Goat killings, Clubbing, and Kossam.

All of this was on Saturday, plus a lot more so needless to say it was fantastic, or if in defense of animal rights, at least incredibly interesting (and, for the record, I didn't kill the goat, my friend Peter did. Impressive).

Once again, I was the lazy one in the family sleeping in to 7:30 which by that time everyone except for nine year old Ivy had been up for at least two hours, if not more. This family is honestly super-human. I am not sure when any of them sleep. Anyways, up and at 'em though and by 8 am I am cooking over open fire making ground nut paste. TIA. Then, I had a quick breakfast of bread and coffee, with the necessary Vache Qui Rit. Then, more cooking where I helped to make this really fantastic cabbage dish, fried potatoes wedges, and Eru (super Cameroonian and universally disliked by all of us. It is basically really spicy mowed grass). We cooked straight until 2 pm and probably would've continued to work had the rains not come putting us inside. Had the day ended there, I would've considered it an excellent Saturday already.

Afterwards though, I hung out with Melanie and Helen. Melanie had told me that the Senegalese man at the corner store was asking where I was (and no, he doesn't even call me La Blanche, but knows my name!). I thought this was incredibly flattering. After all, what is more indicative of your integration into a new place than being known at the corner store by name? Driven by that then, Melanie, Helen and I walked down to the store to buy water. Even better, I found out the corner store sold Kossam which is this yogurt, milk thing for 100 francs (~25 cents) and it is delicious. I first had it in Briquetrie, the Muslim neighborhood, and assumed you could only get it there so finding out right in Mendong obviously made my day. That said, it is slightly risky to eat it since it is milk product and could have bad bacteria. Considering how much work Krissy put into to making the soft serve fit health codes at Nona's (and, which it many times fell short of), I probably should be more apprehensive but it is Kossam and just too good...

Then, I went over to Anna's for and hung out with her family who I adore. First off, the whole family is absurdly beautiful and I have to stop myself from commenting endless on each of their good looks. On top of their stunning good looks, (and really, they are gorgeous) I have so much fun there. Even though they are Francophones and my French is terrible, I can go over and joke around with the family which makes me feel at home and is great practice for my French.They do some what force feed Anna which is hilarious for me as Anna struggles to finish each of her giant meals that her host family insists she would simply starve without.

At 7 pm, I headed over to Peter's for what he described as a "reunion" but seemed to be a meeting an entire village -- everyone was dressed in the traditional African wear, speaking the mother tongue, and boozing hard. Apparently, they had been a serious business meeting before I came, but by the time I was there it was simply a party. Also, Peter killed a goat for the occasion which he describes as being put on him as "Hey, Peter, wake up. We need your help" and then, well, being given the goat. Poor goat. But we all agree, even though we all feel uncomfortable killing the animals ourselves, it is simply a reality that Americans have the privilege to sterilize and avoid thinking about, buying our meat neatly packaged in the grocery store.

Finally, and okay, this post is getting far too long, all us -- the majority of the students and our Cameroonian friends -- went to the bar for a couple of hours before going out to the club which, from my limited clubbing experience, was more or less like any club just with lots more African music.

Whew. So there is Saturday. Long day, but I got a crash course in Cameroon.