I just had a very relaxing evening! Heather and Ben came over for the evening and we made pizza. The crust was ubber thick and really good and all the toppings that Heather arranged- gorgeously I might add- made it all the better!! We basically just spent the evening making food, eating it, and talking so it was pretty amazing. (It sounds like I’ve had a really hard week, but I always love Friday nights and when I don’t have to work during the weekend it’s even better!!)
Yesterday, I went to the deaf school where Hailey teaches. I was a bit nervous about going, because I don’t remember any of the sign language that I had learned when I was younger, aside from the alphabet. The school is located a ways off the main road so one of the other teachers took us on his moto (motorcycle) to the school. We got to the there fairly early so, the kids were just getting their tea (breakfast). The breakfast included some bread and tea, not enough in my thinking, but I think with the funding that they have that’s all they can do, unfortunately. The school has just been moved to this new property so it’s still under construction. The students are sleeping in the classrooms until they get the dormitories built. Unfortunately I wasn’t down there too long, I did get to see them do line call, and watch Hailey teach a class. It was so neat watching all the kids ‘talking’ and poor Hailey had to repeat my name so many times for the kids! I will definitely want to go visit again!
October 25, 2010 (Monday)
The trip to Kribi went very well, it was a fast trip, but good! We were supposed to leave at 6:30, but of course we didn’t end up leaving till about an hour later. (I could have slept in a whole half hour more!! ☺) Our crew included Bill, Trixy, Moriah and I; along with three other volunteers, Sophia, Nate, and Manu.
We arrived in Kribi at around noon and the weather was perfect. After checking into our hotel, we all got our swimsuits on and headed for the ocean. It was really neat because this was the first time I had been in the Atlantic Ocean from this side of the world! The water was very refreshing, but kinda muddy and I had forgotten just how much you float in salty water. The rest of the afternoon was spent strolling the beach, reading, soaking up the sun (perhaps just a bit too much soaking up) and checked out Lombe Falls. Since the falls were only a little ways down the beach we all decided to walk down there. The tide started coming in while we were walking so at one point we had to swim across a short channel reach the falls. There was so much to see on that hike over. There were a bunch of local kids doing hand springs and flips into the water. They seemed to be so fun of energy and smiles it was very refreshing! And at the falls, people were doing their laundry, brushing their teeth, fishing, and bathing all in the same area. It was the community hang-out spot. All this activity made me think of Microbiology and how many germs were in that area. It was awesome! And just so you know I still swam in it! ☺ There was a little strip where the water coming from the falls made a pretty swift current. It gave me a flashback of the IRR summer program and our swift water training.. (Woot woot for knowing how to use the current to get across ☺)
Later Saterday, evening we ate at the (extremely pricy) Lombe Hotel. The menus were all written in French so the only thing I could understand was spaghetti au beurre (buttered spaghetti) and that was the cheapest too! After eating, we headed down the hill to the bar and ordered coconut/pistachio ice cream (which was also expensive) Moriah and I shared the ice cream and we watched Bill and Nate play chess… it wasn’t that exciting, which is probably why the rest of the group fell asleep on the beach ☺. We didn’t wait around that long, and most of us headed to bed by 10. The next day it was pouring down rain so we had a good breakfast at the Lombe Hotel again, packed everything up and walked the beach for a bit. Sophia and I founda couple shells, but they weren’t very impressive.
Pastor Rich was supposed to come in last evening to visit Moriah and I, but his plane was delayed so we didn’t seem him until today. Once we picked him up, we headed down to Limbe to the Wildlife Center to eat at Chella’s and see the gorillas. Even though last time I enjoyed the pizza at Chella’s it was even better this time. (I think that having a month and half of no ‘American’ food and eating my own cooking made me love it more!) It was really interesting showing Cameroon to Pastor Rich because I’m normally the one that is getting showed around. It made me appreciate it here more!
Not only did I enjoy having Pastor Rich come out to visit I also enjoyed all the goodies he brought from Union College. It was like Christmas in October! Thank you to all who donated and spoiled Moriah and I! We now have a freezer full of chocolate so it should last us for the year…. Maybe! ☺
So, now on top of learning nursing skills I now am working on being a vet assistant. Well, actually I can only say that I’m a vet assistant dealing with cats. A couple weeks ago I assisted Trixy in giving Milo (her cat) a birth control injection. (Apparently another missionary doctor had done this to her cats and it had worked.) Then this last Sunday Trixy neutered/castrated one of the kittens and I was left with the post op care. The poor little thing was lurching all around while coming out of anesthesia and meowing so pitifully that I felt so bad for it. (He had also gotten a bit too much ketamine so it took a bit longer for him to come out of his stupor) I have decided that it is much nicer dealing with kittens coming out of ketamine than dealing with people ☺ They act similarly, but you can control one a little easier! Once we got back from Kribi for the weekend Trixy asked me to help her out to neuter the next kitten. It really is a fairly simple procedure I was surprised! And once again I was stuck with the post op care, which I didn’t mind to much! With the correct amount of ketamine, it didn’t take as long for the kitten to come out of anesthesia.
October 26, 2010 (Tuesday)
Now I have received a love song/note from Cyril, so it appears that he hasn’t given up on Mo and I yet. I think he has plagerized this song a bit, but it still makes me laugh!
(I’m not sure how long it’s going to take him to realize that I will not marry him.) Anyways, after I got this song, I decided to send it to my parents for laughs. My dad wrote back to me and this was his reply:From Cyril to Cherilyn1 - I need her every hour most precious Cherilyn. I will love you every hour or my life will be fruitless(Refrain)I need her oh I need her every hour I need Cherilyn oh! Oh I love you Cherilyn I will love you until I die.2 – I love Cherilyn everytime oh beautiful Cherilyn my love please marry me and I will care for you.(Refrain)3 – The way Cherilyn speak to me (Cyril) is loving and is nice it really resemblies the attitude of husband and wire as Christ destined in the bible. Cherilyn will you love me and marry me? Will you be the mother of my children? Cherilyn I love you with a passion and I will do just anything to protect and promote our relationship. Cherilyn I hope no man will scatter what God almighty has joined together.Cherilyn my love for you is eternal.It is friendlier to be together especially when that togetherness is you and me.
I really do love my Dad! He’s pretty amazing! I’m not sure if I’m going to give this song to Cyril though. We’ll see!When Mr. Cyril knocks at your heart's door,and says, "May I come in?"Just say, "No! No!" for Daddy loves you so,and will not let him in.Then he'll turn around and run away,Or he'll wish he'd died yesterday.When Mr. Cyril knocks at your heart's door,You just say, "No! No! No!""No. No." "No! No!" "NO! NO!""Go Away!"To the tune of "When Mr. Satan Knocks at My Heart's Door."Love,Dad
October 27, 2010 (Wednesday)
Today has been a loooong day. I ended up working last night and today because Lea worked Monday and Tuesday for me while Pastor Rich was here. I’m not huge into working 24-hour shifts, but Moriah was a dear and worked 2 hours for me so I could get a nap! (She really is a great friend!)
Yesterday we took Pastor Rich around town to see all (well some) of the places we go. One place was the market. Since Moriah and I haven’t been able to go to the market at the same time since the first week we got to Cameroon, we’ve gone to different vendors. My poor vendors, where I normally get food from, were kind of disappointed that I didn’t come to them. (Next week I’ll see them again, so they should be happy!) I felt like we had a paparazzi with us, because PR was taking pictures of whatever Moriah and I were doing so that our parents could see ☺ We also were able to go into the back of the market and see the other vendors. It was so quiet back there compared to the street. So, I may switch to getting some of my items there.
The other place we took PR was up to the SDA Church and then we walked around the neighborhood. We met a deaf lady and I was able to use the little sign I had learned at the deaf school the week before! It was pretty neat and I hoping to go back to visit her! Perhaps she could teach me more sign?!?!
Later that afternoon we all headed down to Jay’s Grill. I tried the fufu (cassava/coco yam/rice gel) and eru (greens, fish, and nastiness!). I had heard about this food, but I hadn’t tried it so I thought I might as well. Now I have, and I think I will avoid it from now on… unless someone makes it for me! Heather and Ben ended up coming to Jay’s with us, so we had a good group of people) The food took a long time and I had to be at work at 6, so by the time they did bring the food I had to try to stuff it down (that’s really hard when you’re eating fufu, just so you know!) While the rest of the group was finishing up their food I grabbed a taxi and came back up to the hospital and got here fifteen minutes late ☹. We had no patients so I came and journaled for a bit. Once the rest of the group got back I went over and we made s’mores over little tea light candles! Pretty yum yum! I hung out there till we got our patient about 9 pm.
The lady came in with complaints of vomiting. (She had come in earlier that week and had done a lab test and had been given antibiotics, but apparently they weren’t helping.) She vomited the WHOLE evening, even with the drugs to help cut down on the vomiting (I later found out that the anti-vomiting drug was causing her to vomit… how ironic!). By that time she hadn’t eaten any food all day, so all she was throwing up was stomach acids. I felt so bad for her, but I knew that she was getting fluids into her. I had to wake up every hour because of either giving drugs or checking IVs. Early in the morning she stopped vomiting and I tried to convince the mother to give her some food. We switched the meds and she didn’t vomit the rest of the day. YEA!!!!
You know what I think I’m going to have a hard time with back in the states, having to actually care for the patients. ☺ Here, the family is responsible for getting food for the patient, helping them to the bathroom, bathing them and whatever else needs doing. All I do is give meds, injections, and IVs!
October 28, 2010 (Thursday)
Today, I got an email from my dad saying that he has malignant skin cancer. He won’t know how bad it is till Monday (Nov 1) and says that I shouldn’t worry. (That’s not possible!) All the worst-case scenarios (and many questions) have been running through my head today. To say the least, it’s been a HARD day! I’ve been praying all day and trying to remind myself that I didn’t know for sure, but still it’s kinda discouraging. God will get us through though! Chrislyn sent this quote and it has helped me today!
"God's care for His heritage is uncesasing. He suffers no affliction to come upon His children but such as is essential for their present and eternal good." AA p. 524-525
Well, on a more positive note, I had the best Cameroonian meal since getting here to Cameroon! Flor (one of the Cameroonian volunteers) invited me over to her house for lunch today. She lives with our Adventist pastor. Today was his birthday, so Lea and Flor had made a cake, complete with writing, for him. The food that was served included rice, a chicken potato dish, and some fish. So, aside from the fact that it was not empty, it was VERY scrumptious! (I’ve noticed I use scrumptious a lot… hmm… I’m going to have to figure out another word… any suggestions?)
October 29, 2010 (Friday)
We got our 2nd package today from Union!!!!! I’m so ubber excited! Nothing else happened today.
October 30, 2010 (Sabbath)
Church was really good, but very hot! It’s giving me a taste of what it will be in the next couple months as we head farther into the dry season. Oh! And in the package that PR brought last week, we had hair gel and today I got to use it!! It’s sad how excited I was about being able to scrunch my hair without it frizzing! For lunch we took our table out on Bill and Trixy’s porch and enjoyed the breeze! It was so nice just being able to relax and have another weekend completely off!
As I’m writing this it’s just about to rain. The wind is picking up and it’s cooling off! I’m so excited, I love the down pours here!
A lot has and will be happening today. Bill and Trixy leave this evening, Andrea the new Peace Corps worker is visiting, and Matt the new replacement doctor, came in this afternoon. I am so stinkin’ nervous about this next month. We won’t have Trixy around. I’m sure the replacement doc will do a great job, but it won’t be the same as Trixy! (I’ll miss her tons!)
November 2, 2010 (Tuesday)
Just brought in some of the clothes from the line. (It has been rainy the last two days so they’re not all dry yet… Yummy mildew! ☺)
Our schedule has changed once again. This main reason for this is because Trixy is gone. Now we have 3 people on everyday with one person resting; one in the clinic, one in the hospital, and one working night shift. We rotate every four days. So, for the next couple days I am on night shift.
Sunday evening Heather had a Halloween party at her house. I couldn’t really think of anything to take for the evening, but finally Mo and I decided that we could part with some of our brownie mixes and baked a pan up. We also took a bag of marshmellows and they ended up being used on the popcorn… so yummy!! We brought Matt along to meet some of the other American’s… and to have him see that there are a couple guys here in Buea ☺ It was so funny, when I was telling him on Saturday night that the next evening Heather was having a Halloween party he asked “Are there any guys around here?”. I busted up laughing because I really hadn’t thought about the fact that he had only met, aside from Bill, all girls since arriving in Buea! Hopefully he enjoyed his time with the two other guys that were there. I thought the evening was great! But, hey! You never can go wrong with great people, laughter, and food!
Moriah and I have been given the task of helping Matt acclimate. Part of that acclimating will be doing shopping in the market today, unfortunately I have the job this week, since Moriah is working. Right now we are cooking for him, but I’m not sure if that will last long. He may decide that he can cook just as well as we can…lol! So, far he’s not been picky. And if he’s alright with beans and rice everyday, this just might work out! We’re going to have to figure out how to split up all the jobs. Like Moriah was saying earlier today, ‘It feels like we’re the nosey old ladies next door that are worried about the poor bachelor.’ We cook meals, clean house, and take care of the animals while he lives in the house. He’s quite willing to help, so it’s not like he’s a lazy bum. ☺ It will be interesting trying to cook for 3 people now. We may have to figure out some set-up of each of us making a meal or something. Or just do beans and rice every meal, which sounds like a great idea to me!
As I said last week, my dad wrote me on Thursday, saying that he had found out that he had skin cancer and that it was malignant. Well, we still don’t really know how extensive it is, but we know of that of the two types of melanomas, this is the most serious. He’s going in this next Monday to see if the cancer has gone into his lymph nodes and then Tuesday they will do the surgery. I know that God will get us through! Please keep my dad (and family) in your prayers!
