November 4, 2007
Today marks 12 years since my Bat Mitzvah. It¹s strange to know that it was
that long ago. Time passes so quickly and it seems that each year passes
faster than the last. Its only 16 days until my parents come to visit me and
I am so excited. We¹ve been planning a visit since before I even arrived at
site, over a year ago, and the time is finally approaching. Each week seems
like a day and months seem like weeks. The next 10 months of my service are
going to fly by. People (Cape Verdians) are already asking what I¹m going to
do when I get back to the states and are already saying I¹m going to forget
them. Impossible!
This past week was pretty uneventful. I had my classes as usual and then
Thursday was a national holiday for All Saints Day. I tried explaining
Halloween to some of my friends and they seemed to understand the concept or
at least what the celebration is. They call it ³day of the witches.² So I
celebrated All Saints Day by sleeping in, eating couscous that my landlord
brought over, and eating cabrito (baby goat) at Claudia¹s house. I was in
bed from about 3 to midnight with a killer headache so up until that point
the day was pretty nice.
Friday we didn¹t have our AIDS campaign at the school because the doctor had
just gotten back from Praia so I had Friday afternoon to myself and ended up
working on a booklet I am working on with activities for kids. Its pretty
much activities that I do with Nhos Brinka (the Saturday morning kids group)
and once I get the booklet done, I¹ll be leading a workshop for primary
school teachers in Calheta on the activities for them to incorporate them in
their classes. This week¹s Nhos Brinka was relocated to Bashona (the beach
zone of Calheta. Each town has different zones or neighborhoods. It¹s
easiest to compare to DC where you have Foggy Bottom, Capitol Hill,
Georgetown, etc. So I live in a zone called Ribona and the zone by the beach
is called Bashona. There¹s another zone called Lem Tavares which is on the
way to Bashona.) Anyways, a bunch of kids saw the women¹s group cleaning the
beach last week and I asked them afterwards if they would be interested in
doing a beach cleanup so that¹s what we did. The kids were very enthusiastic
and we cleaned the beach for about an hour until they got tired and then
moved on to futbol (soccer) on the beach. I thought the futbol portion would
be easy, I could stand back and watch them play but just like kids in every
country, some of the better players would make weaker players sit out of the
game and would refuse to leave the ³field.² I kept trying to get them to
rotate and one kid told me ³I am a good at futbol² as his excuse for not
allowing others a chance to play. It made me laugh and reminded me that kids
are the same everywhere you go. I remember in elementary school picking
teams to play kickball and the sportier people were always the team captains
and picked the best players first (boys of course) until the weaker boys and
the girls were left. Its awful knowing your rank based on when you were
picked for a team. I was always secretly upset that the girls were always
chosen last or the teacher told the team captain to choose girls first
because apparently we are the ³weaker² sex and our sports abilities are not
on par with the boys.
Anyways, after Nhos Brinka I went home to bake cakes for the AIDS campaign,
this week in Pedro Vaz, but when I called to find out details I learned we
weren¹t going to do it because the doctor was sick. Sad. I want to get to
all of the towns before World AIDS Day and that doesn¹t leave us any extra
time unless we start doubling up on Saturdays. At night I went out to the
dance for the first time in awhile and had an awesome time. I danced for
about 3 hours straight and was sweating like I had been in an intense
workout but it was so much fun. The ³new² popular song to play at the dances
is that song from Night at the Roxbury when they are bopping their heads to
the beat of the song. I started doing the head bopping here but no one
really got it. Other popular songs played were Prisoner and Smack That, and
this song called Tra Rabu which consists of the lyrics ³tra rabu, tra tra,
tra rabu tra and people shake their behinds. Its pretty much the Cape
Verdian equivalent to the song Back that Ass Up. I learned how to dance
³traditional funana² verses my attempt at moving my hips really fast trying
to copy people. I still don¹t think I¹m doing it right but I had a good time
attempting it. It¹s so much more fun to go to the dance now that I know a
lot of people. I feel more comfortable dancing since I know whom I am
dancing with and I¹m friends with a lot of the women.
This morning I slept in (until 9:30) and headed out to Bashona for our
Women¹s Group beach clean up. No one showed so I ended up cleaning the beach
for about half and hour and headed home. I¹m out of water again so I got
some from my landlord, washed dishes and then headed over to Sylvia¹s for
lunch. There¹s this American who lives in Praia and is dating a Cape Verdian
woman from Maio who I met at Calheta¹s festa last year. Anyways, she came to
Maio for the weekend and is staying with Sylvia so we¹ve gotten to hang out
again. It turns out she¹s the one who made our PC t-shirts. The three of us
had lunch together (cow!!! Its been a really long time since I¹ve had beef!)
and then took a nap together. After dozing in and out I headed home and
napped for another few hours.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
October 21, 2007
Birthday weekend celebrations have come and gone and I am exhausted. Friday
I stayed in Vila and the Americans took Stephanie and I out to dinner for my
birthday. It was the second time I have seen them this trip and probably the
last since they leave Monday for the states and since they did not get a
contract to stay here for work, this is their last time in Maio. It was so
great having them here the few times they have come and it certainly added
to my sanity seeing other Americans even for a short time period.
Yesterday I passed on Nhos Brinka in order to prepare for the AIDS speaker
and my grilhada. I¹m glad I did because it took that long just to prepare
all the food, make juice for the AIDS activity and get the key. The doctor
was great. People paid attention, were interested and asked questions. The
only think I could have hoped for was a bigger audience but we did have 20
people at the end and that made me happy. The grilhada (aka BBQ) was really
nice. We had a late start due to the fact that the charcoal hadn¹t arrived
and we had to go on a treasure hunt to find some but eventually we got it
fired up and the chicken was aflame. Beverages were flowing to the point
where Silvia was quite a chatterbox and had others literally rolling on the
floor laughing. Even my cat had a good time running around the roof eating
leftover chicken bones and chasing cockroaches. Not everyone who I invited
showed and there was tons of chicken left so it was decided in ³an important
meeting² (this is the beverages talking) that we would meet up the following
day and cook the rest along with potatoes and salad for lunch. I finally got
to sleep around 3 and slept in for the first time in awhile.
Our lunch today was excellent and it was so much fun being surrounded by
some of my best friends here. I¹m still stuffed from lunch and my neighbor
is coming over soon to heat up more leftovers for dinner. I better start my
bike riding again. Djoi and Jacinta¹s kid hung out with us and we played UNO
for hours and I ended up losing 11 games to 4.
Birthday weekend celebrations have come and gone and I am exhausted. Friday
I stayed in Vila and the Americans took Stephanie and I out to dinner for my
birthday. It was the second time I have seen them this trip and probably the
last since they leave Monday for the states and since they did not get a
contract to stay here for work, this is their last time in Maio. It was so
great having them here the few times they have come and it certainly added
to my sanity seeing other Americans even for a short time period.
Yesterday I passed on Nhos Brinka in order to prepare for the AIDS speaker
and my grilhada. I¹m glad I did because it took that long just to prepare
all the food, make juice for the AIDS activity and get the key. The doctor
was great. People paid attention, were interested and asked questions. The
only think I could have hoped for was a bigger audience but we did have 20
people at the end and that made me happy. The grilhada (aka BBQ) was really
nice. We had a late start due to the fact that the charcoal hadn¹t arrived
and we had to go on a treasure hunt to find some but eventually we got it
fired up and the chicken was aflame. Beverages were flowing to the point
where Silvia was quite a chatterbox and had others literally rolling on the
floor laughing. Even my cat had a good time running around the roof eating
leftover chicken bones and chasing cockroaches. Not everyone who I invited
showed and there was tons of chicken left so it was decided in ³an important
meeting² (this is the beverages talking) that we would meet up the following
day and cook the rest along with potatoes and salad for lunch. I finally got
to sleep around 3 and slept in for the first time in awhile.
Our lunch today was excellent and it was so much fun being surrounded by
some of my best friends here. I¹m still stuffed from lunch and my neighbor
is coming over soon to heat up more leftovers for dinner. I better start my
bike riding again. Djoi and Jacinta¹s kid hung out with us and we played UNO
for hours and I ended up losing 11 games to 4.
October 16
I held almost $8000 worth of 4 carat diamonds today. This Nigerian guy I¹m
friends with starts chatting with me. I hadn¹t seen him in awhile and we
were asking eachother how our vacations were and it turns out he went to
visit his mother who he hasn¹t seen in 20 years in Sierra Leone where she
moved after divorcing his father when he was 7 years old. Anyways, he tells
me he wants to show me something so I wait outside while he goes to get
something and comes out and puts two stones in my hands and proceeds to ask
³do you know what these are?² I was in complete disbelief and all I could
think of was the movie Blood Diamond and asked him a few questions as to how
he came about these stones. He says that his mother gave them to him and
that she finds lots of them in her farm. He said she lives in the diamond
rich area and you find small diamonds on the ground when building houses,
etc. I was holding these two small stones in my hand having no clue what
size, purity or any of the diamond quality stuff is and he tells me that
they are each about 2 carats and he has another one that is 7 carats. So he
asks me if I know anything about getting them appraised and where to sell
them because apparently in Sierra Leone if you sell the diamonds to the
government they give you half of what they are actually worth so now he¹s
trying to figure out how to sell them elsewhere. I don¹t know if this is
sketchy or what to make of it but he tells me when he got them appraised in
Sierra Leone they told him that one of them is work about $3900. Wow.
I held almost $8000 worth of 4 carat diamonds today. This Nigerian guy I¹m
friends with starts chatting with me. I hadn¹t seen him in awhile and we
were asking eachother how our vacations were and it turns out he went to
visit his mother who he hasn¹t seen in 20 years in Sierra Leone where she
moved after divorcing his father when he was 7 years old. Anyways, he tells
me he wants to show me something so I wait outside while he goes to get
something and comes out and puts two stones in my hands and proceeds to ask
³do you know what these are?² I was in complete disbelief and all I could
think of was the movie Blood Diamond and asked him a few questions as to how
he came about these stones. He says that his mother gave them to him and
that she finds lots of them in her farm. He said she lives in the diamond
rich area and you find small diamonds on the ground when building houses,
etc. I was holding these two small stones in my hand having no clue what
size, purity or any of the diamond quality stuff is and he tells me that
they are each about 2 carats and he has another one that is 7 carats. So he
asks me if I know anything about getting them appraised and where to sell
them because apparently in Sierra Leone if you sell the diamonds to the
government they give you half of what they are actually worth so now he¹s
trying to figure out how to sell them elsewhere. I don¹t know if this is
sketchy or what to make of it but he tells me when he got them appraised in
Sierra Leone they told him that one of them is work about $3900. Wow.
October 15, 2007
Another Monday. I started computer class in Morro today and have three
students. A third grader, a fourth grader, and an 80 year old man. The
fourth grader is really bright and seems to have some computer experience
and the 80 year old man is fascinating. I could not imagine my grandparents
at age 80 going to computer class or even having an interest in learning a
computer. Apparently, they have been practicing with the computer for 3
months and want to learn how to use it better, etc. Supposedly there are a
few others who are supposed to be coming to class but they didn¹t show up.
English went well today. I¹m now on lesson 6, which means we¹ve had class
for 3 weeks. Time really flies here, it¹s amazing. My birthday is next week.
I started studying for the GMAT yesterday which in reality means I read the
beginning part of my Barron¹s guide and took the diagnostic test. Tomorrow I
start refreshing my math skills. It seems like so long since I¹ve done
geometry and trig. I guess I¹ve tried to avoid math as much as possible.
Another Monday. I started computer class in Morro today and have three
students. A third grader, a fourth grader, and an 80 year old man. The
fourth grader is really bright and seems to have some computer experience
and the 80 year old man is fascinating. I could not imagine my grandparents
at age 80 going to computer class or even having an interest in learning a
computer. Apparently, they have been practicing with the computer for 3
months and want to learn how to use it better, etc. Supposedly there are a
few others who are supposed to be coming to class but they didn¹t show up.
English went well today. I¹m now on lesson 6, which means we¹ve had class
for 3 weeks. Time really flies here, it¹s amazing. My birthday is next week.
I started studying for the GMAT yesterday which in reality means I read the
beginning part of my Barron¹s guide and took the diagnostic test. Tomorrow I
start refreshing my math skills. It seems like so long since I¹ve done
geometry and trig. I guess I¹ve tried to avoid math as much as possible.
October 12, 2007
I went over to Silvia¹s on Tuesday (Oct 8) and hung out after class. I told
her about my issues with Dinora and she said to me that she wanted to warn
me about her but didn¹t want to overstep any boundaries and it is my choice
who I am friends with. So I learned a lesson there and its good to hear from
someone I really trust that these behaviors are not normal. I confronted
Dinora about the dinner incident and she said she wasn¹t upset so I don¹t
know what was going on.
Anyways, I spent the past two days participating in the end of a formacao on
management, projects, and small businesses that was given by the Direccao
Geral de Juventude. Today was diploma day and I helped give out diplomas to
everyone who participated. After it was all over we went on a passeo (trip
for fun) to a beach called Pao Seco. The water was freezing but we had fun
singing to Micha and his guitar and started up a game of football which here
is called brutebol.
This morning was Nhos Brinka for the third week in a row. Today went a
little smoother although some of the kids will not listen to anything I say.
We made God¹s eyes which the kids really liked and you could tell who
actually paid attention by looking at their crafts afterwards. I taught them
Red light, Green light but it was sort of a failure in that when I caught
people moving they wouldn¹t go back to the wall where we started from and
others would break their ³freeze² position to tell me that other people had
moved. I also tried One Potato, two potato which worked until they got
bored. Must remember for future potato games that 10 kids is too many. I
brought cards and Uno to entertain the kids when they first arrived and one
of them actually knew Uno ahead of time. So we had 7 kids all playing Uno
together for a good half an hour which is fabulous.
Once I got back from the passeo I headed to Silvia¹s for a quick visit and
ended up staying for about 2 hours talking to this guy who is from Calheta
but lives in Praia. It turns out he is in charge of ³energy, water, and
sanitation² for all of Cape Verde. He insisted on speaking English (he is
fluent) and we had a really great conversation about renewable energy here
in Cape Verde and my interest in hydroponics. So wind power may be coming to
Cape Verde, Mr. Burton! They are starting a national campaign on conserving
energy and part of it is replacing all the light bulbs in the country with
the long lasting florescent bulbs. He told me to be in touch if I have any
project ideas for Maio. So this was a really good evening.
I went over to Silvia¹s on Tuesday (Oct 8) and hung out after class. I told
her about my issues with Dinora and she said to me that she wanted to warn
me about her but didn¹t want to overstep any boundaries and it is my choice
who I am friends with. So I learned a lesson there and its good to hear from
someone I really trust that these behaviors are not normal. I confronted
Dinora about the dinner incident and she said she wasn¹t upset so I don¹t
know what was going on.
Anyways, I spent the past two days participating in the end of a formacao on
management, projects, and small businesses that was given by the Direccao
Geral de Juventude. Today was diploma day and I helped give out diplomas to
everyone who participated. After it was all over we went on a passeo (trip
for fun) to a beach called Pao Seco. The water was freezing but we had fun
singing to Micha and his guitar and started up a game of football which here
is called brutebol.
This morning was Nhos Brinka for the third week in a row. Today went a
little smoother although some of the kids will not listen to anything I say.
We made God¹s eyes which the kids really liked and you could tell who
actually paid attention by looking at their crafts afterwards. I taught them
Red light, Green light but it was sort of a failure in that when I caught
people moving they wouldn¹t go back to the wall where we started from and
others would break their ³freeze² position to tell me that other people had
moved. I also tried One Potato, two potato which worked until they got
bored. Must remember for future potato games that 10 kids is too many. I
brought cards and Uno to entertain the kids when they first arrived and one
of them actually knew Uno ahead of time. So we had 7 kids all playing Uno
together for a good half an hour which is fabulous.
Once I got back from the passeo I headed to Silvia¹s for a quick visit and
ended up staying for about 2 hours talking to this guy who is from Calheta
but lives in Praia. It turns out he is in charge of ³energy, water, and
sanitation² for all of Cape Verde. He insisted on speaking English (he is
fluent) and we had a really great conversation about renewable energy here
in Cape Verde and my interest in hydroponics. So wind power may be coming to
Cape Verde, Mr. Burton! They are starting a national campaign on conserving
energy and part of it is replacing all the light bulbs in the country with
the long lasting florescent bulbs. He told me to be in touch if I have any
project ideas for Maio. So this was a really good evening.
October 7
Its been awhile since I¹ve written. Things are settling here and there has
been a lot going on. I¹ve been having problems with my bad toe for awhile
and was being told I have an ingrown toenail but I have no idea if its
really ingrown or not. Its been hurting, especially when I walk on it a lot.
I¹ve been soaking it in salt water four times a day at the request of the
PCMO. I¹m now on antibiotics which I¹m sure are helping or just giving me
stomach problems. Ah vida.
I started my English class and computer classes. The English class is going
pretty well so far except for the fact that no one wants to do their
homework. There are a few people who I can tell study and try to speak
English with me outside of the classroom but the majority seem to think that
they can just show up to class and automatically speak perfect English. At
least they are showing up and showing an interest in coming which is why I
am giving the class in the first place.
We¹ve had one computer class so far and it went pretty well. It was supposed
to start when the English class did but there was a slight set back with
confusion between the Camara and the person responsible for the Community
Center where I teach. She thought that since the Camara put in new
computers, she should ask the Camara first if it was ok for me to give class
in the computer room. I was sent to the Camara to get ³authorization² from
the president of the Camara to give the class. When I got the Camara, the
president laughed and said that I don¹t need authorization, I am here to be
doing things to help the community and that the new computers are there to
be used. So I got back to Calheta and told her but she still wouldn¹t let me
start class until she got an okay from the Camara. So I had her call the
Camara and 10 seconds later its okay for me to give class. I got a talking
to the day after class because I told my students to take off the plastic
covering the keyboard and wires because they ³need to stay pretty and
clean². I didn¹t want to argue with her but I tried to explain that you
cannot see the keyboard when it is covered in plastic and I am trying to
teach beginning computers where students need to learn what everything does
and plastic hinders that. I was also trying to explain that the plastic
covering the wires would not protect the wires from getting dirt inside of
them and keep the inside of the computer clean but it was all in one ear and
out the other.
The computer class for the women¹s group is going slow. I am giving class at
night and the first night the electricity went out and all nights following
we have had no electricity. Another thing to think through when giving a
computer classŠ
While I was at the Camara trying to get my class authorized I talked with a
friend who works there about a sensitization campaign leading up to World
AIDS Day. So I¹ll be helping out with that once it gets more organized. We
were supposed to have a meeting but so far that hasn¹t happened.
This past Friday was another big day of baptisms and I ended up spending the
evening with Ta, Ta Ta, Neya, and Mena whose brother¹s kid was baptized. I
ended up chatting with an old man named Pedro for about half an hour about
his many adventures around the world working on boats. It seems like a lot
of older men have similar experiences working on boats when they were
younger. This man had traveled all over the world and when I asked him how
he liked Australia, he replied by saying that he had a pequena (girlfriend)
there.
I¹m in a pretty bad mood right now. I left my house this afternoon to go
visit Ta, Ta Ta, and Neya and ran into Ja on the way to Bashona. It was good
seeing him after he kind of disappeared off the face of the earth the last
few weeks and it turned out he was in Sal and Praia. I hung out at the
girls¹ house for awhile. Ta braided my hair and I look like ³a basketball
player² according to her. I guess only basketball players braid their hair?
Anyways, I had a good time and confirmed our dinner plans for this evening.
When I got home around 6:30 I started making the lasagna and a group of 10
little kids show up to color so I give them markers and paper while I¹m busy
in the kitchen. My wall is now bursting with kids pictures. Soon, I¹m going
to just take them all down and put them in a book or something because there
is no more room on my walls and its kind of getting tacky. After I burn the
crust of my pudding pie and the girls knock over my cat¹s water bowl and
scare her to the point where she is hiding behind the fridge they leave and
I have my peace for about 5 minutes at which Dinora shows up. So Dinora,
Juelma and I play Uno and are in our game for a round or two when No shows
up. So we¹re playing cards and he¹s just sort of sitting at the table
drawing on a match box and not more than another 5 minutes pass before Ja
shows up. So once again I have a full house. The five of us play Uno for
about half an hour (I won 1 game out of about a dozen) and I tell them that
this is our last hand because I have people coming for dinner. So we finish
our hand while my dinner guests arrive. Then Dinora gets all upset (which I
didn¹t realize until later) because she wasn¹t invited to this dinner. I
sort of ignore it and after a few minutes she goes home. So I get all the
plates out to set the table and Ta Ta comes up to me and says they aren¹t
going to eat and just came to see me. It really upset me because I spent all
day preparing a nice dinner for them and all of a sudden I get this ³we
aren¹t going to eat.² They could tell I was upset so I guess they caved in
and decided they would have a little but they have no idea how disappointed
I was. It was worse than having friends bail out on coming over for dinner
or to hang out. They were physically in my house, the food, drinks, plates,
etc were on the table and they say they aren¹t eating. Then when they did
eat, I felt like it was out of guilt because they knew they upset me. I
don¹t know. Its over with now but it really hit me hard.
After they all left to go dancing No stayed for a bit while I cleaned up and
told me that Dinora was really upset. I¹m sorry to upset her but she can¹t
just show up at my house around dinner time and expect me to feed her
everyday. First of all, she was sick and eating lasagna isn¹t the best get
better food, Second, I¹m not her mother and she has food at home to eat,
third, I invited other people to come over for dinner as they have invited
me numerous times recently. Fourth, she pretty much abuses me by coming over
and hanging out when she wants, not just when we have arranged for her to
come clean my house, has had more meals than I can count at my house and
spends her time here freely and I am fed up with being taken advantage of
and am not going to let it continue. So I do not feel bad about her not
eating at my house tonight and if she is really that upset about it she
should bring it up with me at a later time.
Ok, I¹m glad to get that off my chest. I¹m going to sleep now and hope that
this week goes well.
Its been awhile since I¹ve written. Things are settling here and there has
been a lot going on. I¹ve been having problems with my bad toe for awhile
and was being told I have an ingrown toenail but I have no idea if its
really ingrown or not. Its been hurting, especially when I walk on it a lot.
I¹ve been soaking it in salt water four times a day at the request of the
PCMO. I¹m now on antibiotics which I¹m sure are helping or just giving me
stomach problems. Ah vida.
I started my English class and computer classes. The English class is going
pretty well so far except for the fact that no one wants to do their
homework. There are a few people who I can tell study and try to speak
English with me outside of the classroom but the majority seem to think that
they can just show up to class and automatically speak perfect English. At
least they are showing up and showing an interest in coming which is why I
am giving the class in the first place.
We¹ve had one computer class so far and it went pretty well. It was supposed
to start when the English class did but there was a slight set back with
confusion between the Camara and the person responsible for the Community
Center where I teach. She thought that since the Camara put in new
computers, she should ask the Camara first if it was ok for me to give class
in the computer room. I was sent to the Camara to get ³authorization² from
the president of the Camara to give the class. When I got the Camara, the
president laughed and said that I don¹t need authorization, I am here to be
doing things to help the community and that the new computers are there to
be used. So I got back to Calheta and told her but she still wouldn¹t let me
start class until she got an okay from the Camara. So I had her call the
Camara and 10 seconds later its okay for me to give class. I got a talking
to the day after class because I told my students to take off the plastic
covering the keyboard and wires because they ³need to stay pretty and
clean². I didn¹t want to argue with her but I tried to explain that you
cannot see the keyboard when it is covered in plastic and I am trying to
teach beginning computers where students need to learn what everything does
and plastic hinders that. I was also trying to explain that the plastic
covering the wires would not protect the wires from getting dirt inside of
them and keep the inside of the computer clean but it was all in one ear and
out the other.
The computer class for the women¹s group is going slow. I am giving class at
night and the first night the electricity went out and all nights following
we have had no electricity. Another thing to think through when giving a
computer classŠ
While I was at the Camara trying to get my class authorized I talked with a
friend who works there about a sensitization campaign leading up to World
AIDS Day. So I¹ll be helping out with that once it gets more organized. We
were supposed to have a meeting but so far that hasn¹t happened.
This past Friday was another big day of baptisms and I ended up spending the
evening with Ta, Ta Ta, Neya, and Mena whose brother¹s kid was baptized. I
ended up chatting with an old man named Pedro for about half an hour about
his many adventures around the world working on boats. It seems like a lot
of older men have similar experiences working on boats when they were
younger. This man had traveled all over the world and when I asked him how
he liked Australia, he replied by saying that he had a pequena (girlfriend)
there.
I¹m in a pretty bad mood right now. I left my house this afternoon to go
visit Ta, Ta Ta, and Neya and ran into Ja on the way to Bashona. It was good
seeing him after he kind of disappeared off the face of the earth the last
few weeks and it turned out he was in Sal and Praia. I hung out at the
girls¹ house for awhile. Ta braided my hair and I look like ³a basketball
player² according to her. I guess only basketball players braid their hair?
Anyways, I had a good time and confirmed our dinner plans for this evening.
When I got home around 6:30 I started making the lasagna and a group of 10
little kids show up to color so I give them markers and paper while I¹m busy
in the kitchen. My wall is now bursting with kids pictures. Soon, I¹m going
to just take them all down and put them in a book or something because there
is no more room on my walls and its kind of getting tacky. After I burn the
crust of my pudding pie and the girls knock over my cat¹s water bowl and
scare her to the point where she is hiding behind the fridge they leave and
I have my peace for about 5 minutes at which Dinora shows up. So Dinora,
Juelma and I play Uno and are in our game for a round or two when No shows
up. So we¹re playing cards and he¹s just sort of sitting at the table
drawing on a match box and not more than another 5 minutes pass before Ja
shows up. So once again I have a full house. The five of us play Uno for
about half an hour (I won 1 game out of about a dozen) and I tell them that
this is our last hand because I have people coming for dinner. So we finish
our hand while my dinner guests arrive. Then Dinora gets all upset (which I
didn¹t realize until later) because she wasn¹t invited to this dinner. I
sort of ignore it and after a few minutes she goes home. So I get all the
plates out to set the table and Ta Ta comes up to me and says they aren¹t
going to eat and just came to see me. It really upset me because I spent all
day preparing a nice dinner for them and all of a sudden I get this ³we
aren¹t going to eat.² They could tell I was upset so I guess they caved in
and decided they would have a little but they have no idea how disappointed
I was. It was worse than having friends bail out on coming over for dinner
or to hang out. They were physically in my house, the food, drinks, plates,
etc were on the table and they say they aren¹t eating. Then when they did
eat, I felt like it was out of guilt because they knew they upset me. I
don¹t know. Its over with now but it really hit me hard.
After they all left to go dancing No stayed for a bit while I cleaned up and
told me that Dinora was really upset. I¹m sorry to upset her but she can¹t
just show up at my house around dinner time and expect me to feed her
everyday. First of all, she was sick and eating lasagna isn¹t the best get
better food, Second, I¹m not her mother and she has food at home to eat,
third, I invited other people to come over for dinner as they have invited
me numerous times recently. Fourth, she pretty much abuses me by coming over
and hanging out when she wants, not just when we have arranged for her to
come clean my house, has had more meals than I can count at my house and
spends her time here freely and I am fed up with being taken advantage of
and am not going to let it continue. So I do not feel bad about her not
eating at my house tonight and if she is really that upset about it she
should bring it up with me at a later time.
Ok, I¹m glad to get that off my chest. I¹m going to sleep now and hope that
this week goes well.
September 24
One of the things I have noticed more recently is the impeccable memory of
Cape Verdians or maybe its just in Maio. I¹m not sure. The topic of rain
comes up often in conversation, more often, complaining about the lack of
rain this year and how that is bad. But more so, people here will tell me
which days it rained last year, the last rain from last year and how many
times it rained. I guess when something that important happens you remember
when it does. But people also know exactly what day I came back to Calheta
for demystification with the trainees and other details that I don¹t ever
think to remember.
One of the things I have noticed more recently is the impeccable memory of
Cape Verdians or maybe its just in Maio. I¹m not sure. The topic of rain
comes up often in conversation, more often, complaining about the lack of
rain this year and how that is bad. But more so, people here will tell me
which days it rained last year, the last rain from last year and how many
times it rained. I guess when something that important happens you remember
when it does. But people also know exactly what day I came back to Calheta
for demystification with the trainees and other details that I don¹t ever
think to remember.
September 12
So I wrote an entire entry and then I had to re-login into google and lost
everything I wrote. Way to go Jules. Anyways, I¹m back in Maio and this past
week has been quite an experience.
Last weekend was the municipal festa in Vila bringing what seemed like half
of Praia to Maio and preventing me from getting a boat ticket until last
Thursday. It was a little intimidating with all these extra people but I had
a great time with Claudia, Manuela, and Dirce dancing to Ferra Gaita, eating
ice cream, and seeing old friends.
My new life in Calheta is taking a little getting used to and the ³fora²
lifestyle is definitely different from living in ³the big city.² I¹ve had my
friend/embregada and the 11-year old daughter of another friend at my house
about 6 or more hours a day and have felt a little like a babysitter at
times. I feel the need to entertain them which means we¹ve been playing a
lot of Uno, drawing pictures, taking walks, and going to the beach. This is
all great but having extra people in my house all the time is a bit much and
while I enjoy their company, I also need some privacy. I¹m still without a
fridge and stove, thanks Peace Corps, so I¹ve been eating a lot of toast and
salad this week. With extra people in my house during mealtime, it is
culturally appropriate to offer them food so I¹m essentially making food for
three which is okay but I rather not have to spend my money to provide them
dinner and snack everyday. I¹ve got to find a balance and something I am
comfortable with and as of now I have not yet reached it.
Another new thing in my life is getting a talking to because I¹m not sitting
in the road with everyone at night. I wasn¹t aware that sitting out with
everyone was the norm here so my 9:30 bedtime is getting dragged out until
closer to midnight each night.
Despite these challenges, I really am enjoying my life here. I¹ve been
invited to multiple people¹s houses for meals, gone to the beach with
friends and people I hadn¹t known well, sat and chatted with different
community members and overall feel like part of the community. Its nice to
have people invite you to a little festa at their house, to play football in
the ocean with 20 kids, and to go planting with my neighbors.
I talked to one of the women who weaves and am going to try to work with her
to do a workshop relating to business skills and helping sell her and other
women¹s products. I¹m also working with Djoi, who teaches music, to start a
small music school and get recorders for students to play. The CEJ has now
been converted into a radio station, firefighter headquarters and remains
only with the secretarial office and the computer lab. This should be
interesting. I think I¹m going to focus on working in Calheta as much as
possible. Tomorrow we have a meeting to discuss future classes and
activities and I am really looking forward to it.
This evening we there was live music and a dance put on by a local group in
Calheta called Os Tavares to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Its about
12:30 right now and I¹m exhausted so I am skipping the dancing part but the
music was great and it was really cool to see people I know up on stage
singing and playing guitar.
Sunday was fantastic. Ja and Dinora came over and we taught Ja how to play
Uno. He then proceeded to kick my butt with his new found Uno skills.
Elizabet and her brother Pascal came by to check out my broken toilet (the
knob broke and water won¹t enter which means I¹m doing manual flushing
jobs). While they were here Pascal fixed my stanchion so that my clothes
won¹t fall off. After lunch Dinora and I went over to Neusa¹s house (Nona)
to see her new baby, Bruna. She is really beautiful. We sat and chatted for
a bit and then Dinora, Ja and I went in the ocean before the community
meeting. Ja had one of those big innertubes like they have at water parks
and the three of us were flipping each other out of it. I showed up to the
community center a few minutes late for our meeting and no one showed up.
Great. So I rescheduled the meeting for Monday. I spent a few more hours
wandering around town with Dinora to visit other friends. Alice was at her
mom¹s house making pastels, which I have learned is her new profession. In
the evening I went to Claudia¹s for a grilhada and had my first grilled
buzio (conch). When I was over at the house earlier, we were making
Manuela¹s 2 yr old daughter Stella dance batuk and laughing hysterically.
She¹s too young to know that this making her dance business is for our own
entertainment but that¹s pretty much what it comes down to. At the grilhada,
I was the main spectacle as I kept getting put in front of the spotlight to
show off my terrible dancing skills. It was a lot of fun but I felt really
silly. There¹s this song whose lyrics are ³Tra tra, tra rabu tra² pretty
much over and over again for a long time which pretty much means ³bring your
tail² or ³shake your ass.² That was what we were singing and dancing to
pretty much all night. Once the grilhada ended we headed to the dance in my
neighborhood for an hour and I got some more awful pick up lines. Besides
the normal ³you are pretty,² I have gotten ³You are my Jesus, my savior,²
³You are the prettiest white girl who has ever come to Cape Verde,² and ³You
need to kiss/date/sleep with a Cape Verdian/fill in blank of person¹s name
and your boyfriend in America will never have to know.² Thank you men of
Cape Verde.
Monday was a little ridiculous. I went to Vila in the morning to run some
errands, came home at 11 and called my boss to see if my stove was coming.
It turns out they sent it Saturday and apparently he had left a message on
my phone which magically disappeared because when I checked my messages
there were none there. Anyways, I go back to Vila around 12, go to the
Camara to get a car to help me and am told there are no cars that can carry
a stove and fridge. Luckily this guy from Calheta works at the Camara and I
ask him if he knows anyone with a car and he hooks me up with a guy named
Pal, no joke, Pal, who comes to my rescue. I then get a ride down to the
pier from the Camara and am told that my stuff was sent ³to the Camara² and
not to my name and that the Camara must come down the pier and sign off and
pay the taxes on it before I can pick it up. By the time we get back to the
Camara its almost one o¹clock when the pier closes for lunch and the guy
from the Camara who has to go sign off is also on his way to lunch and tells
me to come back at 2. So I go to Stephanie¹s and eat cheeseburgers for lunch
(the one good thing that came out of this day) and go back to the Camara
around 2:30 because lets face it, they aren¹t really going to be back at 2.
And in reality, he didn¹t get back until 2:45 and when he actually got to
the pier at 2:55 it was closing for the day and they couldn¹t sign off. So
I¹m told to come back on Tuesday. I get home in a bad mood and clean up a
little while I wait for people to come to my make up meeting for the day
before. Two people show up, better than none, and I have them sign up for
class. We look through pictures, take pictures and they also get to learn
Uno. I¹m determined to teach everyone in Calheta how to play Uno. So far
we¹re up to 5 people. Anyways, they leave and Claudia and Manuela come to
sign up and sign up their friends and we look through photos and videos.
After they leave, Djoi and Jacinta come over to borrow DVDs and offer to
bring me coffee for breakfast. I love them. My landlord made dinner again
for me. She is so sweet and I feel like I owe her a month¹s worth of meals.
Everyone here has been so great to me in helping me get used to my life here
and solving my lack of stove and fridge problems.
Today the stove and fridge saga continued. I went to the Camara around 8:45
to speak with the guy who has to sign off for me and waited until 9:15 when
I had to leave for another meeting. This guy from the Red Cross was supposed
to meet me at 9:30 to write a letter to the Camara asking for use of the
Polivalente and speakers for an activity but he never showed. I gave up on
waiting at 10:30 and headed back to the Camara. The guy I needed to see was
right there when I arrived and he said everything was ready to go. So I
called up Pal and he met me at the pier where we loaded the stove and fridge
into his truck! He said he had some work to do in Vila and agreed to giving
me a call when he was heading back to Calheta. In the meantime, I met up
with Stephanie, checked Internet and had lunch at the Italian restaurant. I
got a ride back with another driver and am still waiting to hear from him.
At least I know that my stuff is on his truck and will be delivered today.
So I¹m now trying to plan out my first cooked meal in Calheta- lasagna or
chili or mashed potatoes. HmmŠ
So I wrote an entire entry and then I had to re-login into google and lost
everything I wrote. Way to go Jules. Anyways, I¹m back in Maio and this past
week has been quite an experience.
Last weekend was the municipal festa in Vila bringing what seemed like half
of Praia to Maio and preventing me from getting a boat ticket until last
Thursday. It was a little intimidating with all these extra people but I had
a great time with Claudia, Manuela, and Dirce dancing to Ferra Gaita, eating
ice cream, and seeing old friends.
My new life in Calheta is taking a little getting used to and the ³fora²
lifestyle is definitely different from living in ³the big city.² I¹ve had my
friend/embregada and the 11-year old daughter of another friend at my house
about 6 or more hours a day and have felt a little like a babysitter at
times. I feel the need to entertain them which means we¹ve been playing a
lot of Uno, drawing pictures, taking walks, and going to the beach. This is
all great but having extra people in my house all the time is a bit much and
while I enjoy their company, I also need some privacy. I¹m still without a
fridge and stove, thanks Peace Corps, so I¹ve been eating a lot of toast and
salad this week. With extra people in my house during mealtime, it is
culturally appropriate to offer them food so I¹m essentially making food for
three which is okay but I rather not have to spend my money to provide them
dinner and snack everyday. I¹ve got to find a balance and something I am
comfortable with and as of now I have not yet reached it.
Another new thing in my life is getting a talking to because I¹m not sitting
in the road with everyone at night. I wasn¹t aware that sitting out with
everyone was the norm here so my 9:30 bedtime is getting dragged out until
closer to midnight each night.
Despite these challenges, I really am enjoying my life here. I¹ve been
invited to multiple people¹s houses for meals, gone to the beach with
friends and people I hadn¹t known well, sat and chatted with different
community members and overall feel like part of the community. Its nice to
have people invite you to a little festa at their house, to play football in
the ocean with 20 kids, and to go planting with my neighbors.
I talked to one of the women who weaves and am going to try to work with her
to do a workshop relating to business skills and helping sell her and other
women¹s products. I¹m also working with Djoi, who teaches music, to start a
small music school and get recorders for students to play. The CEJ has now
been converted into a radio station, firefighter headquarters and remains
only with the secretarial office and the computer lab. This should be
interesting. I think I¹m going to focus on working in Calheta as much as
possible. Tomorrow we have a meeting to discuss future classes and
activities and I am really looking forward to it.
This evening we there was live music and a dance put on by a local group in
Calheta called Os Tavares to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Its about
12:30 right now and I¹m exhausted so I am skipping the dancing part but the
music was great and it was really cool to see people I know up on stage
singing and playing guitar.
Sunday was fantastic. Ja and Dinora came over and we taught Ja how to play
Uno. He then proceeded to kick my butt with his new found Uno skills.
Elizabet and her brother Pascal came by to check out my broken toilet (the
knob broke and water won¹t enter which means I¹m doing manual flushing
jobs). While they were here Pascal fixed my stanchion so that my clothes
won¹t fall off. After lunch Dinora and I went over to Neusa¹s house (Nona)
to see her new baby, Bruna. She is really beautiful. We sat and chatted for
a bit and then Dinora, Ja and I went in the ocean before the community
meeting. Ja had one of those big innertubes like they have at water parks
and the three of us were flipping each other out of it. I showed up to the
community center a few minutes late for our meeting and no one showed up.
Great. So I rescheduled the meeting for Monday. I spent a few more hours
wandering around town with Dinora to visit other friends. Alice was at her
mom¹s house making pastels, which I have learned is her new profession. In
the evening I went to Claudia¹s for a grilhada and had my first grilled
buzio (conch). When I was over at the house earlier, we were making
Manuela¹s 2 yr old daughter Stella dance batuk and laughing hysterically.
She¹s too young to know that this making her dance business is for our own
entertainment but that¹s pretty much what it comes down to. At the grilhada,
I was the main spectacle as I kept getting put in front of the spotlight to
show off my terrible dancing skills. It was a lot of fun but I felt really
silly. There¹s this song whose lyrics are ³Tra tra, tra rabu tra² pretty
much over and over again for a long time which pretty much means ³bring your
tail² or ³shake your ass.² That was what we were singing and dancing to
pretty much all night. Once the grilhada ended we headed to the dance in my
neighborhood for an hour and I got some more awful pick up lines. Besides
the normal ³you are pretty,² I have gotten ³You are my Jesus, my savior,²
³You are the prettiest white girl who has ever come to Cape Verde,² and ³You
need to kiss/date/sleep with a Cape Verdian/fill in blank of person¹s name
and your boyfriend in America will never have to know.² Thank you men of
Cape Verde.
Monday was a little ridiculous. I went to Vila in the morning to run some
errands, came home at 11 and called my boss to see if my stove was coming.
It turns out they sent it Saturday and apparently he had left a message on
my phone which magically disappeared because when I checked my messages
there were none there. Anyways, I go back to Vila around 12, go to the
Camara to get a car to help me and am told there are no cars that can carry
a stove and fridge. Luckily this guy from Calheta works at the Camara and I
ask him if he knows anyone with a car and he hooks me up with a guy named
Pal, no joke, Pal, who comes to my rescue. I then get a ride down to the
pier from the Camara and am told that my stuff was sent ³to the Camara² and
not to my name and that the Camara must come down the pier and sign off and
pay the taxes on it before I can pick it up. By the time we get back to the
Camara its almost one o¹clock when the pier closes for lunch and the guy
from the Camara who has to go sign off is also on his way to lunch and tells
me to come back at 2. So I go to Stephanie¹s and eat cheeseburgers for lunch
(the one good thing that came out of this day) and go back to the Camara
around 2:30 because lets face it, they aren¹t really going to be back at 2.
And in reality, he didn¹t get back until 2:45 and when he actually got to
the pier at 2:55 it was closing for the day and they couldn¹t sign off. So
I¹m told to come back on Tuesday. I get home in a bad mood and clean up a
little while I wait for people to come to my make up meeting for the day
before. Two people show up, better than none, and I have them sign up for
class. We look through pictures, take pictures and they also get to learn
Uno. I¹m determined to teach everyone in Calheta how to play Uno. So far
we¹re up to 5 people. Anyways, they leave and Claudia and Manuela come to
sign up and sign up their friends and we look through photos and videos.
After they leave, Djoi and Jacinta come over to borrow DVDs and offer to
bring me coffee for breakfast. I love them. My landlord made dinner again
for me. She is so sweet and I feel like I owe her a month¹s worth of meals.
Everyone here has been so great to me in helping me get used to my life here
and solving my lack of stove and fridge problems.
Today the stove and fridge saga continued. I went to the Camara around 8:45
to speak with the guy who has to sign off for me and waited until 9:15 when
I had to leave for another meeting. This guy from the Red Cross was supposed
to meet me at 9:30 to write a letter to the Camara asking for use of the
Polivalente and speakers for an activity but he never showed. I gave up on
waiting at 10:30 and headed back to the Camara. The guy I needed to see was
right there when I arrived and he said everything was ready to go. So I
called up Pal and he met me at the pier where we loaded the stove and fridge
into his truck! He said he had some work to do in Vila and agreed to giving
me a call when he was heading back to Calheta. In the meantime, I met up
with Stephanie, checked Internet and had lunch at the Italian restaurant. I
got a ride back with another driver and am still waiting to hear from him.
At least I know that my stuff is on his truck and will be delivered today.
So I¹m now trying to plan out my first cooked meal in Calheta- lasagna or
chili or mashed potatoes. HmmŠ
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