Time is winding down
Luckily I don’t have as much to take back as I did when I was coming. When I was packing to come, I had so much stuff that I had to mail two boxes to myself. Maybe that’s because a lot of what I brought with me was for Akilah.
The most I’ll be taking back that’s not for me are the few gifts I bought while here. Too bad there are no cheesy t-shirts like, “My friend went to Cameroon, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt,” or “Cameroon or bust.” The only t-shirts I did see were in the Extreme North, and the shirt was so thin, I wouldn’t even considering giving it to someone I didn’t like.
When Akilah arrived home from school today she finished her lesson plan for the adult class, and we took a walk to the tailor’s; he’s to have my outfit completed today, and we wanted to drop off some other things. However, when we arrived there, only one young lady was there, and she said the tailor had not been in for some time due to the death of an uncle. Rats! I also wanted to drop off some more fabric, but now it looks as if that may not be a possibility. Oh well, we’ll try again tomorrow.
From there we walked over to GMBC, there was still a problem with the phone charging. When the owner looked at the plug, he noticed there were two prongs missing. Now I noticed there were prongs there before, but we haven’t placed the charger anywhere that would cause something to happen to it. I thought he would charge us for it, however, he gave us a new one for free, and was sure to show me how to use it properly. Little does he know that I have used a number of cell phones in my time, so it really wasn’t necessary to go to that point.
We originally left out early so we could make certain that Akilah arrived at class on time. However, the tailor not being there kind of moved us up on schedule. To kind of kill some time, we took a taxi to the Artisanant area. When tourists come to Foumban there are two places they visit; the Royal Palace and the Artisanant. It’s amazing that I’ve been here for two months and I’m just seeing the main attractions of the city. “How gauche.”
Well I didn’t intend on purchasing, but luckily I had about 18000 CFAs on me; I spent all but 2000 CFAs. Overall, I think I could’ve gotten my things for a little less, but I’m not upset when I pay for an artist’s craft; especially considering I’m one myself, I don’t want to cheat anyone out of their just due. I ended up purchasing a wooden fork and spoon set for a wall for 6000 CFAs; the guy wanted 10000 CFAs, and if this was one of my better days, I could’ve gotten it for 3000 CFAs.
There are these beautifully engraved panels that are all on some doorways and posts in the region, and I’ve really been admiring them. Since one of the shops we walked in had a few, I checked the prices. The guy originally wanted 20000 CFAs for them, but I started at 7000 CFAs for the pair. At one point I thought he’d said “dix mille,” but he was actually saying “douze mille.” I have no clue how I got the two mixed up, because I was actually trying to offer “neuf mille.” My bad, once you say a price expect to go no lower than what you’ve stated.
But in all, I did very well. I don’t feel like I was cheated, but I do feel like I could’ve negotiated much better than what I did. Then I’ve also noticed the later in the day you go, the better for your negotiating powers. If an artist hasn’t sold much for the day, he’ll be more likely to give in on the negotiating tactics. The guidebooks for Foumban say the artists can sit and talk with you for an hour or two before you can agree on a good price, but either that is for some of the larger pieces, or if you go earlier in the day. Whatever the case, I feel good about my purchases.
We walked to the school so Akilah could begin her adult class, and I headed home so I could meet one of the English club students. Donald wanted to see me privately to wish me farewell. When I arrived at the apartment, he was standing by the door. As much as I did to avoid purchasing masks (because of not knowing the meanings behind them, and not trusting artists to give me the actual meanings) I was all to surprised to see that Donald had purchased masks for me.
He’d given me a nice set of male and female masks; the artist told him they were Ibo (Nigerian) in nature. Being that I know a number of Nigerian residents in the states I will be sure to ask them about the meanings prior to hanging them in the house. They may be harmless, but some masks have powerful purposes, and I don’t take that lightly.
For tonight’s dinner, we decided to have spaghetti alfredo. Akilah cooked since we have to re-orient her to what a kitchen looks like. (Smile.) Actually between all of my cooking and our eating out or traveling, she’s not had much of an opportunity to cook. Good we practice on us tonight, because tomorrow we’re cooking dinner for Nicolene; we’re having pizza.