Rain Season
One of the first experiences I made here in Cameroon was being woken up in last hours of the night by the pouring of the rain that sounded badly like bombing. The tin roof was hardly strong enough to stand the rain's force. And I was immediately alert. It scared the heck out of me.
The second night the same thing happened. The difference was, at 5.30 my alarm went off and I had to make it to work in this pouring without drowning.
The third night it did not rain at all. The sky was kind to me. It let me sleep through the night. And it let me reach work with dry feet. It started when we did our round. And gave a feeling of coziness. I was thankful that I was inside.
Ever since the first day, I made it to work with dry clothes. Anyway the rain seemed to respect my schedule. I mostly rained when I was at work and stayed dry when I was on the road. On the rare occasions that the daily rain did meet me, small rivers were flowing by the side of the road, the walkways had been washed away and the “puddles” were actually deep holes filled with water. It really did make it tough to walk through that.
Rain season is weird for Europeans. It is the most beautiful day and 3 seconds later it is apocalypse now. Which can last only ten minutes or hours. There are no rules. But the rain season makes two harvests per year possible so that there is enough to eat for everyone. Also during the rain season it is not so hot. Rain is a good thing.
It may not be my favorite when walking down a dirt road just coming from the market, but it definitely is my favorite while sitting on my porch. At dusk, when the sky is purple and lightning makes it pink and it starts pouring. Then the sound of drops on the tin roof is melodic, not at all scary. The sound calms my thoughts down and in a weird way wakes them up at the same time. It feels like an outlet for the good ones and a meditation for bad ones. It gives you piece.
Nature channels me in many ways here, which I enjoy very much in some ways. I realize how being able to buy avocados year round in Germany is not very “natural”. I spend around two Euros on an avocado in Germany, of course, because they don’t grow there and have to be imported. Here I eat avocados every day. Sometimes from our garden, sometimes I buy them on the way home on the market. They cost about 200 Francs, which is not even 30 cents.
Other ways of nature may not be so pleasant. Like plenty of fauna in our house. Since it is surrounded by a big yard with plenty of banana plants, prune trees and flowers there are lots of geckos, grasshoppers, cockroaches and many more. At first I was wondering why we don’t even close the door when we sit outside on the porch, because all the animals will get in. But now I realize you cannot keep all the animals out of the house anyhow, why stress yourself with trying. They belong to the house as they belong to the yard. And I am proud to say, I got (a little) used to the little ones inside my four walls.
As you may have noticed the porch is a bit of a magical place for me. I spend a lot of time here on the couch with my roommates talking about “God and the world” to put it in Germany words. But also alone, sleeping, reading, thinking, writing. All my stories were written here. The time I love most, is when I am alone with my thoughts. Not that I am bored, but I enjoy letting them flow because for some reason there are hardly any negative ones coming to me on this wonderful porch. I do not have any desire to watch TV (I don’t even have one) and the episodes I downloaded on Netflix (I have no WIFI) are long expired. The funny thing is, even as a serious Netflix junkie, I don’t miss it at all. I so enjoy being myself, by myself or talking about deeper things than what’s going on on TV. That is probably also why I adapted more to the rhythm of the day. Once it’s dark there not many things to do, where as in Germany crappy movies keep me awake for a long time. So I go to bed late, my alarm goes off to early and I wake up pissed. Sometimes I think it’s less nature’s rhythm but the rhythm of an elderly people’s home, but hey.
Sitting here, writing, the sound of the thunderstorm in my ear, I am thinking. I can’t believe my fourth week has begun here. It somehow feels like it was yesterday when I arrived, with –I have to admit- very mixed feelings and in other ways I have gotten used to the routines here so well, it feels like I have been living here for years. But one thing is for sure: Yaoundé, Cameroon, Africa, this porch are home to me.