Happy New Year!

Happy New Year?  In February? Yes, in February. This cultural phenomenon here in Cameroon has always amused us greatly; the practice of greeting friends, acquaintances and even strangers with 'Happy New Year' well into the middle of the second month of the year.

This is what the gentleman handed us

Last Sunday, we received a gift with this greeting. Shortly after our return to Yaounde last year, we discovered that a new restaurant in the center of town has great pizza, served with a delicious sour dough bread appetizer and a salad. So, of course we've gone there a few times :-). Well, after church this week, we decided to try their ice cream and while getting our order, one of the workers came over with a French pastry dessert, handed it to us and said, "Happy New Year". We repeated the greeting and expressed our thanks. Apparently, he had noticed that we were with Wycliffe (or SIL, as Wycliffe is known here), though why he thought we needed a pastry, we may never know.

I remember going into the city many years ago to get my shopping done and entering a store I'd been in occasionally. The clerk greeted me so enthusiastically with "Happy New Year" that you might have thought I was a long lost cousin come home. And, yes, it WAS February.

Our pastry gift. The nibbles in the top came from Caleb -
it looked so good he had to help himself in the car on our way home!

We don't get that greeting too often any more, certainly not like we used to. I guess the city has become too metropolitan. But it sure was refreshing and sweet this past Sunday to hear it again. And the pastry was delicious!