No, it can’t be true (pt. 3)
Afterwards, we had a d’Jino and pamplemousse from a nearby restaurant, we walked around to the Air France office. Today was the day we needed to determine whether I would be leaving on Wednesday or extending my trip. You’ll probably say, how after all of what has occurred and the fact that I’m longing for home, could I decide to stay longer? If you come up with an answer let me know.
Not wanting to be a burden, I deferred the decision to Akilah; I mean she is my host after all. By the time we finished with the very nice woman at Air France, my trip was extended to the fourth of March. An entire month, wow!
It was refreshing to sit in the Air France office and deal with such a nice representative, who we even had a few laughs with. After hearing about a part of my day, she would jokingly say, “1-2-3, you poor thing.” Akilah and I got a kick out of that. This woman had just arrived earlier today after taking one of the longest trips from Douala to Yaoundé.
Apparently her flight arrived an hour and a half late, then she had to catch a bush taxi, that took forever, to Yaoundé. So who am I to complain about a little inconvenience, eh?
This time, I made certain to order a vegetarian dish. On the flight over, I didn’t care about the food, I was fasting for Ramadhan; but I’m definitely grubbing on the way home.
She even wanted to leave my ticket as an open-ended one, since it was good until April 20th. According to her, she sensed that we weren’t too sure as to when I wanted to leave. Though there might have been some validity in her thought, we knew I needed a set date. Besides, that meant we would’ve been traveling to Yaoundé again, and that’s not in the schedule.
After all of this, we had to finish off our day. First stop was LGM, where they actually sell ice cream; ice cream! They were actually customer service oriented and the establishment was clean. I was in shock. I had to get three different flavors, coconut, vanilla and strawberry. You’ve gotta go past there.
After LGM, we headed to Score. This place is known as the supermarket of all supermarkets, as far as some PCVs are concerned. The older volunteers usually suggest that new PCVs wait a few months before visiting Score, that way they’d appreciate what’s offered there.
I would have to say that’s pretty good advice, the place is not all that large, but the selection is much more than you’ll see in most supermarkets in the country. There is a competitor in the area also, Niki; and it’s actually a chain. I think we saw about three or four of the stores while in Yaoundé.
We stopped past a few stores just to view what they sold and ended up having dinner at a Chinese restaurant (Restaurant Chinois) across from Score. Again, we were treated to a nice atmosphere and good customer service that accompanied a tasty meal. Man, a fella could get used to this.
The day ended at the Yaoundé case, watching the Green Mile, washing clothes and talking to a few other PCVs. In this one weekend I’ve officially met all but one of the African-American PCVs stationed in Cameroon; Marcellus was the last one I met this weekend.
He’s a TEFL volunteer stationed in Bandjoun, and is very close to his C.O.S. date. It was good speaking with him and he’s gonna try to make it to Foumban before I leave so we can hang out.
Earlier in the evening I showed Akeyah some of the animated shorts I downloaded before coming to Cameroon. She got a kick out of them all, and even got to see some of the knock-offs from the “whassup” craze that’s hit the U.S.
Akeyah, Karìn and I sat and talked about the various technological advancements that have been made since they’ve been in Cameroon. When I showed my Handspring Visor and told of the various attachments that can be purchased for it, Karìn’s eyes were huge with surprise and delight.