more pictures

My fam in Sao Domingos! I just found out that my host mom is PREGNANT! WOW. She's 45, not married, barely has a boyfriend, and is 2 months along. But, she's really happy and despite my reservations, it's really nice to see her sooooo cheerful.

Jessica's 30th Birthday

This past Saturday was Jessica's 30th birthday. I did not get any photos of Jessica, but I did get a few others, so here they are. The two with me in them are: Sarin and Jonah, Adi and Jay, a Cape Verdean friend Odayer, Jacob and his girlfriend Vanda, Jay and Christie (Christie is from Harvard here on fellowship studying Cape Verde), Jacob and me, my student Esmael and me.

Two cameras were stolen at the party, so these may be some of the few photos that remain!

Speaking of stealing things... our house was "broken" into the other night. Our screen was cut and through the bars on our windows, our nice curtains were stolen. The thief was kind enough to leave the wooden curtain rod, however..... Will the stealing ever end??? Hopefully the desperation of Christmas will be over soon and people will go back to not stealing things!

Creole Poetry

A little while back a guy came to ISE looking for a job. His name is Imez, he's Cape Verdean, he's 27, and he studied in the states. I have spent a little bit of time with Imez since our first meeting and he's a wonderful person. After spending a little time with this man, he told me he was a poet and that he had published several volumes of poetry. His most recent work is entirely in Criola! This is amazing because there is very little work existent in Creole. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is that the language is not "formal" meaning there are no agreed upon spellings or ways to write things. SO, Imez moved from the US back to Cape Verde just a little over a month ago, and night before last he presented his new book at ISE. He read some poetry, his cousin (and my neighbor from Sao Domingos) played the guitar and sang some of his work. He also invited a professor from ISE to speak about the importance of the Creole language. I bought his book and am impressed by this poetry (even though my Creole is not perfect, I get the gist). I am soooo happy to have met someone who is giving back to his country. This is the kind of thing that I hope happens more and more. Cape Verdeans need to return to their country after studying elsewhere and work at places like ISE. We don't currently have a job for Imez, but I really, really hope that next year we can hire him. We need to see Peace Corps people replaced by well educated Cape Verdeans. I am so excited to see this kind of shift happening. I am also thankful that Creole is being recognized as a beautiful, wonderful, unique lanugage that needs to be made more formal and readable. I just thought I'd share my recent excellent experience! I hope all is well.... it's almost Christmas time! Feliz Natal.

New Computers, Bad Feet, Christmas presents, and stolen Sunglasses

First things first... Today I received a package with a computer in it from my wonderful mother. As you know, I killed the old computer that my father graciously gave to me just before coming to Cape Verde. My mother has given me her laptop to use for the remainder of the time I'm here. So, what a wonderful thing! It will be so nice to again have a computer at my home.

Second, my foot is not better. It has been exactly a month since my return from Dakar and my foot has been hurting consistently for about 3 weeks. I spoke with the doctor here today and she is in contact with the doctor in Dakar and with the doctors in DC to see what the next step is. It looks like they want me to return to Dakar to have my orthotic refitted. It may be a simple matter of the orthotic being out of place and causing pain in my foot. I sure hope that's what it is! At this point, I am getting a little nervous about the whole situation. This has been going on for a long time, and I just want it to get better. It is difficult to live here in CV and not be able to get around easily.

Third, I recently received wonderful boxes of Chirstmas presents from friends and family! It was sooooo nice to have things to open and some of the presents were even wrapped giving me things to open on Christmas day. I am planning on spending Christmas Eve and Christmas day in Sao Domingos with my family there. OH! Another Christmas surprise.... my host mom is pregnant. She is two months along (45, unmarried, and caring for 3 children already)! She is very, very excited about the whole thing.

Finally, I've decided to alternate good news and bad news in this post, as you may have noticed. Last week I received several packages at one time and had to go to the post office to get them. I carried them onto the bus, which was a pain and while fussing with all of the packages, someone unzipped my bag and stole my sunglasses!!!!!!!!!! How annoying. My sunglasses were really nice and I purchased them especially for my life in CV! I am sooooo sick of people stealing stuff. In fact, this past Saturday was Jessica's 30th b'day party at her home and someone stole her digital camera as well as another persons digital camera! Absolutely disgusting! This time of year is particularly awful....

Well, that's all for now. I want to end on a positive note, so I'll just say that my brother and Holly will be married on March 25th in Destin, FL. It should be a small, intimate ceremony and sounds like it will be tons of fun.... Txau, ti logo!

Christmas Spectacular!

On Saturday night the English Language Institute in Praia had a Christmas show (The Annual Christmas SPECTACULAR). ELI is a place where Cape Verdeans go to learn English. Children beginning at about age 3 begin learning English there and adults take classes at night to work on their English. Well, my friend Adi, a former Peace Corps volunteer, works at ELI, teaching the teenagers (who by this time in their lives are very proficient at English). I was invited to attend this wonderful event where the Christmas spirit was in the air. It definitely helped make things feel a little more "Christmassy" around here. The show only lasted about 20 minutes, but the children performed all of the Christmas classics. Then at the end of the show the adult students from ELI sang with the kids, "We wish you a Merry Christmas" which was a great way to end the show! It was just lovely!!! Merry Christmas Everyone. Feliz Natal!

random pictures!

Our group

I meant to publish this picture some time ago! It is a shot of our entire group of trainees (minus Sarah, who came two weeks later).

We have since lost 4 people: Elliott (behind me in the picture to your left), Kay (right of me, green shirt), Todd (second guy from the right), and Rebecca (kneeling beneath me in a yellow shirt)

Amanda and Joey!

I also wanted to post a quick message about my other best friend from high school, Amanda. This past Saturday, she and Joey, were married! I just wish I could have been there for the wedding. I truly am so sorry I missed it and will be home soon (March 25th) to celebrate with them. Okay, just wanted to make public my most recent good pieces of news!

It's a GIRL!

Kathryn, one of my best friends from high school, and her husband, Patrick, recently had their first child. On October 26th, Aislyn Lee Leary was born! I am including a picture of here! She's adorable and I'm soooo happy for Kathryn and Patrick. They will soon be moving from the Coast to Jackson, MS, which is good for them, but sad too! Congrats Kathryn and Patrick!

I rule...

Every year I get this HILARIOUS email from some random friend. Since I was feeling really down about having my wallet stolen (see previous email for the complete story) I decided to try to track down this website for a good laugh. Please check it out if you want a good laugh. I always am in tear when I read this thing. Check it out: http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=irule

When you get to the bottom of the page, you'll see Crappy Art #2. Click there for more fun!!!

I thought bad things came in threes....

If it's true that bad things come in threes, then I should be in the clear after the broken foot, the broken computer, and the broken IPOD. BUT NO! Last night, while dining at a local restraunt, my wallet was stolen!!!!! I was sitting at table with my friend Adi. We had just sat down and I set my wallet on the table (BIG MISTAKE, I KNOW, I KNOW). We were seated outside and a man approached the railing of the restraunt, leaned over, grabbed the wallet and ran off into an alley. It's Christmas time so crime is high in Cape Verde, especially in big cities like Praia. I am just sooo upset because I've never had anything like this happen to me. I've never had anything stolen from me. I lost my ID card, my bank card, and about 25 dollars (which may not seem like much to you people in America, but trust me, it's a lot to a volunteer).

Needless to say, I'll be much more careful in the future. I couldn't sleep at all last night because I kept dreaming about the incident. I also have been scaring myself often, every little noise or strange look gets me nervous. I hate feeling this way. I am just thankful that I wasn't harmed physically in the process.

I went to the bank and stood in line for about an hour and a half in an effort to get a new bank card and some money. I wish he would have taken the money and left all of the other things so that I wouldn't have to go through all of this!!! Well, this is turning out to be a terrible Christmas away from home. I miss you all soooooo much. I'm off to fill out an incident report to let the people in charge know what happened!

Txau, ti logo.

My students

kittens!!!!

the kittens!

So it's been a couple of weeks since I took four kittens into my home. At this point I am ready for them to find a new home. They are super cute, but they are becoming increasingly active! They recently decided to destroy my room and wake me up in the middle of the night with their playing, so I kicked them out of my room. Now they have taken residence in our spare bedroom. We, of course, had to move everything out of that room because they were tearing things up. My roommate is being extremely patient with this whole process, but I think her patience and mine are wearing thin. I think they will have a home very soon in Principal with Claudia, one of my fellow volunteers. Keep your fingers crossed that they find a good home really soon! I really want to post the pictures I have but for some reason every time I try to put them up, the darn thing freezes! AHHHH.... computers.

And just as soon as I get rid of the cats, I'll be petsitting for a couple of friends who will be spending Christmas in South Africa. They have a very cute little dog, Chloe, who will be staying with me for a couple of weeks over the break. It will be nice to have a house trained animal around!!!! Well, I seem to be innundated with pets, none of which I am keeping... thank goodness.

Okay that's all for now. Txau, ti logo.

Congratulations are in order!

I want to publicly congratualte my little brother, Morgan, on his recent engagement to Holly, his wonderful girlfriend (now fiance)! I am soooo excited for them both because they are great people. I am super thankful that I am getting a really cool, sweet sister-in-law too!

A note to Morgan and Holly: please, please try to give the dates of the wedding soon! I am definitely coming home but have school and a mandatory Peace Corps conference that I must attend in March.

awwww....

This link http://ontheway.blogproject.org/images/hi-casey will take you to an amazing photo album created by my friends at Penn State. The national communication association conference was recently held in Boston. I was very sad that I couldn't be there to see all of my friends, colleagues, former professors, etc. BUT, you'll see that my friends didn't forget me!!!! I was completely taken aback by this kind gesture.

Thank you (Jessica and others) for the wonderful surprise. It made me smile, cry, laugh, and miss everyone.

A little festa

Click on the image and it gets bigger.... it's even better when it's full size!

Yesterday I invited my class to my house for a little party. We didn't have school because it was "ISE day". I thought it would be fun to visit with my students outside of class. Also, they have been so wonderful to me throughout the semester and I thought it would be nice to entertain them at my house. About 16 of my 25 students were able to make it. Some of them live far away and some of them have to work, but the turn-out was great!

For the occasion I made pizzas, banana bread, cookies, and brownies. My students each brought something to eat as well. We had tons of food! I had students bring bean dishes, couscous, cakes, rice, and much more. I was great.

My students showed up at 11am. Cape Verdeans have specific things that they do at parties, so I just sat back and enjoyed the events as they took over. First we played several games including charades. Then after about 2 hours of game playing and waiting for everyone to show up, it was time to eat. Everyone ate and drank lots. After eating everyone sat in a big circle and they took turns telling jokes and funny antecdotes. This was great because they were telling stories in Crioulu which helped me learn more words. After about an hour of story telling they began to clean up. Now this was an impressive production. First, they put on some really good dance music, then the boys grabbed brooms and dustpans and started sweeping and dancing all at the same time. The girls took to doing the dishes and divying up the food. Within about 20 minutes everything was sparkling clean and before everyone left, they had to DANCE. The boys and girls all danced for a bit and even got me in on the fun. It was a blast. I love hanging out with my students and getting to know them. It was great to speak to them in Creole rather than English for a change.

Well, in two weeks, they are throwing a "jamaica" party/dinner, and I am invited! I'm extremely excited about this! It should be a blast! I'll be sure to let you know how this all goes!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so I hope you are all spending Turkey day with those you love. I wish I were in America now to see everyone. It's hard to be soooo far away on the holidays. Miss you.... txau, ti logo.

I just couldn't help it!

I've recently inhereted 4 cats! That's right, four cats (1 momma and 3 babies). I wrote not too long ago about the cat, "happy cow" who lives at the Peace Corps transit house. I wrote about her having her babies while I was sitting next to her. Well, the Peace Corps found out about the babies and decided they had to go! Well, their brilliant solution was to kill the cats. I found out the day after I returned from Dakar and decided to save them from their impending doom. Can you believe someone would kill 3 babies?? I have no real desire to keep these kittens nor their mother, so I am just keeping them until the babies can be separated from the mom. I am in the process of finding good homes for them. I hope some fellow volunteers decide to take them in because I can't keep 4 cats; my roommate is already getting a little wigged out about them. She has taken to keeping her door shut at all times to keep the momma out!!!!

As for their adoption, I have taken individual photographs of each kitten in his/her most favorable light. I am planning on sending these images out to the volunteers to garner sympathy and find good homes for the cats. I sure hope this works!! YIKES. My roommate is patiently handling my compassion for pets, but she is really just humoring me for a while.

Okay, so wish me luck with the pet adoption! Oh, I forgot to mention that the kittens are primarily black, which my students tell me is very bad in Cape Verde. They say that people believe black cats are "brusha," witches. Children will try to kill black cats if they catch them!!! I don't have a lot working in my favor with these little guys.....

I'm Back...

HI Everyone! I'm back in Cape Verde after a grueling trip. After feeling as if my foot problems where not being resolved, my flight back home was delayed about 3 hours. We were scheduled to leave at 11p.m., but ended up leaving at about 2:30 a.m. That put me back in Cape Verde at 4 a.m. and I had to teach at 9. Needless to say, I'm exhausted. To top it all off, I had to share a room in Dakar with a woman who had the flu, so, of course, I am sick! GREAT! To say that my trip was pointless would be an understatement.

At any rate, I am happy to be home. I missed my students terribly. When I walked into my classroom on Friday morning, my students gave me a round of applause, and I got lots of hugs. They told me that they really, really missed me! It was nice to feel welcomed back.

So now that I'm here, I have been noticing all of the things I am missing. I began to compile a list so that family and friends could send me Christmas packages full of things I need. Here goes (this is particularly for Morgan and Holly who asked me to be specific):

- Spices (any and all spices, particularly tumeric and chili powder)
- Binder clips (you know the bigger clippy things)
- Index cards (lots of them for studying new languages)
- A day planner
- A wall calendar
- A good can opener
- A good garlic press
- A pepper mill (the only black pepper you can get in this country is in the form of peppercorns)
- NEW MUSIC - CD's of any kind that are out in the states now
- Hair clips
- Hair bands (ponytail holders)
- For JA - more Goldwell conditioner, shampoo, hair gel
- A new ipod (just kidding, but mine is done and I'm sending it West to have it repaired ... hopefully)
- Fruit Leathers (you know the 100% fruit snacks you can get in health food stores)
- trail mix
- Pecans, Almonds, pumpkin seeds, soy nuts, etc.
- visits from any friends or family members that would like to come.
- As always, money for traveling (can be deposited in my account at home or sent here, just let me know)
- Crossword puzzle books
- books, magazines, any reading material

I'll be updating this list as I think of things. I'm just soooo happy to be back here after time away. I'll try to post pictures from my Dakar trip soon. Txau... ti logo.

Dakar photos

Though I didn't get to spend a lot of time exploring Dakar, I did get to see some of the statues and mosques. This is the millenium monument on the beach near downtown Dakar.
As always, if you click on the photo, it gets bigger.

water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink

The other night, while eating dinner in the medical "hut" alone, I was putting together a puzzle that was left by another kind volunteer. All of the sudden, as if out of nowhere, water began spraying across the room. At frist I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. It was spraying like a firehose, really, really hard. I thought it was coming in through a hole in the wall from outside. Or maybe it was being sprayed in through a window. All I knew was that I was getting soaked and the floor was filling up quickly. I finally looked around and noticed a that had hose broken loose from the hot water heater and was causing the problem. Of course, I jumped into action. I grabbed the hose, only to have it spray in my face, and then I tried to redirect the water into the nearby sink. Just imagine it... me, drenched, holding an out of control water main in my hand, feeling pretty helpless. What to do? I finally rig a way for the hose to stay pointed at the sink and run out to the guard (oh, did I mention it was late and NO ONE else was around except two non-english speaking guards). The guards speak French, so I just yelled, "come with me" and made some wild hand motion as I pointed to my wet clothes. The guard, rather than immediately hopping to, just laughed at me for a minute, then followed when I stormed off (I didn't think this was nearly as funny as he apparently did). He came in, assessed the situation, went back outside, turned off the water main and the water finally STOPPED.

There I was, looking like a drowned rat, sopping up water from the lake that had become my kitchen. The guard left, got the other guard, and then they both returned to laugh at me some more. At this point I was on hands and knees with towels, working on getting the water up and out! Needless to say, it was a crazy night. I was worn out and headed for bed immediately after that incident! What a week. It's not bad enough that I broke my foot, had to leave Cape Verde, but now I have to deal with faulty water hoses! GEEZ. What's next?

Catching Up

I've decided, since I'm in Dakar and bored to tears, that I will try to spend some time "catching up" on some of the things that I have been meaning to write about.

1.) The boy in the yellow shirt:
I have a student named Esmael. He is a nice kid, about 20 years old. His English is pretty good and his writing is even better (which tends to be true for non-native English learners). I had my students write an essay introducing themselves. This was their first official assignment so that I could get a sense of where they were as writers and where I needed to begin the class. Esmael's essay was amazing. He told of his childhood and the extreme poverty into which he was born. He told of walking 3 hours each way to school every day, of not eating breakfast or lunch because his parents couldn't affort it, and of the struggle he went through to pay for his high school education (in Cape Verde, only primary school is free). What's funny, is that after I read his essay, I noticed that he wears the exact same yellow shirt every single day. The shirt is apparently from some basketball camp in the States that he must have inhereted from a relative or friend. I would have never noticed that my student wears the same t-shirt everyday if not for his essay about his impoverished life. It's amazing how much you can learn from reading about people's lives.

2.) Pregnancy:
I have a student named Fatima who wrote the most amazing essay last week. Her essay told the story of her youth. She was young, 15 or so, when she realized she was pregnant. She lived with her Aunt at the time and did not want to tell her secret. She told the story with such amazing detail and candor that I was enthralled. She never once said that she was "pregnant" but the dialogue communicated this "secret" that she was keeping. It was one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read.

Say what?

I'm in Dakar now where everyone speaks a different African tribal language and a little bit of French. This is terribly unfortunate for me seeing as I speak none of these languages. Just as I was getting a hold of Creole, I am sent to a land where no Creole is spoken!

Well, I saw three doctors yesterday. The Peace Corps doctor (who was of no help), a podiatrist, who while cute and French, was not all that interested in talking to me or helping me, and an orthopedic surgeon who did try to speak to me a bit but ended up telling me not to worry about my foot because "it's really not that bad." Now, this last doctor's comment made me cry because he told me this just after telling me that I would need to wear an insert in my shoe for 3 to 6 months and that I wouldn't be able to run for at least 6 months. But, really, it's not that bad. RIGHT! It sucks! The doctors all spoke to each other in French and the PC doctor didn't ever tell me what the specialists were saying to him, even after I asked. What a pretentious ass.

Now I'm waiting to get my shoe insert to turn my running shoes into my special shoes. I will have to wear my tennis shoes all day everyday. This means while I'm teaching, relaxing, everything. I'm sure it will be really, really cute seeing me in a dress, blouse, and asics! Lovely!

Well, aside from my terrible foot pain and impending fashion crisis, things are boring. I can't get out and do much because of the foot thing. I don't speak the language, which is a problem. Apparently it's Veteran's day, so the PC office in Dakar is closed, meaning the people who actually speak my language in this country are not around!

This has all turned out to be a pointless trip. I was sent here to have an MRI and CT scan, but have had and will have NEITHER. The PC is cheap and the doctor doesn't actually care about the long-term effects of all of this, so I'll just be hobbling around for a while longer. I sure hope the shoe insert works. If not, I'm headed to the states. I refuse to live in a place where I am miserable. I have to walk everywhere and with a broken foot, that's not very easy. Sorry to be such a downer, but this is all hitting me very hard. I feel like no one really cares if I get better in the near future or at all for that matter. I just hope something good comes from all of this bad! I'm trying to stay positive... and you know what might help??? Packages from the states filled with fun things to do while sitting on the couch and good things to eat while sitting on the couch! Okay, so send on those packages.

Dakar on crutches

Alo! First, let me say that I am on crutches and have been for about 5 days! Crutches are the pits and if you've never had the joy of supporting your weight on two sticks, then feel blessed. My armpits are sore, my back hurts, and I am now taking pain pills that make me drowsy all of the time. The doctor has put me on "bed rest" at this point. This means I can only go teach and then I must return home to sit on the couch and read books and magazines. I am pretty miserable, so send emails and words of encouragement my way, PLEASE!

I've just learned that tomorrow night I'll be on a plane to Dakar. Last time I was there, I hadn't made it to Cape Verde. And this time, I may not be returning to Cape Verde for quite some time.

I'll be in Dakar for an MRI and CT scan on my foot. Hopefully the doctors there will have some further insight on my foot and what to do about it. I'm not sure if I'll be returning to Cape Verde in a cast or if I'll be headed to DC for surgery. Everything is up in the air at this point, so I have been instructed to take as much as I can with me, as I may be gone for a while.

I will try to keep my blog up to date while I'm away (if I can access the internet) to keep everyone updated. Wish me luck! Txau, ti logo.

Happy Cow!

Well, It must be nearing Christmas time (even though it doesn't feel like it in Cape Verde) because the "peace corps" cat, Happy Cow (named after the cheese brand), just gave birth. Now, she didn't have a virgin birth (or at least I don't think so), but she was only about 8 months old when she had her first litter. She has a special place in my heart because she is a teenage mother and currently no one is residing at the Peace Corps transit house where she lives. I've been checking on her frequently to ensure she is being fed and that her pregnancy was coming along fine. Well, she must have known how much I worried about her because the other night I went to check on her and she came to sit next to me on one of the couches. I looked down and saw that she was beginning to deliver her first of three adorable kittens! That's right, she was lying right next to me, just pushing them out..... a miracle. She is the sweetest cat and her kittens are black. They haven't yet opened their eyes but they are beinging to cry and walk some! I am trying to find them good homes with Peace Corps volunteers, so we'll see how that works out. I don't really want to have a cat here for may reasons, but I may end up at least paying to feed them while they reside at the transit house. Well, the holiday season is upon us, maybe I'll name one of the babies Jesus! :) Txau, ti logo.

Happy Halloween

I know this post is a few days late, but with my foot problems, I've been busy!

I was really bummed that I was missing Halloween in the states. Several of my friends from the US have sent pictures of their Halloween parties and costumes, which made a bit homesick! To remedy this homesickness, I decided to bake my students some cookies and decorate them with orange and black icing. I also baked a brownie cake and decorated it with a big jack o' lantern face. I thought this would be a nice gesture and we had been studying Halloween in my British Culture and Civilization course!

Well, much to my surprise, my students had planned on surprising me on Monday morning. When I got to my classroom, they had decorated everything with ghosts, grave stones, balck cats, bats, pumpkins, etc. They went all out for this! I was so touched and surprised and amazed by this. They had all dressed either in all black with witches hats or all white with ghost faces. It was a beautiful site.

Of course, I didn't have my camera with me, but a student had hers! I hope to get those pictures and post them soon. I just can't believe how much trouble my entire class went to for me. They are absolutely amazing. They are hard working, thoughtful, and beautiful people. They were able to absolutely make my day even though I later found out about my foot and the upcoming trip to Dakar!

I have more things to say about my students here at ISE, so I'll write more about them very soon. Txau, ti logo.

Ami n kebra nha pe (revised)

Well, the title basically says it all ! Oh wait, you can't read Crioulu. The title says "I BROKE MY FOOT."

After several months of having a foot pain, several inconclusive Xrays, and some blood work, I found out today that I broke my foot. The Peace Corps doctor decided to try one more angle on the Xray to see if there was a hidden fracture. SURE ENOUGH, there was. I broke my foot and now I am at the Peace Corps office waiting for the nurse to take me to the hospital to talk to the orthepedic doctor.

I'm back from the doctor! Great news, I get to go to the continent. Apparently the fracture I have is in a small bone underneath the pad of my foot, which means that casting it will not work because I'll break it again. ALSO, this fracture is also apparently OLD, so I've just been continuously hurting it for quite some time. It now hurts really, really bad.

The doctor says that I must have an MRI, which cannot be done in Cape Verde. I will be headed to Dakar next week to have this done. Then from there, the doctor said I'll have to have surgery. He said this bone isn't "needed" and it'll need to be removed. The Peace Corps medical officer assured me this surgery is fast and easy! My fear is that this surgery will have to be done in AFRICA! YIKES. Hopefully they'll send me to Portugal or the States. That would be sweet. Either way, I'm off to Dakar soon.... I'll keep you posted on the status of my foot.

As always (now more than ever), any care packages would be greatly appreciated at this point! I am pretty bummed about my foot and the whole surgery thing! Alright, I expect lots of sympathy from all of my friends and family! Txau! Ti logo.

christmas

I know that everyone is wondering just what to get me for Christmas! It may seem early, but my mom spoke with the post office and they said that in order for a package to get to me for Christmas, it should be sent at the latest, by Thanksgiving. So, send on any Christmas presents you'd like to.

AND, if you are wondering what to get me, then you should know from the previous post that my computer is dead, so a new computer would be great! Okay, maybe that's asking too much, but seriously money for a computer is ideal! I'll leave you all to decide what other things I might want (books, CD's, clothes)....

Now get to sending those wonderful Christmas packages before it gets too late!

Take the good with the bad

Friends, family, faithful readers!

Hello! I am sorry that I have been neglecting my blog in recent weeks, but (and here is where the BAD begins) a few things have happened in the past two weeks that have limited my internet usage. First, my computer is dead. By dead I mean, dead in the way that computers are after you accidently dump water in them. My laptop was on when this happened, it immediately shorted out, and I haven't seen any glimmers of hope from it since (it's been a week and a half). Secondly, I found out last week (my first week of classes) that I would be teaching another class, British Culture and Civilization. Now, I know nearly nothing about the British, their culture, or anything to do with civilization. So, I have been furiously reading, researching, etc. to try to come up with a reasonable syllabus for my students.

Here comes the GOOD.... Other than the dead computer and the new class, things are quite delightful. As I said, my classes began last week. I am teaching Compostion I and the British Culture course to the second year students. At ISE, the students all stay in the same classroom for every class, so I am teaching the same students for a total of 8 hours a week. I begin teaching Monday morning from 7:30 am until 9:30, then I teach Wednesdays 7:30 to 9:30 and again from 11:30 until 1:30, then on Fridays I teach from 9:30 until 11:30. All-in-all, not a bad schedule. I really like teaching early in the mornings here. It's a nice schedule.

Now to the students (the really, really good part). My students are absolutely wonderful. I know, I know, you're thinking that I've only met them for a few classes, how could I possibly know if they are wonderful. Well, I do and they are. These students still are struggling with English a bit because they are only in their second year of the program. Now, the first day of my Composition class, I had the students write a couple of paragraphs about why they wanted to learn English and in particular composition. Afterward, I had them stand in front of the class and read their first writing assignment (they were a little shocked, I think). Those students with poor English skills were very timid and really reluctant to get in front of the class (I can't help it, I'm a public speaking teacher). They did an excellent job and were not to bad. I assigned a short essay for the next class and we were through. Now, on the second day of class, I decided to talk about passion. This is something I like to talk about with students because I want them to begin to realize that passion is essential to expressing oneself. Understanding and developing your passions makes for good writing (or speaking).

I began the class on passion by asking them to define the word. Students volunteered: desire, want, love, interest, etc. One quiet guy in the class half-whispered "SEX." I immediately asked him to repeat himself and he did. I then said, "yes, sex"! My students thought that was hilarious, so we kept on this and came up with some other funny things to say. Then I had them write a short paragraph about why passion is important for writing. When they finished, I asked them to write down a list of things about which they had passion. A few students volunteered to read these aloud and we talked about music, nature, friends, family, language, colleagues, etc. I then asked them to pick one specific thing from their list of passions. I asked them to intimately desribe this person, thing, or idea. Afterward, I asked for volunteers to read what they wrote. Nearly all of my students raised their hands immediately. Everyone wanted to share what they had wrote. I was in awe, taken aback because even my poorest speakers and shyest students had their hands raised to read. These students, every single one of them, read what they wrote. These short essays were beautiful. One student wrote about her mother, another about an unnamed lover, one about his love of reading, one about his passion for writing, one about life, one about her husband, another about traveling, and many, many more.

Today, in my British Culture and Civilization class, they students were equally great. They are soo interested in everything we have to teach them. They know how important their education is and NONE of them have their parents paying for their studies. These students work, come to school, and study hard everyday. I'm really, really happy to be here working with students who appreciate me as a teacher and why I'm here. I couldn't be happier with my life in Cape Verde; it's pretty wonderful.

And you know, it's even starting to get a little cooler here...... it's almost like fall (well, not really, but I can pretend). I'm off to read more about the British! Cheers!

waiting for school to begin

Several people have asked me in personal emails to tell them about school. Well, I would tell you about school if it were to begin. You see, school was scheduled to start on Monday, Oct. 10th, however, about two weeks ago we “heard” from one of the faculty members that school had been “officially” delayed. School is now supposed to begin on the 17th, next Monday. So, we’re a week late and in Cape Verde no one (not even elementary school or high school kids) attends school on the first week, so we won’t actually start school until the 24th or so. This is fine with me, but the problem is that the longer we delay school, the hard it is on the teachers. We MUST hold a certain number of classes regardless of the day school begins and ends and holidays. This means that if we don’t have at least 30 class sessions in a semester for a given class, we are obligated to hold class at another time that works for the students. We are apparently given the task of figuring this out ourselves! We wouldn’t actually have to adhere to this policy except for the fact that we have to turn in a “lesson plan” of each class that the students sign each class period. Then we turn a binder with these sheets, all tests given, and papers written to Academic services and they check up on us (I think). People in the English department seem to do whatever they want, so this may not be as big a deal as it seems like. Because hardly anyone in our department speaks Portuguese, and most of us are Americans, we kind of get away with a lot because the school figures either its too much trouble to get us to understand all of the rules OR they just figure since we speak English and it’s an English department, we must know what we’re doing! Fair enough. Either way, I just hope I do things right considering how little I actually understand.

Picture Albums on Ofoto

Here are the links to 5 photo albums I've created. I'll be updating them regularly and adding more of them to this post, so check back here regularly!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=951000068205&page=1&sort_order=0

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=489799958205&page=1&sort_order=0

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=834889958205&page=1&sort_order=0

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=747089958205&page=1&sort_order=0

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=747089958205&page=1&sort_order=0

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=764913528205&page=1&sort_order=0

Breast Cancer

I have not heard of many women with breast cancer in this country. In fact, it's pretty rare in countries were over-processed food (like fast food) has not yet spread. There has been some interesting research linking cancer (particularly breast cancer) to the "fast food" countries. But this entry isn't about research or statistics or the lack of breast cancer in Cape Verde. This is about a woman, my neighbor in Sao Domingos, who lost her battle with the disease last week.

Francesca, has three children (ages 10, 12, 17). These kids have been taking care of their mother for the past year and a half. She has been bedridden for that long, after returning from a masectomy in Portugal. She is a very good friend of my family, so I spent time at her bedside speaking with her and spending time with her. Her children were my friends. I spent time practicing English with them and they helped me with my Creole. Her children are incredibly wonderful and strong. I attended the visitation (with the family, which is different than in the states) where I got to see the children and talk with them a bit. I'm not sure what will happen to them now, but I do know that Cape Verde is a wonderfully community-oriented place. The children will be well taken care of here by my family and others.

This blog entry is a tribute to this woman, who, by the time I knew her had gone from a vivacious mother to a skeleton of a woman. She is survived by some wonderful kids that I am glad I know. The picture: Junior, the 10 year old son of Francesca.

The market

I have discovered that shopping at the open-air market on the Plateau is far better than shopping at the local mini-markets or larger grocery stores, at least for veggies and fish and the herbs. The open-air market has about 200 vendors, all women. The main part of the market is veggies, these are in the center. On the sides of the market are the fish and meat vendors (these areas are a little scary, but they sell excellent fresh TUNA for a very, very good price). The very center of the market is where you can get fresh herbs.

I have visited the market on several occasions and have found lots of exciting things. Just this morning, I bought beautiful green leafy lettuce (they don't have iceberg lettuce, thank goodness), 6 georgeous/homegrown tomatoes, 2 onions, 2 huge green onions (they are very different here than our small bunches of scallions in the states), 1 head of garlic, and 1 cucumber. I got all of this for a mere 340 escudos (about $3.10, US). And from another woman, I purchased 4 carrots and she threw in a zuchini because I am from Sao Domingos and so is she!!! Sweet. I love the perks of knowing people in this town. I have two women that I buy from on a regular basis because they give me a good deal and I know they aren't trying to hike up the prices because I'm an American. AND, if they don't have what I'm looking for, they will walk me over to one of their friends and ask her to help me with what I need. Now that's helpful. I also have a woman in the fresh herbs section that helps me out! It's really nice to get everything I need to cook dinner at the market and it's fun to see the ladies. They always ask me how I am and give me kissed on the cheeks. It makes my day to head up to the market because I get to practice my Crioulu and I am meeting lots of nice women there.

Okay, that's all for now. Just thought I'd fill you in on my latest, greatest pleasure in life. Txau, ti logo.

Just kidding... (REVISED)

I spoke toooo soon. My ipod is acting CRAZY, so I am trying to get Ipod to be sympathetic to a poor/sad Peace Corps volunteer and fix my Ipod for me. It is freezing, stopping, skipping, and doing all sorts of other odd things at this moment, so I SPOKE TOO SOON. Feel sorry for me again, please!!!!!!!!!!!

Ignore the below post:

A miracle has occurred. After 5 days of no music, I walked into the Peace Corps office Saturday afternoon to file a formal complaint online with Ipod. My friend and fellow volunteer Sarin was here and he asked to look at the device. After approximately 30 seconds he said, "what exactly is the problem?" All of my music was there just as it had been.

Okay, before you all get angry and upset because I didn't really lose my music and you sent or are sending things to me, just think, you can enhance my music collection, just as I requested some time back.

I am relieved to say the very least and excited to get my music back. Please send on anything you were planning to send. I'd love to hear new stuff.

Sorry for the panic! It's been 5 really long days without my tunes! Thanks for all of the support and kindness during this time of need!

Buses

An extremely common form of transportation in Praia is the bus (autocarro). The buses cost 28 escudo, which is MUCH cheaper than public transportation in the states (at Penn State it was $1.25 each trip, here it is about 25 cents). The buses here are usually packed because everyone uses them to get from place to place. It also takes a long time at each stop because each person has to pay the driver. The driver (conductor) is responsible for receiving all money and giving change. So, this can be a lengthy process. I tell you all of this not to comment on the expense or overcrowding of public transport, rather because something rather wonderful happens just about every time I get on a bus. When the bus is at the point of “standing room only” and a young child gets on a bus with his/her parent, someone will inevitably take the child into his/her lap while the parent stands. Parents think nothing of giving their children to complete strangers on the bus. People are generally happy to have little kids sit with them as a way to ensure the child is safe. I can’t imagine being in the US and seeing this happen. No parent in the states would allow a complete stranger to hold his/her child, no matter how kind the gesture seems.

This kind of thing reminds me of the sense of community Cape Verdeans have. They really have a sense of what it means to help a fellow community member, even in big cities like Praia. People here think nothing of helping one another when needed. Women get on buses with their daily wares from the market and the bus drivers or other patrons get out of the bus and help them with their buckets and bags and jugs. This is just normal. My roommate Dianne never, ever has to stand on a crowded bus. Because of her age, someone always offers her their seat, without fail. People here are thoughtful and helpful. Maybe that’s what happens when you live in a place where life is stripped down to the essentials. People here aren’t talking on cell phones or listening to ipods or emailing people on their Blackberries. Cape Verdeans are talking to one another even when they don’t know each other. They tell jokes on the buses and ask you questions about where you’re going and if you need help. Things are just different here and I am getting really used to the “difference.”

Ofoto Album

Hey y'all... I finally got some pictures put in an album on Ofoto. Here is the address:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=764913528205&page=1&sort_order=0

Check them out, they're mostly of Praia, but I'll get some more posted soon.

Devastation

I experienced my first moment of PURE devastation today. I went running this morning, on my usual route, but I decided to take my IPOD along with me. I have been running the same path for a little while now and feel as if it is safe enough to take my most valuable possession. I was right, nothing happened to me or my IPOD while I was running this morning. What did happen is that my IPOD froze. This has happened before, so I read online about how to reset the system and this works fine every time... until today. Today, when I returned from my run, I reset the device. This afternoon, I grabbed it to take with me on some errands and EVERYTHING had been erased. All of my music is GONE.

Now I know that this is just a material possession. I know I should not be "devastated" by this event. But I am. Music is that thing that keeps me connected to friends and family. It is the thing that makes me remember certain places and times. My friend Brock just emailed to say that he got an Ipod. He told was writing about how nice it was to hear songs that make us laugh and remember the good times in our past. It is so true. Nowadays, being so far from home, my music is even more important than ever.

Well, here comes the plea. If you have any music at all that you can burn onto CD, please do. Send it all to me, anything you can. If you can burn things as "data" music, you can get more on a disc too. I'd really, really appreciate this. Think of this as my very own "save the music" campaign :). Okay, I know this is different, but I'm desperate...... You can send me music to my address here (another reminder of my address):
Casey Maugh, PCV
A/C Corpo da Paz
C.P. 373 - Praia
Republic of Cape Verde
POR AVION (please put this at the bottom and write "via Portugal")

Last Night

Last night we had an attempted break-in at our home. Now, we live on a pretty busy street and across from a not-so-great neighborhood, but generally things are pretty calm. This isn't of too much concern for me, but my rommate is freaking out. She heard noises last night, got up and saw that our window had been broken (just a little bit, in the corner). It appears as if the person just broke the corner to get to the latch and open the window. I'm not exactly sure what their plan was after this because we have bars on all of the windows. The person could have stuck his/her hand in and touched our countertop, or possibly stolen our kitchen utensils that are sitting in the window sill. Other than that, there really is no way to do much. So, the safety and security guy is coming to our home this morning to check things out. My roommate is talking of moving (again for the 4th time since she moved to Praia a year ago), but I am pretty content where we are. We're close to work and close to the market. I really think moving is the last resort, but I also understand her concerns. So anyway, this was my first brush with the mean streets of Praia.... we'll see what happens. Txau, ti logo.

Dr. Jack

I don't know if you remember my talking about the temporary PC medical officer, Dr. Jack... he gave us a thorough lesson on condom use and STD's. As you can see my these images, he was really into his presentation. Click on the first image, his face is priceless.

Good bye training, hello PC volunteer

Pictures of Praia

Badja and Bugs

You'll recalll from a previous post my talking about dancing with a bug in my skirt. This is me, trying to both dance and remove the pest!

My house in Sao Domingos

This is a picture of my home when I lived in Sao Domingos. It is the large yellow home with the excellent veranda. I definitely got hooked up with a great home!

Archways

This is a view from our dining room into our foyer and our front door. Don't you just love the archway!!!

Click on the image to make it bigger

The city of Assomada

Here is what Assomada looks like from above.

Assomada

This is a picture from Assomada (a city north of here). I wrote about this trip some time ago. This is the same trip as the pictures from the big tree. We hiked to the top of a peak and this is the view. The people in the picture are: Tina, David, Nick, and Me.

Kintal, for real

This is a real kintal. I wrote in another picture about these spaces in the home. Our Kintal in S.D. was HUGE. The rest of the house centered around this space.

The Veranda

The best part about my house were the HUGE porches (or in Cape Verde, Veranda). This was were we spent most of our time as a family. We always ate dinner on the porches and spent time reading and talking there.

My friend David

This is a picture of my friend David and me in Praia at the beach.

Kintal

Most Cape Verdean homes have a Kintal, or a space with an opened roof. This space is generally used for hanging clothes to dry and such. Men also will shave in this area and dependent on the Kintal, people bucket bathe in this space. We, however, do not have a kintal, so we are using our spare bedroom to hang our laundry, as you can see here.

Living Room

Our living room is really, really great, but it's hard to tell from these shots. We have a nice big window and a door that we can open to let air in (and bugs). We were lucky enough to be given a couch and two nice, comfy chairs. We had to cover the chairs and couch because they are a little on the "used" side, but they work just fine for us.

Remember, click on the image to see this stuff in its grander form...

Bathroom

This is a fuzzy picture of our bathroom. You can see the tub/shower (most people don't have a tub) and the sink, the toilet is around the corner. We also have a half-bath on the other side of the apartment.... sweet

Two pictures of our dining room

These pictures are of our largest space in the house, the dining room. You'll see the dining room table we have, but other than that it's just a big empty room that connects all of the other rooms to each other. We are planning on getting some sort of couch/bed for this room for guests.
Click on the images to make them bigger

View from our porch

If you are standing on my porch, this is the view you get of the other apartment buildings, the gate that keeps us safe and the Shell station across the way!

Kitchen

This is the kitchen. It is my favorite room in the house not only because I love to cook, but also because this room centrally located and open with lots of light....

Remember, you can click on the images to make them bigger!!!

Cheap Food and Beer

Last night I went with a few friends to a local restaurant/bar called Benfica (which is a very famous Portuguese soccer team, for those of you not up on your European soccer). So, I have been to this place several times because they have pretty good food, and my friends Nick and David claim they have the best hamburgers in town. At any rate, I am telling you about this because I wanted a way to communicate the price of things in Cape Verde. I ordered a cheeseburger and drank 2 beers while I was there. The total cost of my meal was 400$00 escudos. This is equivalent to about $3.60 in US dollars. Now, I can’t think of any place in the states where you can get a cheeseburger with everything on it and 2 beers for that price. Granted, we aren’t exactly making the same amount that we would in the states, so it’s all fairly relative. BUT, when you ALL come visit me, you’ll be super rich here because you are only visitors!!!! Pretty cool. This is even more incentive for you to all book tickets to come to Cape Verde. The other motivating factor is, of course, me. And finally, I have seen some pretty cheap tickets out of Boston ($400)! Okay, I’m trying to upload more pictures, so maybe some will come through. Txau, ti logo.

my apartment building

This is my apartment building! We live on the first floor through the black gate in the front. It's a pretty nice spot, except we are on a major road, so it's pretty noise and REALLY, REALLY dusty. We are constantly sweeping and mopping. It's definitely a project to keep up with the cleaning on a daily basis, but it keeps us in good shape!!!!

Oops, you'll have to turn your head to see this one. I'll get the others straightened out, but I'm not changing this one beacuse it takes FOREVER to upload these things.

Me in the Biggest Tree in Cape Verde

I wrote about this long ago. My friend Nick and I decided to climb this tree! It was pretty high and pretty scary to get back down.










IF YOU CLICK ON THE IMAGE, IT GETS BIGGER

New Info

Hi y'all (especially Holly),

Here is my new information so that you can all send me packages and letters. I love both, so please send me something from home. My former roommate Jill sent a wonderful package of goodies and it got here in 7 days, can you believe it????

My address is the same:

Casey Maugh, PCV
A/C Corpo da Paz
C.P. 373 - Praia
Republic of Cape Verde
Por Avion (Air Mail)
(you should write route through Boston and via Portugal on the letter/package so it will get here quicker)

My phone number is: 011 238 262 8346 (you just dial all of these numbers and it'll get you to me)

I'd love to hear from anyone who'd like to call. It can be expensive, so check with the phone co. first. My mom also has found calling cards that work well. A friend just told me that at Sam's Club and Cosco you can get AT&T calling cards that will call Cape Verde too, so that might be an option.

Me and a friend

This kid is a family friend. This is also a picture of me about 15 pounds lighter than when I got here!

Elliott

Elliott, sweet Elliott, you hard hearted harbinger of haggis.

This blog entry is dedicated to a fellow trainee and volunteer, Elliott. The above is a reference to the film “So I Married an Axe Murderer,” which is my favorite film of all time. If you haven’t seen this cult classic, then please turn off your computer right away and head to Blockbuster (isn’t that the only video store still open) and rent it immediately. In fact, you should probably just purchase the film for your personal collection because it is so good.

Back to Elliott… Today I received an email from a fellow, recently sworn in, volunteer. In his email, Elliott told our group that he had decided to ET (early terminate). There are many jokes about who will be the first volunteer in a given group to leave early, but no one really wants to see anyone go home. Elliott just happened to be pretty high on my list of “people who might ET.” In fact, Elliott was probably pretty high on everyone’s list to ET. In general conversation about this subject, his name usually came up first or second. It’s sad, but it’s true. And mostly, it’s just unfortunate.

Let me tell you a little bit about Elliott. Elliott is an amazingly bright person. He graduated from MIT before joining the Peace Corps. He was brought to Cape Verde as an IT (information technology) guy. He was placed in Assomada, a city near here (I’ve written about it in previous posts). Elliott has one of the darkest senses of humor ever! He is all about “keepin’ it real” and “tellin’ it like it is.” Ellie (as we lovingly call him) was always himself, which got him into some trouble with the Peace Corps staff. Elliott was a constant source of entertainment as he always had a rap lyric ready to throw out at the most inappropriate situation. Elliott made you laugh because he was honest when no one else could or would be. Elliott is the kind of guy who you would expect to have a knife in his pocket at any given time (and he does). Elliott acted tough, but really he’s a good guy. I’ll miss Elliott, and I’ll miss listening to rap music with him. I’ll miss his smile and his wicked/deranged sense of humor. Most importantly, I’ll miss the way his hair grew at different lengths all over his head. Elliott had a rough go of it during training, and now he most regrets that he swore in when he knew his heart wasn’t in it. The best thing about Ellie is that he sent us all an email and went out with dignity. He didn’t just leave without a word. He left with more words than we needed, but they will help us understand why he left when he did and where he’s headed next.

Elliott will surely be missed.