Below are the 16 most recent journal entries recorded in falaria's LiveJournal:

Monday, January 10th, 2005
4:52 pm	all my pictures are online, email me if you want to see them (Comment on this)
Sunday, December 19th, 2004
1:07 pm	dear cameroon, see you later. love, rachel (Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 14th, 2004
4:38 pm	I bought tiny notebooks, the kind that don't exist in America. I plotted daring kidnappings of the papaya guy -- I could stuff him in my backpack and have him live across the street from me forever and ever. but my backpack is crammed full of silly clothes that I'm slowly realizing I will never wear on any continent but this one. Also I will miss littering. Chris Thompson is probably already in Douala; tomorrow afternoon, when I'm fearlessly devouring my 4th "typhoid salad" of the week (I might just throw all caution to the wind and try the ICE CREAM too -- !!), he will be home, or home-ish at least. We watched the movie Charlie made today, and it was full of Bosco and Coco's remarkably twitchy butts, and excessively enthusiastic dance moves. He was working too hard, but now he's taking a break, which is good. We have matching outfits with brown/yellow/blue spraypaint fabric, we look THE COOLEST. OH and I hear ODB died like MONTHS ago and no one tells me about it until today!?!?!??! you are all worthless. xooxxo! rach (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, December 13th, 2004
9:30 am	things fall apart Chris Thompson is LEAVING to go back to America, today or tomorrow, depending on electricity and fax machines and complicated American medical insurance issues. He is well, but he was mysteriously unwell; he gets to fly first-class for free, though, and that's nice. David has malaria and coughs like my grandmother used to, in a way that drives me CRAZY -- little weak coughs, like a pale sickly Victorian child. It is unfair to be annoyed by his sickness, but I am. Ms. Essie LASH had malaria and managed to not cough annoyingly ONCE in my presence, and if SHE were our director, we would definitely be going to the rainforest. Last night when Molly and I were walking out of the Black and White Nightclub, they started playing Ace of Base. There is a bar in Bafoussam called "Snack Bar Negro Style." I have a Paul Biya visor -- it was a gift from one of the princes of Banyo, his name is Yaya and he tried to teach me to shoot a bow and arrow, but I was not very good. Lots of things happened before, too many to type -- we went far far away, we took the road until it stopped (only Land Rovers can handle these "roads," and ours had 22 people inside, four on the roof, two hanging onto the back, and two sitting on the hood), and then we took horses for 100km. I drank fresh milk and sat on goatskins, and all anyone spoke was Fulfulde, so conversations were repetitive but enthusiastic. I had to ride down a mountain that was on fucking fire and I couldn't stop laughing because it was ridiculously unsafe but also pretty fun. I come home on Monday, but not home-home -- I'm going to upstate New YOrk with a diverse and wacky group of family members (my gay uncle! my half-Mexican actress cousin! my Canadian pilot uncle! etc). We will cross-country ski and make merry, and then we come home on Dec. 27 and ANDREW comes to visit, and then I'm driving to school, which I don't think I'll be able to handle (the school, not the driving). enough for now. xoxoox (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 11th, 2004
12:01 pm	postscript you can still write me letters for another couple of weeks, send them to the same address, which is rachel monroe c/o the school for international training bp 441 dschang, cameroon there is sometimes cell phone reception at the hotel, which means if you call me today or tomorrow it might work but probably not. I will talk to you all in real life soon, I am excited about it. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
11:45 am	I'm sort of too tired to do this, we are at the beach and the laziness is infectious. We're back from the rainforest, which was wet and full of fun. We saw elephant poop and chimpanzee poop and gorilla poop, but no actual elephants, chimpanzees, or gorillas, although we did see some rad monkeys. Taylor and I wrote a new hit song called "monkey monkey monkey with a long red tail," I will sing it for you when I get back. The beach is idyllic and I am happy. I leave tomorrow or maybe the day after tomorrow and will be out of contact for roughly a month, except maybe on November 29. I'll be hanging out with the lamido of Banyo and his horses and his slaves, and then David and I will head out to Sambo Labbo and then to the mystical-sounding mountains of the Tchabal Mbabo to find the last unicorn. the end! xoxo (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, October 31st, 2004
4:53 pm	find me in the club, come and give me hug essie woke up in the middle of the night, exactly when the red sox won, although we didn't find this out until later there were cute baby goats, and a tethered impala at boubakari's house i saw a baboon and some hippos i ate the most i've ever eaten at the chinese buffet, i am currently drunk on food i am going to be lisa frank for halloween cameroon ruuuuuulezz (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 24th, 2004
2:10 pm	ca va chez toi? parce que ca va chez moi. on est ensemble. things from this past week, in reverse chronological order: +Charlie and I made samosas last night!!! they were so good, even though they tasted only 60% like the samosas I know and love. We wandered through the petit marche (which is actually the grande marche, I'm not sure why) and asked where the potatoes were at; "behind the meat!" and so we sniffed the air for the smell of blood and raw cow/pig/whatev, and headed in that direction. The meat part of the market is nuts, it is several wooden tables with parts of things on them. Most of it was normal looking; there were also weird gray things, that I guess were intestines, and then something fuzzy, and I have no idea what that was. Also there was one table that just had two blackened hollow slightly rubbery looking pig faces; I'm not sure what you would actually use them for, but I was foolish and didn't think to pick up one for my Halloween costume. Making the samosas was the best and Charlie is my hero; my family wants to make sardine samosas for me but fortunately I leave tomorrow. +Before we got to the marche we got caught in the rain and fled to a bar. They were blasting makossa music; on the wall was a huge squashed spider corpse that looked like it had been there forever, it was gross/awesome, like many things in life (sort of like blackened hollow slightly rubbery looking pig faces, I guess). There was also a PINBALL machine, and so we drank beers and got into a heated pinball battle with the other people in the bar. I'm pretty sure we lost. +We went to a waterfall -- when was that? Thursday? We scrambled and leapt and dodged and fell a couple of times, and then we were behind the waterfall (and it was a big guy, 100+ feet) and it was very very wet and also cleansing. Then we climbed up and around, and slid down a mountain of mud, and ate lunch where the special treat was TOMATOES, which was exciting. I was the dirtiest, I looked TOUGH but also like a mud monster, so Caleb gave me his pants, which was gallant. +And then I fell off a motorcycle taxi twice, while trying to get home; it was anticlimactic, I was unhurt, and only further muddied. The first time we fell I started laughing and couldn't stop; then we fell again about thirty seconds later and I decided that maybe I should walk home. The roads here are mud paths with rocks and holes and large lake-like puddles; when it rains, it is dangerous. David banned me ("FOR SERIOUS THIS TIME") from continuing my moto addiction, and I was good for half a day, but actually it is impossible and I have relapsed, motos + Rach = love forever. Tonight is our last night, I am going to be hennaed, and I have homework that I haven't done. I talked to Stacey Busbee on the phone; she is leaving town. for some reason this made me feel extra far away. Things are good, though; Yaounde/Halloween in one week. xoxo ram (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, October 18th, 2004
2:39 pm	fuck you you ho, i don't want you back I spent my Sunday overdosing on Indian movies. My homestay sister owns hundreds, she understands a ridiculous amount of Hindi because this is what she does with her time. she is way cool, she wants to henna me tonight. Charlie and I are going to cook them samosas next weekend, they are unbelievably excited. When I told my sister this, she said "make me samosas and make them HOT!" in Hindi. Today in Fulfulde class, Boubakari talked about ass and titties. or, he taught us those words. it was endearing, of course, as always. I thought that maybe it was weird that I find Muslim men praying to be, as Kate Brokaw would(n't) say, "irrisistably erotic," but Megan Kelly feels the same way, so that makes it okay. On Saturday I fasted all day, and then ate a bunch of meat, and then went to a colonial bar and drank vodka (!!), and then drank beer and whisky at the nightclub, and danced a lot, and then fell asleep. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 13th, 2004
3:51 pm	n'gaoundere, ca c'est awesome we are in the North now, and it is hot and dusty. some stuff: 1. Fulfulde class with Boubakari, who is the DREAMIEST, we call him Boobs (or I guess Boubs) and he calls me Haoua, which is my Fulfulde name, which means buffalo milk. It makes me feel hardcore that I'm learning Fulfulde in French. 2. Nasara has replaced Ndiga as the local word for white girl, I learned this just now as I walked through the market 3. I know what lies in my future, and it involves the Lamido of Banyo, and horses, and a trek into the unknown, in search of a secret mountain horse kingdom. If I exaggerate, it is only a tiny bit. 4. My new family is hip and rich (I mean, relatively -- they don't have running water, and the floor is made of dirt). They are weirdly obsessed with Hindu culture, and we watch Indian music videos ALL THE TIME, which rules. Also all over my room there are posters of Sunil Shaday (?? I'm pretty sure that's his name), an Indian heartthrob. He is cradling a large gun in at least half of these posters. 5. We eat sitting on the floor, with our hands. I am practicing being a non-vegetarian, and I think I'm doing alright, although I'm not happy about it. 6. I got re-braided, and they put in weave this time, and I look silly but also awesome; I also enjoy not having to wash my hair. 7. I miss everyone some of the time. xoxo! (Comment on this)
Monday, October 4th, 2004
3:33 pm	I have this weird illness where I can't eat (it happened before and it went away, so it is nothing serious, nothing like Anna's purple eyes or Essie's feelingless hand), but so sometimes I feel giddy and sometimes I feel like I'm going to fall over. I came here hoping emails would heal me, but there weren't enough, and Hesper Desloovere is my only true friend. not really. and our mail, our actual mail is in limbo somewhere, I want want want it, I have so many good promised letters, and I like looking at people's handwriting, especially people who I didn't really know what their handwriting looked like until now. I feel a little lonely, I'm tired of my mosquito net.............................. we go campin' tomorrow, I am excited. I need a little scenery, a little perspective, perhaps a hug, definitely a nap, maybe some pineapple. I had a dream about KITTENS last night --! I am procrastinating, I wish my dad would call me like he said he would, I miss and love my family. xoxoxoxoxo (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, October 2nd, 2004
12:22 pm	I love the recent past remember when Caleb spoke Special English to the Important Chief? that was the funniest. was that a week ago??? that was a week ago. time warps. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 28th, 2004
8:52 am	bamenda was everything I had dreamed of -- it was probably a top-5 birthday experience. I was overwhelmed by the cloth, I almost couldn't handle it. Megan and I co-bought some purple Pope cloth, which I am proud of, and I also bought one with a compass/ruler/protractor pattern, which I am going to take to Nadej this very afternoon and get her to sew me up an outfit. What did we do? We ate cake -- it was beautiful, and delicious. oh and I ate FISH, and I ENJOYED it -- it made my head spin, my whole conception of the universe is maybe wrong, I have no idea what's going on. I drank Gordon Spark for the first time, which alas is not the same as the Sparks I'm used to, but is an almost equally good fizzy special-tasting alcohol fit for a birthday. We slept six in a room in a place that will eventually be a hostel, but is not one yet. There was a gigantic poster of a topless black woman with an afro, standing in front of a toilet, from which is emerging a gorilla arm that's pulling down her underwear. at the top it said "Gay Lady." stuck into the side of the frame was a photograph of everyone's fave he-who-must-not-be-named, not the in-charge one but the OTHER one, the dreamy one, you know who I mean. ahem. "It's a Nigerian poster," David said, as if that explained everything. It seems like everything amazing comes from Nigeria, including ridiculous movies with ridiculous movie posters. I will buy as many as possible. and SPEAKING of ridiculous posters, OMG Hesper Desloovere and Andrew Extein, do I have presents for you. I wish I could describe, but I will save the surprise for the future. I will reveal, however, that I bought them in the market at a tiny store where I also bought miniature, excessive love cards (they are the best ever and I have no idea who to send them to, it has to be someone who appreciates them thoroughly) and Chris Thompson and Megan bought equally excessive ironic Jesus art, which they are trying to hide from the actual believers. Yesterday we climbed -- I don't even know what to call it. a cliff? a green cliff? we rock-climbed a cliff? what words can I use to adequately describe the verticalness? it's like what you have to climb in nightmares, sometimes, scary and straight up. but AWESOME. xoxoxo (Comment on this)
Thursday, September 23rd, 2004
3:29 pm	my birthday is on saturday. i will be 22. when i was 20 i had a stripper, and when i was 21 i had a cold, and some drinks. this year i will be in bamenda, which is our current promised land (although not nearly as edenic-sounding as YAOUNDE, land of my dreams, and indian food, and pizza, and a movie theater). but, BAMENA: land of cloth, land of ANGLOPHONES, land of everyone's fave dreamboat/opposition leader. we were promised that we could meet with him, and he would flirt with one of us, and give the chosen girl his phone number, but david seems to think that this is no longer going to happen. but whatever, bamenda will still be dreamy, i'm sure. i hope to get drunk, but i will probably drink one beer and then fall asleep. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, September 17th, 2004
1:54 pm	i heart webstation cloth that I want: + shrimp like Essie got + pineapple + Jesus and/or angels + Paul Biya + John Fru Ndi + the internet cloth + the chicken cloth + University of Dschang cloth + the anti-war cloth + international day of women cloth and many other wacky things. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 15th, 2004
3:44 pm	i felt bad enough about buying a cell phone in cameroon, and worse when the cell phone guy had to run upstairs to get me a chair, and then changed the tv from football (europeen, of course) to CNN, and even worse when the first thing on CNN was a bit about cute asian children with internet addictions. and then i came here, and here I am, in livejournal land. but I am proud, and not ashamed, and you can even call me, and it doesn't cost that much money -- a dollar or two a minute, or something like fifteen cents if you buy a calling card, but I don't really understand that part. the number you would call would be 011 237 913 3630. this cell phone is co-owned by myself and charlie nordstrom, so be forwarned. the french teacher this morning assured me that there would be violence when the elections happen, but the french teacher yesterday said that there would be no violence at all. although I think evacuation would be fun, I'm not particularly into the idea of trying to secretly chill across the border in Nigeria, which is one option David mentioned. I'm all for spending the rest of the semester in Kinshasa. psych. I am being the worst about homework. xoxo (Comment on this)