Can I Get a Witness?
When you're a stranger in a strange land, you seem to become a magnet for the slightly unusual. Case in point: one evening this week I had a phone call from Bill which began "Hi Joe, I have a strange request...".
Burning Fish No Go Die...
We attended a three day beach party this weekend, a gathering of whiteman volunteers from Buea and beyond, a gathering which had been dubbed 'Burning Fish'. We camped on the beach for two nights; fires were lit, Matango was drank (local palm wine), fish were roasted, the ocean was splashed about in, sunburn was acquired (not by me though - result!) friends were made and fun was had.
Grand Tour of the Grand North
Blimey, what a trip. Obviously the journey didn't go quite as planned, which is only to be expected. We planned for a six day trip, spending two days in Waza park. We ended up with an eight day trip and only one day in Waza. We were behind schedule before we even left Buea, as we sat on a bus not moving for two hours, while a bunch of women faffed about and chatted when all they really needed to do was get on the chuffin' bus... So from that point we probably weren't going to make the train.
Waza, Here We Come!
We're off to see Waza tomorrw. I know what you're thinking: why have they suddenly decided to stalk Manchester United and England's Shrek-look-alike non-scoring striker, and if they're coming back to England, why haven't they called? I understand your confusion, but no, the Waza in question is Waza national park; Cameroon's premier (only?) Safari desination and excuse for the above poor gag.
Cheap Shot at Hot Shot Toss Pot
I do try and resist the urge to mock vacuous celebrities on the basis of nothing news stories, really I do, but...
Simon Cowell reckons he should be paid $500 million because he's 'bigger than Springsteen'.
What an arse.
Ten 80's Films That I Like Better Than Ghostbusters?
We've been watching quite a lot of films whilst in Cameroon. The tv is generally poor, (and in French a lot of the time...), so unless there's a decent game of football on (well done Liverpool, by the way) we often watch a film of an evening.
Take a Deep Breath?
We've been using Skype a lot since we've been here in Cameroon. I noticed that the title of the homepage of their website is 'take a deep breath'. I noticed this because, for the first ten minutes of loading their website, that's all I see. Their website is incredibly slow (and beleive me, I know the meaning of slow pages on this connection. Flickr? Forget it, stopped going there months ago.).
Cameroonian Cooking Class, Lesson 1: Pepper Soup
Recently we met up with Freida's son, Eddie, and his girlfriend, Preseline. They offered to give us a Cameroonian Cooking lesson, which we readily accepted. We've been dying to know how to cook pepper soup (pronounced 'pepe soup' here).
Climbing Mount Cameroon
This weekend, we have mainly been walking up and down a mountain.
Mountain Race weekend
People have been talking about the Mountain race ever since we arrived, it's the event of the year in Buea. So finally it happened. The start point and finish line for the race is the stadium in Molyko. Most Sundays, that's where I am, huffing and puffing with the rest of the SUFA guys for a couple hours, until we call it a day and go and have a beer in Figaros. This Sunday though, SUFA left the stadium to the proper athletes and skipped straight to the Figaros and beer bit.