Ngaoundéré

Our train ride to Our train ride to Ngaoundéré was very eventful. We boarded the train and found out that we were in upright seats, no beds for the overnight ride. This is first class, in normal cars people are squished into seats, some people are just on the floor, others have to stand. We spent a couple hours hanging out and chatting and eating bread and avocado for dinner. We made some stops in small towns and people came up to the windows selling fruits, honey, manioc, pretty much anything you wanted to snack on you could just reach out the window and grab in return for a couple hundred CFA (from 20 to 40 cents.) Around 9 we started to fall asleep but it was extremely uncomfortable sleeping so we were all in and out until 3:30 am when men came running through our with flashlights hitting people to wake them up and told us to get off the train. My first thought was that we were being robbed, but in fact a refrigerator in another car was on fire and we had to evacute. Eventually it calmed down and they said we could stay because they had detached the train from that car. We spent an hour waiting for them to try to put it out but we ended up leaving the burning car behind, no one was hurt but our director’s baggage was burned and abandoned. We finally arrived in Ngaoundéré in the morning, very tired. We went to the dormitory where we were staying and napped and rested until around 12 when we decided to go exploring in the rain. Even though Ngaoundéré is bigger than Dschang, it feels much more rural and we had a hard time finding food. Later that night we had a very nice dinner at a restaurant, watched an american movie in our rooms, which was a big treat, and went to bed.

This morning we woke up, went to breakfast and went to the Norwegian Center where we will being having some of our classes. We learned how to live in Muslim houses and had a bit of class before returning to the restaurant for lunch. After lunch we visited a traditional doctor who told us about his practices and told us about our futures by drawing in sand. He told me I am going to be extremely happily married to a guy who lives in a different city than me in the United States. After that we were dropped at our host families. Mine seems nice so far, my dad is a tailor and my mom is very kind. I have 5 siblings but there isn't a lot of French in the house because the maternal language here is Fufulbe. It will definitely be a different experience than either my Yaoundé or Dschang families but I’m excited.

Traditional doctor showing us plants he uses

Who can resist taking a picture of a beautiful girl in a colorful outfit?