Halfway there!! (well, through PST…)

We are currently entering week 5 of 9 for training, which means we’re halfway there! It was an emotional week for me between being sick and getting my site placement and going through our first assessments. But…so far so good! Still hanging in there and really enjoying all the little wonders of life here in Cape Verde: fresh mangoes all the time, almost weekly trips to the beach, understanding my mai a little bit better each day, singing an acoustic version of Beyoncé’s “Halo,” and all the drama of our Brazilian telenovela J There have been some negatives too. I will never get used to the masses of flies all over everything or eating fried meat in the morning, but those are pretty minor and I’m working on being more flexible, which is the Peace Corps’ #1 requirement for volunteers.

The most exciting news is that I know where I’ll be spending my 2 years after training! I’ll be living in a fishing village on the island of Saõ Nicolau. Due to Peace Corps regulations, I can’t give specifics about the town in my blog (for safety reasons), but I’d be happy to tell you about it by e-mail if you would like. I’ll be living with another PCV roommate, which should be really fun. Of course, we have to get on learning the Northern Kriolu along with Portuguese (which, btw, is much harder than it sounds).

We’ve started working on developing lesson plans, so it’s starting to really hit home that I’m going to be a teacher and enter the classroom soon. I’m getting excited, although I know it’s going to be a big challenge.

Internet use continues to be scarce. I tried to use it on 4 different occasions last week, but every time the electricity is out. I’m starting to just assume that’s the case so I don’t get bummed out when it inevitably happens.

Best parts of my week:

· getting bunches of letters from Mom and Dad and Grandpa and Grandma A and Becca. Thank you!!

· eating American food at culture day

· discovering the sell guaraná here

I'm trying to upload some photos but the connection is really slow, so maybe next time...