end of my service will soon be at an end, then it will be off into the real world where I'll have to make a living. I am looking forward to something new again. More importantly, I'm looking forward to having what I left behind, friends and family, at a more comforting distance than across an ocean.

For Grandma

I would like to take a moment to remember my grandmother, Billie R. Buccigrossi. She passed away October 14, 2009. I know that she is happy with the life she was given. She lived happily with my grandfather, Frank, and her children, grand children, and great grand children. She lived a good life and always wanted the best for everyone. She loves her family unconditionally and put their health and happiness first.

I have a lot of good memories with my grandma, she'd always make the best apple crisp and no-bake cookies (and not just for anyone...sorry Val, lol), she drove on so many of my class field trips in school. During summer vacations, she'd have to deal with me and Samantha and all the trouble we'd get into, but she was never mad for long (even if we did throw rocks at cars or spray strangers with the water hose and run). She'd give us a dollar to spend at Ritzman's pharmacy, looking back it seems like that dollar bought us a months worth of candy. I think I'll always remember her as my redheaded grandma who we loved to visit.

I can't help but feel that she's gone too soon, too suddenly, and with that the world seems emptier. She'll be missed and will remain in our thoughts everyday. We love you grandma!