Big Update

What is up everyone,

I don't have too much of a huge update but just some funny sotries so bear with me.

In December a doctor visit included my surgeon trying to explain to the PC nurse about 1984 and Animal Farm.  I forget how he was describing it, but he knew them both very well and thought it was hilarious when the pigs starting walking on two legs in Animal Farm.

For thanksgiving I went to the DCM's(2nd in command behind the ambassador) house.  It was delicious and after I went to my boss's house for another meal, needless to say I ate again.  After that I got to go to the Country Directors house to watch the football game.  So in all honesty the foot infection might have been worth it just for that day.  Felt bad though because it was only me and another volunteer while some people hng out at the PC house, then again they didn't have a foot infection so there.

For Christmas, I went with 4 friends to a Chinese buffet and sat for about 2 and half hours.  A lot of Chrsitmas music and the entire soundtrack to every 90's Disney movie(sidenote, I recently watched Tarzan again, I suggest watching it, its great).  After teh first part of our Jewish Christmas, we went to my friends house and watched a movie, so I think we did it right.  It never felt like Christmas until my family called me, by the way thanks for calling me right before you get to go on a boat in Florida.

Lets keep the Holiday tradition going, friends came into town and we went to the Fete of Yaounde, which is I had to describe it, I would say Country Fair without a petting zoo.  There was a tilt a whirl, a blow up maze(nobody over age 8), cotton candy, ice cream, tons of freebies.  It was our own little state fair.  We went just outside of it for New Years because it can get a little crazy in there, and actually for ball dropping moment we were on the side of the road in Yaounde eating Shwarma which is great. 

A real treat was being able to go to the beach(although I couldnt go in because of my foot) for a week for training.  We brought our counterparts for a week of sessions from cultural exchange to how to change behavior and communication in the workplace.  I really like my counterpart so it was good to see him again since I was still in Yaounde.

Also I am sure most of you will be happy to know that my best friend in Yaounde(she sells phone credit and speaks English so it works for me) had her sister name her baby GIRL after me.  Yep, there is a little KLUESNER AMIRA running around the NorthWest region somewhere.  I'll try to visit sometime and get a picture.  I think that happens a lot with volunteers, because I think there are a couple Stephen's running around Kaele from the last volunteer.

Alright so those were some fun stories, as for work.  I just finished up writing a 3 day seminar seminar in French(I dont believe it either) and I will be going to a different village each month and giving these business seminars to local businessmen and artisans.  As soon as we finalize some dates I will let you know how it goes.

As for Kaele in general, everyone remembered me when I came back so that was a huge plus.  I would say my best friends are a guy named Sam who works at the local travel agency(he kind of just stands around and points to different Hippie vans) and Biedi who is a callbox guy.  They both want to learn English so that has been fun having those conversations. 

Nothing else too new, but I will try to update more often, I hope everyone is doing really well and loving this winter we are having, I think it was 90 the other day sorry, had to rub it in.

Love Jack

American Day/Foot Infection

Hi Everyone,

What I am doing exactly right now is drinking a Coke, eating bean sandwiches hot dog style, and listening to K102.  So pretty much what I would be doing any other Saturday.

I have been busy with a few different things, although most of them don’t have to do with work.  I have gotten myself completely settled in my house.  I have made French fries, hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, and some not quite done pasta.  I try to cook for lunch, and then eat out for dinner.  I can usually find some cheap dinner like beans and rice, street meat or fish.  It is good way to meet people and just be seen in the community plus you never know who you are going to meet. 

A few weeks ago I was in Maroua for a regional meeting and banking.  I hiked Mount Maroua with 3 other PCV’s which was fun.  It is more of a hill and I was able to do it in Crocs, but the view was amazing.  I am going to try and do it really early morning sometime so I can catch the sunrise.  It was also great to talk with the other PCV’s so I could get advice on work, community life and just PC life in general.  PC brings a lot of different people together, that is for sure.  Everyone has their story and it brings some cool perspectives.  Of course I bond with the Midwest folk pretty quickly, but hey that’s me.

As for life in Kaele, I have been meeting with Credit du Sahel, the delegate of small businesses and any other person I randomly meet.  Work is slow and actually almost stalled right now because we have a presidential election tomorrow so every Cameroonian is focused on that and all of PC is just laying low.  I also am continuing French tutoring!  I found an engineering teacher who speaks pretty good English.  We have a lot of fun in “class”. 

Now for some health news:  I am actually in Maroua again right now because I have an infection on my foot.  It wasn’t bad for a while then last Sunday it got a lot bigger and PC told me to go to Maroua to a better hospital.  Every thing is under control now and I am on medicine.  The doctors say it is improving, plus it has really improved my medical French.  For example they taught me the word for pain and I taught them some American humor because I said(maybe yelled) “Kelly Clarkson” when it hurt and I needed a laugh.  For those who don’t know you can youtube Steve Carrell in 40 year old virgin. 

I should be going back to Kaele sometime late this week as long as nothing bad happens with the elections or the foot.

It’s a slow pace here right now, but it’s a good pace.  Hopefully with a little bit of time work will come along and I will have more of a schedule, but until then I am embracing it.  Please keep me updated always at jack.kluesner@gmail.com .  I miss you guys!

Peace, Love, and Lynx

Jack

PS as soon as I can  I will get pictures of my foot.  Its pretty cool/gross looking.

Moving to Post

Hi everyone,

I hope all is well in the States.  I want to thank everyone who contributed to my package!  Thank you for all the pictures, cards, and the card game SET, Grammy.  I think after 2 years I might even be able to beat Amy at Xmas 2013.

As for my life here, I stayed an extra week in Bafia (the town we trained in) for some extra language.  After a week I took another test and nailed it!  The extra week really helped out a lot for language and for learning how to be isolated from the other volunteers. 

Right now I am in Yaoundé hanging out at the Case (basically a hostel for volunteers) and tomorrow I will take the train up to Kaele.  Since I was the only one to have to stay back for language I have a different experience then the rest of my training class.  Sometimes it’s good because I have gotten to meet a lot of volunteers from every region in Cameroon, but I still really want to get to my post and start to meet the community. 

Besides meetings in Yaoundé, I usually go to the market and by some food, one day I hiked a mountain just outside the city which was a lot of fun. 

Some things I have to do when I get to post in Kaele are meet with a lot of authorities to let them know I will be working there, and meet whoever else I want to.  Since we have bikes, I want to explore the villages nearby as well and see what goes on there.

I don’t really know what projects I will be working on right away.  I hope to work with my bank, Credit du Sahel.  I also want to work with the hospital and prison in Kaele if they need some help.  One goal of mine in the next year is to also do another homestay in a village outside of Kaele.  Maybe for a week and just see how it is, work with the family on their farm, or hang out with the boys who are in charge of the cattle, who knows but I think it would be a lot of fun and both sides could learn a lot.

On a less serious note, we completed our first annual fantasy football draft here.  No computers, you printed out a couple of sheets and picked from the players on it.  With the 6^th overall pick I choose Michael Vick so I am sadly cheering for a decent Eagles season.

After a month in Kaele I will try to get another blog up, and right now I am going to try to load some pictures because that usually does more justice.

By the way I can now translate Minnesota’s state motto(it’s in French)

Love

Jack

"Pull Your 84 jerseys out, I'm back home"

30 July 2011

Hi everyone,

I wish I was good at keeping a journal because then I would be able to remember everything, but I’ll give it the old college try.

Training is going well, then French has improved a ton, I also think it is hilarious that I am an illiterate because that is such a big focus for a lot of development agencies.  I can read simple books, but my older brother just finished his Doctorate in Yaoundé about the social contract of the Quran and I am pretty sure I couldn’t understand that in English so I just translated the title.

We have gone on 2 field trips for business development.  Our first one was in Bangu, West region.  That region was beautiful and I hear the North-West region trumps that so I still have a lot of traveling to look forward too.  We visited an MC2 which is a type of MFI here in Cameroon.  The main lesson I came back with is that the network of higher ups at MC2’s, in the government, and chiefs seem to utilize each other and only help out each other.  A few employees said they had trouble getting their products to the extreme poor.  Learning about it is good, but I know I will learn a lot more when I am in the field.  After we visited a Chief in the village.  We had a big feast in his compound where he had a ton of farms and pigs.  I thought the most interesting part was the style of their houses, basically a thin pyramid at the top.  The reason for this is they believe they descended from one of the tribes of Israel.  It would be interesting to hear the story that has been passed down, but since I was visitor I didn’t want embarrass myself in front of the chief and butcher a question in French.

As for the 2^nd field trip, we went to Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon.  Another MC2, and basically the same story.  Great to hear what can be done and what is being done in Microfinance, but makes you want to talk to the actual clients more.  After we got to an NGO called “The Last Great Ape Organization”.  This was actually really awkward at first then really cool.

Side Story for the awkward part: I came home for dinner one night and since my mom is gone I eat with my uncle and my dad.  My dad starts talking and then points to the bowl and goes I am not going to eat it because it is meat(He is Muslim.). Then he goes you don’t have to if you don’t want because it is monkey.  Not going to lie, I did have a piece and with all the cards out on the table, it was pretty darn tasty.  Probably not going to make it a regular thing, but C’est la vie.

Back to the NGO, the cool part is that he was a journalist and decided to come to Cameroon for a vacation.  He decided to shoot some footage for wildlife trafficking and saw that the laws were never enforced.  He said, “to be honest I have no real soft spot for wildlife, but we use it as a platform to fight corruption here”.  He found out there is a law if caught with a Category A animal(Endangered species) that you will go to jail for 3 years.  Before 2003 the law was not enforced once.  Since July 2003 he has given the government evidence to prosecute over 400 cases.  It seemed the mission of the NGO was to use wildlife protection as a platform to fight corruption and see that it can be done in other areas of the government.

The next part of the field trip everyone can appreciate!  We went to a chain store called Casino(French grocery store) and they had everything.  I bought a mini-pizza and donut for lunch and then some meat for a sandwich when I got back.  Basically anything you wanted.  We thought the best thing was the 6 slices of Bacon for $26.  They have plenty of pork in the Extreme North, I am going to find a way to get that cheaper.

Other stories definitely not in order:

My friends and I helped out our friend, Simone, catch a chicken.  It took us about a half hour.  At different points it was on the roof, in the corn field and the tree.  In the end another Cameroonian kid came running in and grabbed him.  Next time I think we will get it.  Not to be out done though the next day 5 of us went to the market and bought a live chicken.  We thought it would be some massive ordeal and we got there, asked where to we buy live chickens, and when we found the right guy he handed one over, simple as that.  The best part was my friend carrying it from its feet on the moto ride back.  I have seen more on the back of a moto, the most interesting has been goats(plural), another moto, and whenever I see 5 people on one I think its hilarious.

As for the first chicken, we got to see Simone chop its head off.  The next day he offered us a ton of it and it was delicious.

Another amazing day was going to see the traditional medicine doctor.  I am doing a presentation on traditional medicine for the other trainees(everyone has to pick a subject).  He spoke mostly in the local language which my Dad translated in French, so Joanna(another trainee who can speak French fluently) could translate the parts I missed into English.  It was pretty funny to see the talking go down the line then me finally understand and nod and say thank you.  I found out that onions are very important in traditional medicine.  Also I asked him what was the most magical animal and he went with Kangaroo.  Nothing against Kangaroos, but come on.  As for birds he said Owls which I get.  I also found out the most expensive procedure is Invincibility to Sorcerers so I might be investing in that soon, don’t want to take too many chances. 

I think those are the main points I want to get across on the Cameroonian side.

As for Fantasy Football(The real reason for this blog).

We are holding a live draft where I will be wearing my authentic Randy Moss jersey I bought here for $11.  We are holding competitions such as rock throw, bike race, and wall sit, maybe even a beer chug to see who gets first pick. 

I also wrote down Iowa’s schedule today, looking good for another undefeated season, hope it pans out!

Have fun in the heat guys(hotter in MN than Cameroon, haha classic) and keep me updated on anything and everything.

Nous sont ensemble,

Jack

7/10/11

Hi everyone, hope all is well!

I have been doing quite a bit these past couple weeks so I will try not to ramble on too much.  My homestay family is still amazing, and I definitely living POSH-corps in bafia.  I still don’t have running water, but every day I am thankful for my food the night before because I ate something delicious while another volunteer ate porcupine (never tried so I guess I can’t judge yet).  I have found my routine in Bafia was well.  Its wake up at 6am, take a bucket shower, eat an omelet and then off to school for some studying before we start at 8.  After school, usually around 430 we all get anything we need done, for instance I will head to forage(clean water well) to get some water then we will head to a place 10 minutes down the road where you can grab a beer, coke(in the bottle) and some filler food.

My routine was interrupted by kind of a big event.  We were going to find out where we would be posted for the next two years.  Everyone was speculating the whole week because some staff members and PC volunteer trainers already knew.  All we knew were the 18 available spots, and only one was for sure filled.(We knew Kyomi(Kyomi if you see this sorry about the spelling) was going to a post in the northwest because that’s where her husband was posted in Education).  So with 17 spots left the Thursday before we left for site visit we picked each other’s names out of a hat.  I think I was the 6 or 7^th name to get picked and when I heard Extreme North(sometimes called the Far North) I was pumped.  I knew I wanted to some agro-business type things and I was talking to a trainer and she said I would have a lot of opportunities for that in the north.  My town is called Kaele is about an hour and a half away from the regional capital of Maroua. 

Now for our site visit trip(I will talk about Kaele in this):

Sunday Day 1: We take a bus from Bafia to Yaoundé.  Only a 2 hour bus ride so not bad unless you are some of friends in the back who are sitting on each other because they just kept packing people in.  I didn’t have it so bad up front except because we squished together my leg kept falling asleep.  When traveling it is all relative, and if you don’t have it the worst, then don’t bother complaining.  We got into Yaounde and dropped our stuff off at the Case(they are like PCV hostels that we can stay in when we are traveling).  They have them in most regions, but I will probably referring to the Case a lot.  After dropping our stuff off and meeting some more PCVs we went across the street and got the most delicious meal ever.  We had a cheeseburger and fries.  When we were served it was like when my friends and I would go out to eat in college, nobody talked for a while because you hadn’t had such a good meal in a while.

Sorry if I talk about food a lot, but I would say half of my thinking goes into food.  Disclaimer(I eat well, we just always talk about food, even when not eating it, it brings people together).

Still Day 1 we leave the Case with all of our stuff for the train station.  The people in the Adamawa, North and Far North are the ballers that get to take a night train up to Ngaundere.  If running exactly on time it will get there in 12 hours, I have heard of stories of up to 24, but ours were 16 on the way there and 14 on way back.  The train has 3 classes, Cabins, first class, and second class.  Cabins are 2 bunk beds in a small room and one small window.  They cost the most and are usually reserved pretty quickly.  It is great because the train only runs at night so to be able to lie down and get some rest is amazing.  First class I saw a little of which is basically like airplane seats.  It looked like you had some room, and other volunteers who have taken said they will put a sleeping bag in the aisle and get some shut-eye.  I did not see 2^nd class, but I can’t imagine it being anything fun for anybody. 

Day 2: The train arrived at 11am so we were well rested for our 2^nd leg of traveling.  At this point everyone was still with us.  By everyone I mean Earl, Adam, Melissa, Danielle, Krystal, Emily, and Kelly.  It was great to travel with them because I have gotten to know them quite well in training and definitely on the train.  We grab our luggage and go to the bus station right outside the train station.  After buying our tickets we have about an hour till we leave.  Lots of talk about how cool site will be, the cold water we just bought, and food.  Stating the obvious is something we do a lot here.

Summary of bus ride: 8 hours, I’m one inch too tall for any comfortable position in my seat, 3 people puked within a 4 person radius of us(Earl and I at this point, we are the extreme north guys), ate some great street meat, couldn’t open the windows because Cameroonians enjoy sweat, actually it is very logical they don’t want dust on their clothes and you will get dust on your clothes if you have the window open, started rain the last hour, and we arrived almost on time in Kaele around 9pm I would say. 

Day 3, 4, 5: These days mostly took place in Kaele which I will call home for the next 2 years.  The city is small, but I was still getting lost after a couple of days so maybe not that small.  We ate a lot of meat, beans, and omelets there.  Also Nic(the person I am replacing) was great and showed me around.  He showed me the Womens Center and Youth Center where he taught business classes.  Also he said some of the most rewarding business classes, also life skill classes was at the prison in Kaele.  Side note: Remember we are lucky enough in the U.S. to have “innocent until proven guilty”.  It doesn’t always work the right way, but the justice system seems to work.  Here the justice system is, don’t make the wrong person mad, or don’t pay your bride well then you didn’t pay the “fee” so go to jail.  Enough about that though.

During my stay I met too many people too count, and I should have written everyones name down, because between French, accents, and it being so hot I can’t remember everyones names.  The institution I will be working with is doing Microfinance.  The name is Credit du Sahel.  I met with my counterpart(Marc, I will be working with him on some projects) and he was very welcoming and said even to practice my French, give him a call and he can talk about some business items to get the vocabulary down.

My house is awesome, in Kaele.  2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, indoor shower, and not 1 but 2 pit latrines! They are both in a building next to my house, one is covered and the other I guess more outdoor, but with the walls around my house it is basically covered. Nic and Steven(another PCV in Kaele) said I am lucky to have a pit latrine and not a toilet because we don’t get running water most of the year, and with a toilet you need water to flush it which makes it very time consuming.

On Day 5 we took a bush taxi to Maroua to do banking.  Bush taxis in Cameroon are hippie vans essentially, nothing to strange about the ride.  Made sure to get a window seat, and you can bet I was opening that window.  Maroua we got our banking done.

Story time: We had to fill out 6 forms for banking, and on one of the forms they asked we write our Mom’s full name on the back. We did. Waiting to be told to write your fathers name(you do not want to mess up on these forms, trust me for those ever opening up a Cameroonian bank account.) We were never told to, so we asked if we needed to right our fathers name.  Steven was translating a lot of this for us, and after our bank manager said something he broke down laughing.  Steven told us “no, you don’t need to write your fathers name down, because your mother gave birth to you so that we know, but we can never be 100% sure who your father is.” (I’ve been confused for you before Dad so no worries).

After banking, we went to the Maroua Case and hung out, played some cards, met a few more PCV’s named Gina and Liz.  Actually my weird connection to Liz because I was emailing her before I got here is her brother was on my good friends, Greg Graves, ski team in college.  You find a lot of these small world things here.

Day 6: Wake up at 330am, walk to bus station, get on 530 bus, listen to kids singing Justin Biebers “Baby” every half hour(I do not have Bieber fever).  Stop at the gas station in Garoua to fill up, grab a coke and some Pringles(just like the U.S.).  Meet some more PCVs at the Ngaundere case, and then grab the night train home.

Day 7: Leave train station, get called Le blanc by every taxi driver, finally find a taxi. Then take the quick 2 hour bus ride home to Bafia, where I had a fantastic meal of macaroni(wasn’t kraft, but it hit the spot) and some pineapple.

Overall the trip went quite smoothly and I got to see a lot of Cameroon. 

Sorry for no pictures right now, they take forever to upload and a lot of times the internet just won't.

That’s all for now, hope everyone is doing well.  Still haven’t been to sick yet(upset stomach doesn’t count here). 

PS sorry mom, I shaved my head(Kaele is too hot, Ce la vie).

First Post

6/26/11

Hi everyone,

It has been a great first month here in Cameroon.  I have learned so much, but mostly French and to be honest I still couldn’t tell you how to get from my house to the bus station in French so I have a long way to go.

We first arrived in Philly where we got to know each other very quickly through a lot of icebreakers.  One other person from Minnesota so that was cool, and another from Iowa, but she doesn’t like the Hawkeyes.  I’ll convert her.  Also I was told this story on the airplane by the girl from MN. It goes like this:

Girl 1: ohh theres someone else from MN here too.

Eriika(girl from MN): ohh cool, who is it?

Girl 1: I forget his name, but he is the really really American looking one.

Eriika: ohh, him(points to me)?

Girl 1: Yep

I am taking this as a compliment.  Maybe I’m biased, but looking American has to be positive, right?

After the two plane rides we arrived in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon.  We spent 3 nights in a hotel near the Peace Corps(PC) house basically on lockdown and filling out a bunch of forms.  There wasn’t much to do so we played a lot of cards, and made fun of each other’s faces when we had to eat our meals.  The hotel did its best, but my home stay family cooks way better meals so I know it wasn’t just the way meals are here.  After Yaoundé we took a bus to Bafia.  The views are amazing and I will be loading some pictures up as soon as I can, but you will understand why I haven’t yet soon.

HOME STAY FAMILY

I wish I could tell you exactly who is in my home stay family, but I am still only 80% confident I know everyone.  I know my Mom and Dad have at least 2 kids, one is at University and the other is in high school and hangs out with me a lot.  Then there is what I am now assuming to be a niece and nephew, ages 12 and 15 respectively.  Lastly there are some grandchildren who are really young, who greet me every day when I return from school which is great after a frustrating day of French.  Also lots of people have come and gone, and one night we had a very important man over for dinner.  Hey Jack, why was he important? Great question.  He had a guard with a gun so I figured I should be nice.  He was actually extremely nice, and laughed at my French a lot.

Food wise, I definitely got a great deal compared to some other trainees.  I eat a lot of pasta, or rice usually with some sort of sauce and fish.  It is not exactly delicious, but hearing what others eat every night(bush meat and local foods) I can’t complain.  Also every morning I have an omelet and milk which has been great.  I made some over easy eggs one morning and my host sister thought it was pretty weird, but I told her to add a little salt and you are good to go.

Mini-story time:

I figure this is the best way to blog, with just some quick stories that show how I spend my time here.

The first night I was sitting outside with my host dad(it also took we 5 minutes to say “We are sitting outside looking at the moon” in French to him).  All of a sudden their cat starts acting weird and I see a tiny snake by it.  The snake couldn’t have been more than the size of Bridgets pinkie around, but the host brother killed it with a 2x4 which was awesome.  Plus I had a great story for the other trainees the next morning.

Pictures to come with this story: I bought pagne(don’t quote me on spelling) aka local clothes.  If anyone remembers Zubazz from the early 90’s, think that.

One weekend my family went to Yaounde and they were preparing the meal at our place.  So I go see what’s going on, yeah sorry no pics for this one cause I was stopped in my tracks.  These 2 massive rats and one decent monkey were about to be skinned.  It was pretty gross, but also very cool.

Church: Went to mass and it was a lot of fun, but what I didn’t expect is my brothers friend is brothers with the priest so we hung out with him afterward and then all of a sudden I was at his house in Bafia where I swear we had a second mass where they blessed pretty much everything in the house.  It was a lot of fun and we ate very well.

Goals for the rest of training:

1.       Learn French

2.       Hike those hills a couple kilometers away

3.       Go to the forage(where we get drinking water) and back without having to take a break

4.       Not get laughed at how poorly I wash my clothes, this is actually good for me because then my brothers help me so at least half of it gets done well.

That should be a good start, slowly stories start popping in my head.  Also I know pictures say a lot more so next time I will load pictures.