So, I just spent the last half hour or so browsing other people's Peace Corps blogs in West Africa (yeah, I know, I'm just wasting time on the internet. Give me a break, it's Monday.) , and thinking about how my own experience holds up. I don't really want to do any heavy comparisons, because I think it should be obvious that the kind of service you do and the place you do it shapes your service enormously. But it's wild about how different it really can be. The blogs I was looking at were mostly in Ghana and Togo, mainly because Rhett (PCV at the Escola Técnica in Praia) and I are trying to plan a vacation to Accra and Lomé, for surfing and other beachy goodness. But I got caught up in reading about people's rural experiences, because of how vastly different they are from mine.

People spend time doing agricultural work, volunteering at the hospital with the Red Cross, helping with childcare and midwifery... The kinds of things that I always envisioned Peace Corps volunteers as doing. People talk about their friendly neighbors who come over to help them with tasks that Americans aren't used to: cooking, washing clothes, minor projects around the house. Many don't have electricity and update infrequently when they travel to whatever city happens to be nearby. But overall I guess, the focus is on the basics of life. The projects tend to be organized around developing services that we might take for granted in the US (or Cape Verde), but don't exist in the bush of Togo. A part of me is mildly disappointed that my experience isn't more like this. Maybe I just wanted to rough it a bit more than I am here, but then again, I'd probably sing a different tune if I were actually living in a rural village in the middle of nowhere. I think the bigger issue for me, however, is that it sometimes seems that Boa Vista doesn't really need volunteers. Don't get me wrong: Boa Vista definitely does need us here. But it doesn't always seem that way.

Nadia's service is a bit more straightforward (which isn't to say that she doesn't have her own doubts and tribulations), because there is a serious lack of English teachers here. If she weren't around, classes just wouldn't get taught and a generation would pass through school with no further language training. But as a technology person... Part of it is that for a place to even have a use for an IT volunteer, they have to have already achieved a certain level of development. You've gotta have consistent electricity, infrastructure, education levels, small businesses, etc. Boa Vista has all this. Which is why I feel like a chair warmer sometimes. My chair is exceptionally toasty today, thanks to my ass. Buuuut, then I start to think about the flip side of things.

You know how sometimes, a random offhand comment by somebody will stick in your head forever and ever? Well, during training, we had many representatives from various agencies come and talk to us about development work in Cape Verde. One of them (I think it was a UN guy) was talking about how Cape Verde will soon be removed from the Least Developed Countries list, because the country has hit several benchmarks, indicating great progress. Removal from the LDC means that you immediately lose many benefits and developmental aid. Without being inappropriately POed about it, but clearly bothered, the guy made a remark to the effect of "Why are we being punished for doing well?" Cape Verde consistently makes the most of the development aid it is given, with very little being squandered by corruption or inefficiency. As a result, it is the wealthiest African country, with a booming economy and fewer of the poverty-associated problems associated with continental West Africa. So if Cape Verde does such great things with the money it is given, doesn't it seem perverse to take that money away? The obvious answer is that now there are other countries in need of that money. So what does Cape Verde get? Me, I guess (not a great prize, though my remarkable good looks may be contributing to Boa Vista's overall wellbeing).

The one thing that consistently keeps me optimistic is that I think I still fit into the development model. It's just not in a place that I ever really considered before. Somewhere in between the US and Burkina Faso are a slew of countries that are pulling themselves out of 3rd world status, but need assistance in getting up to speed with the developed world. So I wander along and start showing them how to use Excel spreadsheets to keep track of monthly expenses, and all I ask for in return are free windsurfing lessons. If I can get done the ONE thing that I want to do here, which is to train at least one reasonably competent technician, I can go back to the US (or wherever) feeling good about it.

Ok, did I rant? I might have. Just feeling a bit useless today, as I have no concrete work to do, except plan my English class for tonight, which I really don't want to do. At all.

And I've been practicing using the harness while windsurfing, and I have achieved some awesome speeds in the last couple days. Some awesome crashes have come along with that (explaining the bruises and roadrash on my arms, chest, and shins), but how are you gonna learn how to fly across the bay without flipping headlong over your board a few dozen times?

A few random things:

1) I hate dogs. I've never really felt like that before, but it's undeniable now. I specifically hate their barking. If you could breed a new species of mute puppy, I'd be ok with that. But the dozen or so neighborhood dogs who now routinely wake me up between 4:30 and 5 am with 45 minutes of non-stop yapping have got to go. In my half-asleep daze of confusion and irritation, I sometimes have extended fantasies about how I would kill these dogs. It's usually a baseball bat, though assault rifles sometimes make an appearance.

2) I am bored. I was just chatting with Kyle (fellow IT volunteer on Sal, just north of here), asking what he does with his days. He is in the same boat as me. He teaches some classes, though his are quite small owing to lack of computers, but during the day, there is not always stuff to do. For instance, today I want to come up with a way to revitalize my sagging English class, as well as come up with a schedule for my technician training courses. The problem is that for the former, I need to speak with my counterpart who is on her daily coffee break, and the latter is just not that urgent, plus it involves coordinating with several other people to avoid stepping on toes and interfering with other classes. According to a very useful sheet of paper that PC gave us during training, "feelings of uselessness" are normal during this time of service. But it's not that I feel useless. Ok, maybe it is that I feel useless. It will pass, I guess. At least I now have a plan for 3 more courses to teach, and I feel like my service is going in a positive direction.

3) I love windsurfing. Yeah, I know, I talk about it a lot. But it's my little lifesaver here. On Monday, I finished typing up several course proposals in the morning, looked over the whole package I had assembled, and decided it looked pretty good. So, I took a longer than normal lunch break and went windsurfing (hey, I'm here until 9 pm most nights. I deserve it). And ohhhh man, it was a breakthrough day. I'm using a smaller, lighter board now, as well as a larger sail, and I finally achieved planing. That is when you plant your feet towards the back of the board, throw all your weight backwards, and lean your sail right into the strength of the wind. The result is the tip of your board angling way up out of the water while you skip across the waves, not unlike a speedboat. And it is a phenomenal feeling. Johann and Tony (guys who work at François' place) tell me that I am ready for the harness next time, to provide a little more stability at high speeds.

4) I am ready for vacation. I will be in Mindelo in 10 days. It couldn't come soon enough. I haven't left my 15 mile diameter island in over 4 months. That is the longest I have ever stayed in one place, at least in recent memory.

5) I need a martini.

6) I have so many books to read, and it no way is that bad. I am still working my way through "Freedom at Midnight," and I think I'll tackle "Freakonomics" next.

7) I am increasingly stressed out by news reports from the Middle East. I know I am not alone in this concern, but it really, really bothers me these days. I may have to start learning Arabic. You know where I'm going with that.

So I just got back from the post office, and I feel I need to say something. The post office here is the worst place in the universe. I know you may be thinking "Really? Well, what about prison? Death Valley in the summer? A fire ant nest?" No, I assure you, it's the post office. Generally, if you arrive before 10:30 am, it's not so bad. You can pick up a package or send an envelope in 10 minutes or so. The problem is that they have several services there: regular post office stuff, all CVTelecom stuff (land lines and cell phones), plus Western Union. So there are people there to send stuff, receive stuff, pay phone bills, get contracts, send money to their families, receive money from abroad, etc etc. So really, it's a madhouse. And it could work well. Except for one guy. He is my mortal enemy. Granted, most things in Cape Verde run a little slower than usual, and I'm fine with that. I can just relax and let things go at their own pace, and it rarely bothers me these days. But this guy... oh man. Nadia and I joke that he is the most useless human being in the world. Sometimes, even when there is no one else there, he will literally lie to you about something to avoid completing some task. He's the reason it took 6 weeks to get a phone installed. Nadia asked him for a printout of our phone bill last week, and he said it was impossible without filling out a request for the main office in Praia. Two days ago, I asked someone else (the manager, who is awesome and supremely helpful), and the detailed bill was in my hand 45 seconds later. Today, I was 5th or 6th in line to pick up a box, and it took over an hour. Just because the simplest tasks take him 15 to 20 minutes. It's really pretty amazing.

On the positive side, my mom's package was filled with good books. I recently became fascinated with Arab history, so I now have 3 books on it, dating from thousands of years ago until the 90s. Also, Nadia got two cool books recently: on reading Hebrew and Arabic. She has a personal goal to read religious texts (Bible, Torah, and Koran) in their original languages, which I think is badass. So between that and the Anglo-Saxon grammar book I found in the PC office, we are nerding it up hardcore in Sal Rei. Who loves other languages? I do.

Also, it RAINED a couple days ago. Seriously. It never even rains here during the rainy season. It's only the 3rd time I've seen precipitation here, and the first time since September. But there was a full on thunderstorm. It moved to the west of the island, but I could see the lightning out over the water, and then the rain caught us. I discovered that the ceiling in my room leaks, too. Hurrah for buckets.

Mostly I just wanted to vent about the post office. OH, but I have another story. I don't know if I've ever mentioned the Chinese loja phenomenon before, but here it is: Cape Verde has a decent number of Chinese immigrants here, because they are able to import inexpensive everyday items for really cheap and sell them here. For instance, there are two lojas (loja is just a store) here in Vila, and they are always packed with people. Someone from São Vicente told me that there used to be Chinese restaurants around, but they all closed when the families decided to open stores instead, because you can make so much more money. Anyway, the point of this is that the woman who owns one of the lojas in town came into the CEJ the other day with her daughter, who had just arrived from China last week. She apparently hates Boa Vista and wants to go back to China. I don't really blame her, considering she doesn't know Creole or Portuguese, and this sure as hell isn't what she's used to. So her mother asked me to let her into my English class, so she can at least do something and maybe make some friends. I agreed, so she's been to a few classes. So on Wednesday, we're having a little class discussion on AIDS, and she's being really quiet. My friend Walter (whose English is excellent) was wondering what the AIDS situation was like in China, so we asked her if she knew. Conversation in brief:

"*girl's name*, do you know what the AIDS crisis is like in China? How do the rates compare with what we just read?"
"I don't know, really."
"Oh ok."
"I don't care about this."
"Um. Ok. Why?"
"Because it is not about me, so why should I care?"
(Jaws drop all around room. Stunned silence follows.)
"Oh. Well. I... Uh... Does anybody have anything to add to that? No? Ok, um... wow. I guess class is over."

Gee, good question. Why should I care? I mean, it's only the largest epidemic in history, killing millions of people per year, but I guess that's no big deal. I personally don't have HIV, so I guess I can just ignore it. Gosh, life is so much simpler now. I guess I could have taken the opportunity to discuss why she should in fact care, but the way she phrases it was pretty confrontational and unpleasant, so I just let it go rather than start an argument.

Ok, well the wind has picked up. Tonight, I teach two classes in a row. At 9 pm, I am free to spend the weekend windsurfing. The storms have been increasing the swell at the outside of the bay, so maybe I can play on the waves a bit.