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So this week has been interesting. Thank you all for the birthday wishes. My
roommate and I went out to lunch to celebrate and partook in some amazing
fresh tuna, French fries, and ice cream. At night, some of our friends that
work in the camara/high school came over with a cake and wine. It was a
unique little festa since the electricity was out and all we had was candle
light.

Tuesday I brought the left over cake to the Casa de Juventude where everyone
was thrilled to polish it off.

Wednesday, we went to the Italians house for lunch and English lessons only
there were no English lessons. However, we did partake in pasta, pizza,
shrimp, mussels, and salad.

After lunch, we had the first girl¹s group meeting and it went really well.
Six girls showed up and we went through introductions and objectives of the
group. They all seemed happy to be there. After the meeting I received a
call from Peace Corps that my bike had arrived on the boat and I was to
report to the pier to get it. Of course I had no idea how you go about
finding a bike on a huge cargo ship so I asked about 20 people what to do
and they all pointed me in the right direction. Eventually I got my bike
only to find out that one of the wheels was slightly off track. I brought it
to the Italians and they fixed it for me. When I got home it was dark and we
headed back to the Italian¹s place to celebrate their housekeeper¹s
birthday. She¹s a really sweet lady from Calheta and we had fun eating more
pizza, tuna, and cake. After dinner there was a little dancing and more
chatter.

Thursday I went to work at the Casa de Juventude and a woman from the camara
came in to tell us about an upcoming program. I agreed to help with
something but I¹m not sure if its teaching a computer class or just helping
with activities. Anyways, its for a few days in November to bring awareness
to and have activities for people with mental and physical disabilities.

Today I walked into the Casa de Juventude was asked for information on AIDS
for a project someone is doing. I spent my morning typing information out in
English to later translate into Portuguese so she can understand it. Another
crazy day as usual.

This weekend I¹m teaching a computer class in Borreiro and trying to change
the days of my computer classes so I have free time on the weekends. I think
we might go picnic on the beach on Sunday which should be fun.

Telecom is putting in a new phone tower by the post office, ie, right
outside our house, and has taken to working at 7 am on the dot. Its really
loud and obnoxious and I really hope that they finish soon so I can sleep.
Other than that, things here are going well.

Ti logoŠ.

The electricity has been on again off again for the past few weeks. When we
first arrived, it was pretty good but lately its been off more than on which
can be quite frustrating, especially when I want to use the Internet.

Today I had my first computer class in Borreiro. I think the bike ride there
and back about killed me. Its been years since I¹ve really been on a bike
and even though it was only 9 km each way I am exhausted. It took about an
hour to get there and 40 minutes to get back thanks to the hills. A few
cars passed and gave me thumbs up as I struggled up the hills. When I
arrived in Borreiro, a group of school girls all laughed at me in my stylish
bike helmet that I¹m obligated to wear. I don¹t mind wearing the helmet.
Knowing my clumsiness I¹ll probably fall off a lot while I¹m here and I¹m
sure the helmet will come in handy. As for my lack of sense of direction,
there¹s only one main road on the island so it¹s hard to get lost. I made it
there in one piece and on time to start the class. But now I¹m a little
sore from my first bike riding experience. If I keep this up, I¹ll be in
great shape by the time I return to America.

The class was supposed to start at 4 and no one showed up until 4:30 except
for a few boys who were admiring my bike. One class commenced, we spent the
30 minutes that I had left doing introductions, defining the computer and
talking about its components, and figuring out a better time to have class
since I would like to be able to do other things on my weekends. That part
took the most time and I still don¹t think its resolved, but the leader of
the group is collecting names and times for classes and it looks like I¹ll
be going there 3 mornings and an afternoon each week for classes. About 10
or 12 girls came and they ranged from having zero computer experience to 2
years. It should be interesting to see how the classes progress. I¹m looking
forward to it but I¹m also still trying to get over my fear of being in
front of the classroom.

Last night my roommate and I ran into one of the teachers and were invited
to his house to look through movies to borrow, He has quite a collection,
all probably illegally downloaded and sent to him in the mail. We¹re going
to watch 40 Year Old Virgin tonight after partaking in mango ice cream at
the British guy¹s restaurant. Tomorrow, we are going on a picnic at the
beach and I¹m really looking forward to getting some sun and swimming. The
beach we are going to is supposed to be a lot calmer than the one closest to
our house.


Monday, my roommate¹s boss comes to visit and we¹re looking forward to a few
days of good meals paid for of course by Peace Corps. It should be a fun
visit. I got word that one of the guys from the Canary Islands is back for
a few days and has invited us to dinner on Tuesday. I don¹t know if we¹ll go
since the APCD will be here but I have a feeling someone will show up at our
house again and we¹ll relive the ³come eat goat² experience. Also, since the
APCD will be here, he¹ll get to see the new house and we can finally move! I
can¹t wait to move into a quieter neighborhood and not have the ceiling fall
on me at night.

So I¹m trying to figure out my schedule and get into a schedule and if I
counted right, I¹ll be biking 144 km a week getting to and from Calheta and
Borreiro. That¹s about 86 miles a week and 4472 miles a year. Wow.