October 8th, 2014 by Rachel | Tags: Peace Corps | No Comments »
Boarding the train in Yaounde.
I joined the Peace Corps knowing that I was going to have to be very flexible and be willing to face unexpected events. I boarded a train yesterday evening in Yaounde to head to Ngaoundere, the capital of Adamawa, to visit a Peace Corps Volunteer to learn about the life and work at post. The train was suppose to depart at 6:30 pm but it didn’t depart until about 7:15 pm. We were supposed to arrive at about 9 AM in the morning and so of course since we left late, the time would be pushed back to probably about 9:45 AM.
All of us trainees were in first class which had rooms with beds. The train was clean and new looking. In fact, the cars were recently replaced. There was also air conditioning. Shortly after the train had left, I went to the bathroom. “Whoooossshhhh!” Hearing the toilet flush sound was seriously the best sound ever. It was nice to take a break from pouring a bucket of water into the toilet.
After chilling on my bed and listening to music on my iPhone for a couple hours, I went to sleep. If I was traveling alone, I would have kept my cochlear implant devices on due to safety concerns, but because I was with 10 other trainees who were traveling with me to Adamawa, I decided to just take my cochlear implant devices off and put them in my pockets for a few hours so that I could get some decent sleep in spite of the bumpy ride. However, the train had stopped a few times for a long period of time along the way. I didn’t know why at that point.
While sleeping, I dreamed that the train was having technical difficulties, and it was heading back to Yaounde.
Shortly after I woke up at about 5 AM in the morning, a trainee tells me, “The train is 10 to 12 hours away from the destination.”
“That’s so Africa,” I said, “Is that what was all that long stops about?”
“Yes. They made announcements that there were technical difficulties,” she said.
“Ugh,” I said, “But we’re in Africa.”
Many countries in Africa have a very well known reputation for not being prompt. In the African culture, in general, people do not allow time to stress them out and are very flexible. They go with the flow and just think about the present. I’ve been told that I will face many situations in the future where meetings will start at least a couple hours late. I have been advised to bring a book to meetings because I could be sitting and waiting a long time for people to arrive.
And how funny that my dream was half real?
I then enjoyed an omelette and croissant for breakfast on the train. Then I just lied down and plugged an earbud into one ear to listen to music off and on and also chatted with other trainees. I also did spend some time gazing out the window and photographing the beautiful sceneries of Cameroon.
We finally arrived in Ngaoundere at almost 6 PM in the evening.
