The Glories of Being Irish

Today I was congratulated for being Irish.  I thought it was weird to congratulate someone for their ethnicity. Congratulations for being Mexican? Congratulations for being African America? Your ethnicity isn't something you really have any control over. In my case: one Irish person met another Irish person and they procreated and then along came me. I don't recall there being a questionnaire asking me what ethnicity I wanted to be. I was informed that St. Patrick's Day (Lá Fhéile Pádraig) is not a real holiday. It is just an excuse for people to drink alcohol and run around stupid and drunk. I disagree. In my eyes, St. Patrick's Day is the day to celebrate all things Irish and Ireland.

According to a census conducted in 2008, I am one of 36,278,332 Irish Americans. Eight of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were Irish American and 22 Presidents have been partly Irish (the most famous, obviously being JFK). Descendants of Ireland have produced: Bing Crosby, Walt Disney,Gene Kelly, Grace Kelly,  Maureen O'Hara, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Georgia O'Keeffe, Robert F. Kennedy,  Billy the Kid, Dropkick Murphys, The Decemberists, Flogging Molly and me...amongst others.

Just like almost every other ethnic group there are Irish stereotypes. We drink too much, we're loud, and we fight. Well, those do apply to my family. All Irish are super holy...In my family that only applies to two people. My Nana goes to mass every Saturday and goes to every funeral and wake of anyone who she has ever come across in her life. The other, according to my family, is me. I'm the person in my family that goes to church regularly, is involved with church, and when someone in the family has a question about anything religious,it's me they go to.

Catholicism is huge with us Irish. I'm the only one in the family that didn't make their confirmation in the Catholic Church. (Huge Scandal) When a friend was amazed at the number of first cousins I have, my response was "two words: Irish Catholic". According to Wikipedia: New Light Presbyterians founded the College of New Jersey, later renamed Princeton University, in 1746 in order to train ministers dedicated to their views. The college was the educational and religious capital of Scotch-Irish America. By 1808, loss of confidence in the college within the Presbyterian Church led to the establishment of the separate Princeton Theological Seminary, but deep Presbyterian influence at the college continued through the 1910s, as typified by university president Woodrow Wilson. So as a proper Irish girl it is only proper that I am attending Princeton Theological Seminary in the fall. :)

So tonight I am going to have my corn beef, my cabbage, and my boiled potatoes. Today I proudly wear my green: Shirt, Cami, fingernails, eyeshadow, socks, and sneakers. I rock my protestant orange shoelaces on my bright green sneakers. I will listen to Celtic rock and traditionally Irish folk music on my iPhone at work. I will put my red hair up into pig tails.  I am going to read Irish proverbs and blessings. And I may or may not imbibe a green beverage or two.

"I've never been to Ireland but I know it's in my Blood!"

-Raised on Black and Tans (Gaelic Storm)

comfort zone

12/31/10 11:40 PM
Comfort zone is totally gone. Today has been a roller coaster of emotions.

After breakfast we went to the home patience grew up in. We met her letter brothers and was shown how they harvest coffee. Cindy, Shelby and I decided to walk back to Joseph's compound. It did not take very long but we really liked it. When we got back we wanted to find mishpah to give her a gift. We were brought into the kitchen. The kitchen is a house by itself. There is a fire to cook on and a place to prepare foods. The whole Inside is black. Mishpah loved the necklace.

From there we got into the truck and Jerry drove us to Melong. Another crazy ride on the bumpy roads. Shelby and I fell asleep and got tossed around a bit. Cindy recorded it. How is it that I cannot fall asleep on the airplane but the bumpy horrible near-impassible roads are nothing?? In melong we got into a new car and jerry drove patience and the kids back to Nkikoh. The new driver drove us to Bamenda. The ride was painful. For some reason my ribs on my right side were in serious pain as was my left shoulder. But we made it to Bamenda alive. Bamenda is sort of frightening. So many people, scary driving, noise,chaos Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! We pulled off to the side and Grace came to save us. The pastor of the church arrived and took us to the manse. They fed us (surprise) and introduced us. We were expecting there to be a service tonight but that is not the case. The pastor then told us where we would be staying. They put us in four different houses which scared me initially. I thought Shelby and I were staying together but nope so I was kinda worried.

The village I am in is called Malong. I am staying with Emelia and her family. She used to work for the treasury but now she is retired. Almost immediately upon arriving at Amelia's house I made a friend. Faith is 4 years old. Her mother is no longer alive so Emelia takes care of her and her five year old brother Desmond. She is a lot of fun and so adorable. She sang me a rhyme.

Emelia has three children. The oldest is a girl I have not met. The middle child is a boy. I don't remember his name at the moment but he is studying in amsterdam to be a physical therapist. The youngest is Erica. We spent s lot of time talking tonight. She is twenty. She really wants to leave Cameroon. She wanted to go to Boston University to study but her mother wouldn't allow it. She study medical technology at the local college. I told her she should come visit. We talked a lot about the differences between America and Cameroon. She showed me pictures of her family and I showed her the few pictures I had on my iPod. When she was younger she thought White people didn't die. She also thought she would marry a White guy. When I first got to the house it was super awkward and I want sure this was going to work out. It is really out of my comfort zone but hey it needed to be expanded. In twenty minutes it will be 2011. But I am going to sleep because I an tired. I didn't realise traveling was so exhausting.

Day three

12/30/10 11:40 pm
They keep trying to feed us. At breakfast this morning Joseph informed me that I had the smallest amount to eat at dinner last night. We told to go up and get seconds at almost every meal. The food is amazing but there is so much. And I found out what the weird bread we bought on the road yesterday was...it's a soft sweet bread they serve as like a sandwich with chocolate. We walked up to the church at twelve and had lunch with the pastor. We shared a kola nut , which Is what coke is made out of...does not taste the same!! It seems that the majority of the food people serve is the same. There's always the spinach dish, fried chicken, rice, stew, potato, fufu. At lunch they added the cabbage dish. They are surprised that we know what the dishes are and that we've had them. I have had the salad multiple times now and haven't died so I'm not worried about it. Silly travel clinic. Soda is a huge thing, but I'm not sure if it is a regular occurrence or if it is because we are guests. The soda Is tasty but we'd be perfectly happy with bottles of water. After lunch we processed into the church. The church is one room with a corrugated tin roof that isn't fully attached. We sat near the front. The Women's Christian group sang as we marched in. During the service there was a lot of singing and dancing...it was great. Cindy preached the sermon, which was good but I wanted to hear a true Cameroonian sermon. At the end of the service gifts were exchanged. The congregation gave Shelbs, Cindy and I dresses!!!!!! Our gifts to them suck in comparison.

Next we got in our truck and headed down the bumpy road to Bangem. It's a primarily catholic town with the little Presbyterian church off to the side. This is the church we have had a relationship with for years. We plan on strengthening the relationship when we get back. During the service we lost electricity so we sang in the dark. Instead of a traditional service it was singing, dancing, and introductions. While we were at the service I started thinking about how the Presbyterian church's young adult volunteer program should be working in cameroon. The ride back to Nkikoh was kinda scary in the dark but we made it back in one piece. They are working hard to raise money to fix the roads, Joseph informed us. Back at the compound we were offered more food again. Shelby and I settled for just some fresh pineapple and papaya.

Shelby and I are in an awkward situation. We aren't males so socialising with them is awkward, but at the same time we are in official positions which makes it weird for socialising with the women. We aren't really sure what to do about it. It will be interesting to see if this changes when we get to Bamenda tomorrow. We love Joseph's brother David. It is really great. He jumps to get us anything. We invited him to come visit us in America.

Tomorrow we will have breakfast, visit some more and then drive to mundong. From there we get in a different car to trek up to Bamenda and face a new village.

Day two

12/28/10
Day two (Limbe to Nkikoh)
Our day started bright and early at 8:30. It doesn't seem that early but with all of the traveling it felt it. At 9:30 we were meant to go to breakfast, but seeing as we are on Cameroon time, it was a little after 10:00. We drove from the hotel to another house in Limbe. This time it was Daniel and Irene. Daniel is Patience's cousin. They have a beautiful baby, Daniela and they with their other family served us an amazing brunch. After eating I realized I ate the salad which was a no-no on the travel clinics list. Oh well, I'm not too worried. We stayed with them for a little while...visiting, playing with Daniela, listening to music, and hanging out with our beloved Precious. We left their house and hit the road to the village that Joseph grew up in. Along the way we passed some crazy things. The wild animals along the road were cool (hogs, cows, horses, chickens, goats). The ride took around five hours. Every time we stopped people swarmed the car trying to sell us things. At one point Joseph did buy some sort of bread. I'm not really sure what it is, it's square and clearly a very important thing. There are amazing fruit trees everywhere. Pineapple, palm, rubber, plantain, coconuts, papayas and banana trees are all over.

The roads were crazy. There are many dirt roads that arent taken care of. When driving you aim for the smaller ditches. Cars have to decide who gets to go first when two cars are headed in opposite directions. I was expecting bad roads but this was a bit extreme. We were told that the roads used to be taken care of, but that was with the last president. The government is now so corrupt that the money for caring for the roads is hidden elsewhere.

When we got to Nkikoh, we were greeted by a swarm of people. It was so amazing...they were applauding as we pulled up. There were so many hugs. Cameroon and America do not share the same personal space no-contact rules which I love! I don't think I've ever been hugged this much in my life! We had dinner: some fufu, spinach, fish, rice, chicken, the usual and Shelbs and I tried a soda they called pomplomoose. It was citrusy and yummy. There was a group of girls that danced for us and sang a song to "uncle Joe and his guests". It was great. The toilet situation is a bit confusing. The pipes stopped working so we have to pour water into the tank to flush. Showering tomorrow should be fun.

I tried palm wine tonight. It's an interesting taste. Apparently the Cameroonian version is not as intense as the kind in Sierra Leone (which Eric has talked about). Joseph isn't letting Shelby or I drink which is interesting. We are offered it by other people but he offers soda. We were sort of expecting beer and wine so it's a different change.

A lot of people don't understand this trip. We aren't building houses or something intense like that so they don't really get it. It's hard to explain it to people though. I really needed this time away from the drama of life and it's giving me a chance to figure out my own life on top of everything else.

Cameroon #2

11/28/10 1:32 Am
Oh my Douala!
It is 1:15 and Shelby and I just got settled in our hotel room. Shelbs is currently using our very interesting shower. We arrived in Douala and immediately the heat and humidity hit us. We were expecting heat but we were under the impression it's a dry heat here. As we walked out an airport official greeted us and lead us though customs. He is Joseph's younger brother. Getting our bags was Crazy!!!! Hundreds of people pushing and shoving. It was scary. Once outside we stuck in Patience and Joseph. We were loaded into cars after wading through the masses. David managed to get scammed out of $200. Still not entirely sure how that happened. In our car was myself, Shelbs, Cindy, Patience and a cousin (?) named Jerry, he was our driver. The roads in Douala are psycho. I could never live in Douala. There aren't really lines on the streets and when there are, people ignore them. So people sort of drive at each other...thought we were gonna die! On top of that a lot of roads are dirt and have huge bumps and ruts so it makes it very fun. There are motorbikes everywhere!!!!! People ride in between cars and people and don't pay attention. They also don't wear helmets and ride with like 3 people on the bike.

We went to one or Joseph's siblings home and had dinner. It was fabulous but it feels weird always going first and getting "the cream of the crop" we want to be sharing. We want to experience things that they experience. Well day oneish is over. 9:30 is the start of day two and I need sleep. I got a grand total of like 2 hours of sleep since Monday at 9:00 am. Zzzzz