Superstition

Greetings & Salutations

I thought we would start out today with a countdown (for those of you who don't know, the proper way to do this is start counting at tomorrow because today is pretty much over):
12 days until I leave Nebraska
26 days until I leave the Estadios Unidos
31 days until I arrive in Cameroon!

I learn a little bit more every day about where I'm going, but not really anything about what I will be doing (and that, my friends, will be the adventure portion of our program!). I'm going to be an English Teaching Assistant (ETA) in Bertoua, Cameroon, at the Université Internationale de Bertoua, fondly known as the UIB. Bertoua is the capital of the East Province of Cameroon. It is a Catholic University with three different faculties (religion, education and management/business) and approximately 300 students. I'll get to be their first Fulbright ETA!

Holy Goddesses.

Speaking of Goddesses that is exactly one of the things that I was given at my going away party: a protective goddess pendant and a bunch of sacred sage.

Yeah, she's totally sunbathing on my manila envelope from the IIE. Not set up at all.

With the exception of this photoshoot and the occasional shower, my goddess has been hanging out around my neck. She makes me feel very loved and cared for, since I know some people I love charged her full of positive thoughts. The sacred sage (from the beautiful Tataya), which I will be burning all over my new home in Bertoua,, is intended to remove the bad spirits and negative auras that sometimes exist in houses (so I hear, I've never experienced any negative energy in any of my houses....wow, that sage is good!).

Mr. Paul was telling me a story yesterday, he has two routines when moving in and out of houses. The first item in and the last item out of every house he moves into is a talisman that his mother gave him. The second ritual is cleansing the house with sacred sage. The only time he ever, EVER, failed to follow these two routines his house was broken into (yeah, the same day he moved in). He told me in certain terms that it is something you just have to do, dude. I think I'll give it a whirl, Mr. Paul tends to give good advice like "save your histrionics for the stage."

I've been thinking a lot about traditions, superstitions and the things you do when you're moving. Every time my Ajji (and often Vas and Mary) move we always conduct a Ganesha Pooja to acknowledge and welcome the new beginnings. I'm pretty open to trying new ceremonies, but I'm starting to think that when I get older I'll be such a mish-mash of superstitions I won't know where any of them came from. ("Oh well this was a really wonderful tradition and I started using and mixing it with this other lovely tradition from this completely different......"). It's fine though, burning sage and chanting Sanskrit is totally going to happen.

The process of moving is going peacefully, there is a lot of pausing and playing with dogs. Because they're adorable. New superstition: petting puppies can reduce stress and make you happier no matter what else is going on in your life. SO TRUE!

Isn't that the face Snoopy makes when he's dancing?

To be brutally honest, the white dog with the black eye is my personal favorite. The other one's a puggle and all trouble. Case and point:

Oh Moocifer.

That is all she wrote today folks, it's time to go outside and get some vitamin D.

King Tut's papyrus!!!

The purple plant in the background is so cool and, apparently, edible. Nom nom.

xxM


*Ammendment to the previous post (with gratitude to Michelle):

additional rule/general suggestion:
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