The last 2 months in particular have been a wild ride. A lot has happened, and I don’t want to bore you with all the detail, so I’ll try to keep it short and still do it justice.
Just before Christmas, all of the volunteers from our year got together in Praia for a 3-day in-service training. It was SO nice to see everyone again. We had a great time catching up, sharing stories, and rejoicing in each others’ triumphs. It was cool to come back to a training after we’d had some time at site because we had a much better idea of what we were doing and therefore how PC could help us do it better. Amidst practical training sessions, we also did a lot of bonding and had a Christmas cook-off and gift exchange. I even managed to make it back to my host mother’s home on Christmas Day and spent a night with her. I wish I could’ve stayed longer.
Surprisingly, one of the best things about break was how much I missed São Nicolau. As our plane took off, all I wanted it to do was turn around and take me back home. I realized how much I’ve come to love it here.
After IST, a bunch of us went to Fogo to check out fire island for a few days. It was SO different than São Nicolau in so many ways – most notably in that it is a very tourist-friendly island. There are also a lot of American products there because Fogo has a long-standing history of connection to the east coast of the United States due to the whaling industry. We had so many fun nights partying and sharing stories. We also managed to climb up to the top of the volcano, run down it, stop for a delicious meal and Fogo wine at the bottom, and bring home a little bit of coffee. The one down side of it all was the HORRIFIC ferry ride back to Praia. The winds from the continent were so strong that the normally 4-hour ride took nearly twice as long. And I’m pretty sure I’m one of 2 or 3 people on the entire boat that didn’t vomit, though I very much wanted to. It took us a few days to get our legs back once we got to Praia.
We had a simple and wonderful New Year’s Eve celebration in Praia, with homemade dinner, cake, and champagne. No parties for us because we were partied out! Just after New Year’s we came home to our little slice of paradise. I cannot even begin to explain how excited I was to get back to our island. I missed my friends and my life and my students and my town. It was wonderful to see everyone again. I’d missed speaking Creole all day! Also, Badiu (Creole of the south) just felt so foreign to me and I was anxious to return to the Sanpadjudu that I’ve come to know and love. My roommate’s parents were here for a few days, so we got to show them around the island and introduce them to all our friends here. It was really fun to have them, even though it made me wish my family could come.
The second trimester started with a bang, and I’ve definitely turned over a new leaf, teaching-wise. I’m not the friendly little American girl I used to be. Now, Miss Marin is STRICT! I’ve had some trying days already this trimester. For example, one day one of my turmas decided an effective way to avoid class would be for someone to throw poop into the classroom so that the teachers would refuse to teach in there. Well, while their first 4 teachers did as they hoped, Miss Marin is not that easy to get rid of! I told them we’d still have class, so they had to sit around through 3 periods with no class and then go back into the smelly classroom and sit through class with me. Those that didn’t wait around got absences, which they were not happy about. Sh*t happens, I guess! I’m starting to think my new attitude is working, too. We just had midterms and I’m happy to say that A) I got through all the necessary material in all of my levels and B) I had fewer negatives (failing grades) on any of the tests than in the first trimester. And to be honest, I think I gave much harder tests this trimester. So we’ll hope that streak continues.
Beyond that, the new year has brought a lot of new friends and new changes for me and the rest of the PC bunch on São Nicolau. Some of us have started relationships. Some of us have ended relationships. Some of us have done both! We’ve got a new puppy in our midst (thank goodness not in my apartment), and we all came back with a renewed desire to do good in our communities.
The biggest and most bittersweet change came a few weeks ago when we were informed by Peace Corps that after 24 years, PC/CV would no longer be in operation come September. Cape Verde is “graduating” from the Peace Corps, although it seems to be a 2-pronged decision, based both on Cape Verde’s level of development and a re-allocation of ever-diminishing funds from Washington. It’s been a very rough ride for me, emotionally, these past few weeks as I’ve tried to come to terms with the fact that I’ll be leaving this place come September. I feel so at home here and could see myself sticking around for much longer. In fact, I’ve considered trying to find a way to stay on, as I know they’ll have an extreme shortage of English teachers once all of us ED Volunteers leave. However, other windows of opportunity have also presented themselves so now it’s a matter of deciding which one I’ll be climbing through! We are really lucky, in that all of the ED Volunteers were offered a transfer to PC Mozambique, another Portuguese-speaking country on the other side of Africa. We would leave Cape Verde in September and go straight to Mozambique to start a new Pre-Service Training (PST) there. We would start our school year in January and be expected to stay until the end of the 3rd trimester at the beginning of December 2013. This pushes our Close-of-Service (COS) date back by a couple months, but we’d still be looking at the “standard” 2+ year commitment of Peace Corps service (30 months in all instead of 27).
I’ve got until February 29th to make my decision. If I had to choose tomorrow, I think I would go. I think it’s the right decision. But the thought of saying goodbye to my loved ones here, going through another PST, integrating into a new community and culture, and maybe not returning home until December of 2013 also seems like a very daunting task to me right now.
Fortunately…Carnaval is this weekend! The island is going crazy with preparations and I’m sure I’ll have plenty of stories to tell next week. So for now, I’m going to put thoughts of this big decision aside and enjoy the wonderful community and life I have here. Updates soon to come.
For now…
“Abri bu curacao, cha kes melodia entra. Copa já bem pa bra bzot doide!”
