First: VOTE. I don't want to hear any bullshit about "my vote doesn't even matter," because anybody out there with a brain knows that that is a load of crap. If you do not vote, and you whine about what's happening in the country in 6 months, I will slap you. Hard.

Ok so today I'm going to talk about some good things, then some bad things, then some more good things. It's what I like to call a "compliment sandwich..."

Well we moved into a permanent apartment yesterday. So finally I can settle myself in (two months later) and start really living. Our neighborhood is much more Cape Verdean oriented, instead of being full of tourists. We already know some people in the area, and there is a store across the street, where people hang out on the porch all the time. There is apparently a British woman living in the building, too, but I have yet to meet her.

All right, I'm going to move into my negative whining binge ahead of schedule, and then talk about more good shit. Problems with the apartment: bathroom isn't finished yet. Nope. Has a toilet, but with no back, i.e. no flush. Has a shower base, but no head, i.e. can't shower. Has a si- no, scratch that, sink is on the floor of the living room. So what happened when I woke up to pee last night? Plastic water bottle. Welcome to the Peace Corps. Please don't drink that, it's not scotch. What else? Ah yes, because our previous apartment was furnished, we now have to buy everything. We spent all day yesterday buying stuff and lugging it around (note: it was 90+ degrees), but still don't have much stuff. The kitchen is still being touched up, so we can't plug in the fridge, thus not much food. And we just got gas for the stove this morning, so we will actually be able to cook tonight. Also, my bedroom window is right next to a street light. Fortunately, Nadia is sewing me curtains, because otherwise, there is not a chance in hell I could sleep. I didn't much last night. But that was also partly because of the dogs. Oh the dogs. I'd guess there were about 15 of them last night, in full choral arrangement, for just over an hour, with short breaks to catch their breath and sniff each other's butts. Lovely.

Also, I broke up with Natawnee last week. There were several reasons for this, all catalyzed by an incident that I will not publicize here. A lot has to do with the fact that it wasn't much of a real relationship. Considering I only knew her for about 10 weeks before splitting to other islands, maybe it's that I didn't know her well enough or feel close enough to her to make it work. But even though I am not the type to think about the future with a girl, which has bitten me in the ass more than once, I kind of had to realize that living apart on other islands for two years, seeing each other every 2-4 months for a week, and then moving back to god knows where in the US isn't much of a relationship. Anyway, I had kept these thoughts private while I worked them out, but then aforementioned incident occurred, moving along the process in a much quicker, if less pleasant, fashion. Oddly enough, I'm not too bothered by it. Don't get me wrong, I liked her a lot, and still do. But when you've already been apart two months (almost as long as we knew each other beforehand), it somehow just isn't all that strange to lose that one last connection. So that's that.

Ok, onward to the good stuff. My road race project is in full swing. I wrote up a proposal for it last week and translated it into Portuguese yesterday. We've contacted the high school gym teachers, who are going to tell their classes about it and get them to participate. We've spoken with the local Red Cross, and they have lots of info. They are doing a bunch of World AIDS Day activities on the 1st, and then they will help us out with materials and information for the race on the 2nd. I wasn't sure how to get numbers for the race, until I emailed my awesomely cool aunt in California. She's a marathoner and all around serious runner, as well as an AIDS activist and volunteer, so I knew she'd have ideas. Well, she got Brooks, the running shoe company, to send me 200 race numbers, and she is working with the owner of a San Diego running store to donate two pairs of new running shoes, one each for the male and female winners. Score! That should encourage people to get involved and get competitive. So far basically everyone we've spoken with is really into the idea and is pretty excited about it. I've got a lot of planning work to continue to do in the next few weeks. I've gotta plot out a 5k course, pick a start/finish line, show the map to the police so they can block off the roads, contact several organizations to get materials on HIV/AIDS, get a speaker for the post-race event (with music, of course, because it's Cape Verde, and everything has music), and recruit volunteers to man the finish line and water stations. It's a damn good thing I've run a lot of races or I'd be totally lost. So even though it's a lot of work and was pretty stressful yesterday and Friday, I think it's going to be endlessly satisfying when it actually happens and is hopefully a success. Whew.

So I'm actually pretty much busy all the time now. I worked basically a 13 hour day yesterday, probably 10 or 12 on Friday, and I expect to be here all day again today. I don't mind so much though, because being at home is so quiet, and this gives me something to do. Plus, when I'm at work, I can always stop to write an email, or a long blog entry. But the overall point of this is that despite the stress from moving and organizing this event, not to mention breaking up, I still finished this last week feeling great. OH, and I forgot to mention that I met François Guy, a former international windsurfing champion, who is going to teach me how to windsurf for a discount. Scooooooore. So basically, none of the bad or stressful things are bothering me. It's awesome.