Graduation

We made through a rather grueling 10 month English course!!! WHEW! Last Saturday, we had a graduation ceremony for our students. They came and received their diplomas, which you can see some of them holding, and we fed them and told them they were great and then everyone went home happy! It was a nice celebration and very SAD at the same time. We'll be leaving, but I am happy to report that a British couple is taking over the school. Our students will continue to learn English! I am sad to leave but happy to be leaving with the knowledge that what we started will continue!

Santo Antao...again

The teaching staff at English Unlimited went for a weekend getaway to Santo Antao back in April. I thought you might like these photos. You can see the group of Americans in one photo. David was taking the photo, so he didn't make it in. But, you can see me, Nadia, Nick, and Josh. Also, the hotel there is a great little place that an Italian friend of ours owns. He's taken to calling me "irish" because my name is Casey Malone!

Carnaval

I realize that Carnaval happened back in February, but I finally got hold of a picture of my costume. My friend Nadia and I were Butterfly type characters. You'll notice a FAKE tattoo! Don't worry Mom or Grandmother, it really is fake.

Santo Antao Trip

The latest meeting of the hiking crew was over in Santo Antao during the 5th of July, Independence Day weekend. As you may recall, Cape Verde gained its independence from Portugal on July 5, 1975. In celebration, we went hiking. This time we went to Lajedos, which is just a few kilometers outside of the port city, so we didn't have to spend much time in cars! We spent Saturday hiking around the city and through the mango groves. We hiked over to the house of Baltasar Lopes. He was a famous Cape Verdean author. He lived in Santo Antao for a period of his life and was inspired by his surroundings. His house sits high on a lonely hill overlooking the valley and ocean below. Its a great view.

On Sunday, we headed down to the "mine." Well, it's really just a tunnel that carries water from its ground source in Ribera das Patas (a few miles north). But, it's a really long tunnel. We walked for about 40 minutes in the tunnel. Along the way, there are large tunnels heading out into the valley. We headed out one of these exits, you can see it in the picture above. It's pretty far up the valley wall, so we had to scale the wall to get out into the valley and then we hiked up the valley to the next town. After that, we had to hike up the mountain and onto the main road and walked back down, picking mangoes along the way! It was a great, very nice, very relaxing trip. We really enjoyed it.

So, enjoy the pictures.

It rained... AND happy 4th of July

Last night it finally rained. We got our first touch of the "rainy season" here in Mindelo. The rest of the country has reported rain, but as always, our island is the last to get rain. It's overcast today and gloomy which is actually really pleasant. I hope it continues! Everyone stays inside and the city is quiet.

ALSO, happy 4th of July. Tomorrow will mark the 3 year anniversary of my move to Cape Verde. Time has flown by and when I look back on what I have done in this country, it's amazing. My 30th birthday is on Tuesday, the 8th and I can't believe that I'm 30 either!

Anyway, as many of you know, I will be returning to the states on August 10th... for good. I have been offered a position at the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast campus. I will be considered a visiting professor for one year and then a full, nation-wide search will be done, at which point, I will hopefully be hired as a full faculty member. Anyway, I'm turning 30 and I am being offered a "big kid" job! I'm so excited and can't wait to be home. I will miss Cape Verde and the school dearly, but I am thrilled to get to live in Mississippi again.