student teaching

Much like in the US, students in Cape Verde must participate in student teaching in order to get their Bachelor's degree in a teaching field. In our English department at ISE, the students have been student teaching for a couple of months. The strange thing about student teaching in CV is that nearly all of the 20 something students are already teachers in high schools on the island. So basically we are working with them on teaching and how to do it well, but most of them are as good as we are. I have several students who have been teaching in high schools for 5 or 6 years. This means that we are giving them a grade on a skill they have been steadily improving upon for quite some time.

Being an advisor for this process is great and really inspiring because I know Cape Verde English teachers are good. They are meant to be in the classroom and they all want to be in the classroom teaching English. The best part is that teaching is not a last option here; it's a first option. Teaching is prestigious and valued. It's been a great experience, but I am happy that this semester is winding down! June 9th will be my last day of classes, and I'm not complaining one bit about it!

A gathering of English teachers

Saturday was a great day for English teachers in Cape Verde. It was the first gathering of English teachers to discuss the formation of a national english teacher's association. My roommate, Dianne coordinated the conference along with 11 other Cape Verdean colleagues. They were able to get money to fly in the English coordinator from each high school in the country. They also flew in a guest speaker, Mr. Abadou Abese Sow from Dakar. Abese is the president and one of the founders of the national english teacher's organization in Senegal. He spoke to us about the importance of an association and motivated the high school English teachers to really move on getting a recognized group formed. We had lots of speakers, including the president of ISE, the American ambassador, and the Secretary of State of education for the country. People seemed genuinely inspired and interested in holding another conference soon.

It was so nice to see so many teachers come together to help themselves. I was inspired by their commitment to change and their forward thinking. It was a great day. We had a great conference, great food, and we even sang a song together - "the more we get together, the happier we'll be"!!!!!!

It was amazing. This country is great. I am so appreciative that I could do things to help the confrence run smoothly. I feel like I was able to participate in something that will really change the lives of teachers in this country!

wedding photos

Sorry it's taken so long to post this. I have been trying to get pictures to upload for weeks! Here they are now!

Morgan and Holly are finally married. We worked hard and played hard over the wedding weekend in Destin, Florida! Everything was absolutely beautiful. I am posting there now and will put more up when I get them. I am soooo proud to have a new sister. I know Morgan is happy and that makes me happy. The two honeymooned in Jamaica. Now they are back to the real world. Morgan has a new job with Pfizer and will be spending time between Mississippi and Pennsylvania while he is in training.

The pictures turned out wonderfully. It was definitely a magazine wedding. The boys were straight out of J.Crew and the bridesmaids dresses were just perfect for the outdoor wedding. I'm just posting a bunch of pictures, so enjoy! They all turned out beautifully. The colors were just perfect. The day was just perfect in every way!

Sal at Easter

The pictures are: David and me, Nick and me, and Nick and David

Ever year on Good Friday, I head up to Purvis, MS, to spend the weekend with my family and friends. This year, I missed my favorite celebration, which I was pretty sad about. Well, I was sad until Thursday night when my friends Nick and David convinced me to fly to Sal (another island) for Easter. Even though it was last minute, I said "what the heck" and hopped on a plane Good Friday to enjoy a weekend with two of my favorite people.

David and Nick are the kind of guys who make you laugh even when you don't want to. They are the kind of friends who let you know they care about you all the time. They're just great guys. I got to spend my weekend relaxing. On Friday, we had some beers and dinner then got to hang out at Nick's just goofing off. Saturday we made our way to Santa Maria. The beaches there were amazingly beautiful. The water was perfect too. It was a little too cold to get in for me, but Nick decided to try it out! I wish I had some pictures of the beach, but I was afraid that my camera would get stolen, so I left it at home. I have some other pictures of the boys that I'll put up soon.

On Saturday night, I cooked my famous enchiladas. This was quite a process because I had to hand make the tortillas first, which takes some time. But, David and Nick helped with everything, so it wasn't so bad. HOWEVER, a couple of hurdles occurred as we were cooking. First, I was cooking some brownies. This isn't a problem, except the glass window in the front of the oven fell out of place, letting out all of the heat. So, I decide to try to cover it with cardboard. Then, I decide that this would work fine, except the brownie wasn't cooking at all. As I'm trying to figure out what to do, the gas stops. GREAT! Gas tank is empty. Nick and David have to carry the tank to get a new one. Then they have to bring the newer, heavier one back. Okay, mission accomplished and while they were gone, the oven cools down enough to repair the fallen glass. When David returns, he and I use pliers, knives, and teamwork to pull the glass back into place. After about 30 minutes, we were back on track. At any rate, we finally got to eat dinner at about 9:30. I'm pretty sure that my enchiladas were a hit. The boys ate several at dinner, more after we returned from our night out clubbing, and then the rest for lunch the following day! I'd call that a satisfying meal.

So, by Sunday, we were pretty worn out from the events of the previous day. This led to a rather uneventful Sunday, which was nice. We finally made it out of the house for a spaghetti dinner at about 8 at night on Easter. Monday morning came too fast. David had to leave before 8, which was super sad. I had a few more hours with my boy Nick, and then I too headed to the airport with a few other volunteers who were visiting the island and Robert (Nick's roommate).

It was a perfect weekend with two great people. I'll try to post a few photos from the weekend soon. Txau, ti logo.

Poverty

Sometimes in my daily life here in Cape Verde, I'm able to forget that I live in a very poor country. I mean, people go to school. Some people have cars and nice houses. People dress nicely even if they don't have money. In my daily walking to and from places, I tend to see the beauty of the people and the land. However, today, I was caught off guard. I saw something that made me uncomfortable and reminded me of where I am. I saw a little boy standing next to a dumpster. As I approached him, another younger boy was inside the dumpster. This little boy was handing his friend a half full bottle of water that he had found in the dumpster. And it wasn't enough that the children were resorting to this kind of scavenging, but they were doing it right in front of one of the ambassador's homes. This sharp contrast between wealthy and poor saddened me as I walked along the road. I watched the children as they continued to retrieve things from the filthiness of the dumpster, and I wanted to cry. These children need help. The kind of help that other countries should be giving. Unfortunately, the only help these children were getting today was the trash from an ambassador. I am reminded, just as I forget, that there is a reason I am in this country.

Ulisses

A student, a wonderful, sweet, smart, kind, interested student lost his father yesterday. Ulisses' father died of a sudden heart attack yesterday morning. I am overwhelmed by this information. Ulisses came to class today and told me what happened. I asked him if he would like to go home, but he said he'd rather be at school today. He was in shock and barely able to hold it together. It is so hard to comfort and console someone when such a major loss has occurred for them. Capeverdeans want to be with people when someone dies. They like to have large crowds of people around them, making them feel comforted. This society cares about community and togetherness. Ulisses is so special to me that I hate to see him in pain. I hate to think of him as he suffers. I plan to visit his home today with the other second year students. Although I have reservations about showing up at his home, it is the Capeverdean thing to do. And as I learn how to live as a Capeverdean, I do things that remove me from my comfort zone in order to make others feel more comfortable.

Theater

When you think about 3rd world countries, you probably don't think about great theater. That's fair enough, I don't really equate Cape Verde with excellent theater either. However, this past weekend I went to an excellent play at the national auditorium. It was about the history of Creole in Cape Verde.

First, the play began during the times of Slavery. The "Master" spoke in Portuguese and the slaves in Creole. It was pretty cool. As history progressed, Creole advanced. There was a part of the play where a local performance group danced and sang on stage. It was amazing. To watch the history of the country on stage was incredible. I was so impressed by the creativity of people who have so little. They are able to do an unbelievable amount with what they have.

Oh! I was sitting just behind the President of the country, Pedro Pires. He just walked in and sat right in front of me and talked to everyone. This is just slightly different than G.W. walking into a place! People were just saying hello and little kids were playing around him. It is soooo different here than in the states!!!!!!!!!!!!!! txau.