Another excellent weekend passed by. Spearfishing with Gerry and Daniel, Mazurka until 5 am, lounging on Estoril all day with pretty girls... Overall not a bad way to spend a couple days. Of course, it makes me pretty disinclined to leave here in two weeks. Yes, that’s right, two weeks. My flight out of Boa Vista is Sunday the 10^th. I have interviews and medical stuff in Praia for three days, and then I have a few days of just bumming around, because I couldn’t get a flight to Boston until the 20^th.

So how does all that make me feel? It makes my head want to pop. Two years is a long time to live somewhere. Ok, maybe if you said in the US “Yeah, I lived in Cincinnati for a couple years,” it might not mean much. Cincinnati doesn’t have much of an effect on people (or anything, I think). But two years of being here is really intense. It’s like living 10 years anywhere else. Not only is Peace Corps in general an extreme experience, but doing it on an island of 4000 takes it to a whole new level.

In any event, I’m excited to go back, but anxious. I don’t know exactly how I’m going to react, but I know it’s going to be strange. Every time I’ve hung out with a European here for the last couple months, I’ve noticed that I don’t understand why they act the way they do. They are bothered by things that I don’t notice. They take too long to get ready. They get anxious and worked up over minor details. They try to get to places on time. I dunno. If that’s how Americans are, it’s going to be a tough adjustment. But I honestly don’t even remember.

I’m not in a particularly philosophical mood at the moment, so I will once again postpone writing about any reactions. Also, I have no idea how I actually feel, because it seems to change every 15 seconds or so. So I’ll let you know once I’ve figured it out. In the mean time…

Things I will miss:

• Estoril beach
• Swimming on my lunch break
• Windsurfing on my lunch break
• 2-3 hour lunch breaks
• My friends
• Crystal clear, warm, blue water
• Being the only white guy at the party
• My work
• Confusing people with baseball references
• Crioulas
• Free time to read a lot
• Telenovelas (oddly enough)
• Cachupa
• Loud drunk Cape Verdeans
• Festivals
• Fresh fish
• Lunch at Gerry and Orquidea’s
• Conversations in 3 or more languages
• Complete silence after 11 pm
• Sitting in the praça for hours for no particular reason
• The desert
• BBQs
• Perfect weather, every day
• Not having to worry about rent, health insurance, car payments, money in general…
• Wearing t-shirts and jeans to work
• Living the rest of my life shirtless or sleeveless
• Being tan all the time
• Games of chess at the wind club
• Ridiculous Creole slang
• Speaking Creole in general
• Coca-Cola made with real sugar
• Riding in the back of pickup trucks
• Shameless dryhumping at Mazurka
• Sitting on my balcony with a beer and chatting with passers by
  

Things I will not miss

• Flies
• Mosquitos
• Struggling with water constantly
• Tourists
• Getting all my sports news in online highlights
• Shitty Portuguese beer
• Eating the same 10 meals on repeat
• Lousy fruits and vegetables
• Obnoxious quads
• Inflated prices
• Street dogs
• Zouk

Things I am going to eat in the next couple months

In no particular order...

• A huge beef burrito at Los Amigos in Elk Point
• Grilled hot dog
• Grilled steak, medium rare
• Mountains of sushi
• Pizza at Pepe's - this will happen multiple times
• A napalm burger: it may be off the menu at Eli's, but they will make me one anyway. Or else.
  
• Everything on the menu at Typhoon
• All my favorite beers, including Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Anchor Porter, Guinness, Boulevard Wheat, Sam Summer, Sierra Nevada Pale, and so many more than my brain is racing to come up with names and flavors
• At least one fancypants meal in Sonoma with Lennon and Rebecca
• Buffalo wings
• Fajitas
• Something obscenely delicious that my sister will make that I will not be able to predict and couldn't come up with on my own in 150 years
• SALAD
• Piles of fresh fruit
• Delicious South Dakota corn with butter and salt
• My dad's caramelized onion and goat cheese pizza, featuring my mother's homemade goat cheese - my family is ridiculous(ly awesome)
• Terrible faux Chinese food
• Deli sandwiches - I have been craving these for MONTHS. Especially a reuben. And I could go for a Bob's Cardiac Attack from Neon Deli (hot pastrami, provolone and mayo on a buttered toasted roll). And a classic Virginia ham and gouda cheese with honey mustard.
• My mom's preserved lemon and garlic pasta
• A meatball grinder with provolone and hot peppers

I gotta stop making this list, not because I'm out of food items, because it's killing me inside. I am in my last month of service officially. Unfortunately, I had an awesome weekend yet again, and I really don't want to leave. Shit.

And the festa is over. Last week was our municipal festival and saint's day (the saint being Santa Isabel), which is of course, the biggest party of the year. I still need some more recovery time, I think.

Last Wednesday, I went to the finalistas (high school graduates) ceremony and party. Now before you think I am sketchy as hell, remember a few things. First, there are not all that many people my age here, and yeah, I have a lot of 18-20 year old friends. Second, a lot of high school seniors are well over 18, because a lot of people take time off or fail a lot of classes. Third, they all look like they're 25, because this is Cape Verde. Fourth, the drinking age is 18 here and there was an open bar. Fifth... Well it was just a great party is all. The DJ was really good and a lot of my friends were there. The party was so good in fact, that I found myself among the last 10 people in the last car home.

I was supposed to go to bed early on Thursday to rest up for the main event over the weekend, but my "short walk" brought me in contact with the surfista crowd and I got dragged out to the festival area, where I stayed until 2:30. I wasn't even out getting drunk or anything, but it's tough to leave those guys once they get on a roll. It's like a crude comedy show all the time.

Shon came over around noon on Friday to spend the weekend at my place so he didn't have to shuttle back and forth between Vila and Estância de Baixo. We were at the pier most of the afternoon watching the events and whatnot. There was a race of the traditional fishing boats out to the shipwreck in the bay and back, followed by swimming races and beach volleyball. After that, we wandered around between the barraca, the praça and the pier, just mixing with various people and having fun. The barraca is an area on the beach where they set up a bunch of temporary bars and restaurants and whatnot, and it pretty much doesn't close for 4 days. The beer is usually not particularly cold, but the grilled chicken is SUPERB, so I can let it slide. Anyway, the festival usually migrates between there and the palivolente, where they set up the stage for the music. I meant to rest up a bit for the music part, but I couldn't get myself home at all. That's just Cape Verde for you: you try to go somewhere, and all of a sudden you've got a beer in your hand and you're being dragged somewhere else entirely.

The live music this year was Livity, which is one of CV's most famous bands, going back to the late 70s. They had some of the biggest hits of all time back then, so they're very much a part of musical history here. One of them, Kino Cabral, played here solo last year, but he was even better with the rest of the band. My friend Mel compared the singer, Jorge Neto, to Little Richard, because of the way he dances around stage and gives these little "YOW!" yelps all the time. He is awesome. He also has a great quotation: "Na Cabo Verde, nu tem cantores tcheu, artistas pouco" - In Cape Verde, we have a lot of singers, but very few artists. I think that pretty accurately reflects my views on pop music here. Most zouk is just a bunch of pretty faces singing uninspired trite love songs, while the real musical artists are fewer and farther between. But I digress.

Saturday should have been a nice quiet day to recover for more music at night, but Shon and I are incorrigible and ended up staying out all day, and then on until 5:30 am Sunday. I went for a nice long swim, drank a ton of water to rehydrate, and then shmoozed around all day and all night. I also accidentally broke a bottle with my hand while swimming (someone had tossed it in the water), so my knuckles are all cut up. Overall, Saturday night wasn't as good. Cape Verdeans aren't much for pacing themselves, so there were about 30% less people out. Still, I danced all night and generally made a fool of myself. Like Friday night, I managed to position myself in the midst of the prettiest girls on Boa Vista, including the incomparable Kristy, winner of this year's Miss Bubista beauty pageant. If you saw her, you'd understand.

My attempts to get out of the house on Sunday were thwarted by pure exhaustion. Which is too bad, because there was a lovely young lady on the beach on whom I've had my eye the last week or so, but I found myself sounding like an ass while talking to her. I decided to go take a nap, figuring to avoid any more damage that I might inflict. I got in a nice swim though. No broken bottles.

Anyway, I had planned on saying a little something about my crazy whirlwind feelings now that I am poised to leave here in 5 weeks. But I am tired and need some lunch, so it will have to wait.