Do it while you can
For some reason I was really feeling it this morning. Last night before going to bed I set the clock for 4:30am; and I actually got up. Had to, there were dishes that needed to be washed and some laundry that needed to be soaked. Good thing I did get up, but the time I finished washing the dishes, the water was being shut off. I literally finished on the last drop.
After all of that excitement I had to get some more sleep. When I was finally awake for the day I pretty much started out relaxing in thought. While doing so, I heard a sound I’d not heard since arriving in Cameroon; the sound of two cars colliding. When I looked out of the window, I realized there had been an accident between a taxi and a moto (motorcycle).
This was pretty shocking since no one here really seems to be able to driver that well and there are never any accidents. How is it that in the states people drive just as reckless, but there are numerous fender benders? What’s the difference here? It’s probably the fact that none of the drivers here are squimmish about driving. They’re not scared to put their foot on the gas and move past someone else. I actually love the way most of ’em drive, just not when they place my life in question.
At one point I was gonna take a trip to SONEL (the local power company) to pay Akilah’s electricity bill. However, since this morning she’d mentioned there might be something she needed to sign specifically, I should wait until she came home. I was feeling a little fidgety today, so I took another walk to a few of the stores in the area. Didn’t go to far. Just picked up some cooking oil we needed badly and popcorn.
In the past few weeks we’d been to the store a number of times and had failed to remember to pick some up. Since it’d crossed my mind, I figured, there was no better time than the present to do so. If I’ve not learned one lesson here, its that when you think of something you need to get, do it. Don’t wait, just go and do it right then and there. There’s no telling if any stores will have it on the day you finally decide to go, or even if they’ll be open. Just do it when you think of it.
I even took a stroll into the bakery, thought they might have some fresh goods in today. Don’t know why I thought that, because there weren’t any. Instead, I purchased a large bottle of d’Jino for a treat. How can someone call that a bakery? Stale pastries and a few bottles of soda. How is it that they’re able to pay rent? Do they do it by the skin of their teeth every month? Does the little money the make come from the sale of bread only? It’s very hard to tell.
With most businesses here, you’ll wonder how they survive, and what they’re vision is. There’s no way a similar venture would even last a few months in the states; just open the doors and gradually do things. There’s one business down the street from here that has itself titled as an “Import/Export” business. When you peep in through the doors the only thing you see is a computer on the desk and a few books on a shelf. What does the person there do? And how?
That’s the other thing, because you see it on a sign does not mean the establishment actually does what they say. Except for hair shops, everyplace else is pretty much taking a wild guess at whether or not they actually do what the sign says. I’ve come to the conclusion that the signs are there for some greater purpose to be determined later. If there are services listed on the sign, it only means the proprietor has lofty goals or may some day actually provide what the sign says. Very seldom does it mean they actually do it.
Why would a place that has signage promoting internet access, actually provide you internet access? Or a place with photocopying on the sign, actually have a working copier? Is that too much to ask? Or is it too much like right?
After today’s brief outing I’m still kind of tired so I end up taking a nap. This actually occurred to me after about an hour or so of working on the material for the gentlemen at the Mobilis shop. I needed to recreate two logos and put together letterhead for them. Once I finished my nap, I went back to work on it.
By this time Akilah was home and she was warped from a hard day’s work; now it was her turn to nap. Had to wake her up within thirty minutes so we could walk to SONEL and stop past the Western Union to find out all the services they provide.
Do it while you can. By the time we reached SONEL, we find out they’d just closed thirty minutes before we arrived. Oh well, we’ll catch them tomorrow. Most of the major services here appear to close around 3:30 or 4:00pm. Now we know.
We didn’t actually make it to the door of SONEL, we ran into one of Akilah’s students, Patrick. He’s president of her english club and a remarkable young man. This young man is one of her terminale students, and essentially takes care of himself. His father has been very ill, and had to go to Douala and France to be treated. Since then he’s been taking care of himself and his three dogs and two cats. Well, now he actually has three cats since he took over care of Akilah’s cat.
I wonder if he has plans to attend the University? Before coming here I wanted to look around for someone that wanted to attend school, but because of financial circumstances couldn’t unless they received a little assistance. If there were one person here I’d be willing to assist with such a venture it’d be him.
As we stood there in the street talking you could see that he was not the typical Cameroonian. He even has aspirations of being a person that can communicate with animals. For a while, Akilah wasn’t sure if he would be interested in keeping the cat, however, when he mentioned he would return the “cat bag,” it was pretty obvious he would. When she asked about seeing the cat, Patrick told her he would have to consult the cat first and if he were willing to see her, he would let the dogs know it was okay for her to enter the grounds. Moreover, she would have to pay a tax to see the cat. Funny, eh? I instantly took a liking to Patrick.
Once we finished our conversation, we casually strolled through this part of the neighborhood; this was the furthest I’d been in this direction. We decided to turn around when we couldn’t visually detect any other stores we’d be interested in going to, and began picking up various items from some of the vendors on the street.
Dinner was rice and lentils, very simple and filling. Afterwards, we re-watched “Elizabeth.” The first time we saw it in Limbé, Akilah didn’t get to see the screen to well and missed the significance of a number of the important scenes. Once done there, I didn’t feel like waiting until the water came on, I figured I could wake up early again to do the dishes.