Friday, November 10, 2006

Right now I’m sitting in a sweltering hot room with an air condition that appears to not be functioning. I’m also sun burnt from our full day of activities as part of the training session we’ve had for the past four days. Today’s portion of the “sports for people with deficiencies” consisted of our group of 18 wearing bright red t-shirts (given to us by the man leading the formacao) and doing activities on the beach. We learned how to be resourceful and make a medicine ball out of a busted ball, water, sand, newspaper, plastic bags and tape. We also made stress balls out of sand and balloons and learned the secret to juggling. These were all things to use to help train people for sports. Also included in the day were those dreaded trust games where you have one person in the middle of a circle of people who is supposed to fall around and the people in the circle have to keep them up. I learned how to throw a javelin and a shot put and watched others try their skill at the discus. After snack time we played sitting volleyball and did activities in the ocean. It was pretty exhausting but I can’t complain after having spent the day playing on the beach.

So back to the sweltering room...After pretty much any sort of information session, class, etc, there is always a party with food and certificates passed out to honor your completion. After the electricity went out in the restaurant above the CEJ, we moved to our current location which is about 20 feet away from the CEJ and managed to keep electricity. We’ve been listening to the guy talk about paper work needed to make a project and have begun to form the association on Maio and decide who is in charge of what. They’re serving paella for dinner and then passing out certificates. So I am now officially certified as going through the class which pretty much means that I have a pretty piece of paper to decorate my room with.

Remember the blurb I wrote on the man asking why only women could come to the English class? Well today I was talking with a different man in Villa and explaining what I do, etc and he asked me why focus on women. This time I stood up for the women here and explained to him about the lack of opportunity for women in school, etc. Apparently all the men are now getting jealous that its the women who have banded together and are taking a stand for themselves. I don’t have any expectations on how things will change between men and women in Maio while I am here but I think this women’s group is getting more well known, at least in Calheta, and all of the women are getting really excited to do projects and have opportunities to learn things that they felt they didn’t have before. Even if I don’t accomplish anything really big while I’m here (which it seems a lot of people expect from me), I’m really proud to be working with a group of people who seem to really care about their community and their future and have taken the initiative to work for what they want.


Saturday, November 11, 2006
The Americans are back! Well, two of them anyway and its so great to see them again. Today was definitely a food day... We went to the Italian’s for lunch to celebrate the arrival of her husband. Later in the day we walked over to the soccer tournament across from the CEJ. A few of my roommate’s students were playing and its always fun to be out when the rest of the town is crowded around the “soccer field.”

We had heard a rumor that the Americans were coming back so we walked down to wear they are staying and alas, there they were! It was such a nice reunion. We went over to the British guy’s restaurant and celebrated with his new chocolate ice cream recipe which is the best one by far.

In a few minutes we are about to head over to one of my counterpart’s house for goat. I think I may be sick tomorrow after eating so much today.

Over the past two weeks 2 volunteers decided to ET or early terminate. Its really sad to see them go but I know they need to do what makes them happy. I’ve also heard that another volunteer is being medically separated which is also really depressing. I guess I always assumed some of our group would eventually ET but I wasn’t really sure when it would happen. Being the eternal optimist, I kind of hoped that everyone in our group would make it and show Peace Corps up but its not for everyone and I don’t want anyone to be where they don’t feel they should be. Leaving early is something that is on every volunteer’s mind at some point throughout their service. It is really hard being away from your friends, family, and your familiar surroundings and we definitely have our up and down days. Being in Cape Verde is a mixed blessing. We have certain elements of what we see back home- lights, faucets, refrigerators, Internet, sometimes even washing machines, but the electricity and water are inconsistent and it makes for an interesting time. The work part can also be frustrating because we are here to help and work at a job but a lot of the time it seems like the people here have everything covered and we question why they want us here to help. I understand how people would want to leave when they feel like they have nothing to do or could be doing the exact same thing back at home.

For the most part I’m happy here. I feel like I’m beginning to make friends, and once I start on my regular schedule next week, it will be nice to have a regular routine. One of the biggest frustrations for me as a “community mobilizer” volunteer is that I did not come in with a regular schedule. I need to have structure and I went about making it for myself. It’s taken a little while but I think the people and groups that I’m going to work with are ones that I really want to work with and will be happy helping with projects and classes. The longer I’ve been here, the more I’ve seen a need to work with the women and girls in this community and help them get access to more opportunities.


Monday, November 13, 2006

Saturday night was a lot of fun. Besides having food and drink thrown at us for hours, our friends also played guitar and sang Cape Verdian music. After our dinner we headed out to Figuera because “the discoteque in Figuera is better than the one in Vila.” In reality this meant, the are less people/ people that our friends that took us know well enough to tell their significant others that they took the American girls to a Disco. It was no where near as crowded as the one in Vila which was good because if all the men at the one in Vila were as drunk as the ones in Figuera, we would have had to fight off 5 times as many people who wanted to dance with us. It was nice to be there with people we know who could keep the staggering drunks away and it was a really nice time.

Yesterday evening was the women’s group meeting. I invited someone from the girls group in Borreiro to come talk about doing a joint project for the women to teach the girls to do weavings. We somehow got into conversation about the information sessions of people with deficiencies and that got a lot of people really wound up. These women were very opinionated on the topic and were pretty much all yelling at the same time for about 15 minutes.

When I got back we went to the Italian lady’s hotel to take a shower because we are all out of water and I think I’m the cleanest I’ve been in a long time. My hair is actually soft today. Yeah, I know, it a great feat...

This afternoon I was supposed to start my English classes in Calheta but apparently people have it stuck in their minds that class begins on Tuesday. I rode my bike most of the way to Calheta and then hitched a ride for the last few km with an Italian guy who was driving a friend home to Calheta. After learning that I would not actually be teaching today, I ended up going to a meeting at the primary school with my counterpart to meet a music teacher who wants to play violin with me. I think she gave him the impression that I am able to teach him how to play classical music and that I am available to help teach his students. It’s going to be interesting how this plays out because as I learned from the other night, Cape Verdians learn music notes as “do, re, mi...” and not as “a, b, c...” I also do not have any sheet music or music formed well enough in my memory to actually teach it to someone. Anyone know of any music organizations that would be willing to donate sheet music to teach with or maybe even a cheap violin so they/I can practice?

About 2 km into my ride home, my back tire sprung a leak, thank goodness for cobblestone roads...., and I ended up walking with the bike for a bit. Eventually a car came by and luckily I knew someone in it so they gave me a ride back to town.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Today was another crazy experience. Now that I’m really excited and ready to start my classes, they keep getting changed around on me. I woke up and walked to Borreiro (since the bikes out of commission) to teach computer classes and when I got there the center was empty. I figured that the kids were just late since that is not unusual here and turned on the computers to upload a typing program. Apparently my pin drive is too new for the Windows 98 computers and I was unable to even access the files on the drive. I tested my luck with the second computer which is even older and couldn’t even get the computer to boot up. This is going to be one heck of a computer class. Eventually one girl showed up and asked me if we had class today since the leader of their group failed to tell anyone I was starting this week. She said she would tell the others that we are starting this week so cross your fingers that tomorrow I will have a class. I ended up talking a bit with a woman who lives next to the center and an older woman who said that the girl I had spoken with about the class “belonged to her” so I’m going to assume it was her mom. I found a car back to Vila and met up with my roommate and another teacher who was hanging out at our house.

Since it was still early (early meaning before all the stores close for lunch) I went to the back to check on my bank card which has still not arrived. I ran into my counterpart from Calheta and was informed that she does not think that I should ride my bike to Borreiro because there are not many cars on that road and if something happened to me she would worry. I kind of felt like she was playing the mom role but it was nice of her to worry about me. Since my bike is out of commission for now, I guess I will ask the camara if they can hook me up with a car to Borreiro or I’ll try to hitch a ride like I did today. She also informed me that she had a meeting in Vila today right around the time we were supposed to start our English class so she wants to wait until the next class (scheduled on Friday) so she can be there and tell the people to be respectful and speak slowly since its sometimes difficult for me to understand Maio’s rapid fire Kriolu.

So between that and some drama going down at the Italians affecting our English tutoring sessions, I’m still waiting to actually start some of my classes.

Since I have a free afternoon today and lesson plans already made, I just started and finished reading John Edwards, “Four Trials.” I actually teared up for part of it which is probably what he wanted. But seriously, I really respect him as a person and in the back of my mind, I still want to see him run for President. Now that I’ve finished his book, I really want to read Elizabeth Edwards book, “Saving Graces.” If anyone wants to help me realize this goal, I will be indebted to you forever (or at least until I come back from Africa). My roommate just finished War and Peace and now its getting passed on to me. I feel like everyone in the Peace Corps plans on reading or brings War and Peace with them since we all know that we’ll have a lot of time on our hands.