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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.