In Cameroon it’s best to have small money (or in French: la petite monnaie).

This means, you should have 100 CFA coins, 500 CFA coins/notes, and 1000 CFA notes available all the time for your purchases.  This is because many merchants just don’t have the change to give you.

Shannon and Eila went to the local store down the street to buy some flour and a few treats.  Two kilos of flour and a Sprite were 1200 CFA.  Eila paid with a 2000 CFA note, but shop keeper didn’t have sufficient change for her.  Well, what happens now?

This happens often.

In this case, as if often the case, the solution is to buy more or less until an appropriate amount of change is reached for the shopkeeper/cashier.  In Eila’s case, we bought a roll of toilet paper to bring our change to what the shopkeeper had available and everything was fine.  There have been other cases where if a grocery store order brings the total to 10,150 CFA — items are not purchased to make it  so change can be made.

Taxi rides to a destination that is nearby is just 100 CFA or maybe 150 CFA.  But if you don’t have exact change, you’re expected to tell the driver as you get in.  He might not take you if he doesn’t have change.

In my western mind, it always seems odd that transactions are not made to ease the exchange of change, but that’s how things are.

So, in Cameroon, it’s best to have small money.

We’ve been here in Cameroon a little over one month now.  We’ve had a buddy family help us through the ropes.  And, we’ve had lots of people around to ask questions to when we weren’t sure.  We’ve also had an official orientation to expose us to a variety of topics for living here in Cameroon.

Here are some of the things we’ve learned:

• We’ve learned where to get most groceries: meat and cheese is best from one store, some groceries from another, others can be bought at a store close to us.  Some things we haven’t found yet.
• We’ve learned what we can get from the stores around us within walking distance.
• We’ve learned it is hard to get dental floss (only from the pharmacy) and maple syrup (expensive).
• We’ve learned about greetings.
• We’ve learned about making friends.
• We’ve learned to cook njama jama and fou fou.
• We’ve learned about driving differently.
• We’ve learned about taking a taxi.
• We’ve learned to shake hands with people, a lot.
• We’ve learned to cross the road.
• We’ve learned how some things react to a tropical climate, usually with mold.
• We’ve learned to deal with blackouts.
• We’ve learned where to go running.
• We’ve learned what to wear where.
• We’ve learned some nice places to eat.
• We’ve learned to appreciate the clouds and rain.
• We’ve learned to ask for help.

There is so much still to learn, but we are learning a little more each day.