my last day!!!

today was my final day in the office, even though it was my second day with nothing to do! i know the whole "nothing to do" concept doesnt make sense to you americans, but here it understood. in the morning, sophie and i went shopping. first we went to the mokolo market, which is a huge market that is not exactly indoors but it is under a roof. it felt like we were in a cave. we only went to the textile district, but that was big enough! the stalls were middle-eastern style (doors with rounded tops and wooden doors that swing open during business hours and lock up afterwards). it was cool. then we went to an arts and crafts market for souveneir shopping. i really hate shopping in that way, with bargaining and people chasing you with "very good price, just for you." i get defensive at first, then i relax and joke around with them, and get more comfortable with walking around. africa always has great stuff. because of the ethnic diversity in cameroon, there are a lot of styles of masks, which i really like. my grandmother collects masks and i used to be afraid of them as a kid, but now think they're beautiful. a neat item they sell is the cameroonian passport, which are tiny clay masks which are painted in a specific style depending on which tribe they belong to. formerly these "passports" were used when travelling around cameroon through the various tribal regions to identify the tribe of traveler. i didnt get any because they make them really sloppy for us silly tourists. i did get some cool stuff though.

so, ive realized i havent really told you about what ive been doing in the office. yes, yes, i actually do work here. first, the pictures are of my desk and office, the hallway that the office is on, and a large red button which i think is the fire alarm, but which looks like a cartoon eject button and which ive wanted to push ever since i saw it. but alas, i did not. the project ive been working on is the editing of the website content. the french content was literally translated, probably by a computer program, into english. as you can imagine, this does not make for an accurate translation. all the content made up a 50 page document, every sentence of which i had to fix. it was nice though. i was qualified for the work as an english speaker and it was a job that had to be done and it gave me a purpose. sometimes it was quite comical too. for instance some of the literal translations were "flaps of society" (levels of society), "Patricia of Mowbray" (Patricia de Mowbray), and, this is my personal favorite, "wrinkle of an eye" (twinkle of an eye! haha. i love it). anyway, tonight i am staying up late so hopefully i wont be too jetlagged when i get home. two more days until my chocolate cake!!!!!!

kribi, which includes a pierced-eared kitten

sorry i have fallen so behind! the truth is, my latest assignment (which i finished today!!!!!!) involved staring at the computer screen all day so my eyes were always tired and i didnt want to spend even more time on the computer with this blog. however, my eyes are doing much better and i am feeling guilty.

this weekend sophie, i, and two people from the office went to a town called Kribi on the southern coast Cameroon. the two other people were Veronica (Colombian) and Lucas (Dutch). both were about 30, probably alittle over, but they were both fun to hang out with. there was not alot to do in kribi, but as you can see, it was beautiful. we stayed in one of the nicest hotels, which was more of a small resort. it had only 13 small cottages, but it was nice, and for $60 a night, it was amazing. everything was well-decorated in natural wood and flowers, and the service was excellent. we mostly just sat on the beach and read and talked and played games. on saturday we walked down the beach to some waterfalls. UNESCO was investigating the falls that weekend in order to make it a world heritage site. i mean, i dont know about that, but they were ok. they were unique in that they were freshwater falls going directly into the ocean, and i suppose they had some tribal use at some time. on the way we met a tiny white kitten who wore a beaded necklace and a beaded earring. lucas and i were both very fond of cats, so we made the most of this singular occurance. as you can maybe see, the falls were more horizontal in nature, so we climbed around on them for awhile and then returned. for lunch we went farther down the coastal road to a restaurant (which means a kitchen and tables on a porch) owned by a french lady. it was good, although i had shrimp in the whole form, so i had to tear off the head/abdomen and peel off the remaining exoskeleton before enjoying the flesh of the animal i had just disected. i know that meat was once a living animal, but i dont like seeing the animal in its previous form, especially with eyes and little legs and...ugh. but i perservered, and it was tasty. then we went to an art museum (a small private collection) and some shops. the weekend, on the whole, was very relaxing and i read a whole book of chinese short stories while i was there. on sunday we stayed until 1:30 and then took our 3 hour drive back, on which i saw i pigmy woman! anyway, now i have 4 days left, but who's counting, right? ME! im counting, i'll admit. i am looking forward to a nice chocolate cake from chili's, amazing house chicken from pick-up-sticks, driving myself on good roads, hearing the english language, and seeing dan perez (not necessarily in that order).