Nate and Joanna Michael

Working on the House

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:31:29 -0500

I have to say that the workers on our house have done an incredible job. In fact, most in the village are amazed at the speed with which our house has taken shape. But there are several things standing in between us and a smooth entry.

I have been up at the house the last few days helping with the installation of the doors (still pending) and painting the window frames so I can add screens (coming tomorrow). Currently my hands are blue and slightly blistered, but I am in high spirits at the progress and encouraged by the arrival of our teammates. We are sharing a house with them until we are ready to move and they couldn’t be more accommodating.

So we have wonderful teammates, a house on the horizon and more language learning ahead. Sounds pretty good to me.

An Update

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 03:21:22 -0500

Our time in Bamenda for Christmas/New Years was filled with friends, laughter and plenty of Christmas cookies and music. We hitched a ride with some friends yesterday on the first leg of our ‘return to the village’ journey. One rough part of the break was that we are leaving with several colds and a pulled neck muscle for yours truly. So for at least a day, we are trying to rest and get back to full strength.

When we get back, finishing up the house will be first priority. We are hoping to get it liveable within a week or so. That means screens on the windows, a concrete floor and a roof overhead. Please pray for all this because many things need to come together for all this to happen.

Hope everyone had a wonderful New Years.

Coming Up on Christmas

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:21:35 -0500

For those who are wondering where we are spending Christmas, we have come out of the village for a couple weeks to share it with colleagues of ours. We are staying in Bamenda, a large city in the Northwest, and are consuming massive amounts of unhealthy, Christmas goodies. We arrived a couple days ago and were thrilled to see our friends. The other night, the kids saw a little advent lesson put together by our friends and it has been fun to celebrate in our own cultural way. Cookies, fudge, pancakes with syrup, peppermint, hot chocolate, Bing Crosby, Vince Guaraldi, Andrew Peterson, a Christmas tree and stockings hung on the bookshelf.

By living in a culture different than our own, we are beginning to see our own cultural habits and bent through our celebration of Christmas. So once again, it becomes clearer to us how ‘culture’ is something that is almost imperceptible unless put in stark contrast with another. Does everyone have to celebrate Christmas with stockings, music, cookies and multiple Christmas movies? Absolutely not. But the effect of cultural habits on our perception of events is a strong one. And, in my humble opinion, there is nothing wrong with doing some strictly ‘American’ activities to get in the holiday spirit.

Dancing Over Our Heads

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 05:01:30 -0500

We sleep in an essentially tranquil setting at night. There are no street lights coming in the windows and no cars driving by on busy streets, but there is the annoying sound of dancing over our heads…or maybe it is more like wrestling. Either way, we sporadically wake up in the night to hear the sounds of our unwanted guests overhead. It is not just rats, but bats and birds as well. Though their activities are kept secret by the thin layer of ceiling board, we are keenly aware of their existence.

So every other week or so, we have a local boy crawl up into the attic to track down as many of the critters as he can to ‘dispose’ of them. Upon his most recent expedition, I asked him what he found. He replied that he got one bat (4 got away) and 3 rats. Another Cameroonian standing by said, ‘Oh, so not many.’ I love the candor expressed in that statement. Three rats simply isn’t that much here. I guess we need to redefine our concept of what are ‘a lot’ of pests.

Confession Time

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:52:10 -0500

Alright, I am going to share something that I am neither proud of nor trying to justify. I don’t shower every day. There it is. Out in the open. It is not that I don’t enjoy being clean, it just takes more effort and energy to bathe here.

In the States, you may have to wait a few seconds before the water heats up. Well, the only way you are getting anything but cold is if you take time to heat some water over the stove top. Also, in the States, you typically have the shower head over you, spraying down over your head. Here, we splash ourselves out of a bucket. (Wayne, Carrie, you know what I’m talking about.)

The final roadblock to daily bathing (even as I write it I feel a bit shameful) is that I don’t get much free time during the day. The first visitors of the day usually show up right as I am about to take my first bite of breakfast and if I do get a pause during the day, my first thought is simply to sit down. Bathing usually slips my mind.

So there it is. Everyone now knows and is silently judging me, but I don’t care. You are free to feel how you want. I am fairly content to wallow in my own filth as you read this post.

Ethnocentrism and Fearing God

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 03:33:26 -0500

For those who live in America, we don’t have a culture that really understands fearing an authority figure. We don’t have a king or chief and we are able to openly deride our President if we feel like it. Even our propensity towards nonchalant interactions leads to a lack of hierarchy. So when we come to passages in the Bible where it commands us to fear the Lord, we explain it away by saying stuff like, ‘It just means that we should show him respect or honor.’ Really? I don’t think that is it because if it meant respect or honor, it would have used those words.

We don’t realize how ingrained our culture is into our understanding of what is right and wrong. Often times it can blind us to insight into what the Bible means or even making it incomprehensible. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard someone pose the seemingly paradoxical question, ‘How can we fear God and love him at the same time?’ I don’t want to get into the answer of that right now, partially because I don’t have time and partially because I am working through it myself, but the point is we need to own up to the fact that often our reasoning and cultural understanding can be in stark contrast to what God may be deserving of, namely that we are to fear Him.

P.S. - This post was spurned on by reading Malachi 1:14 this morning with my wife and also the end of Ecclesiastes.

Culture Is Not Static

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 08:39:20 -0500

When I knew I was moving to a village in Africa several years ago, many images popped into my head about what lay ahead. One such image was a grass hut church. Well, for the first time since I have been on the continent, I attended one today. Dirt floor, palm branch roof, no walls, the whole nine yards. I mean I experienced what many people first think of when they imagine a village in Africa. But why has it taken so long for me to sit in such a church? I mean, seriously, I have been in the country for over 1 year and attended at least 7 different churches. What happened to my stereotype image of what I was supposed to experience? Didn’t they know I was coming?

I think the simple answer, one that the title of my post testifies to, is that culture is not static. It is in constant flux and evolution. We have seen Western influences cropping up everywhere around Cameroon: the music and format at churches, the style of dress on the street and the technology in use. As globalization marches on, I believe there is going to be a melding of cultures around the world and much of the, ‘pure culture’ that one may have found before will now be a product of the old and the intruding.

But things have been changing for centuries. Someone was telling me how the local mindset towards white people has been developing for the last 6 generations. Whenever people groups and cultures intersect, there you will always find a shift on every side. I guess I should just be on the lookout for how my own culture may change from being here.

Thoughts on America, Language and Political Opinion

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 04:57:07 -0500

I caught wind of a comment that President Obama has taken flack for recently. Apparently he said something to the CEO of Boeing that America has been ‘lazy’ concerning promoting itself around the world. Afterwards, many conservative news outlets had latched onto the ‘lazy’ comment and, in my opinion, blew it out of proportion and misconstrued it. Now, I am not writing this post to argue politics, but rather America’s place in the world.

While I was in Europe doing language study, there was a student from Colombia studying French to become a French cook, an Italian girl who worked with importing French wines to Italy and a Chinese student who’s father works in Francophone Africa and, from what I understand, is wanting to go the path of international business himself. I mention all of this to highlight the motivation of others from a vast number of countries to prepare themselves for work in the international community.

So how does this all tie together with President Obama’s comments. Well, America has many advantages over other countries. I have seen enough of the world to knowledgeably declare that America has a surprisingly un-corrupt police force, a government who, if nothing else, holds elections on time and roads that don’t require 4-wheel drive in most places. That being said, I believe America has one large disadvantage: We are not forced to be multi-lingual. (At least the vast majority of Americans, I realize there are exceptions.) We have found a way to bring in people from many cultures and languages to our nation and yet still remain primarily mono-lingual.

Here is where I come full circle. This is playing out on the international stage. As globalization marches forward, there is going to be an increasing need for Americans to know other languages and cultures, something we have not done very well at. Let me simply point out some areas where this will play out and what languages may be most valuable:

International business: French (not just for France, but also Africa where large quantities of raw materials exist), Chinese, and Spanish

Government Intelligence: Spanish, Arabic, Chinese

Religious Studies: Hebrew, Arabic, German (where you can find many theological writings), many ancient languages (Greek, Aramaic, Latin, etc) and any number of eastern languages depending on what you are studying

Medicine: Spanish (if working in the States you will have a big chance of Spanish-speaking patients), and practically any other language if you want to serve internationally

Besides these areas, you can get a leg up in pretty much any arena by speaking another language. I know a guy who works with French, Spanish and English by helping translate documents for United Nations delegates (he is attending grad school in Geneva, Switzerland). The great news is that Americans are already ahead of many others simply by speaking English. This is not to be ethnocentric, but rather to state the obvious: Much of the world is learning and speaking English. Now we just need to add other languages to our repertoire.

I realize that times are tough and jobs might be difficult to come by, but for high-schoolers thinking about the future, learning a language may well be one of the most valuable skills you can acquire in the next few years to prepare yourself for the future reality of interconnectedness.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert in any of the areas mentioned above. The language recommendations I made are not to be taken as gospel, but rather as a case in point that being multi-lingual is versatile, valuable and a worthwhile pursuit. Also, it is good to learn an instrument. It will help with your listening and Chinese (and many minority languages) is tonal.

Starting and Finishing

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 07:55:08 -0500

In the past, I am sure people have held certain stereotypes about me, but have voiced very few of them. However, in Cameroon I hear people say stuff like, ‘We know the whites do this or believe this or don’t eat this.’ And depending on the day, I react in different ways. Most of the time, I laugh about it because their assumptions are so absurd. My favorite is that many people in the village believe I print money in my house. But every now and then, I take it upon myself to prove them wrong or point out their misdirected assumption.

Today I took on one of their preconceived notions by going out and doing some manual labor. You see, many people in the village do not believe that ‘the whites’ can do manual labor. And though we have not been raised on it like the villagers we live around, I feel like I have enough strength in me to move some dirt around or cut down a tree with a machete. Well today I decided I was going to go up and do about a half hour work at the site of our house that we are building. What started as just a short little exercise in manual labor, turned into several hours of digging. I started myself and, upon seeing my plight, others joined in. After a short time, it became a full-blown job site with 3 people on shovels and 1 on the wheelbarrow and I couldn’t just stop working. By the time I came in for lunch, I was happy to be done for the day. Lesson learned: Don’t start something around here that you can’t finish.

Taking the GRE

Sat, 05 Nov 2011 06:43:54 -0400

A couple weeks ago I took the GRE for entrance into graduate school. For those who don’t know, it is the exam that many master’s programs require before entering. I took it in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, at the American Language Center and was very pleased with how it was run. The test consisted of 2 writing sections, 2 verbal reasoning sections and 2 analytical (math) sections. The only bummers of the whole day were right when they called time at the end of the 2 math sections. Immediately after time was up, I saw an answer, knew it was wrong, why it was wrong, and what the right answer was, but could do nothing about it. Has that ever happened to anyone else? But other than those 2 questions, I feel like I did fairly well and expect a letter from the testing agency stating that they have never seen such a superb test…or maybe they will just send me my scores. Either way, I am glad to be done with it.

The thing that surprised me most from that day were how many Cameroonians (and on Japanese guy) were taking the test. I say this because I can’t imagine taking the verbal reasoning sections, which are heavy on the vocabulary, without being a native English speaker. I mean seriously, how many people know the word ‘garrulous’ and can use it in a sentence? Now I am moving forward with applying to a couple of grad schools, which I will most definitely write about later.

Carrying Stones

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 09:10:24 -0400

After going through my usual routine yesterday, I went outside to see what several people from the local church were doing. I saw many of the church members walking up to a partially dug out foundation and dropping large stones, precariously perched on their heads to the ground. When I asked someone what was going on, he said, ‘You didn’t hear me this morning? I was yelling at 6 am for people to come and help carry stones for the new pastor’s house.’

To build a house with a good foundation in our village, people have to carry stones from in the forest to the house’s construction site. So, not wanting to be the lazy white man, I said, ‘Let me go carry stones too!’ This was a bit of a shock to the man, but more of a shock to every passerby who was already carrying. Upon arriving at the quarry, a man tried to convince me to carry a stone that was smaller than what the women were carrying. Without feeling too offended, I pointed at a reasonable sized stone and said that it was the one I wanted. With a little disbelief, the man helped me to hoist is on my shoulder. (As opposed to balancing on my head, which I am unable to do after being raised for years in the Western world) I ended up making 3 trips that morning and 3 the next and it was great seeing the reaction of others.

I derived a slight satisfaction out of proving wrong the stereotype they had of me. But at the same time, I realized 2 key facts about the situation. One was that the people really cared about my safety. A few times, they tried to dissuade me from continuing, fearing my awkward 6’7” frame would slip under the weight of a stone. They took ownership in keeping me safe. The second fact is that they were stronger than me. I saw men twice my age balancing stones on their heads larger than I could carry. They have grown up in a hard, manual labor environment where if you don’t use your muscles to work the ground, you don’t eat. I myself, have never had to hike several kilometers each way to my farm to make sure food is on my family’s plates. So in the end, I could understand their apprehension and genuine concern against letting me carry the stones.

My First 'Cry Die'

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 09:51:00 -0400

There is something here called a ‘cry die’. From what I can tell, it would be comparable to the visitation in the States. Well, today I went to my first one. It is customary for many of the people in the neighborhood to come by and say they are sorry for the loss of the family. Now there are many things I could write about this experience, but one stuck out above the rest.

The new pastor at the local church was also at the ‘cry die’ and he interrupted the mourning, which consists of loud wailing of many of the female members. After getting everyone’s attention, he proceeded to tell everyone not to cry. That the woman’s soul is not going to come back because of their crying, but that it is going to heaven to be with God. And that all of us will die one day, facing heaven or judgment. Then he prayed.

Now the thing that strikes me about that interaction is how culturally poignant it was. From what little I know about the culture surrounding death, the crying is meant to show the departed soul that they miss them and not to come back later to haunt them. This is what I have heard from others and will, no doubt, learn more about their beliefs in the future. So what he was actually telling the people is, ‘The spirit doesn’t linger. You don’t have to be afraid of the spirit to come back and haunt you. We all will die and either pass into heaven or judgment, but either way, it is final.’ In his short little mini-sermon he spoke directly to the cultural belief and brought truth to the situation.

Reforming the Electoral College

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 10:07:00 -0400

Sometimes there isn’t much to write about, or at least nothing is coming to mind as I sit here at the computer, so I will simply weigh in on something that few of you probably care about and out of which nothing will actually change.

Did you know that in 1992 Ross Perot ran as an Independent candidate for the Presidency and received 18.9% of the vote? I mean, seriously. You could, without stretching it too far, say that 1 in 5 Americans who turned out voted for him. But do you know how many electoral votes he received? Zero, nada, zilch. So in the same breath, you can say that 1 in 5 Americans’ voices were summarily dismissed and removed from the actual deciding of who is the President. Do you get that? All those millions of people who showed up at the polls could have stayed home and flushed their vote down the toilet. Can’t we at least break up the electoral votes for each state. That way all of the votes of Illinois aren’t given to the Democrats each election despite the fact that every part of the state is red besides Chicago.

I will openly admit that in the last election I voted for my Dad (2012, Doug Michael anyone?) because I knew Tennessee would go to McCain and I didn’t really believe in either candidate. And, wouldn’t you know, it did go Republican. I also voted for my Dad because I knew I could trust him and he would probably have given me a sweet cabinet position. So what if it is nepotism? I am sure those positions have been given away to other people for support before.

All I am saying is, shouldn’t there be some election reform when millions of voices are discarded and the election is called before the votes are even counted? Thanks for listening.

Studying for the GRE

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 06:00:41 -0400

Some of you know I am studying for the GRE, which I will be taking in Yaounde at the end of October. This is so that when we are back in the States on furlough, I can attend grad school. Please don’t ask what I am studying yet or where because that has yet to be decided concretely. One thing that is for sure is I am relearning a lot of math I never thought I would have to use again and discovering that the English language has a much broader vocabulary than my own. (shocking, I know) So to show you some of the words I am being forced to integrate into my already dizzying intellect (I was being facetious) I will be telling you a completely false story with some of my new vocab. Here goes.

The wizened old man who was considered by many a recalcitrant member of society, stated in a vociferous manner his self-idealized esoteric knowledge. The recipient of said statement heard the churlish gentleman’s remarks and responded with aplomb. He stated that the man spoke pure sophistry and his ersatz and spurious motives were a cover to deliver his own personal vitriol, chicanery, and stratagem to assuage his compunction. The older gentleman found his response untenable and shifted restively and pedanticly in his chair before leaping with indolence to his feet and declaring he would not be placated, probated or exculpated. His bucolic, paroxysm would conflate the shambolic, acerbic, but also verdant synergy which bifurcates and obfuscates the munificently nefarious diffidence of his well delivered erudite aphorism. The End

Hope you all enjoyed my story. And when you figure out what I wrote, please let me know.

Hedonistically, Olfactorial Moment

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 10:20:02 -0400

The other day, I had what can only be characterized as a hedonistic, olfactory experience with a flower. The aforementioned flower was found in our front yard courtesy of a sweet little 2-year old, flower-loving girl. It is yellow, has about 7 petals and is often the victim of my daughter’s love of flower-picking. After happily snapping its stem in half, she brought it over to me and, with due caution, I took a sniff, unsure as to what aroma awaited me. But then it hit me, a vivid and enjoyable memory. I had to get more, so I followed the initial sniff with one that might be confused for trying to inhale the flower up one of my nostrils.

You know how some smells can take you back to a specific time and place? In fact, I have heard that our sense of smell is the sense most strongly attached to subconscious memories. This particular smell brought me back to the times during college when Jo and I would drive from Jackson to her parents house in Franklin. It was on highway 100, after exiting the interstate on a downhill, windy road with a forest all around and, given the right time of the year, saturated with the scent of honeysuckle. And that is right where the scent took me, driving down TN-100 with the windows rolled down and honeysuckle in the air.

Climbing a Tree

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 11:20:53 -0400

I climbed a tree the other day. I honestly can’t remember the last time I did that. I vaguely remember climbing the tree in our front lawn when I lived in town as a kid, but that was before the 3rd grade and since then I can’t remember ever being an avid tree-climber. But the other day (and this morning for that matter), motivated by my daughter’s desire to munch on some guava, I scurried a few steps up the tree before the thinning branches and my substantial weight dissuaded me from climbing any higher. And though I was under 10 feet off the ground I felt like a freckle-faced kid in overalls and bare feet (Huck Finn, anyone?) except replace bare feet with sandals, overalls with khakis and a t-shirt and freckles with, well, nothing. So maybe I wasn’t like that kid at all, but the long and the short of it is it felt good to act like a kid again.

Typing, Clarifying and Anthropological Categories

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 04:11:44 -0400

There are certain tasks which are difficult to accomplish in the village. One of those tasks is typing up our cultural data into the computer program we use. So while in the village, each day, we try to write down some cultural notes in our cultural notebooks. Sometimes all we can squeeze out is 5 minutes to write down the myriad of thoughts running through our heads. But while we are out of the village, we are able to type them up, clarify our thoughts and codify them with anthropological categories to make for an easy search later on.

Though at times, the job of typing up our notes seems like busy work, it is going to pay off huge dividends when I have to track down all the information I have on how visiting and hospitality interact with the overall idea of interpersonal relationships or the different types of adornment including how body alterations factor into the historical perspective of beauty. Riveting stuff, I know.

Okay, so maybe it isn’t the most glamorous part of what we do, but like everything, there are things we do because we love doing them and other things we do because that is what needs to be done.

Our Time in Bamenda

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 05:40:01 -0400

Here is a quick recap of some of the highlights from our trip.

Connecting with our boss, friends and colleagues.
Purchasing butter, cheese and sausage, all of which we can’t get in Banso or the village.
Experiencing the ‘interesting’ road system of the Northwest of Cameroon.
Eating at a cafe.
Taking part in a pig slaughter.
Watching Ayla play with another kid her age.
Josiah learning how to sit-up on his own.

These are just a few of the highlights, but we enjoyed our time very much and are now now in Banso, getting back to work and already preparing for going back to the village. Hope everyone is doing well.

Our Drive to Bamenda

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 03:42:43 -0400

We have taken a little time to travel this last week. After being in Banso for a while, we decided to travel to the town of Bamenda to meet with our boss and spend some time with dear friends and colleagues. Sounds like fun, except for the road in between Banso and Bamenda. To say it is rough would be a gross understatement. Imagine a road over hills and mountains, only paved in the steepest portions and extra muddy due to the fact that we are in the rainy season. Then imagine that instead of a 4x4 vehicle which is made for this sort of travel, you hop into a 2-door Toyota Corolla. Getting the picture?

I don’t want to make it sound like I hated the trip, but I should say that the highlight was when Ayla threw-up after being jostled so much for several hours straight. I have never seen her so white. But luckily her little act of regurgitation made her feel better and the rest of the trip went swimmingly.

In the end, we made it to our destination safely and have been enjoying our time in Bamenda. The drive was worth it.

Learning Solar

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 11:13:54 -0400

There are many things that we are having to pick up along the way here in Cameroon: culture, language, living in a village, bad roads, but one of the most daunting (and that is saying something) has been learning about solar powered systems for our house.

At one point, I had learned the basic equations for electricity involving ohms, volts, watts, and amps, but that knowledge is long gone and getting it back is not like hopping back on a bicycle. So over the last couple months, I have been investigating inverters, charge controllers, meters, high-energy efficient freezers, deep-cycle batteries, solar panels and a myriad of other components to educate myself on our future electrical life-line.

Now without giving you a complete drawn out picture of all the technical aspects (which I am still learning about), I will give a simple list of some of the components for those who might be interested.

- 135W Kyocera solar panels

- Universal 110-amp hour deep-cycle batteries

- Xantrex charge controller and digital meter

These are the 3 major components I have settled on so far and the fourth, an inverter, is yet to be purchased. Hope this interests some of the nerdier ones out there. The last thing I want to say is that if you have ever considered solar power at your home, now is the time to use it. They now have grid tie panels with built in connectors, so the technical aspect has never been easier and if you don’t want to have to deal with your own charge controller/battery bank, you can just sell your power to the electric company in many areas. Just food for thought.