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Wednesday, November 8, 2006

So it was day three of the information sessions and today we learned
definitions of terms (deficiency, integration into the community, handicap,
etc). We made mock project proposals and went over what you do to make a
project. Tomorrow we¹re going to practice something on the beach. Im not
sure what, but we were told to bring a broken ball, a volleyball, volleyball
net, empty water bottles, rope, and a few other random things. Let¹s see
what happens.

My counterpart from Calheta told me some exciting news today. She wasn¹t
able to get hold of the girl who was going to tell the womens group that Im
not teaching this week so people ended up showing up. The exciting part is
that more than the initial 22 women showed up, just for the English class.
Word must be spreading about the group and it makes me happy. In addition to
that, a man from the town asked my counterpart why the class was just for
women and said it was unfair that men could not take part in the class. She
then stood up for the women and basically told him its not fair that men
have more opportunities, etc. I was really proud of her after hearing her
retell the story and I¹m getting more and more excited to work with these
women.

This afternoon we had our girls group meeting at the CEJ and it went really
well. Today¹s topic was Sex and Gender Roles. We did an activity where we
put the words ³masculine² and ³feminine² on the board and they had to tape
cards with phrases like ³clean the house,² ³gets good grades in school,²
and ³raises the family² under which one they thought does the action in Cape
Verde. Afterwards we discussed the cards and why they put them where.
Afterwards, we redid the activity but this time had them put the cards up by
what each sex is biologically capable of doing and then discussed. It was
really interesting to hear what the girls had to say: They put ³is able to
have more than one boyfriend/ girlfriend² under boys and it led to a
discussion about what would happen if there were an equal proportion of men
and women in the country and how to change the mentality of people. Next
week we discuss relationships with the opposite sex.

So the elections were yesterday and I really want to find out the results.
The electricity was out during lunch so we didn¹t get to use the internet. I
can only imagine how crazy it was a GW yesterday. Its so politically charged
and I miss that elections in DC are like watching the Superbowl elsewhere. I
know probably a dozen or so of my friends back at home were probably working
on campaigns or campaigning themselves.

I received a wonderful package in the mail today from my mom, a
³Thanksgiving in a bag² if you will, complete with recipes, pie crust, and
spices to make pumpkin pie. I¹m guessing there¹s pumpkin and French¹s fried
onion rings on the way!

The lock guy just left and we now have all our keys. Now its just getting a
peephole installedŠ
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