cameroon- arrival

i weaved my way through the airport, glad to finally have my feet planted in Cameroon. i was curious who was going to pick me up.

when i made it out of the corridors i saw a young man standing in front of me, in his early 20's (although africans tend to look very young for their age) holding a paper with my name on it, spelled incorrectly. the error made me feel at home already. and i got a weird thrill from being one of the 'sign people'. i always get off an airplane wondering about those people, the ones greeted by their own name instead of a hug. the ones that walk by me, trailing a uniformed man, while i'm tight in a hold by someone i love. i couldn't decide if i thought it was sad, or official and intriguing.

"hi” i extended my hand “I’m kacie.”

“good evening. His Excellency is waiting for you in the VIP lounge. We will go down there shortly. ” then he flipped my name over exposing another.

“who?” I asked.

“His Excellency."

"my uncle?"

"Yes."

“ohhh, okay.” I stood there, in my own amusement, until the other people he was waiting for showed up. Then we all walked through the airport together, breezing past formalities that I usually partake in, like, standing in lines, filling out forms, showing my passport. there were a few men, in uniforms, whisking us through.

We walked up to a door with big letters on it.

VIP.

It opened and... I was granted access.

My uncle niels was sitting on a couch, looking comfortable and so much like home to me.

He saw me and rose, all 6’6 of him. “kacie…” he said, in his calm casual way.

“Niels!!!”

we embraced, and sat back down. While we were talking i began to get that funny feeling, of physically being somewhere but still trying to mentally catch up. i’ve only associated Africa with being far far away from my family, but now I had both.

“we’re just waiting for them to bring back your passport.” he told me.

I hadn’t realized it wasn’t in my possession but it had been a long day. Waiting in the airport was a trip of it’s own, and now it was 1:30 a.m. and we both were tired.

“I have to give a speech tomorrow, at 8 in the morning, so the driver will drop you off tonite at Claude and Rob’s house. They’re friends of ours, you’ll like them, but you might not even get a chance to see them because the driver will be back to the house tomorrow by 9 to pick you up and bring you to Yaounde. Judi’s really excited to see you and the kid’s get out of school in the afternoon. Is that all you brought?” he pointed at my backpack.

“yes.”

He thought my light packing was funny. He has resemblance to my mother, not in anything obvious, but enough to make me miss her by looking at him. they have similar skin, skin that knows how to absorb sun well, skin that has spent a happy childhood raised a block from the beach but that doesn't look worn. “okay, well Judi has a lot planned for you two. And the girls have been looking forward to this. You’re going to have a lot of fun. Are you excited to be here?”

“very excited.”

I was quite content just listening to his voice, it’s peaceful and unassuming. i was barely paying attention to the itinerary he began to touch on for the 2 week stay. My mind has a hard time grasping specifics when it comes to dates and time. it prefers to be surprised, so instead it goes blank. But what I did understand was that we were going to be traveling, a lot.

My passport was delivered.

“Your Excellency the vehicle is waiting.”

Niels turned and smirked at me. “it’s a little over the top here, you’ll see.”

We stepped up into the armored vehicle; bullet proof tinted windows, completely capable of driving over land mines, AC chilling it to the point of making it arctic, windshield big and solid, vacuumed carpets, a driver.

This was going to be an interesting trip.