The past month has gone by quietly yet productively. I’ve started preparing the courses I’m to take in the new semester starting October, and I’m pleased to be working on something palpable in terms of my experience. I’m now also attached to the Department of Bilingual Studies and the courses I’m taking are linguistics – language related. What’s so difficult is that there are no materials here, I mean, no books, and the Documentation Centre (beginnings of a library) has some references but nothing near adequate to answer all the needs of a diverse range of academic departments. So I have to rely on all that reading that is somewhere in my head while accessing memory prompts and articles on the Web. This in itself is an instructive and revealing exercise given the sheer quantity of material available.
With the university being new, there is no university life to speak of, and this hampers collegiality. For a newcomer like me, this has negative consequences for with no organized cultural activities or excursions, it is only with time that you can find a place. The courtyard space in the front of the building is where you meet whomever, greet the colleagues you know and smile at others. Bumping into someone in an ad hoc fashion is not very sure but if you don’t put too much thought into it and just let things flow (the only remedy available) sometimes miraculous things happen like seeing the person you’ve been trying to see for ages or meeting up with someone you didn’t expect to see but have been thinking of and wondering how to be in touch. It’s all very organic – there’s no option but to give over to the flow of time.
A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by the cable supplier for my area. The quotes I had been given were far too much but this supplier said it would (only) cost me four reels of cable and two boosters – about AUD$100 worth. Satellite TV is also available but to get the good cultural, educational channels you have to pay extra and the equipment plus subscription just didn’t come within my budget. Anyway, cable it is for now and after two weeks of hiccoughs – poor, fuzzy reception – I seem to be getting a more regular reception quality. France 24 is very good – mainly news but the channel I love best is TV5, the international French channel, because it broadcasts the news from France 2 (I get to see my two favourite presenters who I have watched faithfully for years) and they also broadcast cultural programs and some good films. Unfortunately the reception quality cannot always be relied upon and I have to keep at the supplier to see if somehow it can be improved.
Yesterday was the end of Ramadan, a day of great celebration. Half of Maroua seemed to be at the main mosque, all dressed in their best attire for the occasion. Many have new clothes made and if you can afford it, hand embroidered. Now, these boubou that the men wear can be quite magnificent and when you see so many together, the impression is one of splendor heightened by the sartorial elegance of the local sultan and his advisors, the former afforded great reverence. The turban-type headdress reminds one of Lawrence of Arabia and together with horse riders and their dress (of the riders and horses), the atmosphere is one of pageantry not to be missed. Yesterday, no horses – too many people – but the splendor was there all the same. Dress here is a function of status and on such a special day of faith, all dress the best they can by way of reverence to god.
Mid-morning I went to visit my Turkish friends and neighbours on the first floor – mum, dad and two girls, a lovely family. They speak little French or English for that matter, but somehow we get by. If it is mealtime, they always have me stay and yesterday, a late breakfast was most welcome. The mum makes Turkish sweets and cakes and yesterday I was spoilt with delicious cake with cream Chantilly (brought from Turkey, unavailable in Maroua). Over the past couple of months we have been able to get to know each other a little with the help of a local young man who studies in Turkey and was back home for holidays. He was able to translate from French into Turkish and vice versa – a slow but invaluable way of getting to know you.
The water has been cut since Tuesday (today is Saturday 11th September at the time of writing) because of some breakdown in the pumping systems some two hundred kilometers away. I tested my stored water capacity and yes, it is sufficient to last three days. But the blessing is there has been a trickle from the tap and leaving the containers under the tap for a length of time, I have been able to refill them on a daily basis. Just ever so grateful for goodness knows when we’ll get good water pressure back sufficient to shower!!
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