One month to go

As my dad just pointed out, I will be leaving for Cape Verde, West Africa in exactly a month. To the minute. My flight leaves from Boston's Logan Airport at 10:30 PM on July 15th.

I can't believe how quickly time is flying! It hardly seems like I will have time to get everything ready AND do a little relaxing before I leave. Fortunately, I'm pretty on top of my packing list, so hopefully I won't have too many last things to get in the next few weeks...

I'm using this blog entry as an introduction. My goal will be to update at least once a month, so sign up for the e-mail option and you'll get a notification. I'd imagine that I'll be writing more than that in the first few weeks and maybe less than that as I get settled in. But I'm going to try to be faithful - that way all of you can experience a little bit of Cape Verde through me AND I can have a record of my time once I'm done. Hopefully I'll be able to reflect upon it and realize that I've learned something.

On the left-hand side of the screen, you'll see that I've put up a wish list. IF any of you are ever in a generous mood, please feel free to send me something fun! I'm guessing it will end up being mostly silly things like tea or stickers (for my students) or Dove dark chocolate :) But I'm sure after a few months on the islands even the small things will be welcome.

We spend our first 3 days in the capital city of Praia, where we will have an orientation for our pre-service training (PST). The training, which takes place in another city outside of Praia, will last 9 weeks, the first two of which I will be learning creole and the rest of which I will be learning Portuguese. Safety, professional, and cultural training will also take place throughout. During those 9 weeks I will be living with a host family. At the end of PST, if I pass all my assessments, I'll be placed on one of the islands in a secondary school to begin my 2 years of English teaching! The training sounds pretty intense, lasting from 8am - 6pm every weekday and from 10am-4pm every other Saturday. I'm excited though! It will be nice to get to know the other volunteers.

If you'd like to contact me during PST, you can write to:

Marin Tollefson, PCT
A/C Corpo da Paz
C.P. 373 - Praia
Republic of Cape Verde
Via Portugal

They recommend sending things in smaller envelopes when possible to avoid theft. Also, you should write "Par Avion" and "Airmail" on the envelope. If you would like to send me a bigger package, they say to send things inside of tampon or pad boxes. Apparently if it looks like you're just sending me feminine hygiene products, no one will mess with it :)

Ok that's all for now. Getting excited!!