How Americans Pass the Time

The other day while waiting for some visitors to arrive at the base Matt and I had the opportunity for some “cross-cultural” sharing, a major theme for Peace Corps service. We were hanging out with the guardians (guards) and one of them had a stick that looked to us strikingly like a baseball bat. Well, it took all of a minute for Matt and me to become overly animated about the great sport of baseball and with growing enthusiasm we set out to explain the game.

Because of our French limitations we were unable to translate the following words:

Base

Field

Hotdogs

Pitcher

Catcher

Bat

Out

Strike

Baseball diamond; and

Inning

What we lacked in vocabulary, we made up for with precise exaggerated pantomimes. Yes, we pretty much acted out an entire baseball game. It went something like this:

Matt like a true sports fan starts his commentary by talking about the people watching from the stadium. He gets a big smile and says “They are all eating sausage and bread with tomato sauce, AND drinking beer.” The Cameroonians seem to be taking to the sport already. He follows up with the object of the game: “There are two teams, one team hits the ball and runs, and other team entraps the ball so that it is not possible for the first team to win.”

At this point, Matt pretends to be the “man standing on the hill” and to add to general confusion, I am in turns the batter and the catcher standing out the “house piece”. Pretending to hit the ball with the stick, I take off jogging towards the “first piece” while Matt tries to erase me with his glove. Suddenly, as singing is very important to Cameroonians, we remember the National Anthem, stop the game and give a brief impression of the tune, hands pressed over our hearts. One song leads to another and next thing you know Matt and I are singing “Take Me out to the Ball Game” with reckless abandon.

“After the teams go and come back nine times, the team with the most points wins” I conclude. I receive amused looks and the general lack of understanding is obvious. Matt pitches in with “This is an American pastime” he thinks a minute then adds “this is how Americans pass the time”. I want to add something else American like democracy or apple pie, but I can only think of the French word for the latter, which is tart de pomme, clearly not the best example. Triumphantly, Matt finishes with “baseball is to Americans what football is to Cameroonians”, there were nods of appreciation all around.

Will they be playing baseball anytime in the near future? I think not.