ISP Work

I wrote this post last weekend and had intended on putting it up right after my previous one however, the internet was incredibly slow and I have not had much time to get to a cyber cafe recently.

While working on my ISP everyday is a little bit different. I usually wake up around 6:30am. Depending on my schedule, I will either directly get dressed or hang around in my PJs working on my computer. Breakfast every morning is a mini loaf of bread, peanut butter, and coffee with lots of milk (powdered) and sugar. My host mom leaves for work between 7:30 and 8:00 and my host dad leaves around 9:00. Claudia’s schedule varies, like mine, depending on which classes she has. Some days my first obligation is at 7:30 in the morning, other days I don’t have to leave the house if I don’t want to. Since I’ve arrived my time has been spent visiting schools and introducing myself to administrators and teachers, handing out surveys, collecting surveys, and scheduling interviews. I have also had to visit the Delegation of Secondary Education and, like I said John Fru Ndi.

The front of my house.

At this point, I am working with four schools: Sacred Heart College- an all boys Catholic boarding school just up the road from my house, Our Lady or Lourdes- an all girls Catholic boarding school closer to the center of town, PSS Bafut- a co-ed Presbyterian boarding school about 15 minutes out of the city, and GBHS (Government Bilingual High School) Nitop- a public bilingual school that my host mom works at. I also try to get to a cyber cafe at least every other day or so to keep up with my internet communication. Somedays the cyber cafe is open, some days it’s closed, sometimes it’s full and other times there’s no one there, occasionally the power’s out, or the internet isn’t working. I have also dropped off some fabric to be made into clothes at a tailor in the main market.

I’m home by 6:30 every evening and spend that time with my host family and working. Each day, if I have time, I sweep for my host mom. My host family, especially my mother is very Catholic. I find myself lying about how religious I am. I told my host mom that I’m not Catholic but that I am Christian which she took to mean devoutly so. Some evenings, if I’m still awake or in the living room when she and Claudia pray, I join in. Every other evening, when I go to bed, I am reminded how important it is to pray.

Making juice (lots of juice) with my host mom.

On the weekends I spend almost the whole time at home working and with my family. Last weekend, I helped make juice on Saturday for church on Sunday. This weekend Claudia and I spent Saturday morning washing dishes and doing laundry. The city has been cutting its water supply frequently and for days at a time recently due to maintenance. The water cuts are random and unannounced which makes it hard to bath, cook, and clean as one would normally. Sunday, I go to Mass with my family. My host mom spends almost her entire day at the church, during the sermons she translates into French. Last Sunday Claudia and I went late, around 10:00am and left early, around 12:30pm. Apparently it’s not necessary to attend the entire mass. I like going to church here. Everyone dresses nicely which means that many women wear clothing tailored out of the fabric sold here. I love looking at all of the different patterns and styles. There is also a lot more dancing and singing than any church service I have been to at home.

I’m really enjoying my time in Bamenda. Even if my final ISP isn’t great (which I hope doesn’t happen) I’ll still have had a great time getting to know my family, Bamenda, and learning more about the school system here.