A Week in the Life: Saturday, April 21st

7:30am – I wake up, eat breakfast, tidy up my room, and prep for the rest of the day.

9:30am – I give 30 minutes of class which consists of hangman, reading comprehension, and yelling at some girls for painting their nails ("Falta de respeito!”)

10:00am – I head to a professor meeting at the Centro de Juventude.  Almost no one is there yet and it’s pretty hot, so I go to buy some fresh water at the loja next door.  I come back and it’s still pretty empty.  I sit down to jot down a to-do list and realize I’ve forgotten a pen, so I run to another loja to buy a pen.

10:40am – The directora of our school finally arrives and we start.  I try to think of it as a good chance to practice my Portuguese listening comprehension skills, but the theme (Varios subsistemas num unico sistema) just isn’t interesting, even when it’s in your native language.  People here have a strange need to define every single term in their powerpoint presentations.  In this case, the Ministry of Education guy is lecturing to a group of 30 professors and decides to give us the entire history of the CV education system, define words like “subsystem,” and explain the difference between primary and secondary education.  Buddy…I think we’ve got that all down by now.  I kind of regretted yelling at my students for painting their nails because I wanted to be doing the same thing.

 

the cultural center / youth center where we had our meeting 

and where (hopefully) I'll soon be giving adult classes! 

1pm – The meeting finally ends (half an hour later than my classes would have ended) and I talk to two of my fellow professors about going to our meeting about Camp Saninclau in Fajã.  They both go home to change, but tell me to come get them when I find a car.  I run home and get my things, find a car, and go to find them.  One is at his restaurant with some of the other professors, so while waiting for the other, we all stand around chatting and have some beers.  I appreciate being treated like “one of the guys,” but it’s also 1:30 pm and I’m hungry and anxious to get to our meeting.  Finally our other colleague shows up and we head out to find our car which is now gone.  We manage to find another pretty quickly and are on our way!

2:30pm – The meeting starts and goes really well!  Everyone is energetic and full of ideas.  6 of our 7 PCVs are there and there are 5 host country nationals there to help, too.  We cover everything we need to talk about and set dates for further meetings and for handing out donation requests, etc.

4:30pm – After a delicious lunch of dirty rice, I head to Canto de Fajã to visit Txilite’s family.  He’s coming back to Tarrafal with me, but I wanted to go visit his mom and grandmother’s house because I don’t get out there very much anymore and last time I saw them they called me an ingrata!  Personal relationships are very important here and require a lot of nurturing.  I catch a boleia from Fajã de Baixo to Canto and walk the rest of the half hour to their house, which is way out in the middle of nowhere.  People there seem to know me by now, although I still have trouble placing peoples’ faces.  When I reach the chafariz (water source), Txilite’s mom, Lina, is there with her donkey to panha agua.  I offer to help her, but of course she tells me no and sends me on my way.  I get to the house and Bia (Lina’s mother) insists that I come in and tra carga (take off my backpack).  We chat for awhile with one of her neighbors that is there.  Then, I watch a game show for a few minutes with Iverson, Txilite’s little brother.  It’s a kind of cool show where they have students from around Cape Verde go to Praia to compete in a whole range of middle school level questions.  After awhile, Lina comes back and I join Txilite for lunch.  I’m not hungry since I’ve just eaten, so Lina insists that I take some modje capote (traditional goat stew) home with me.  She sends me enough for 4 people, saying then I won’t have to cook dinner.  They also send along a giant sweet potato that’s been cooked over the open fire – soooo sabe!

 

Txilite's family's house in Canto de Fajã

6pm – It’s time to leave so we can catch a car back to Tarrafal.  We stop for a few minutes at the house of the mother of one of my teacher colleagues.  He and his family are there for the weekend.  We don’t have time to stay for dinner, so they send me on my way with a papaya.  I love going to Canto de Fajã :) It saves me days of cooking and grocery shopping.

6:30pm – We reach the road and wait for a car.  We get lucky and one of my students is on her way back from the airport with her mom, so they give us a boleia back to Tarrafal.  I can’t believe my luck – I never get this many free rides!

7pm – We have plans to go to a birthday party, but not until after 10pm, so we decide to relax and watch a movie (Transformers 3 – my selection of Portuguese-subtitled films has come from my students and is VERY limited).

Lume d'Lenha - probably the tastiest food in Tflaw, owned by our colleague; this is where the festa d'ano (birthday party) was held

9pm – I do some yoga and shower and get ready for the party.  We decide to leave around 10:30 to da volta around town before actually heading there.

11pm - There is still no one at the festa and we’re hungry and bored, so we continue walking around town.  Unfortunately, there are students at nearly every bar and we like to avoid drinking around them, so we end up back at the restaurant that’s hosting the party and wait for people to show up.

12:30am – People are finally showing up.  There is music and food and drink and good conversation.  We dance and enjoy ourselves for awhile, but by 2AM we’re pretty tired and both Txilite and Alexandra are not feeling well.  We try to say our goodbyes, but they insist that we must stay to canta parabens (sing Happy Birthday) and eat some cake.

2:30am – The cake finally comes out, so we sing and kiss the birthday girl and then sneak out before they can find another reason to make us stay.

For your listening pleasure, I present: "Chop My Money" - currently the most popular song in Cape Verde (although performed by Akon, who is Senegalese)

A Week in the Life: Friday, April 20th

7:30am – I wake up, eat breakfast, catch up on e-mail and the news, and edit some pictures to prep for printing later today.

9:00am – I head out to do my errands.  It’s one of those days where it’s a good thing that I’m in no rush because everyone I see is someone I know and they all want to talk.  First, it’s the boy who works at the casa de irmas next door.  We talk about vacation and then he comments on how Alexandra and I speak good Creole.  Somehow he also knows I speak Spanish and is impressed that I know 3 languages! I tell him only mais ou menos, that I’ve still got a long way to go.  I laugh internally at his admiration, thinking  to myself that most Cape Verdeans are bilingual and could be quadralingual by the end of high school if they took their English and French classes seriously.

 

the main street in town, where the police station and post office are located

Next, it’s my student sitting outside a loja flirting with some girls.  I go talk to him in English so he can show off his impressive skillz.  Then Vanusa, my friend/neighbor who works at the post office, calls out to me from across the street, so I retrace my steps and talk to her outside her office for a bit.  We talk (again) about how I’ve hardly seen her since returning from vacation and about her plans for her birthday party next weekend.  We decide we’ll have to find time to hang out this weekend.  As I continue on my way (I still haven’t made it to my first stop), Tânia and her kids call me from up the street, so I backtrack once again to go chat with them.  They ask me how Alexandra is doing (she’s been sick) and Raquel (the 1 ½-year-old) takes my hand and we continue on our way. I soon say my goodbyes and go into Boutique Brasil to get some photos printed. The owner tells me I have no problems with Creole anymore and talks about how Creole is easy because it has no grammar.  Then we talk about Carnaval and some teacher-related festivities because they appear in my photos.

 

the ladies who sell fruits and veggies in our mercado

After printing my photos, I head to a loja where Alexandra has been working with the owner to learn English.  I try a couple phrases with her and she expresses to me how happy she is to be learning and how she hopes she won’t lose business from English-speaking customers anymore.  I promise to come by regularly to practice with her and continue on my way to the market.  I go to take out money and get asked for 20 escudos from the guy that sits outside the ATM every day.  Fortunately, I can honestly say that I have no coins.  Then I run into some British tourists that are wandering around the city for the morning. They came on a big cruise ship and say they’ll have an afternoon outing to somewhere in the interior of the island.  I continue on to the market where it seems to be the busiest time of day.  The market ladies try to convince me to buy some doce de tomate and even let me open one of the jars and stick my finger into it to try it.  I tell them I’d like to, but the jars are too big for my colleague and I to finish before they go bad.   When they sell some smaller jars, I’ll buy some.  I walk away with a bag full of lettuce (yay!) and some fresh beets.  On the way out, a fisherman friend stops to ask me about my vacation (he saw us on the boat) and I ask him about his work today.  He tells me they caught lots of cachorinhos and we debate the taste and health benefits of that and cavala, my personal favorite.

 

a view of the port and fish market from the boat we took to São Vicente

I run to a couple more lojas to pick up bread and eggs and fresh goat cheese driven in from Cachaço.  I talk to a couple of teachers about their plans for this weekend and it seems that many won’t be going to the activity/party.  At first I’m a little bummed, but I decide to think of it as a good opportunity to meet some teachers I don’t know as well and enjoy some good Cape Verdean food and music.  Last stop is the post office (again) where I mail a few cards home and talk to one of the irmas from the religious center next door. 

11am – I arrive home and unpack my groceries.  Then, it’s time for an intense bathroom and room cleaning!  I’ve discovered that cleaning both once every 2 weeks or so saves me a lot of time in the long run.  Plus with all the wind we get in our part of the city, the dust piles up quickly.  Once again I’m amazed at how just a little soap and elbow grease can take the dirt and grime out of everything!

12:30pm – I decide to go for a run despite the fact that it’s about 90 degrees out.  I know I’m not going to be in the mood when I get done with class at 6pm and if I go now, I can just chill out all evening.  I do my now-normal run on the hot dusty road that runs along the coast and again really regret not wearing sunscreen.  My mouth is dry by the time I’m out of Tarrafal, but I figure I’ll just chug a liter of water when I get home.  On the way back, it’s unbearably hot, so I decide to stop and take a dip in the ocean before heading home.  Then I do some stretching on the beach while waiting for my clothes to dry, which doesn’t take long.  On the way home, I run into 3 of my 9^th grade students who are enjoying a panca (a free period/when the professor doesn’t show up).  They walk me home and come up to chat with me for awhile.

 

Trail-mates!  My running trail also happens to be where a lot of people let their livestock run around.

2pm – I finally think I have some time to catch my breath, so I make some lunch and sit down at my computer thinking about watching some more WEEDS. But…this is Cape Verde and nothing ever goes quite like you plan, which can be both great and frustrating.  The doorbell rings and it is Tânia and her family.  Her husband needs help with his English homework, so I sit down and try to explain some really complicated grammar structures to someone who’s had literally 3 days of English class!  The exercises they’ve been given are not particularly well thought-through given how much time they have and what experience they’re coming in with.  We get through a couple of exercises, all while Tânia and her kids look at pictures and ask us questions, which doesn’t make the learning go any faster.

3pm – I tell my guests that I really need to go toma banho now because I have class in an hour and I’m covered in sand and salt (not to mention incredibly sunburned).  They leave and I take a quick shower and make sure all my materials are ready for class.

4pm – I go over to school to teach my classes.  We’re supposed to be making the recycled wallets, but true to form none of my students bring juice or milk boxes to make them out of, so we can’t.  Fortunately, I suspected this might happen, so I’d prepared material to do if necessary.  It’s a bummer because I worked really hard prepping for the activity and my friend Sedny even came by to help us.  But…such is life when working with high schoolers that are not particularly on the responsible side…

6pm – Finally I come home and decide that now it’s actually my time to relax. 

7pm – Alexandra gets home and we chat for awhile and then make dinner.  One of her students’ family gets big barrels from America every once in awhile and they sent her home with some good ol’ boxed mac n’ cheese, so we decide to treat ourselves to a night of vegging out and enjoying some boxed deliciousness.  We also roast some beets and make a yummy beet and goat cheese salad as a side.

9pm – Alexandra and I decide to relax and watch Mad Men before bed.  While watching, we make some bracelets out of embroidery thread to give to Julio and Rodrigo, since they made us some really awesome bracelets out of recycled beer caps.

10pm – I shut my door, go on a mosquito-killing spree and decide to watch WEEDS until falling asleep.  Another average (but wonderful) day come and gone.

A Week in the Life: Thursday, April 19th

7:20am – I wake up to the sound of children playing in the school yard before their first class and decide that since the bells will start ringing soon, there’s probably no point in trying to go back to sleep.  I have breakfast while catching up on e-mails and reading the news.

8:30am – I get up, clean my room, make my bed, and make a CD for one of my students.  Then I make a To Do list for all my errands.

9am – I head out on the town to get some errands done, stopping into a few Chinese lojas to try to get ahold of some materials for our wallet project.  I pass by the youth center to print my planificações for this trimester (since the internet café was having problems).  I stop in and ask the director about his vacation and reiterate how much we loved Santo Antão (but assure him that São Nicolau is mas sabe).  Then, I pop by the papeleria to buy an envelope but it’s much bigger than necessary for the card I’m sending so I decide to wait and print some pictures before taking it to the post office.
 

 students playing outside the school

10am - I come home to put together planificações, finish preparing for today’s classes, and make sure all the recycled wallet materials are ready for tomorrow.  Then I make some coffee and an Earth Day playlist to take to class while we make wallets. 

12 noon – I eat lunch and prepare to go to class.

1pm – My day of class begins.  Today I teach three turmas – 2 turmas of 9^th grade level 3 and one of 10^th grade level 2.  We do a modified version of the “Protecting Our Planet” lesson I taught my level 4s yesterday.  Turns out it will line up nicely with the grammar units in all my levels.

4pm – I’m done with classes, so I decide to stop by the tailor’s to see if he’s finished the skirt I asked him to make me well over a month ago.  He says corpo ka ta bom (body isn’t well, i.e. he’s been sick) which I can almost gusrantee is an excuse but I let it go and tell him to feel better and I’ll come back in a few days.  I come home to relax for the rest of the evening and our neighbor Tânia stops by to ask us about helping her husband with the English homework he has to do for the formação in Vila.  I tell her to have him stop by anytime and I’ll give him a hand.  Alexandra shows us the pictures she took last weekend at the festa we went to in Estancia d’Bras.  We stayed with Tânia in her famiy’s house there Saturday night.  We talk about doing another weekend together at her mom’s house in Praia Branca.

5pm – I take down my laundry and go through some pictures I want to get printed tomorrow.  Then I make some delicious goiaba iced tea

6pm – I feel like I should be doing something more productive, but am pretty worn out so I eat some dinner and relax.

 

Alexandra and I with Tânia's friends and family in Estancia d'Bras last weekend

7:15pm – I contemplate just going to bed and watching WEEDS until I fall asleep, but then the doorbell rings and it’s Tânia’s kids.  Their uncle is out of town and their mom is going to gimnástica* so they need a place to hang out instead of staying in their home alone (they’re 10, 7, and 1 ½ ).  I groan a bit internally, knowing that my evening of relaxation is long gone.  Then I remind myself that I really have nothing to do and they are the sweetest, most well-behaved kids, so I decide to think of it as a nice way to spend a couple hours and practice my creole.  I offer them some juice and we talk about the photos on our refrigerator (for about the 9^th time – and the photos haven’t changed).  Then Julio informs me that he brought materials so that we can color together.  I debate prepping my lessons for tomorrow while they play, but instead I decide to just be a kid again and color with them.  While they start coloring, I answer the doorbell.  It’s my neighbor and dear friend, Vanusa, who I haven’t seen in a few days.  We talk through the window (she just came by to tell me she missed us and wanted to see how we were).  I promise to invite her along the next time I go running and also to drop by her house after school tomorrow.  Julio, Rodrigo, Raquel, and I pass a fun hour and a half just chatting and coloring, talking about grades and school children and fishing and Julio’s potential trip to Italy this summer to live with his father.  Alexandra comes home and we cut and casca some sugar cane to suck on.

Tânia and her kids

8:45pm – Tânia comes to get the kids after gimnástica.  We end the night with a new picture on our wall-of-fame (drawn by Rodrigo) and a promise from Julio that he’ll give us the picture he’s working on when he’s done, too.  I give them the picture I drew and everyone goes home happy.

9pm – I finish prepping tomorrow’s recycled wallets lesson plan and make a list of errands to run in the morning

9:30pm – I eat a snack and climb into bed to Gchat and watch WEEDS until I fall asleep.  I need a few more nights of a solid 8 hours so that I can recuperate.

*we used to go to gimnastica almost every day. Since vacation I haven’t been, because recently every time I go my shins and knees hurt badly later from the impact.  My running is taking the place of the aerobics.

I leave you with another of my favorite songs:  "Maná" by Mayra Andrade

A Week in the Life: Wednesday, April 18th

6am – I wake up early and exhausted to have breakfast with Txilite before he goes to work.  I hang around with Jarrod for awhile enjoy the extra time I have since I woke up so early.

7:30am – I head down the hill to await a car back to Tarrafal while enjoying the fresh mountain air and greeting the school kids on their way to jardim or escola primaria.  Suddenly I feel like my island is big because I realize I don’t know any of the guys hanging around where the cars stop, but then my neighbor pulls up in his hiace and reality sets in.  I am pleasantly surprised when I hear the guys practicing English and I realize they are coming for their formação.  The Cape Verdean Ministry of Transport is hosting a class for all the hiace and hilux drivers on the island.  They’ll learn basic English, French, and Portuguese to help out with tourism, as well as other basic geography information and such.  I realize my chances of getting a car home are decreasing by the second when one by one all the hiaces and hiluxes on the island stop in front of me and their drivers get out to go to class.  Then I see Txilite’s brother who is on his way to work and I talk to him for awhile while he waits for his boss to show up with the keys.  Once she arrives, he shows me his new office (he used to work with Averie at the micro-credit organization).  I wait some more, thinking a car will never come but knowing I have all day so it doesn’t really matter.
 

8:15am – I see a friend of Averie and Mi-Mi’s who is heading to Praia Branca (located after Tarrafal on the main road that goes through our island) for work.  He offers me a boleia (free ride), and I’m on my way home!  I spend the ride listening to him and his colleagues tell jokes and talk about a new form of dancing (something about the girl standing behind the man?) and notice how green our island is after just one week of rain!  As we get closer to Tarrafal, I marvel at how my zona is still completely barren and 15 degrees hotter than the rest of the island…

 the drive into Tarrafal
 

9am – I arrive home, unpack, and put my laundry in a bucket to soak.

9:30am – It’s time to lesson plan, and I write up a reading comprehension with a pretty picture: “Earth Day, Every Day!”  I’ve decided to start this trimester with a unit on Protecting Our Planet.  I make some vocab flashcards, along with ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ signs out of recycled materials.  Afterwards, I e-mail our Ed Program Director about getting leave to travel home in August.  Then I catch up on the news (American soldiers caught doing unfortunate things and elephants terrorizing a tribe in Mozambique – what am I getting myself into?)

 recycled classroom materials
 

11:30am – I attempt to take a nap and instead watch a few episodes of WEEDS.  Finally I get up and decide there are more important things to do.  I debate having another cup of coffee but decide my stomach is already grouchy enough

12 noon - I search for literature on juicebox wallets, a recycling project created by an RPCV, and practice making some to ensure I know how to teach my kids on Friday for an Earth Day project

1pm – Laundry time!  Today it’s a much shorter process since I don’t have too much - just enough to justify the use of the water

2pm – I finish doing laundry and clean up, eat lunch, watch an episode of WEEDS while wondering how I’ll manage to stay awake for the rest of the day

 

this is what doing laundry looks like here

3:30pm – I decide it’s time to get my you-know-what in gear, debate showering but decide to wait til after my run, get dressed and head over to school early so I can chat in the teachers’ lounge while getting ahead on tomorrow’s lesson plans.  I greet all my excited students on the way over as they enjoy their one 20-minute break.  In the teachers’ lounge, I chat with professors about various students and their abysmal grades last semester and get caught up on everyone’s ferias (holidays).

4:10pm – I teach my two 10^th grade level 4 classes (Lesson 61: Protecting Our Planet).  We start with a hot potato game so that everyone has a chance to tell me about their vacation and has to speak English right from the start.  After doing some vocabulary and reading comprehension, I end with an announcement about making recycled wallets during their next class.  They seem really excited (albeit annoyed that I gave them new material on the first day back from vacation)!

6pm – I come home and change quickly to go out for a 40-minute run along the road to Baixo de Rocha.  On the way back, I enjoy an incredible view of the sun setting over the water.   Once in town, I run into some students who all ask me what I’m doing and leave me with a “Força, Teacher!” or “Corragem!" 

7pm – I return home and make dinner with my lovely roomie – grão de bico com atum, and we discuss highs and lows of the day and issues in our classes and how to (maybe) resolve them.

 grão de bico com atum - basically chick peas, veggies, and gourmet
canned tuna from the factory here in Tarrafal

7:30pm – We eat dinner while watching Anthony Bordain’s “No Reservations” episode in Mozambique.  We both  get really excited about next year and all the delicious food we’ll get to eat!

8:30pm –  I do the dishes, clean my room, and take a hot bucket bath because the cool breeze made me chilly.  Then I  make some tea and curl up in bed.

9:30pm – I get online to catch up on e-mails/facebook and Gchat with some friends.  Then I Skype with mom and dad about a plane ticket home and proceed to buy one!

11pm – It’s bedtime. I haven’t been sleeping well, so I’m hoping to sleep in until late tomorrow and then run a bunch of errands before class at 1.

A Week in the Life: Tuesday, April 17th

A fellow PCV did a series of posts describing a typical week in her life as a PCV, and I thought it was a great idea!  A lot of people have asked me about my day-to-day routine, so I thought it'd be just as easy to just describe one week of my life to give an idea of how I spend my time.

I was trying to think of a good week to do it, one that would show my "typical" week, but then I realized that I don't really HAVE typical weeks here.  There are things that happen weekly on certain days, but other than that my life isn't really that routine.  So, last Tuesday I decided to start recording the minute, mundane details of my life to share with you.  WARNING: It's pretty long and some of it may be extremely boring or not make a lot of sense.  But, if you have time, I hope you enjoy!  I'll put up a new post each day until I'm done.


Tuesday, April 17th

7:30am – I wake up and eat breakfast.

8:15am – I go to our 8 o’clock teachers’ meetings to prepare for the 3^rd trimester.  I realize I’m not late enough, as only about 5 professors are there, so I go to the internet café next door to print my 3rd trimester plan for each class.  I wait for about half an hour while they try to fix the printer (although all it actually needs is a new toner cartridge) and leave with only 1 of 6 pages printed.

 the câmara municipal

9:30am – We sit through hours of well-meaning professors complaining about how bad our 7^th and 9^th grade turmas are, but come up with no solutions.  Then we spend an hour debating how long it’s reasonable to wait before returning graded tests.  The conclusion is 15 days, which was already in the rule books.

12 noon – We break off into coordination meetings where we spend half an hour discussing our colleague’s wife’s birthday party that will take place this weekend and when our next meeting will be.

12:30pm – Alexandra and I go to the local câmara with another professor to speak to the president about getting funding for the summer camp we’re planning.  He tells us they will support us, but gives no details as to what kind of support (money, goods, moral?) or how much.

1pm – We return for the last bit of the teacher meetings which includes signing out and telling the directora that yes we will be going to the Dia de Professores party this weekend.

my new running route

 the mountainscape on the way out

1:15pm – I decide to go for a run during the hottest part of the day.  The road I’ve started running on runs along the beach.  It’s not exactly a nice road – very dry, dusty, rocky, and hot, but on the way out you are facing a pretty stunning view on the mountains and on the way back (once look past the ugly rocks) you enjoy a nice view of the glistening sea.  Pretty soon I regret not wearing sunscreen, but enjoy a refreshing dip in the ocean on the way back.  I stop to pick up our pork bucket from some neighbors on the way home.  While São Nicolau doesn’t seem to have any sort of recycling infrastructure, they’re pretty good about not being wasteful, and that means that all your food waste should be going to someone’s pig!

 the view of the water on the way into town - you should see it at sunset!

 the pork bucket

2pm – I make lunch, wash dishes, sweep the floor, and check e-mails.  Then I shower and prepare to go to Vila de Ribeira Brava for the night!  Txilite has been working in Vila building the new dormitories for high school students.  It’s great that he’s working every day (that means income!), but it means I don’t see him much because by the time he leaves him home in Canto de Fajã (a half hour walk followed by a half hour drive from Vila), goes to work, and comes back, there aren’t enough hours left for a visit.  He’s been coming to Tarrafal after work on Saturdays and staying through Sunday, but I’ve usually got stuff to do on Sundays and have been feeling like I owe him a little effort on my part.  Fortunately, the PCVs in Vila are awesome and said I could come stay there whenever, which means I also get to hang out with them when I go.  A nice little evening getaway!

 the mini-market downtown where most of the cars wait for people to transport

3:45pm – I head downtown to take out money and buy some bread and bananas for tomorrow’s breakfast before catching a car to Vila.  On the way there, I get slightly weirded out when I notice that the guy sitting next to me is playing with a piece of my hair (no longer attached to my head, obviously).  I ask the conductor to stop in Fajã on the way so that I can leave a package in the loja for Averie, another PCV, to pick up (Fajã has no post office so they get their packages sent to us.  As always, I marvel at the immense beauty of my island and am amazed at how such a small piece of land can have such diverse landscapes.  

Vila as seen from the road on the way to Fajã

4:45pm – I arrive in Vila and stop by a loja to pick up the keys to Ja and Alex’s house since Ja went out to do some errands and Alex is gone.  Afterwards, I sit on the bench outside waiting for Txilite to finish work across the street.

5pm – We head to Ja and Alex’s and hang out there for awhile.  I play around on Ja’s backpacking guitar (that is soon to be mine!) and watch Txilite attempt a magic trick with cards and fail numerous times before getting it right.  Then he teaches me to play biska, a very popular Cape Verdean card game.  I lose multiple times but am sure I’ll improve if we keep playing.

6pm – We decide to make pizza for dinner, so we head to the lojas to get all the ingredients.  I get caught talking to a loja owner (who’s not quite all there, mentally-speaking) in English about his trips to America.  I tell him I need to get going, but assure him I’ll return soon to speak more English with him.

7pm – We start making our pizza.  Turns out we’re a pretty good team: Txilite rolls the dough and I make the sauce.  I talk to Ja about Camp Saninclau and our upcoming meeting and how Vila’s câmara is coming up with every excuse not to help us out this year.  We watch some cheesy Cape Verdean and Angolan zouk music videos and enjoy the delicious fruits of our labor.  We decide that next time we should probably make only half a recipe of dough since we can’t even finish one of the four pizzas we made.

10pm – Txilite has work at 7am and Ja and I start classes tomorrow so we call it an early night.

Check out my current favorite zouk song, "Coisa Doida".

Good morning, Cape Verde!

Good morning, hot tropical sun and cool (if not sporadic) Atlantic breeze.
Good morning, smell of frying fish at 9am.
Good morning, cute little old lady coming back from the market.
Good morning, ferry horn and school bell, making sure I don't stay in bed too long.
Good morning, little children playing in the streets.
Good morning, tall man with a six-pack standing in a towel signing your electric bill and hissing at me.
Good morning, friends shouting hello from across the square.
Good morning, students shouting 'teacher' from down the street.
Good morning, women of all ages sitting on the steps shelling peas.

Good morning, my beautiful life :)

It hasn't been too long since my last post, but a LOT has happened, so I'll try to fill you in on the gist of it.

First things first, CARNAVAL!! Oh my goodness what a blur of feathers and glitter and music and dancing. Toss in a bunch of American PCVs, a couple tourists, and a whole lot of Cape Verdeans, and it was definitely an experience to be remembered
(check out photos here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150618055208350.409591.501303349&type=3).

We started off with our school's Carnaval (Carnaval de Liceu) on Friday afternoon. Weeks of preparation went into this event, including a couple of late-night ensaios that did absolutely no good on the day of. The event was supposed to start at about 1pm, and true to form we were pulling out of the school lot at about 5pm. Alexandra and I decided to be Cape Verdean and showed up at 2, and still the only people there were the ones building the floats (which it looked like they'd started doing around 1pm). But little by little kids started to show up and we made our banners and were ready to go! It was so fun to see them all so excited and enjoying themselves. I myself did a couple of samba laps around the school with my students in pure excitement.


Afterwards, we all returned to the school and opened up what felt like a soup kitchen in the teacher's lounge, passing canja and bread through the door to the starving students. Then the students went off to a specially organized dance at the disco just for them and Alexandra and I headed to a party at the gymnasium, where I rang in the first couple hours of my birthday! The party was a blast. Almost all our Tarrafal friends were there. And everyone sang to me at midnight and they even lit a candle leftover from one of the days when we tried to do aeróbica during a power outage.
Saturday started the real craziness. We packed up a pick-up truck full of mattresses, water filters, pillows, blankets, a huge pot of catchupa, clothes for the next few days, and a puppy, and pretty much moved to Vila do Ribeira Brava, the island's capital city where the big Carnaval desfiles were held. We spent the afternoon putting on ridiculous make-up and copious amounts of glitter and then my fellow PCVs and some Cape Verdean friends threw me a birthday party! There was cake (a mix that came all the way from America via Fogo and was complete with a Pirate inside...much to my dismay), Jell-O shots, catchupa, and obviously plenty of love to go around.


Then the real action started! We periodically went to check on our costumes at the house where we'd be getting dressed on the first night. Of course they weren't ready until 3 hours after the appointed time. And even then, nothing fit right. I switched tops with 3 other people and still ended up with one that barely covered my chest. The zipper on my shorts broke so I was told to staple them together, but of course the stapler ran out of staples... After a few hours of yelling and running into big cardboard headpieces, we were off! Thus began our long trek down the narrow streets of Vila with the rest of Copa Cabana.

(see video here: http://videos.sapo.cv/FP8dVGTyjOeTLWV2Azlf - we're in the black and silver)


I thought I would be completely exhausted as we danced for about 2 hours straight - no stopping and singing at the top of our lungs! But I was loving so much I forgot how much my body hurt. And of course after the desfile is the dance in each group's sala. Parties are quite something here, but even I couldn't imagine this one - hundreds of people packed into a relatively small room with glaring music, almost unlimited drinks, a space solely for food next door - and all until about 8am the next day. Nocturnal was the only way to go.

Sunday was more of the same, although after the bodje we came home to Tarrafal to spend the "day of rest" here. Of course it wasn't a day of rest because Tarrafal has our own Carnaval. We spent a few hours out watching that one. A lot of our students were involved and it was fun to see them own the event like that.

Tuesday was the last day, so the parade started much earlier. The main difference was that there were so many more people. I think I saw about 75% of my students (while dancing) and pretty much everyone else I know from Tarrafal. Once again, we finished off the night (morning?) at the sala de bodje and Caranaval came to a close. At least for now. Apparently there's another one in the summer (Carnaverão haha). I guess they don't think it's fair that all their friends and family who come back just for the summer miss out on such a great event!

We spent the next week or so just recovering. It took quite awhile. We had a fellow PCV come visit from Mindelo and did some minor hikes and just enjoyed getting back into the swing of things.

Last weekend was one of my favorite weekends I've had in Cape Verde so far. Alexandra and I joined Txilite and some of his family and friends for a very fora (rural) day hiking on the interior of the island. We started the day freezing in the back of a hilux, where we happened to join some teachers who were also headed to Canto Fajã, our starting point. So of course, we had to stop for grogue and quejo de terra to "tra frio" (or tirar o frio) on the way. When we got to Canto, we went to see our colleagues house and met some of his family. We managed to avoid having to stay for catchupa, which we were forced to eat as soon as we got to Txilite's house to da força before our hike.

I thought the beginning part of the hike had to be the worst, as it was straight uphill, but turns out I'm not very good at going downhill so every 5 minutes I had to listen to "cuidod m'nina pa bo ka kai!" But it was a blast. We finally got to our lunch destination, where we spent a good 4 hours sitting around talking, drinking hot grogue right from the trapiche (homemade distillery), and picking and casca-ing veggies to put in the delicious caldo de peixe Txilite's mom made over the open fire. It was such an awesome day, just sitting around and talking and really being a part of a community. Lots of fun cultural experiences and conversations, though I do pity Alexandra for the amount of inappropriate proposals she received. I even spent a little while working in the farinha de mandioca (manioc flour).

Once we were done, we hiked down the rest of the mountain to Ribeira Prata where a car was waiting to take us back to Canto Fajã. We piled 21(!) people into the back of the truck, and what should have been an hour-long drive took about 2.5 for all the times we (well, they) had to stop and say hi to people and drink more grogue. Needless to say by the end of the night I was freezing and a tad bit annoyed by drunk men, but it was a really cool day of culture and fun! I stayed the night in Canto, so I got up early in the morning to start another fora day and picked ervilha (peas) in the horta (garden/farm) before coming home and teaching my 5 turmas. Exhausting.

And then the biggest news of all: I've officially accepted an invitation to transfer to Mozambique and finish my service as a TEFL Volunteer there. This means that in September, I'll be leaving Cape Verde to go directly to Mozambique and start a new 3-month Pre-Service Training. School will then start in January and I'll be required to finish out the last trimester, pushing my Close Of Service (COS) date back to December (instead of September, my original date). In some ways the decision was a hard one because it meant coming to terms with the fact that my time here in Cape Verde will end in September. And in other ways, I never really even had to think about the decision. Besides the sadness of leaving here, it's a pretty awesome opportunity and one that I think will make me grow in so many ways. I don't look forward to going through another PST or working so hard again to integrate, but I'm so excited to get to know another country and another group of people. I am lucky to have the lessons I've learned here in Cape Verde to take with me. Most importantly, PATIENCE! And the ability to live life at a slower pace. I think this time around I will be much better at just sitting and doing nothing. And much better at accepting things when they don't run smoothly. I'm also lucky that I'll have a leg up in Portuguese which will leave my mind freer to focus on some other things, including learning another local language! I'll pass along more details about the Mozambique program when I get them.

It's been a wild ride so far and it looks like it's about to get just a little crazier...

A Wild Ride

They say that being a PCV is a rollercoaster of emotions and experiences. I really can’t think of a better way to describe it. One moment you’re ecstatic, one moment you want nothing more than to be on the first plane home. One moment you’re bored, and the next you need 25 more hours in the day to get everything done. One moment you feel like a fish out of water, and the next you’ve never felt more at home.

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 3^rd 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 29^th 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!”