Ok kiddies, a real post! Here are the 14 pages, single spaced, that I have been writing on and off for the last month. It starts out while traveling and ends... this morning. Enjoy!
Friday, July 7, sometime after midnight – Dakar, Senegal
We just arrived in Africa a few hours ago, and my group of travelers got stuck with a night over in Dakar. I say stuck, but I’m really not complaining. I’ve always wanted to see Senegal, and now I’ve got the whole morning to do it. Our hotel is right on the beach, north of Dakar on the opposite edge of the peninsula. This is the westernmost point of continental Africa, apparently. The PC director for Senegal has informed us that the beach is amazingly beautiful, but it’s dark already, so I’ll have to wait until morning to find out.
Travel so far has been pretty hellish. Our original flights through Amsterdam were cancelled sometime last week and everything has been reorganized at the last minute, and it’s all been chaotic. We were routed through Paris, but everyone left DC at different times. After all taking the same flight to Dakar, half the crew has continued on to Praia, while the other half is staying here. My hotel room is really nice and has a spectacular view of the ocean and what looks like it might be a port, though I can’t really tell. Gotta wrap this up, cuz I think I just fried my voltage converter and I’m out of battery…
Monday, July 10, 2006, just before 9 pm – Sao Domingos, Cabo Verde
Ok, well I finally got an adapter, thanks to the genius of one of my little brothers (more on that in a bit). So I am sitting in my living room (mine for the next 2 months at least), while the rest of my host family watches Brazilian soap operas. Now, to start where I left off…
My morning in Dakar was pretty nice. I woke up around 10, and went to lounge by the pool for a bit. There was a mismatch with boy/girl ratios, so I ended up rooming with Catalina, a volunteer in her mid twenties from Arizona, I think. Some other PC folks were already by the pool, and the rest wandered down as time went on. I left our private beach (our hotel was pretty nice…) to walk down the public beach for a bit. Yeah, we didn’t get stared at. It was me, Kyle, and Mike; 3 white kids on a beach that probably doesn’t get too many. But the beach was colorful and loud, if really really dirty. Guys rake piles of garbage out of the water and neatly organize them all day. The result is large piles of trash every twenty feet; not pretty. But the water was blue and warm, though I wouldn’t have gone for a swim. That’s what the pool was for. We had a huge lunch, and then headed for the airport, where we soon discovered that TACV (Cabo Verde’s airline) doesn’t really have its own check in section, or employees that I could see for that matter. One other kid and I had enough French between the two of us to work out a solution. Even with pretty decent listening comprehension, the African accent makes Senegalese French REALLY hard to understand. But I buddied up with an Air Senegal guy named Mike (probably not his real name?) who knew as much English as I know French, and we managed to check in all 16 of us, AND recover all the baggage for the other 16. Did I mention that? Didn’t think so. Yeah, TACV totally forgot to send on everyone’s bags to Praia. And of course we found out that our flight was delayed 2 hours and change. So we hung out in the airport from 2 to 8:30-ish. I made friends at the airport bar with a Danish guy named Per, which was apparently funny… Someone decided he was gay and hitting on me, plus he was some form of international sheep trader, which didn’t help. Anyway, I learned a fair amount about West Africa from him, plus his beer and the others I bought combined forces with my malaria prophylaxis to get me way drunker than I should have been. Anyway.
Arrival in Praia was chaotic, since we had to not only find all of our own bags, but all the rest as well. Then when we went through customs (no, they didn’t mind that we each had about 8 bags… thank you 3rd world countries), only to find… no one. No PC representative to be found. Finally, some guy walks up and says “Peace Corps?” As if the 16 kids piled with 2 years worth of luggage wasn’t obvious. So we loaded all our crap into a huge truck, hopped into a few vans and trucks, and headed into Praia. We stayed the first couple nights at a student residence, kind of a dormitory-esque situation. Obviously this involved lugging all our shit up to the 4th floor (or maybe 5th… it felt like a lot more), for the billionth time. In any event, I walked up a lot of stairs with a lot of luggage, not all of it my own.
The next couple days were spent at a local high school, sitting in a classroom getting basic training stuff. Most of it was what I expected: what places to avoid, how to act, medical procedures, rules, etc. One rule turns out to be that we are not allowed to start romantic relationships during training. A current volunteer revealed to us the night before that practically everyone in her training class dated someone during the first nine weeks, most of which ended in disaster, seeing as at the end you basically move to a different island, unless of course you are placed in Praia or Sao Domingos. But I won’t be. Nonetheless, there are several pretty girls in the group, all of whom are chill and likeable. And we’re spending a full 9 weeks intensely together. I can’t see how people won’t end up dating, no matter what. But I guess we’ll see.
Not much interesting to say about training… got some shots, played lots of ice-breakers, got a rudimentary lesson in Kriolu… But the country of Cape Verde (also known as Cabo Verde in Portuguese, or Kabu Verdi in Kriolu) is… well, here’s the bad: It is dry and dusty, not particularly green where I am, though I understand that other islands and even other parts of Santiago are much more lush. It is poor, and many buildings are crumbling, or frequently unfinished, with rebar sticking out of the upper floors. There is garbage all over the place, and people generally toss trash wherever they feel like it. There is no such thing as a hot shower; there is only one knob and it is for cold. Really cold. The sewer system is not very robust, and it can’t handle anything except #1 and #2. That includes toilet paper. Which goes in the garbage bin by the toilet. Still getting used to that one. But the good things about this country…
It is warm and breezy all the time. I mean it. The day can get up into the upper 80s, and with the sun, it’s pretty hot. But it’s not sticky humid heat like CT or SD. It’s pretty pleasant, as long as you’re not lugging a girl’s 75 lb suitcase up a few flights of stairs. And the heat lasts only from about 10 am to 5 pm. Other than that it is in the 70s with a perpetual breeze. The ocean is beautiful, though I actually haven’t spent too much time there, since I have been busy pretty much 18 hours a day since arrival. The staff here is great, and they make everything really easy, but it is still a lot of work to do, and it takes a lot of adjusting. I left my life to live in Africa, what the fuck did I expect?? Nothing less.
So I’ve been getting a better idea lately about what I may end up doing. I had an interview with the assistant director, who leads the Community Development program here. He asked about my managerial skills, and when I told him I managed a helpdesk for a year and a half, he was overjoyed: “THAT’s what I want to hear!!” So apparently we are looking to send a couple people to an island that does not currently have volunteers, to start new projects in IT and TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language). I don’t have any more details, but apparently I am a good candidate. I also wrote in my pre-training survey that I am interested in starting a project from scratch. It doesn’t hurt that the island in question has the most beautiful beaches in the country and is a European tourism hotspot. OK. I’m in.
Sunday afternoon, we left Praia just before noon to drive in an hiace to Sao Domingos, a small municipality about a half hour outside Praia, inland. There is no internet here at all, which is why I am writing all this on my laptop, to post at a later date. I am staying with a host family here, to improve my Kriolu and adjust to the culture. I thought it would be really hard, but they have made it very easy. My host mom is really sweet and feeds me well. We live right next to the school where our training HQ is set up, so my walk in the morning and afternoon is about 200 feet down a hill, which I don’t mind. Means more sleep. It also turns out that they own a little restaurant/bar in the front of the house that only serves fried chicken, French fries, and rice. Best god damn fried chicken I’ve ever had. Wow. So I eat well, though my nickname will probably be Fatty by the time I leave here. Her husband is a truck driver, so he is gone most of the day, and I have had little chance to get to know him. But hey, only 1.5 days have gone by, and I’ve got 9 full weeks ahead of me. My little brothers on the other hand… I have gotten to know them well.
The younger, Maniyky, is 8, and the older, Yanyky, is 12, almost 13. Both are little troublemakers, and are so much fun. They are the little brothers I never had. The first afternoon, I took a nap, and after waking up, Maniyky was ready to start leading me around. We went to investigate some loud music from down the street, and found a funana band warming up. I have no idea if I spelled that right. Afterward, we played soccer using one of his shoes, because we had no ball. Oh well. After returning home, I sat down with a Kriolu dictionary and tried my best for a few hours with my host mom. She is very patient with my shitty speaking, and said that I speak more and better than the volunteer she hosted before, whom I met last week.
Interlude: Kriolu. Strange language. It is not as close to Portuguese as I thought. It is not a written language, but is only used as a day to day conversation language. Verbs are not conjugated, and the whole structure is simple simple simple. I am picking it up fast, but my vocabulary sucks. Then again, I’ve only had 3 lessons. It’s a struggle to get by every day with my family here, but I’m pretty optimistic about learning this quickly. Some other trainees are having a much harder time. It sounds like a strange mixture of Portuguese and every African language you’ve ever heard. Take for instance this easy phrase: N ka gosta galinha – I don’t like chicken. Say it out loud. It’s really cool – half African, half European in sound. I can’t wait to come back to the States and be the only kid fluent in Kriolu. Ha. Just kidding, I have no desire to be in the US right now. You couldn’t pay me enough to go back.
So, back to what I’m doing. I was in class all day today, getting Kriolu lessons, medical info (water purifier, medical kit, more shots, etc). At lunch I showed my little brothers all my cool shit from the US: laptop, iPod, camera, hackysack, poi set, etc. They were pretty entertained, mainly by the hackysack. (Note to the Nesselhufs: two little kids in Cape Verde know all about “VOTE BEN”) After training, Maniyky convinced me to go for a little hike in the mountains… This turned out to involve hiking up a steep slope of slippery dust and jagged rocks, bramble bushes, and steep rocky faces plunging off cliffs. By the top, I was beat, sweaty, and covered in dirt (that’s kind of a way of life here… above all, it is DUSTY). But ohhhh the view. I had an amazing shot of the whole valley of Sao Domingos, plus the road leading away on the other side, not to mention the rest of the mountains in the distance. Clearly, I forgot my camera. So I’m gonna take some other trainees up there soon to take in the view.
Today is a trainee’s (Jean-Claude) birthday, so we all went out to find a place to party, but somehow he never made it out… So a whole bunch of us went to a little bar, where a clearly drunk creepy old man serenaded all the girls on a beat up guitar. I had a beer and headed home, because my host mom wanted me back early. She appreciated my punctuality, and I guess I don’t mind. Sure, I’d rather have gotten smashed, but I didn’t come out here to do what I’ve been doing in the US for the last 5 years. So after writing 3 pages single spaced here, I’m more than ready to hit the sack. More thoughts on Cabo Verde to come.
Tuesday, July 11 – 1:30 pm
Back on a short lunch break, and I’ve run out of awkward conversation with my host family. They are always busy at lunch anyway, so it’s fine. It turns out that they are adept at making things other than fried chicken, but it’s still all fried. Last night I had what I thought was just fish, but moréâ turns out to be exactly what it sounds like: moray. Fried, of course. And it was pretty damn good, although there are lots and lots of pin bones to pick out, and the spine is pretty significant in size. Today lunch was some kind of unidentified white fish, fried up in big chunks. It’s all very salty and filling, and my cholesterol is probably already 10 points higher than it was 3 days ago, but you won’t find me complaining. And you all thought I’d get skinnier in Africa…
The family here has 3 pets. They have a kitten and a puppy, both about 4 months old, who fight with each other nearly constantly, but in a playful way, so I stay entertained. When I arrived, I had been told that my family has a makáku, monkey, but there was no monkey to be found. I eventually discovered through, broken Kriolu that the monkey was just on vacation at someone else’s house. However, he has just made an appearance. I believe his name is Xiki, and he’s not particularly friendly, but he doesn’t mind being petted, although the cat seems to hate him.
Learned a bit more about the culture of the islands today. Apparently the southern islands are more “African,” while the northern are more “European.” In retrospect, I can see how that is true of Santiago. The people I see here look more West African than what I had seen in pictures. I discussed the possibility of starting a project there again yesterday, and Aguido (Asst Director for development) still says to keep it in mind. I spoke with another PC worker, and she told me that life there is S L O W. Which is cool. I guess I could use a couple years of relaxation. Note to East Coasters: I might not fit in there anymore when I return. Have I mentioned that I may head off to France for 9 months when I come back? Yeah, I’ll fill you in on that when I have time. Ok, back to the liseu for more development seminars and Kriolu class.
Wednesday July 12, 2006 – 8:40 pm
Ok, well the last day and change have been pretty good to me. I did some language classes yesterday afternoon, and afterwards I went to play soccer with some PC friends. There is a little sports complex in the center of town. And by “little sports complex” I mean that it is a concrete soccer field, with basketball hoops for good measure. It was pretty much exactly what I pictured Africa to be like. Crumbling walls, 150 kids playing various sports… I dunno, it just looked like a video from the travel channel or something. Anyway, everyone was really really really good at soccer, so I didn’t play at first, but when some more volunteers showed up, we went to another field nearby to play. It was pretty much a large patch of dirt with goal nets at either end. So I started playing, and had to good fortune to grab a free ball with no defenders between me and the goal. So I starting kicking and running when… I fall. Yeah. I’m wearing a pair of K Swiss skate shoes with no grip and I’m running on 3 inches of fine dust. So I fall, do a somersault, and land sitting, jump up and look for the ball, but my friend Darrel has already scored. Ah well. I’ve got some scrapes and minor embarrassment to show for it. So I guess I suck at soccer. Ha. I’ve got 2 years to get better, so no worries. After a nice shower and some antibiotic ointment, I had some dinner and settled down for the usual Brazilian soap operas with my host mom, when Nadia and Courtney, two volunteers, showed up. So we sat in the living room and chatted about random shit for a couple hours. And that was the end of my night.
Today was mostly more training: language, safety and security, roles in community development, and more health. And of course, more shots. Today I got the first in the rabies series, as well as typhoid. By the end of the month, I’ll be immune to nearly every disease known to man. And as far as the health seminar goes, apparently I have little to worry about in Cape Verde, except for diarrhea and a cold. I pretty much lucked out on countries as far as health goes. And people. And beaches. I love my life.
After school, I talked with a volunteer who has been here for a year and did her training in Sao Domingos. She told me that last year, the everyday hangout after training was… my house. Because I’m next to the school, and my host parents run a bar. So I got a dozen or so people to come over for a beer, and we chilled for a couple hours. And the monkey was there, of course.
Right now, my brothers are listening to my iPod, playing with my camera, and trying on my shoes. They really really like to play with my stuff. It doesn’t bother me at all for the time being. It’s kinda fun to be this popular. HA, Maniyki just put on my shoes, which are about twice as big as his feet are. Anyway, my family has fed me way too much beer, and it may be time to head out somewhere. Ate logo…
Thursday July 13 – 7:00 pm
Just got back from another attempt at playing soccer, which failed earlier than even the last try. Both fields near my house were full up and had whole teams waiting to play, so no go. Today was not so good. Not bad, per se, but not so good. The usual cool breeze wasn’t blowing as frequently, so it was much hotter than usual, especially in the school, where there is no a/c, obviously. There pretty much isn’t anywhere.
But what was really bad was the frustration with the community development class. The first 2 hours could have been summed up in about 15 minutes, and the whole day just felt horridly repetitive. Nearly everything we were told was common sense, and I could have figured it all out in a matter of hours if I were just dumped off on site. Of course, I understand that they want everyone on the same page, and that things will pick up as training goes on, but it’s frustrating as all hell when I’m trapped in a room, falling asleep from the heat, with no interest whatsoever in what’s going on.
But Kriolu classes continue to be excellent. My professor, Pedro, is really friendly and fun, and there are only 4 other people in my class anyway, all of whom I like. And that’s for 2 hours in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. I’m beginning to realize that Kriolu is the easiest language EVER. It’s completely intuitive. I’ve had 4 days of class and I can already hold a (somewhat disjointed) conversation. I just need more vocabulary. But it’s pretty encouraging, considering I’ve got 8.5 more weeks to practice.
I’ve acquired a new nickname. Well, nicknames. Leland is too hard for Cape Verdeans to say, so they tack on an i somewhere. I’m either Lelandi, Landi, or Leli. Oh well. I don’t have it as bad as Courtney or Natawnee, who are Corny and Natni, respectively. Anyway, I think it’s dinner time. So much more I could write.
Saturday, July 15 – 7:30 pm
Today: fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. Welcome to Africa. Let the good times roll!
Seriously though, it’s been a rough one. I went out with a bunch of the other volunteers last night to basically the only other good size bar nearby. I didn’t really get too drunk, and I dunno if it was the alcohol that set it off or what, but I woke up this morning with a full on gastrointestinal riot in my body. I’m still feeling pretty crappy, but much better. I can actually walk around in relative comfort now. I’m not sure, but I think I got it from drinking untreated water. My family refilled my water filter, but I think they forgot to add the chlorine drops to kill bacteria. So I got some fresh, sediment-free, but apparently very much alive water. Which I drank all day yesterday. Ah well.
The TEFL kids came back today from shadowing other volunteers for a couple days. It’s just been us CD kids for 48+ hours. (for some reason WNBA is on the TV right now. No joke, I’m in a remote town in the mountains of an African island, and I’m watching the Connecticut Suns. Weird.) I’ve got my shadowing next week, back in Praia, where I will hopefully be able to post all this shit I’ve been writing in my spare time. Apparently, the youth center here has one computer with dial-up, which my director says I can use whenever I want, provided I am able to fix it. Maybe I’ll give that a shot during lunch on Monday.
So other than my internal difficulties, I’ve been having a fucking blast and a half. The things that I thought would bug me (dirty water, no infrastructure, unreliable electricity, etc) haven’t at all. The biggest challenge is just getting my Kriolu on point. Still, considering I didn’t know a damn bit of this language 7 days ago, I am doing really really well. Thus far, this has been the best experience of my life. And it’s only just beginning. Word is that the director has been talking about Boa Vista to another IT volunteer, so now I just have to impress the hell out of him for the next 4 weeks so I can get an edge.
Sometimes when I wake up and look around, it seems pretty bizarre that this finally happened for me. A year ago, I was starting work at ACS, and I really thought I would be there for a while. And now I couldn’t even imagine still being there. So when I am done here in 26.5 months, I gotta find something to do to make permanent my escape from the IT world. So here’s the France thing I mentioned: Apparently the French government will pay a stipend to Americans to come and run English language discussion sections with French students. As in, they give you a place to stay and food money, and you run 12 hours of English discussions per week. Wow. So this would start around October, the same month that I close service. So I could either just stay on this side of the pond and head to France, or I could drop by the States for a couple weeks just to see people.
Also, update: Pretty sure I will not be visiting the US in the next couple years. I kinda thought that was a normal thing to do, but I’ve been talking with volunteers, and it seems that most people don’t bother. Thinking about it, I guess all it would do is make me uncomfortable both there and here. I’d just as soon hike around Africa or hit up France with my folks, which is pretty likely.
My little brother are eating hard boiled eggs in the living room, and the smell is gonna make me boot again. I gotta go find some people in an hour or so and I have yet to choke down my first full meal of the day. Pretty sure I’m losing weight. Damn it!
Wednesday, July 19 – 8:00 pm
Hanging out in the living room, and writing for the first time in a while because we actually haven’t had very consistent electricity since the weekend. All the electricity in the islands is controlled by a Portuguese company that has been unable to fulfill its obligations lately. It’s becoming a hot topic. I don’t know the whole story, but I hear that the Cape Verdean government is pretty pissed about the whole thing, since the company can’t really fulfill its contract. Praia has barely had electricity this week, and it’s been spotty for about a month. Since no one can refrigerate things, people have been getting sick from bad food. A bunch of the TEFL people has some stomach problems last week after eating some questionable chicken at a restaurant in Praia. Fortunately for me, my family’s restaurant is still as delicious as ever, and I have been eating fine. The only problem so far has been the lack of a fan at night, so it’s been a lot hotter when I’m trying to get to sleep. It wouldn’t be a problem, except that I don’t have windows, so it gets stifling. But I’m usually exhausted at the end of the day, so sleep hasn’t been too hard to get.
My illness was brief, and I’m back to my usual chipper self. I got some more immunizations today (total count so far: 6; and that’s only because I got to skip the hepatitis series, which I already had years ago), and I’m pretty sure I’ve got some more next week, and more to follow. I don’t mind so much, since the PC nurse who does it here is pretty experienced. The MMR shot I got in DC made a huge bruise that is still yellow and purple, nearly 2 full weeks later. Good times.
Tomorrow I will hopefully be able to actually post this and write a few emails. For anyone who I don’t get to write to, don’t be offended; I don’t know how much time I’ll have on the internet. It turns out I am not shadowing in Praia, but in Pedra Badejo, which is a much smaller town. It’s coastal, and larger than Sao Domingos, but it’s not exactly a metropolis. I’ll be shadowing Jonah, the volunteer who actually lived in this house last year, so I’ve chilled with him a few times already. He’s a CD volunteer, which is a better match for what I’ll be doing, plus he teaches technology classes at the high school where he lives. And Pedra Badejo has a volcanic black sand beach. Nice.
Not much else to say really. I still love it here, and my Kriolu is progressing well. I ended up switching classes this week, because my previous professor started doing a slower class for those having a rougher time with the language. I don’t like my newer class as much, not because the professor or the other students are worse at all, but just because I was enjoying the vibe we had before. Still, I’m doing fine. I’ve developed a bit of schoolboy crush on another volunteer. Yikes. This can only complicate things.
Last post for god knows how long. I’ll try to keep writing, but I can only keep writing as long as the electricity holds out. I am way too tired at the end of the day to keep a pen and paper journal. Gotta wake up early tomorrow, because I promised the director I’d fix the computers at the youth center here and I can’t really make them wait another week. Plus, I did move here to help out, so I might as well get a head start on it.
I miss you all in the States. No joke. I also miss: Italian food, scotch, fluffy pillows, clean water, my lower intestinal tract, the English language, the internet, New York City, Typhoon, hot showers, flushing toilet paper, deciduous trees, washing machines, and hamburgers. I’ve got so much on my plate here that I barely have time to breathe, but sometimes I wonder what I’d be doing if I hadn’t come here. Oh yeah. I’d be working at ACS. Fuck that! My life is awesome.
Sunday, July 23 – 10:00 pm
Well I’ve had a busy few days. Shadowing was LOTS of fun. I woke up early on Thursday to head over to the CEJ (youth center) to try to fix their computers, because my director had said that they were having some problems with internet access. So Kyle (another trainee) and I worked on a PC for a while and pretty much determined that it was working fine, and that the problem is in fact that the phone line is dead. OK. So I guess my first unofficial project is going to be to figure out why and get this place on line.
I met up with Jonah (the volunteer I shadowed) and Catalina (fellow trainee) and left for Pedra Badejo at around 12. We spent most of Thursday just getting to know the town and wandering around. At night, we played about 5 million rounds of asshole with this French guy whom Jonah knew. I got to practice my French a bit, though it wasn’t so good after some grogue (sugar cane booze, if I haven’t mentioned it before… powerful shit) On Friday, we woke up early and grabbed some breakfast before heading down to the water to snorkel. In pictures, the water doesn’t look all that clear, but that’s only because the rock and sand underneath is volcanic and black. The water is actually really, really clear and blue. So I chased schools of fish and just kinda swam around this little cove for a few hours, earning myself a spectacular sunburn in the process. Cheers to Irish heritage.
We spent a few hours doing Peace Corps type stuff as well. I went to the CEJ that Jonah works at to see what it was like. He teaches computer classes there, which is something I will most likely do, even if it is not my primary project. It’s just that important. So far, I’ve actually been pretty impressed with the level of technology. I was expecting to see wretched old PCs, but they’ve been decent so far. I mean, not exactly sparkling and new, but very useable and in good working order. However, I have been told that I will see lots and lots of porn at the CEJs, which I guess isn’t that surprising. Apparently that is the internet’s gift to developing nations. I also took a little tour of the camara, which is the local government. It’s a very important phenomenon here. The president of the camara is like the local mayor, but it is over a pretty good size chunk of land. It’s more like a county than a city. In any event, when I am at my permanent site, I’ll be working with the camara more than anything else, so it’s all pretty relevant.
We laid low for a while afterwards and bought some unbelievably tasty grilled chicken from a street vendor to make sandwiches with. Jonah and I had a water fight with some local kids, which mainly consisted of them trying to tackle us while avoiding the water we were dumping on them. And it turns out that there was a huge music festival on the beach that night. What luck! So at around 11:30 we headed down to the beach (yep, the one with black sand… so pretty) to do some dancing, along with Max (the French kid) who vanished with a Cape Verdean woman shortly thereafter. There were probably 1500 people on the beach, with food vendors and beer for sale, as well as a stage at one end. The music got into full swing a bit after midnight and went until god knows how late. I learned a few good dances and did surprisingly well for a branku (white guy). We didn’t stay too late, because Catalina and I had to head home in the morning, so we were home by 3 or so.
In the morning, we visited the ocean again to take some pictures (I’ll post them when I get a chance) and then hopped on another hiace to head back to Sao Domingos. Reflection: I am SO excited to live near the ocean. Jonah has a little homemade spear gun that he uses to catch reef fish to cook himself for dinner. I will most definitely be doing exactly that when I get on site. I have also developed a newfound love for snorkeling, which I will be doing a lot. I also have read that while surfing is not as popular here as I thought, windsurfing is huge. And Boa Vista has amazing windsurfing. So that makes me pretty happy. Yet another thing to look forward to. Also, I can’t wait to move into my permanent community and make some real friends. For two years!
Saturday afternoon, I dropped by a Cape Verdean wedding that a friend invited me to, and got to see a true party. It was awesome. Lots of cake, dancing, general camaraderie. That night, I went out to meet up with the other trainees for some good old fashioned drinking. I got to the bar 15 minutes early and impressed myself by having a long conversation with the bartender, entirely in Kriolu. And I knew some of the other patrons there, which made me feel really comfortable and happy to be in this community. After getting pretty smashed, I headed home a bit too late and found my house all locked up (no, I don’t have a key), but my host mom was awake and opened the door for me. I thought she’d be annoyed or mad, but she just thought it was funny that I was drunk.
This morning, we headed off to another town (don’t remember the name) where a volunteer wanted us to see a meeting he had organized for a small women’s microfinance organization that he has been assisting lately. And it turned into a true test of cultural assimilation. One group was about 3 hours late. That’s just how shit happens here. Meeting is for 10 am, but hey 1 pm will do just as well, right? So we bided our time by… throwing a spontaneous dance party, of course. Someone threw in a CD of funana music and we all just kinda started getting down to it. And that went on for quite a while. Amazing. After lunch (had to wait for a long time for that, too) we headed to Courtney’s (another trainee) house and watched Anchorman, a.k.a. the best movie ever.
Since then, I’ve just been wandering around town and hanging out at the bar out front. My family is out there with some friends right now, but I am just too tired to deal with more Kriolu conversation right now. I’m getting better by the day. I rarely have to hesitate, other than to look up a work or paraphrase. So I’m pretty content. No, fuck that, I’m SO happy here. I can’t even tell you how great this country is. Sure, there are things I miss, and people I’d like to see back in the US, but I just can’t get over how great this place is. I couldn’t be more excited to call it my home for the next 2 years. And apologies to everyone on the east coast, but I’m not coming back. I mean, I’ll leave here, but I just can’t go back to CT. There’s too much more out there. If I can find this much in a small group of islands that I never would have thought to visit, imagine how much more there is to see.
I got the opportunity to use the internet and email a few of you this weekend and post something in the blog. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to use my USB drive to post all this, so I will just continue to write here until I can. And by then, none of you will want to read 15+ pages of rambling. Anyway, I’m pretty beat now from drinking a few beers with the fam, plus being in the sun all day on a mountain. Time for bed.
Monday July 24 – 10:00 pm
The problems with electricity are getting worse. No power for several hours now for the ??th day in a row. The generator is out of juice and the fridges and freezers for the restaurant are no longer running. I walked home in total darkness tonight, but fortunately had a flashlight. Not mine, of course. On the positive side, the stars have never looked so pretty and bright, not even in SD where there usually aren’t many lights anyway. I’m a bit nervous right now, because I saw a huge wolf spider in my room this morning that has been suspiciously absent from sight since then. Not all that cool when you’re in the dark. Oh, and it’s hot as fuck in here without the fan running. And the lack of power has killed all water pressure, so we also don’t have any running water anymore. Hi, I live in a developing country.
But all things aside, I had an excellent day. An unfortunate side effect is that my crush on my fellow volunteer, with whom I spent the entire evening (hence the excellence), is getting very distracting and insistent. I’m going to have to do something about it soon. I probably should have tonight, but chickened out, in full Leland form. Well it’s been a long Monday, so I guess it’s time to turn in and sweat myself to sleep. Unless the wolf spider gets me first, or the Lariam wakes me up with bizarre insomnia at 2 am. Which happened last night.
Tuesday July 25 – 8:30 pm
Well it looks like I’m psychic. The Lariam insomnia struck after about 2 hours of sleep. I was up from midnight until around 3:30. The wolf spider made an appearance around quarter after one, and quickly fell victim to my shoe. Crunchy. Still, I was half asleep all throughout the day, although I managed to be pretty on top of my game. The one exception was our classroom management session, which I was barely conscious for, because it was after lunch. Which was fried chicken. Sweet mother of fuck, I swear it is still the best fried chicken ever.
Power kicked back on around 5 pm today, so I’m back to having running water, lights, and a fan. And cold beer. We decided to frequent another bar after school today, because we had heard that other proprietors were annoyed that my bar was getting all the business. So we are sharing the wealth. The new ritual seems to be having a shot of grog with Rhett right after language gets out, then chill with a beer for a couple hours. I just signed up for a yoga class that starts on Thursday, led by a fellow volunteer. I haven’t done yoga in like 3 years, so this should be good.
The TEFL volunteers started model school today. They basically student teach English classes for local kids for the next month and a half. They are all nervous as shit about it, which I guess I can’t blame them for. My little brother is in a class taught by two of my friends.
OH. And more news on the living situation. It seems the TEFL director has been talking to two of the girls about living on Boa Vista. One of them will probably be there. With me, apparently. My director hasn’t said anything to me, so we’ll see how it pans out. But Nadia and Stephanie are going to be on Maio or Boa Vista, and they will paired with an IT person, of which there is only one female. So no matter, sexes will be mixed, and I kinda feel like I’d prefer to live with a girl at this point. Girls are clean. And both of them are good cooks, too. And I am told that Boa Vista has a large Italian community. Score.
Monday, August 07 – 9:30 pm
Ok, so it’s been a long time since I’ve written anything. And I’m not sure quite where to begin. A whole lot and very little has happened lately. My language has progressed to a very reasonable level and I am comfortable in the community now to the point where I feel at home. I can have fairly fluid conversations with little trouble, though my vocab still needs some work. Daily routine is more or less the same: class all morning, lunch at home, class all afternoon, beer with friends after, followed by family time and bed. It all feels pretty routine, but I’m happy. Much happier than I was driving from Rocky Hill to Cheshire every day.
We had a little field trip to Cidade Velha last weekend. It’s the oldest city in the archipelago, not to mention the first Portuguese colony in Africa. It’s pretty small, but it’s got a lot of history, with some old churches and a hilltop fortress (Sir Francis Drake attacked it twice). We had some beach time there as well, which I took full advantage of by body surfing every good size wave that came my way.
We’ve had interviews now with virtually every staff member in charge of anything: homestay directory, language director, training director, technical trainer, and assistant PC director for community development. For me at least, I can honestly say they all went well. Part of the purpose is for PC staff to get an idea of how things are going and how to make improvements, but another big part is also to see who is not doing very well. Obviously the goal is to help these people as much as possible, but we’re reaching a point where I think they want to let some people go. I am 100% positive that that will not be me, but it’s sad to think that 3 or 4 of us will be gone in the next couple weeks. But then again, this isn’t right for everyone, and I can see some people struggling. Cape Verde has the highest early termination rate in West Africa, and I guess they want to reduce that. Fortunately, my language is good and I think I’m one of the more active participants in day to day training, and all my interviewers told me that I seem to be doing well.
Once more, I have been told that Boa Vista is nearly definite. I’m so very, very pleased with this. I foresee two years of beautiful beaches and watersports mixed in with my work. Aguido (asst director) also told me today that I may end up living alone. For the last couple weeks, I’ve been thinking I’d live with Nadia or Stephanie, but apparently the president of the camara in Boa Vista found a very nice apartment that only has one bedroom. So this could change, but it may end up being just me. I guess that’s ok, but I’d just as soon live with someone. I’ve had roommates for so many years, I just think it’d be weird to be on my own. Not entirely alone of course, because one of the girls will be on the island, but in a different place. I’ll know more in a couple weeks. Site announcements are the weekend of week six (this is week five).
So this last weekend was amazing. Friday night, we all met up at the bar na praça, as we have come to call it, because it’s in a little square across from the camara in the center of town. The closest thing to the center of town as we have, at least. Anyway, we all got nice and drunk, and had a wild dance party all night, until after 1 am (which is late for us these days… I’m an early to bed kinda guy lately). We played soccer all afternoon on Saturday, CD vs TEFL. My whole body is still sore. I am in horrid shape. At night, we hit a few bars, trying to recreate the mood of the night before, but gave up when it just didn’t seem to be going the right way. We ended up at a birthday party for a kid in town, apparently a friend of my host cousin here, where the theme was all black. So we danced and drank again until almost 3 am. My host mom is really mellow about me coming home late these days. She is just so damn cool, I can’t believe it. She doesn’t care if I’m drunk, or late, or whatever. She’s just happy that I’m having a good time. What a country. Sunday was lazy and I did nothing of note. And I absolutely needed it. The insomnia has been really awful for the last couple weeks and I’ve had a hard time sleeping more than 5 hours a night. If it keeps up, I’m going to have to talk to the medical officer to try to switch to doxycycline instead of mefloquine.
The best development of the weekend was the return of affection by the object of my big schoolboy crush. Her name is Natawnee, if I haven’t mentioned that before. I spent most of both weekend nights with her and we’re hitting it off pretty well. It’s strange, because we’ll probably end up on different islands in a month, but I enjoy her company too much to just ignore it. Tomorrow is her birthday, so we’ve got an all night party to throw after school.
What else to say? I don’t think about the US as much as you might think. Sure, I think about my friends, but mostly in the context of how much fun it will be when they visit (you all are coming, right??). I feel more at home here than I ever did in South Dakota, and I was there for 2 years. I’ve been here for one month.
Ok, exhausted now. I’ve had a long ass day. More tomorrow if I can remember to do it.
Saturday, August 12 – 11 am
This morning I’m just lounging around the house, nursing the usual mild Saturday hangover. I’m thinking about heading in to Praia, because we have been told that we are now allowed to do this, just to use the internet and buy some stuff if we need it. But I can’t find anyone to do it with me, so I guess I’ll just see who shows up.
Also, I am somewhat resistant to walking around right now, since I managed to tear a muscle in my leg last night. I wish I had a good story to tell about it, but really it was just stupid. We were talking about skiing and I kind of mimed the motion of telemark skiing, and all of a sudden I felt something rip in my leg. Yeah, it hurt a lot. So I drank a few more beers and sat down for the whole evening. It sucks because we’re having another soccer game today and I really want to get in on it again. Ah well. My leg is wrapped now and it doesn’t hurt nearly as badly anymore.
The rainy season is in full swing now. It rains for a long stretches at a time, and the whole valley has bloomed. A month ago, this place was brown and dusty. It doesn’t even look like the same town. The mountains are blanketed in green and all the fields are tilled and planted. It actually looks like a place that someone might name Cape Verde, which looked like the biggest misnomer ever before.
Electricity has been consistent for a couple weeks now. Apparently Praia and some other bigger towns are still having problems, but we’re doing well here. We ran out of water last night for the second time, but it looks like we refilled the tank this morning, so I can flush my toilet again. Sweet.
I shaved my head. I don’t know why I forgot to mention that when I last wrote. Nothing crazy, just a #2 all around. It feels great, and doesn’t look half bad. Turns out my head is pretty symmetrical. Nice
Also, it is 99% positive that I will be moving to Sal Rei on Boa Vista with Nadia next month. The house that PC has found for us is about a half hour outside the town itself, which isn’t too cool. But they are very accommodating when it comes to moving, so Nadia and I have agreed to make finding a new house our top priority upon arrival. Boa Vista is pretty touristy and thus expensive, so we’ll see what it’s like for rent costs, because they usually cap us at about $300 a month. I think we can swing it. So everyone book your plane tickets to Boa Vista. There should be a pretty wild birthday party going down in early January, because there are a lot of birthdays in a short stretch: Sarah, Rhett, me, Mel, Nadia.
I’m still seeing Natawnee. By this, I mean that we don’t just make out when we’re out drinking. The whole moving to separate islands thing sucks pretty bad now, because I do like her a lot. Well, 4 more fun weeks with her, and we’ll see what happens. Is this where I’m supposed to write a short biography so all my friends know a little something about the girl? Umm, she’s 22, cute, from San Jose, went to Tufts, smart as hell… Yeah, I suck at this. Try me later.
I had my first little bout of depression the other day. After Tawnee’s party, I was hungover pretty much all of Wednesday, and then Thursday was just a downer. Nothing in particular made it bad, but I just felt restless and shitty all night. I ended up wandering over to Natawnee’s house and she did a good job of cheering me up, but it was a bit of a reality check. It’s still pretty strange to think that I won’t be setting foot in the States for another 2 full years. Not in a bad way, mind you. Anyway, it’s getting hot in my room now, so I’m gonna go outside on the porch and hang out with whoever is in the bar now.
