Down on One Knee

Earlier today I met some more extended relatives of my host family. Most of them live in the same neighborhood and stop by the house pretty frequently. Basically when I meet someone we shake hands, they repeat something they have heard about America and then we laugh as I try to explain whether or not it is true. So I didn’t really think anything of it when I was introduced to yet another cousin.

Later on I was chatting with my homestay sister who is sixteen. She is really interested in poetry and let me read some of her poems which are mostly about a particular boy that she is in love with. Anyways, she asked me a lot of questions about my life in America but especially about whether or not I am married, engaged, or dating. When I told her I was single she immediately left the room. About two minutes later she comes back and sits down across from me with a confuzzled look on her face. She hesitates and wonders out loud “How do I explain this?” (At this point I’m really intrigued.) Then she finally blurts out the following…

“My cousin (the one I had met maybe 20 minutes earlier) is absolutely in love with you. He asked me to tell you that from the moment he saw you, he thinks you are so beautiful and he wants you to stay in Cameroon with him. He does not want to be your boyfriend, he wants to be your husband.”

Although cat-calls are common on the street, this was my first legitimate proposal and it was both flattering and slightly horrifying. I was suddenly having flashbacks to lectures during orientation about “verbal consent to marriage” and wondering what exactly I had said to him earlier that evening. In my most well thought-out French I carefully explained that it is against the rules of SIT for me to have a relationship during the program and that if I break that rule I will be sent back to America. (Which may not be 100% true, but this guy is not just a random person on the street, he’s someone who I will probably see every day and I wanted to get things cleared up ASAP.)

Anyways, that particular moment is one of my most treasured memories so far this semester and it’s always good to have a back-up plan in case I find myself single at 40…I know I’ve got a spot in Dschang.

Dschang (pronounced “Chong”)

After two weeks with my host family in Yaoundé, the program has moved to another city in Cameroon until the end of February.

About six hours away from Yaoundé, Dschang is not nearly as large as the capital and could be classified as a small college town (not quite as small as Holland, MI.) It’s extremely hilly here and my 35 minute walk to/from school is a better workout than any machine at the gym.

I also have a new host family who I absolutely love. They have been extremely welcoming without stifling my independence or personal space – a perfect balance. In the house there are two parents and three teenage children. There are four other kids who are older and live elsewhere, but there are enough extended relatives who come in and out every day to make you think that 50 people live in the same house.

This family also commented on how well I already speak French, and hearing that will never get old. Within the first couple days we have had some really great conversations ranging from Obama and the USA to house pets. It is really hard for Cameroonians to understand why anyone would want to keep a goldfish until it dies as opposed to letting it grow and then eating it. I also tried to explain that Jett is going to be a Seeing Eye dog, but there was a major miscommunication. I was talking about how he wears a special harness and sleeps in a crate when I realized they thought I was talking about Becca. It was actually pretty funny, but also a good reminder that I shouldn’t take compliments on my French too seriously.

Note: the combination of a more rural town and a farther homestay means pictures are much harder to upload here. I will keep posting, but you might have to wait until I am back to Yaounde to see what Dschang looks like.