A bunch of updates

Monday, November 20, 2006

I finally started classes last week and hopefully I can keep up a routine. I had computer classes on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and they went alright. By Thursday I had a chalk board which makes things a little easier. Thursday there was a large group of girls who came and who had little experience with computers so after discussing what each part is and what it does we turned on the computers and tried our hands at Microsoft Paint. We really take computers for granted in the United States. I know I’ve been using one since elementary school and these high school aged girls have never touched a computer. I keep telling myself to be patient and it takes time to use the mouse and drag something across the screen. I think I’ll give them a little more Paint practice this week before we move on to Wordpad and practice with the keyboard. That’s going to be fun. On Friday, only 2 girls showed which was okay because we only have 2 computers and I could focus attention on them and let them practice for longer. I decided that I’m going to devote most of the class time to actually using the computers and practicing and less time explaining. It’s easier to show and have them play around and figure it out then to give each person their 2 minutes on the computer.

I had the first English class Friday afternoon and it was a lot less nerve wrecking than I had imagined. For a long time I’ve had this fear of getting up in front of the classroom but this time I felt a little more comfortable because I at least knew one of my students and I was teaching beginner English. A lot of the women are really shy about talking but I went around and made everyone practice individually with me. Friday night I went out with the Americans for pizza and was introduced to a few British guys who are here putting up a satellite for the American’s project. These Brits travel around 3 weeks every month installing and fixing satellites. I would love to be able to travel for a future job but that much traveling is a little extreme.

Yesterday I read a little War and Peace in the morning and in the afternoon my roommate and I went to the beach with the English teacher from Guinea and the Math teacher from Guinea. We checked out Ponta Preta where lots of kids were playing soccer and walking on the beach and we attempted to swim in the 15 foot waves. I stayed back towards the shore while my roommate and the math teacher were braving it. At one point I was standing in the water, less than knee deep, talking with a friend, and a wave comes up and completely knocks me off my feet. Of course everyone else has good balance and manages to stay above the water. At the same time, the ocean came up high enough on shore to drench all of our clothes and towels and almost take them back out to sea.

After our beach fun, we went to this guy’s house to pick up our puppies!!!! My puppy is all black with a white spot on his chest and his name is Captain Fubar. My roommate’s puppy is tan with a darker tan nose and his name (for the time being) is Gatsby. According to the Americans and my roommate, Captain Fubar is retarded because he kept falling over when he walks (but its really because he was tripping over his weird collar which is too small for his chubby legs). But he’s a great puppy except for the times when he relieves himself all over the house. I see why my parents never let me get a puppy growing up. I think my dad would have killed it after a day. After the puppies, we went to the French restaurant for a goodbye dinner for one of the Americans who leaves today.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

I didn’t end up going to Calheta today because my counterpart’s father died and when someone dies, pretty much the entire town shuts down. I wasn’t sure if we had class or not since I hadn’t heard from anyone but when I started walking to Calheta I saw pretty much every car on Maio packed full and driving towards Vila to the cemetery. I took that as a sign of no class for the day.

I had a lot of fun this evening. My roommate and I were invited to watch my counterpart who works at the camera and his band practice. It was a lot of fun watching them and I really enjoy Cape Verdian music. After the practice we all went to a place near by to eat grilled fish and hang out. It was really relaxing and a perfect evening.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving! While I really missed being home, waking up and watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, cooking in the kitchen with my mom all day, my first Cape Verdian Thanksgiving was pretty good. A car was supposed to come pick me up to take me to Borreiro for computer class but it never showed so I didn’t end up going since walking would have taken an hour and a half and the chance of getting a car would take between 5 and 90 minutes. So I feel really bad for not showing up for computer class and I need to have a little talk with my counterpart who arranged the transport.

So I spent the morning prepping food for dinner- chopping potatoes, toasting and chopping bread, etc and took the puppies outside for a walk. A ton of kids came by on their way home from school and got the puppies all riled up.

In the afternoon I went on a hunt for onions and apples and succeeded with the onions but no apples were to be found since the boat has not yet come. So I have an apple pie crust sitting in my fridge and other ingredients out on the table while I wait for apples to come. So this years feast consisted of: lemon herb chicken (compliments of chef Stephanie), peas (also another Stephanie creation), stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato casserole, and pumpkin pie and cinnamon ice cream for dessert. Our ex-pat friend and one of the Americans came over to partake and we ate until we felt ill. Or at least I felt ill.

I talked to my family who is all in Atlanta for Thanksgiving and it was really great to hear their voices. Especially since I never get to talk to my brother. Pretty much all I got from him this time was that he has a new girlfriend. Way to go champ!

Friday, November 24, 2006
After pretty much doing during the day I got ready to go to night one of the Municipal Festa for Figuera. Every town has its own Saint’s Day and this weekend is Figuera’s. What this really translates into is a large party where the entire island shows up. Cape Verdians sure know how to party. So we went to the polivalenti in Figuera to watch our friends (my quazi-counterpart, the dude “mos” that keeps hitting on my roommate despite the fact that he’s had a girlfriend for eight years, and the “best friend”) play music for the festa. Their group name, “the friends”, is a little ridiculous but they play pretty well. And for the first time since I’ve been in Maio, get ready for this, I was COLD! That’s right folks. It’s starting to cool down in the evenings which has been great. Its really nice to finally wear jeans and a long sleeve shirt. You have no idea how much I missed that feeling.

Saturday, November 25, 2006
Day 2 of the festa. We rested up all day to get ready for the biggest night of Figuera Fest. We borrowed some films from our Portuguese teacher friend and I finally watched the Godfather for the first time. And I actually understood some of the Italian in the film after interacting with all the Italians here. Around 11 we got the last American to give us a ride to the festa. This time we saw practically the entire island. We ran into a ton of teachers and hung out with them for most of the night. They pretty much closed down these two main streets and lined up along the streets were tents, tables, snack cars, and lots of grills with skewers of chicken and pork. And of course everywhere you turned were bars with lots of beer. We seriously could have gotten trashed and not paid a dime for it since everyone kept trying to buy us drinks. We walked around for awhile with various people and then hit up the disco. It was so crowded this time. You could barely move. It kind of reminded me of being in a club in DC.

I danced the first dance with a random dude while the roommate danced with one of the teachers. Later in the night this same dude I danced with came up to me slightly drunker and demanded me to kiss him. I told him no and he asked why. Why do people always have to ask why when you say no here? Anyways, I told him I didn’t want to and I didn’t know him. His response to this was “I danced with you and I live in Vila.” I didn’t realize that qualified in knowing someone. During this same time, Math teacher #2 who wants to bang the Roommate was feeling up the Roommate’s ass as he felt his way around her back pocket to discover my cell phone. I didn’t realize it was necessary to caress the hiney in order to greet someone. Apparently his touchy-feelyness goes a long way.


My reaction was to dance only with people I knew for the remainder of the evening and I ended up dancing with Best Friend for most of the night. Towards the end of the night Best Friend was a little drunk and a little excited. That creeped me out and it was then time to leave.

Another highlight of the night was when they played “Move Bitch, Get Out The Way” at the disco. I’m sure everyone understood what the words of the song actually meant...

At one point in the night, Portuguese teacher friend #2 was hammered and dancing very whitely in the street with a chicken skewer half in his mouth.

By the time we got home it was 4 am and my shoes were covered in beer from the ground and I was ready to pass out.

Cape Verdians tend to use certain phrases a lot. Here’s a list of what you’ll often hear in Maio and translations:
Mos: dude
E normal: its normal- this one they like to use to describe anything we think is completely ridiculous including having more than one girlfriend at the same time
E ka sim e- isn’t it true
Vida de pobre e kansado: the poor life is tiring
fixe: cool
sabe: good

Sunday, November 26, 2006
After being up until 4 last night, I spent this morning sleeping, walking the puppies, sleeping, watching movies, and sleeping. In the afternoon I took Captain Fubar for a walk to the ocean and pier to get him some exercise and introduce him to the ocean. Just as I expected, as soon as I put him in the ocean he started crying and immediately ran up on the beach. For being such a good sport, I took him up to the pier to watch the fishermen (and see if any of them would donate bait that they weren’t using to feed Fubar). I was also looking for someone who was headed on the boat to Praia and had the peephole that Peace Corps sent to be installed in our door. So we ended up on the pier for 2 hours making friends with a fisherboy and watching him catch an eel. Fubar was the cutest thing in the world trying to chase a dying fish that was flopping around. Every time it flopped he jumped back. It was really cute. While on the pier I got a call from my APCD (Associate Peace Corps Director- ie my boss) who said he will be arriving on Monday

Luckily I found someone I knew from the group for helping people with deficiencies who was from Calheta and he helped me locate the guy with my peephole who just happened to be my counterpart’s brother. After retrieving my peephole, Fubar and I ran into our Hiace driving friend and got a ride home.

In the evening we walked around and ran into Math teacher #2 who felt up the roommate’s butt. This time he wrapped his arms around the Roommate like an octopus. Once I said that she “looked uncomfortable” he released his death grip and we went home.

Monday, November 27, 2006
I definitely am losing my mind. I woke up this morning early thinking I had computer class in Borreiro and I would have to prepare a lesson before 8:30 since using the Camara to drive me seemed like a bad idea since the past week was unreliable. So I ended up in a mild scurry to remember that it was Monday and I did not actually have a computer class today. Earlier in the weekend I ran into my tutoring student, Vespa, and found out that he was going to Praia so tutoring was out this week. So I spent the morning at the Casa de Juventude working on creating a typing lesson for my computer class.

I was on my way to Calheta for English class when I ran into the coordinator of the CEJ and was informed that another person from Calheta died and the class would again have to be postponed. On the way home I saw the funeral procession pass by my house. My boss’s plane got in late so we made plans to meet for tomorrow.

Since I had more free time I took Captain Fubar to the beach for a walk. I ran into the French guy and my friend’s brother and ended up chatting with them and playing with the puppy on the beach. I was also introduced to another Cape Verdian and a few Italians who actually spoke English and the 5 of us hung out for awhile. Once the sun was going down the Italians left and the Cape Verdians and I walked Fubar to the pier only to find it closed. But anyways, it was really nice to meet more new people and hang out with people my age.

Later the Roommate and I went to visit the English teacher/the teacher from Senegal/Math teacher #2 at their house and watch their tv. English teacher asked me if we are friends. I found that a bizarre question and said yes. I don’t know why he wouldn’t think we are friends. I also was told that they missed me and the roommate was jealous of my stellar looks and their longing to see me.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006
This was probably one of the busiest days since I’ve been here. I woke up, mopped up the puppies’ messes while the Roommate walked them and typed up an activity for my computer class. I went to the CEJ around 8:30 to print it out only to learn that they are out of ink. So they told me to go to the Camara and print it there. The guy at the Camara was really nice and immediately let me take over his computer. But it took about half an hour to get the computer to recognize my pin drive. Once I finally opened the document the computer crashed and every time following proceeded to crash for the next 20 minutes. Eventually I got everything to print and I apologized profusely for my bad luck with the computer.

While I was at the Camara I ran into my friend who is president of the sports for people with deficiencies group and also has family in North Carolina and talked with her about the big event coming up. Every president of the Camara from every island is coming on Friday to Maio for some sort of meeting. She has the privledge, if you want to call it that, of organizing everything. So our English lesson tomorrow is probably out since she’s extremely busy. After our little soire, I found the guy at the Camara who arranges cars and talked to him about their lack of coming to get me last week. He put check marks on the piece of paper I had given him next to the times that they never showed. I guess these check marks mean that the cars will magically appear when I need them. Hmmm...

So my boss shows up with a Hiace and we head over to Borreiro for computer class. Three students showed up today and we practiced typing correctly and not hunting for keys with our pointer fingers. The first part of the activity that was supposed to take 5 minutes lasted the entire class. I really don’t know how to estimate how much time lesson plans will actually take. The ones that I think will be long, I breeze through, and others that should take a short period of time last forever. But its cool and I had fun moving fingers around when the pressed the keys with the wrong finger.

After Borreiro we went to the CEJ where my boss extensively interviewed the coordinator who told him I speak good Kriolu (I think she was just being nice) and talked about the drug and alcohol problem in Maio and upcoming projects. Apparently I am helping with something that just got approved but I have no idea what it is. Then we went to the Ministry of Education and met someone who works with the micro finance group that I still had been unable to get hold of. It turns out the president of the group is in Praia getting computers fixed because the bad electricity in Maio knocked out their computers and they lost all their programs. So once he gets back we’ll be having a meeting to make a plan. I’m really excited to finally be working with them.

As the usual part of the site visits, we were treated to lunch and today the French place actually had pork caramel which is probably the greatest thing I’ve ever eaten, besides the tuna skewers.

After lunch we headed to Calheta to meet with my counterpart. When we got there, we visited her at her mother’s house where they are in mourning. It’s kind of like sitting shiva (a Jewish custom when someone dies). We went to the community center afterwards where some of my students were waiting for their English class. I wasn’t planning on having class but did a spur of the moment 30 minute review session of “How are you?” “What is your name?” “Where are you from?” etc. I also ran into the music teacher and made arrangements for our violin lesson on Sunday.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006
I just got out of a meeting with the president of the Camara and my APCD. He (APCD) is checking in on his flight plan for today since the chance of it being delayed is about 120%. Anyways, we had a little chat before I left and I’m going to be helping the micro-finance group sort of get themselves together. A lot of associations use them to save their money and they have money from different groups to give out as loans but its not being used, probably because people either don’t know it exists or are afraid they won’t be able to pay the place back. Anyways, the head of the place is also a passive person and he’ll be back shortly and I really look forward to getting things rolling. On top of that, I was informed that there may be some small business development work that I do later on which makes me kind of excited despite the fact that I know nothing about business. At least maybe this will help me decide if I want to go to business school when I get back.

In other good news, once my APCD took a look at my roommate’s and my beds, he said he could help us get newer, bigger ones. This makes me happy, especially since our mattresses are disgusting and probably have not been changed in the past 10 years. Plus, it will be nice for my sheets to finally fit on a regular sized bed instead of my twin bed.

Its funny how your mood can change really quickly here. So I got a ride from the Camara to Borreiro for my computer class but on the way back the driver never showed. I started walking back and was almost to the main road when a group of high school boys were dropped off and decided to make conversation with me. One of them started talking in French, the others in English. I explained to them that I am not a “sir” and the term “sir” is used only for men. They asked me for food and said they were hungry and I kind of snapped since I was a little upset that my driver didn’t show. I told them I was hungry too and I was in the same boat as them but I had to walk further. I was then asked for money to which I responded, “do I look like a bank?” I then went on to say that I am a volunteer here to help their and other people’s communities and asking for money is inappropriate. I was pretty upset after that incident.
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So on my walk back, a different driver from the Camara drove by and said that my driver from earlier had gone to the airport and therefore hadn’t come to get me. It would have been nice if someone had called my cell phone or called someone in Borreiro to tell me this. Anyways, I was not happy when I got home.

Only 4 girls came to girl’s group today so we cancelled it for this week since the activity we had planned (about speaking up for yourself) involved role playing and people weren’t there so I went home and took Fubar for a walk. We went to the beach and he was conveniently placed in the ocean where he immediately became terrified and cold. The Cape Verdian solution was to rub sand all over him to dry him off. I think this idea is crap because now I have to deal with a sandy puppy.

Tuesday, December 5, 2006
I can’t believe its already December. These weeks fly by. I guess the days sort of drag on at times but I’m now sort of feeling like I’m at home. I’m trying not to get too bothered by annoying things here like last Thursday when I waited for 30 at the Camara for them to give me a ride to Borreiro, which they said they would, and the car never came. It made me so mad. And I tried to get materials from the Camara for World AIDS Day which was last Friday but they never procured them. So, I had to improvise. I spent my own money on poster board and red crepe paper (I originally wanted a sheet and red paint) and cut out handprints for people to sign and put up on the poster in the shape of an AIDS ribbon. I also made little posters that were put up all around the CEJ with facts about HIV and AIDS or VIH and SIDA as they are called here. All of the presidents of Camaras in Cape Verde happened to be in Maio on Friday for a meeting and held it in a room above the CEJ so they told the coordinator, my counterpart, that the signs were really great. That made me happy. In the afternoon there was a big parade around all of Vila. All the students in primary school and at the liceo (high school) participated and carried signs and wore stickers. At the end of the parade they ended up in the Polivalenti with a speaker (the Maio doctor). I found out later that Calheta had their own parade that same afternoon.

Sunday I had my first violin lesson with the music teacher from Calheta. I thought it went really well. It was his first time playing a violin and he has a pretty good bow arm for a first timer and was able to draw the bow across the string and make a continuous note (note that I said note and not sound- most people kind of screech for awhile when they first start out- he played a genuine note). So after playing open strings and rhythms for an hour it was time for the women’s meeting. My counterpart laid down the line that she is not going to the forefront of the group and one of the younger girls is to become the leader. So we chose a new leader and all was good.

Yesterday our PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) and the Regional PCMO for all of West Africa came to Maio for a visit. It’s been fun showing them around and getting a few nice dinners.

Today has been interesting. This morning we got in the car to go to Borreiro and there was a dog sitting in front of the car. Apparently the driver didn’t see it because he proceeded to drive forward despite my yelling out “katxor, katxor” (dog, dog). Fortunately the dog did not die but I think he’s now a pirate dog now and has only one eye. His eye was all bleeding and gross and he kept crying really loud. It was really sad and I thought I would throw up.

Computer class went well. Today we learned how to type “e and I” with the correct fingers and then learned the functions of the keyboard and for those who have used computers, learned what the formatting bars do in Microsoft Word.

Lunch today was a farewell lunch with our Italian friend who made the most incredible food ever. He had these tomatoes stuffed with egg and some sort of sauce and tuna that was battered in breadcrumbs and cooked with tomato sauce and olives. For dessert he brought out orange cake and tangerines.

The ride to Calheta today was fun. There was a pig in a USAID food bag in the back of the truck with me and a bunch of men. I didn’t realize it was there until I saw something squirming. I guess the foul smell wasn’t just from people not using deoderant. When I got there, I found my counterpart sick with “gripe” (a cold) so she stayed away from class today. Today’s class went really well. We went over the present simple negative of “to be” which translates to “I am not, you are not, etc.” I checked everyone’s homework from last night and only one person had one question wrong. The entire class either cheated or is learning more than they show in class. It made me really proud. On the ride back I was sitting next to a lady with a 3 month old baby and a bucket of eel. When she got off in Morro she kind of just put the baby in my lap and for a minute I thought she was going to take off and leave me with a baby. It was kind of weird and I felt a little awkward with a baby thrown at me but I guess that’s the norm here. (Hey roommate- eh normal?)

December 8, 2006
Aah, the weekend is finally here. I got a ride to Borreiro and Calheta from the Camara which is a feat within itself. English class is going really well. After going around and telling people that what they wrote is correct, they were less timid in coming up to the board. On the ride back I met another woman who works with the Ministry of Education to help people in Calheta learn how to read. So we’re going to get our groups to work together on future projects.

Fubar is getting bigger. I want him to stay tiny. I gave him a bath last night and he hated me for it. But at least he’s clean and smells like green apples.

There’s been a few weird things happening here. A week ago or so the French restaurant closed because someone who either worked there or has some relation to the place tried to stab herself. Or at least that’s what we were told. And a few days ago my neighbor had to be taken away because “the ghost of someone who died got inside her and turned her into the devil.” What happened was she went to Praia without telling her husband or anyone and when she came back she went crazy and started yelling at everyone and breaking everything in the house including glass dishes and their television. So pretty much half of Vila was over in the neighborhood restraining her and getting her into a car to go to the hospital. When I got home today there was a crowd of women hanging out and lots of yelling. I bet the saga continues.

There is supposed to be live violin and a DJ tomorrow in Figuera and I really want to go. I’m excited to see some Cape Verdian violin playing.