Cameroon Beauty

How can I begin to describe how beautiful if is here?  I wake up to the sound of the birds and the crickets and the rooster.  Sometimes I can hear the nuns singing.  It sounds like angels from heaven with their gorgeous harmonies.  It is so lush and tropical.  I keep noticing more and more beauty.  There are these purple flowering bushes and we have corn, and lime trees growing in our very spacious backyard.  I love the daily rain and wish we could mail it to Iowa.  Usually it just rains in the afternoons and at night.  It can be heavy at times, but usually it is light and short in duration.

I have been taking the 90 second walk up the hill to attend morning Mass.  As I head up the hill, I can see across the valley and into the ridge above with a beautiful water fall flowing down.  The air is cool but not cold in the mornings and never gets hot during the day.  Sometimes I can see the mist moving across the sky. The Mass is quite intimate.  There are usually 5 or so nuns, Fr Michael and the two Bishops. I love starting my day so peacefully.

The Bishop's compound is larger than the grounds of Sacred Heart and set on a hill.  At the top is the Bishop's house where there are several offices and living apts.  We have two more days of eating up there with them in the private dining room and then we will be full time on our own at our house.  They are building me some additional counter space with shelves below.  It has been such a treat not to cook.  After Mass I have been going to the dining room and getting fruit, bread, avocados, coffee etc and bringing it back to our house.  Nothing like fresh pineapple and papaya daily!

The larger compound is just below the gate to the Bishop's compound.  It includes the Catholic School, the local hospital, the Cathedral, more offices, a Catholic University, and the Diocese car repair shop as well as a few other things.  Oh yes, there is a large soccer field with local young men playing every afternoon.

We give the kids plenty of freedom.  Today Jessica went up to the Bishop's House to see her favorite cook.  She came back and said she had been invited to cook.  All three kids have been setting the formal table every night-even more formal than Nana.  She did a great job cooking and she was just beaming with pride.

I don't know why we are taking pidgin English. Everyone speaks English here. It may help as I go out to the villages to do social work. The one word I love in Pidgin is "ashya"  the quick translation is sorry.  But it means much more-hang in there,  I am with you, I give you my compassion/sympathy, have patience etc.

Thursday a.m. I heard that one of the other cook's wife had had a baby the night before and he invited us to come down to the hospital of the grounds. So we got to see a 15 hour old boy and mom.  She was in a room with six other women who had given birth within the last couple of days.  There were no curtains dividing the beds.  We sat with six family members while they all took pictures. They loved taking pictures of Jessica. It's hard to explain how meaningful it all was.

Pete says he is amazed at how well I am doing adjusting to all the changes, but to me it doesn't feel hard.  It's just all so nice.  But we have it really privileged here on the hill.  One thing we were told is to "ease in" so I am not rushing out.  I go to the market and have driven around some while visiting schools.  In time, I know I will be doing more.

Let me try and think of some of the tougher things.

1) If I wanted chicken, I would have to buy it live and kill it. (but we now have someone to help, so he can do all the yucky stuff and just give me the pieces or he would happily cook it for me if I want.)

2) I miss cheese.  There are very little milk products available.  I saw a block of Guoda, but it was $10.

3) The ants are big here (like Cape Cod), but they don't seem to take over the way they could in Rialto.

4) Our mattress isn't the best so I don't sleep quite right yet.

5)  We went out to one of the nicer restaurants in town and after looking at the yummy menu -44 entree choices, we ordered fish, steak, hamburger, and shrimp.  The manager came back and explained that the choices for today were chicken and rice or chicken and potatoes.  When she left, we laughed and laughed.  Minutes later the power went out, but we still got our meal.

Tough list of complaints, huh.  The kids are happy.  We are all healthy.  God is good.