Some pictures of me!

I just got a bunch of pictures from my friend Tiffany, so I thought I'd post some so that you can all see ME!

Beautiful picture

My student Michel made this collage after the ISE festa! I think it is just beautiful. It includes all of the students. At the bottom, is the English department soccer team. We, unfortunately, did not win the ISE tournament, but they had fun playing! Remember, if you click on it, you can see it better!

Nuno's birthday

My student, Nuno, had his 28th birthday party on Sunday. So, after staying awake for 2 days (Thanksgiving festivities), I had yet another obligation! It was a really nice party at his family's house. He was a great host, as were his parents. They killed a pig and we had wonderful pork skewer and such. We sat outside underneath the tree in his front yard and played cards and oril (a local game kind of like mancala). My student Simon played me in Mancala 3 times and managed to completely destroy any notions I had about being good at oril! He is a great player.

There was music and some dancing, as well as the presentation of the cake. His mother brought out a beautiful cake and then it disappeared! I never even got any. The boys from the class decided to play a little joke on Nuno, so they bought eggs and flour and decided to make a bolu de cabeca. This literally translates as a cake of the head. So, you can imagine what happened. As he was posing for pictures and we were singing to him, they smashed the eggs on his head and then dumped flour on him. It was funny. The funniest part about it was that two of the guys put their eggs in their pockets earlier in the day and they each managed to lean on the egg, which broke in their pants. I think that was karma, for sure!

The day ended about 6 with me being too tired to continue. Luckily, the party was winding down, so I didn't feel too bad leaving. Another student, Arcadio gave us a ride. Apparently, Elizabeth had arranged for him to stop by his house so they could try some of his "good" grogue. In my opinion, there is no such thing as good grogue. The rum here is soooo bad. So, we did that. I didn't partake! I learned that Arcadio is a music composer. He played some music for us of his work and we got to see his name in the liner notes! That was pretty great. I have such interesting students; I learn new things about them all the time!

Thanksgiving on Saturday

Since it would have been difficult to coordinate a Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, we decided to invite all of the volunteers to our home on Saturday. It was a great day. Everyone contributed something wonderful to eat. We had a turkey that Elizabeth made. It was the best turkey I've ever had! It was marinated for a long time and cooked to perfection. It was a rather small bird, but it fed us all and we are still enjoying leftovers. I made some lemon chicken and little lemon icebox pies (you can see them if you click on the first picture). I didn't have a pie plate, so I just made little individuals in little cupcake papers. Our friends made: mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, baked beans, potato salad, squash, collard greens, salad, twice-baked potatoes, apple pie, pumpkin pie, spice cake, chocoloate cake, chocolate mousse, and deviled eggs! It was a great time and the food was excellent. We have some wonderful chefs in the group, so it all went wonderfully!

Agriculture in Cape Verde

Last Friday, I got to go to a few special places with the Delegate for Agriculture in Sao Vicente. The Delegate is a very young woman with with a lot of wonderful knowledge about the situation with water and planting on this island. Elizabeth and I met up with her in the morning, and she took us for a ride to the water treatment area in Mindelo. It's not too far from our neighborhood! At this treatment facility they treat all the grey and black water from the houses in Mindelo. She told us that they have one of the few oxygen/sun treatment programs. What that means is that the dirty/yucky water from people is run into a series of big holes in the ground. These pools are pumped with oxygen and the sun does its work to break down the waste. There are a series of 7 or 8 pools. The water starts in one of these and stays there for 5 days then is moved to the next pool, then the next and so on. By the time the water gets to the final pool, it is ready to be used on crops. This is an amazing system because it is relatively cheap and makes sense for a place with no water. They have the potential to use desalinization but the system is very expensive to run and maintain, even though they have it! That's a frustrating thing, but the system they are using works relatively well. The major problem is that the farmers outside of the cities can't afford to get the water carried to their farms.

The most successful farming area is the area near the treatment plant... of course. They have a pipeline that runs 7 kilometers to deposit water in holding tanks. The water is then used for drip irrigation of the crops. We went to this farming area and learned that there are 98 associations who have access to plots of this land and the water. The local government gives out the land to deserving farmers or groups, but the land cannot be worked by companies! This way the local people have access to good land and good water and a good system for money making.

Our next stop was to drive past the island's dump! It was awful. They burn all of the trash that comes in from the city. They do not have another way to dispose of it, and the current method is harmful to the environment. All of the metal and glass gets pushed off to the side and just sits there. In Cape Verde, luckily, there is little excess packaging, but that is changing, which will eventually create a HUGE problem for trash management. Also, the glass bottles are widely used rather than cans, but there is no one recycling or collecting them, so they end up at the dump and just take up space. A recycling facility would be really wonderful, but we haven't gotten there yet. That's a minor priority compared to finding water and educating the population.

Finally, we drove out to Calhau to a cheese making cooperation. There is a coop building there where women bring their goat's milk to make cheese. The women then send the cheese into Mindelo to be sold at the stores! I have only eaten it and purchased it in a store, so this was a real treat. It was great to get to meet one of the women and hear her talk about the process and the project. This too is a center built by the local government for these women to develop their small enterprise!

It was a wonderful way to spend a morning. I learned so much! I am waiting to get a call to visit the biologist who works at that water treatment facility. They have a wonderful greenhouse where they grow seedlings to use in the city and sell to individuals. I want to explore that more and spend some time learning about planting in Cape Verde.

Pictures from the ISE festa

ISE's 7th Anniversary

Last night was ISE’s 7th anniversary. The festivities began at about 5:30 in the evening. They included a huge sound system in our little courtyard area where student sang and performed various types of music. One of my students from the English department sang my favorite Cape Verdean song, which was wonderful. There is a great band made up of students from ISE. They played most of the time. After they played, a duo of “hip hop” performers came on, crotch grabbing and all! Then the final act was a heavy metal band that played knockin’ on heavens door! Kind of strange to hear such music here!

While the music was happening, Elizabeth and I were dancing with our students, have a good old time. Our students told us to come with them! They had that look in their eye that they were getting into trouble, so Elizabeth and I happily followed. We left the courtyard and we all huddled in a big group (our 25 students and us). They broke out a bottle of ponche and passed it around for everyone to drink. Ponche is a sort of liquor. This particular ponche was made with grogue (the sugarcane rum that Cape Verde is well know for), honey, lemons, cinnamon, and cloves. Ponche de mel is my favorite, so I was happy for the little pull on the bottle. Then the small amount we had ran dry, so they decided to take us on an educational field trip to a little shop around the corner where they sell some special mixture of ponche de mel! We had a great time with them as they explained how to choose the right kind and how they make this particular ponche. Very good. Very educational, indeed!

We returned to the party after purchasing and drinking more. We danced and danced and then it was time for arroz con tudo (rice with everything). The rice was excellent and filling and a boost for more dancing. At the end of the party, everyone decided to go to the beach, so I tagged along. They brought guitars and we sang songs and just sat on the beach enjoying the cool night weather. I got a ride home from one of my students with a car.

Looking back on a night like that, I realize how blessed I am to have such wonderful students and friends here in Cape Verde.

First interview

I had a phone interview with the Department Chair at the University of Southern Mississippi on Tuesday! It was an hour long interview/conversation! I truly enjoyed the experience and am hoping for an on-campus interview in January! Keep your fingers crossed for me.

flip flops

I recently had to go to the hospital for an X ray on my broken pinky toe. I noticed something very interesting while I was there. All of the nurses and orderlies were wearing flip flops. They had on their blue scrubs with the same blue flip flops, which makes me think they are standard issue! This was very interesting to me considering the fact that the hospitals here are pretty bare and pretty dirty. The folks who work there deal with all kinds of crazy things and they presumably have to move heavy bodies and deal with bodily fluids. Flip flops just don’t seem like the right choice for hospital employees. The doctors don’t wear flip flops, which is also strange since everyone else does.

In our hospitals and doctors offices in the states our nurses and doctors wear specially made shoes for back support and such. They are very particular about their shoes because they are standing on their feet all day and doing strenuous work (sometimes). Things are different here, in so many ways…

mount cara from afar

Here is a picture of the mountain from far away, you can see the nose! Also, if you look back to the "Harbor in Mindelo" post with the pictures from the harbor with all the boats, you will see Mount cara in the backgroud, giving you a sense of how high it is.

I almost died yesterday

After I broke my toe on halloween, my Grandaddy emailed me to tell me that I need to find myself a "keeper." He said that I was always getting into something and need someone to look after me. Well, he is completely RIGHT.

Yesterday, I went hiking. The hike was to one of the highest points on the island, the nose of Mount Cara (mount face). It was a great hike, but by far the most dangerous one I've been on. For those of you who know me, you know that I have hiked all over the US and the world. I thought that hiking in Peru was the scariest, but now that has been topped. We began our ascent at 6:30am. The sun was coming up over the city. As you can see in the photos, the harbor of Mindelo is beautiful from that height. We hiked about 3 hours to the "top" or the nose of the mountain. The terrain was mostly all loose gravel and about 3 foot ledges with 200 foot drops. So, we were carefully making our way around and up the mountain. I was with a group of 8

others who are very good hikers. They were lots of fun. We made it to the summit where we relaxed and hung out. I was the first to the top, so I was named the winner and the best "cabrita" (which means little girl goat). I went up to the peak with no problems. The top was great and there is a message bottle there where you write down your name and the date you made it up! I got to write first, which was the big honor!

The trip back down, like many descents, can be more daunting. Looking down toward the bottom makes you realize how far up you are! Well, when we were about an hour away from the bottom, we were walking on a narrow ledge. There was a big rock wall on one side that we were holding on to as we crossed about a 1 foot path. The person in front of me stepped out, then I stepped in the same place. Unfortunately for me, the gravel gave way and I fell. Unfortunately, there wasn't much room to slide, so I slid, dug my fingernails in and like on the cartoons, I finally stopped just short of falling 200 feet to my death. My legs were hanging off the side of the rock, I was only held by my fingers. The man behind me, Ceasar, got to me when I stopped. He jerked me up by my arm and I am now here to type about this. Well, barely. I can't move my arm, the one that he jerked. I have about a million cuts and scrapes and bruises on my legs, arms, head, etc. BUT, I am alive.

That was the closest to death I have ever come. Seriously. I am not joking. I couldn't sleep last night because I kept replaying the scene in my head. I almost died. I am so thankful that I didn't. I am blessed....

shoes

Oh happy day! I may not have written about my buying a pair of cheap sandals, wearing them once and having them break. Well, I took them to get repaired. After a couple of days of this, I got them, all fixed. The guy who repaired them put them in a bag and I headed to the media center to do some work. Naturally, because I can be absent-minded, I forgot the bag at the media center! Great. So, I returned the following morning and no one seemed to know about it. I returned for several days and talked to several different employees. No one had any information. That was about 4 weeks ago. Today, I ran into the center to do a little work in the air conditioning (it is still about 1 million degrees here, I think it's getting hotter), and the guy who works there came right up to me to tell me he had my bag!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH! So, I got my shoes back. Now I can wear them for the second time. This time they are repaired and should be better! What a life I lead here in the underdeveloped world! I swear, I'm not helping with development, I'm just becoming Cape Verdean and being so laid back about things that I forget my head!

And, since I wrote this blog posting, I wore my new, newly repaired, newly found shoes down the street to a school. On the 200 yard walk back, one of the shoes began to come apart on a different spot. I guess it’s back to the repair guy again! I can’t give up on these shoes, now they have a story to tell!

movie night

As a continuation of our conversation night with our students, we held our first English movie night. It was quite a production, let me tell you. It began with a friend loaning me a projector. Well, I hooked up my computer and nothing happened. I spent the better part of my Sunday pleading with the computer and projector to communicate with one another. I did everything I knew how to do, but NOTHING. So, I called two of my students to get them involved in this mess. They came over and knew less than I did. In fact, one of them said, “well, you’re just supposed to hook it up and it’s supposed to work.” Yes, thank you for the highly technical advice! So, then we commissioned another student to bring her DVD player. Her husband came and we got it working, then all the sudden, the cable that connected the player to the projector decided to start causing problems. Then, we commissioned yet another student to bring his DVD player. Of course, we forgot to mention the kind of cable needed, and he brought the wrong thing. Really we just needed the cable anyway! So, then he went back home (luckily he lives in the neighborhood) and returned to save the day with the correct wire! We were in business finally!

We showed the movie Crash! We figured it would be a good film for discussion. It certainly was. Our students thought it was powerful and great. They had lots of interesting things to say about it. They also had lots of questions about it. The major idea that came out of the film from their point of view was that violence is everywhere. They also commented on the fact that they idealize America. We talked about how people have these ideas about what America is and that life in America is “easy.” Cape Verdeans have this image of the states as some great wonderland. We talked about racism in America and the class system. They agreed that they really don’t have an idea about what America is “really” like. I thought it was a wonderful way to start a discussion!

Any suggestions for our next film night????

My plants

My dear wonderful plants are just growing and growing. I am certain that the veggies I’ve planted and replanted will again need more space when they begin producing their fruit. The cucumbers have had a little difficulty, as they seem to have acquired a fungus of some sort. I have tried to use a bit of warm soapy water to rid them of this affliction. That did nothing but make it worse. Then I heard from someone that I should rub the bad spots with alcohol, so I did that. That just made the leaves die. So, now I’m leaving it to nature. They seem to be surviving and even some of the cucumber plants are thriving.

Luckily, the remainder of my garden is fine. No bugs, fungus, or problems as of yet. Many of my little guys are in need of replanting to bigger pots. I am working on that project, but I must buy more soil. Soil, good soil, is somewhat expensive when you’re working with such a small budget, so I am working on that project.

I’ve immensely enjoyed gardening so far. I sit in my sunroom often and read and work on my computer and talk to my plants! They seem to like it, and I definitely enjoy the quite time with them. Gardening has proven to be rewarding and relaxing. I’m posting some photos here, so that you can see how big their getting and how many things I’ve gotten started!

my house...finally

click on the photos...

to make them bigger

Santo Antao Pics

Here are 3 great shots from Santo Antao.

Brian - this is what you have to look foward to when you come visit! Everyone else, just look what you're missing.

Monte Verde

These are good photos from the top of Monte Verde. The view from up there is amazing. What a beautiful island. In the first picture Elizabeth caught me looking away!

My undies on display

Elizabeth decided to take a snapshot of our colorful clothesline! She just couldn't resist a photo of my underwear on display for our neighbors!

The harbor in Mindelo

These images are of the harbor in Mindelo! Pretty nice huh? All of the sailboats are coming through this time of year, so the water is filled with beautiful yachts!

pictures of the mindelo crew

The first is of Elizabeth and me in our office! The second is Elizabeth, David, me, and Darrell at dinner the other night.

MANDA

I just got a post on my blog from AMANDA. Amanda, if you read this, send me an email to my address: caseymaugh AT gmail DOT com. Anyone else who reads this can also send me email at that address as well! But, Manda, I can’t get an email out to you, so you email me first! Okay?

Conversation Night

On Sunday night, we invited our students over for our first “Conversation Night.” Elizabeth came up with idea to have a night where people could come to our home and practice their English. Our first event went pretty well. We didn’t really know what or who to expect, so we didn’t really plan for the event. Next time, I think we’ll talk a little more about topics to discuss! We weren’t exactly prepared. Well, it didn’t matter much because our student Otelindo came through with his guitar! He managed to play a bunch of song with English lyrics and we all sang along with him. It was great. Elizabeth had recently received a song book that contained lyrics of a lot of popular songs to use in the TEFL classroom. Otelindo knew a lot of those songs, so everyone gathered around the lyric book and just sang and sang! It was fun. We had students start dancing at the end (which is not surprising in Cape Verde).

After a couple of hours we invited everyone to come to watch a film with us at a local center. The film was about Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was interesting, although I didn’t understand a lot of what was said. Brazilian Portuguese is quite different from the Portuguese of Portugal, so that was a little difficult. Elizabeth purchased the film, so I am watch it with the subtitles on next time, which will help tremendously. My reading skills are much better than my listening skills!

Halloween

Today is Halloween, so happy Halloween! In Mindelo, Halloween is for adults. There are no little kids dressed up in costumes going from door to door for a chance at candy to rot out their teeth! Instead, Mindelo, because there is a holiday on November 1st, heads out and parties all night long. So that on All Saint’s Day, everyone is hung over and tired. I intend to go out tonight with a big group of my new students. They are having a party at one of the clubs, and I have been invited. Everyone dresses either in all black or all white (witches and ghosts). It is a fairly new tradition, and I am happy to participate in it! I’ll fill you in on how it goes.

Okay, so Halloween has come and gone. Going out with my students was really fun minus the two “bad” things that happened. First, I was standing in the road waiting for some friends and waiting to get into the club when a guy walked into me! He had on big boots of some sort. He giant feet ran into my flip flopped feet, which meant that his boots won! He broke my baby toe! It’s disgusting now. It’s complete black and blue and it hurts a lot.
Second, I lost my house key. That wouldn’t have been so dramatic, except I got home at 5:30 and Elizabeth was asleep. There was no waking her up. She sleeps like a rock and can’t hear all that well, so I didn’t even try. Not to mention the fact that I was the idiot who lost the key, so why should she have to wake up for me. So, after trying some pretty feeble ways of getting into the house, I looked up and noticed that I could probably break into my house through an open window. Now, we live on the second floor, so this included me scaling the side of the house, getting onto a ledge and then jumping up into the window! It was a little insane, but I was tired, my toe was broken and I just wanted to get to bed.
So, Halloween was great! No really. I got to dance with my students, hang out in town and see everyone walking around. It was all-in-all excellent, regardless of the toe and key mishaps. You know, it’s always something around here.

My first visitor

On February 22nd, I will have my first visitor! Brian, my friend since high school will be visiting me. I cannot tell you how absolutely excited I am. I will get to show off my town to someone special to me. I will also get to spend time with Brian, which is a huge deal. You see, I haven’t seen Brian for nearly 10 years. We have been in touch with one another but I have not actually laid eyes on him for about a decade. It’s crazy that we finally get to reunite in Africa! But, I couldn’t be happier about this visit. It will be so nice to have someone that I care about come see me.
So, now you all must decide whether you want to come to Cape Verde. Time is running short. I’ll be leaving here in just a little over 9 months! I’d welcome anyone who wants to come. The ticket is reasonably priced and you won’t spend much money while you’re here. It’s pretty cheap in these parts! Well, I expect you to consider the invitation, seriously. When else are you going to have the chance to stay in Africa, for free, with me? Okay, well if you don’t come, then just make it up to me by sending care packages! The second year is much more lonely than the first! I know it seems impossible, but all I want is a HUG from someone! Just some comfort and love! It gets hard to be so far away from everything that is familiar.

Darrell's back!

There are four volunteers living in the city of Mindelo. Darrell, one of us, had to return to America just a month after getting here. His grandmother died, so he headed back to the states for a 15 day trip. Tonight, we had a dinner to celebrate his return. It was great to have our family together again. When you live in a city filled with people speaking a different language and living in a different cultural reality, it’s nice to know that there are other Americans around to share with. So, being with Darrell tonight along with Elizabeth and David made our foursome complete. Our family felt solid and everything was right in the world tonight.

Darrell also brought back some MUSIC! I am so excited. He gave me copies of the new Outkast, John Mayer, John Legend, Lupe Fiasco, and Jamie Cullum. All are excellent. I already have them on my computer and headed onto my Ipod! I can’t tell you how sweet it is to have new tunes to rock! Ooooooh Sooooo Good. After dinner, we headed to the theatre to check out a play. Unfortunately there were more people there than I have seen in one place in this country! We tried to get tickets earlier in the day, but the theatre was closed, so we risked just going without. We figured that the theatre would be as it normally is…empty. Apparently Saturday night is the night to be out and about and check out the latest cultural event. Well, needless to say, I’m back at home on a Saturday night typing about my life on this computer! I’m pretty lame, but I’m okay with that!

Tomorrow night we will have another chance to check it out. We also have our first English conversation group meeting tomorrow at 5pm. Our conversation group is a chance for people to spend time speaking in English. We will show films some weeks and have readings. This week is our first, so we are just planning to have some talking points and maybe get a debate going. I’ll let you know how it goes.

A job!

The University of Southern Mississippi is hiring a new faculty member for the Fall of 2007. I just found out about this excellent opportunity and decided to apply. The job is a tenure-track position as the Director of their newly opened Speaking Center. The position entails running the center as well as teaching a little. I am super excited that I found out about this job, and as of yesterday, I completed my part of the application. I am having my letters of recommendation sent by three fabulous folks that I have worked with in the past! I can’t tell you how much I hope I get this job. I know that I am in Africa and so I may not be the easiest candidate to interview and such, but I will do everything I can to get this job. Working in Hattiesburg, the city of my birth will be great. Living close to my family and friend will be wonderful and something I haven’t done in a LONG time. Please pray, think good thoughts, send me energy, whatever you do to job… please do that! I am positive that I have a great shot at this position. I am well qualified and really want it, so that should play in my favor! Wish me well

The view from my roof!

Pretty sweet view huh?

World AIDS day project

I’m happy to report that my friend David approached me with a great idea for a project. World AIDS day is December 1st, and we wanted to do something. David told me that he had been thinking of doing a contest amongst the high school students to get them to write an idea for a short play. We would then have them judged and choose a winner whose idea would be turned into a script and performed at the March Theatre Month in Mindelo! So, we got it going. With the help of my roommate Elizabeth and the Cultural Centre of Mindelo and the Delegation for Youth in Mindelo, we have written a letter to the high school directors asking for their help with our project! It’s very exciting. David and I met with 2 directors this morning who were receptive and very helpful. We’ll meet the other 3 on Monday and get together with the teachers to have them talk with their students about our idea.

This is such a great project for World AIDS day. We have been promised funding my the Cultural Centre of Mindelo to produce the entire play. The Delegation for youth is helping us with the materials and planning and their director, Jandier has helped us with phone calls and contacts! It’s been spectacular to see this project come together in just under a week! Everyone in Mindelo is so helpful and excited to support our ideas. I can’t believe how nice it is to be able to have an idea realized with relatively little effort. Wonderful, just wonderful.

Santo Antoa

This past weekend was Allison’s birthday party! It was in Paul on the island of Santo Antao, so I took the 45 minute boat ride across the ocean to get there. Then took an hour long car ride to Paul! I got there on Saturday morning, and then we waited around forever for folks to show up. You see, the party was not at Ali’s house, rather it was out in the ribera (a ravine). The people we were waiting didn’t show, so we went on to the location. The Camara (local townhall) has a beautiful party spot up there. They have a swimming pool, which they filled for us. There is a grill area, bathrooms, soccer fields, camping areas and a dancing space. It is super sweet. Ali killed a pig for the event, so there was plenty of meat to grill and other food was prepared for us! There were about 150 people there. It was quite a party! It started at about 2 in the afternoon, and people just trickled in until about 9:00 when we headed for the house. We decided to head into the slowly filling pool after dark. It wasn't completely filled, so we got to do a little slip-n-sliding in the bottom of the pool. It was really fun.

Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worst after the pool part started. The birthday girl got in a fight with a guy who stole a bag of the pork meat. Then he retaliated by unplugging the lights that he brought. At that exact moment, a woman was walking down some stairs, the lights went out, she fell about 8 feet onto her face. Her teeth were knocked out! And a woman who is 7 months pregnant slipped in the pool at that moment as well. Then, I got out to get my clothes and someone had stolen them, as well a couple of other people’s clothes! GREAT! BUT, I wasn’t hurt, so I was the least affected by the light drama!

The party was a great success and it was really fun to meet new people. I got to see my newest thesis advisee as well. He is a professor at the high school in Paul and he left ISE without completing his thesis in 1999. So, now that I am in Mindelo he can have me as an advisor. I’m happy to help!

Oh! My plants are doing so beautifully. I just transferred cucumbers, squash, and zucchini to larger planters! They are getting huge and close to flowering. I’m super excited. All of my other plants have come up. I now have about 30 different cups of baby plants that are getting strong. They are loving my sun room! I am soooo thrilled with them.

Crazy = No shoes

I had a startling revelation the other day as I was walking through the central part of Mindelo. I realized that any adult without shoes in the city is definitely crazy. This might seem obvious in the states. If someone were walking around without shoes, they’d have to be crazy. But, in Praia, people walk without shoes on occasionally and in the more rural parts of the islands it’s much more common to see adults who are shoeless. However, in Mindelo, a city of class and charm, no shoes equals some sort of mental problem. So, I have learned to look at people’s feet. That way I can avoid the shoeless folks!

My first class

Last night was my very first class in Mindelo! I met my students and got to know a little about them. They all seem quite wonderful and quite interesting. They remind me of my students in Praia in many ways. They have an enthusiasm for their education, and they are willing to try new things! I am teaching them a class called “Syllabus Design and Materials Evaluation.” Seeing as I am not an education specialist and know next to nothing about the theory of creating a syllabus or evaluating materials and textbooks and creating lesson plans, I am learning with my students. I am just one or two steps ahead of them. I certainly never expected to be teaching such a class. I was hoping to teach British Literature or something within my realm of knowledge, but I will accept this challenge!

Each year when school starts, I feel a certain sense of peace. I love school. I have always loved school. I love teaching, and now I feel like I am back in my groove. I’m happy to be able to help my students! I’ll certainly learn a lot this year. I can’t wait until my next class (even though it is from 8 until 10 pm)! I’ll let you know how it goes!

Yoga

Yoga!

At 5:45am, I headed out to a local park for yoga with my roommate Elizabeth. Her yoga class was great! There were 8 people there, which made for a nice group. Everyone there was new to the practice of yoga, but they were taking all the odd/awkward poses in stride. The atmosphere was excellent. The plaza is nice and flat and overlooks a very nice part of the city. There were a few raindrops when we began, but nothing much came of that. It was overcast and a nice breeze was blowing. I imagine it’s going to get a lot cooler here and more and more overcast as winter sets in on these Northern islands.

As we were practicing our yoga, people began strolling through, looking to see what we were up to. It wasn’t apparent that they had ever seen such a display. In fact, an old man with three dogs, came along and decided to watch for a while. Unfortunately, he had his hand-held radio with him that was blaring static for a bit. Then he realized after about 3 minutes that he wasn’t getting reception and tuned into an upbeat song that really threw off my balance!! But, it was fine to have people take note of something new and different. I am thankful to have the chance to have a good yoga teacher and a great space to do yoga.

Seedlings

I have now planted tons of different veggies and flowers! I have parsley, mint, marjoram, chives, tomatoes, marigolds, evening primrose, calendula, cucumbers, zucchini, and zinnias! And the best part is that things are sprouting. The cucumbers are the most aggressive. I just planted them on Saturday and as of Tuesday morning, there are about 20 sprouts that are each 1 inch high. Now, that’s power growth! I can’t believe them. They are incredible. My sunroom is just the perfect warm spot for the little guys to grow and flourish. I am now working on getting larger pots for them, which might be tricky, but I’ll see what I can do. On our roof there are wonderful old basins and things to grow in, but our landlord is a little picky about our using things, even though they aren’t in use! So, I’ll have to be resourceful. Maybe I can get someone to donate old buckets and such to me! We’ll see…

My house

I am posting a bunch of pictures of the inside of my house! We live on the top floor of a two story house. Our house is incredibly big. We have two rooms that don't use; we just keep them locked so that they don't get dirty. They serve as guest rooms when we actually have some guests. We did have two female volunteers from Benin stay in one of the rooms. They got in touch with us on a visit of our tiny little island! We met them for dinner and found out that while traveling in Mauratania, they were mugged and had everything stolen. We offered them a place to stay and some meals to help them out! They were really cool. But, that is beside the point.

Back to our house. We have great bedrooms. They each have huge built in closets with tons of storage space, as well as nice sized built in shelving with sliding doors on the front. These are great because we don't have any furniture to store our things in! Other than that, there is just a bed and a fan in my room, which you can see in the picture.

The other pictures include, our living room, which only has one small table, a trunk, and some nice big windows. Our kitchen is very big and we even have a breakfast nook with a little table and stools donated from ISE. We have two verandas where we can hang our clothes to dry. We also, as you will see in the pictures, have a sunroom. It's beautiful and my little growing plants are loving the greenhouse effect in there. The other room in the pictures is our study.

The study/ office is an interesting space. Originally, we had no furniture in there, so we just sat on the floor with our computers. Yesterday, we got a desk from our neighbor. He asked two young guys to carry it up and put it where we wanted. They couldn't get it through our office door, so they tried to turn it sideways and the glass top fell out of it! There were about a million pieces of glass everywhere. I mangaed to get cuts on my hands and legs from the clean up. The funny part of the story is that when the glass broke, the two guys bolted! They got out of our house before we knew what happened. We were left to clean up the mess and then we were left with a desk in our hallway. So, I took the door handle off, which created a little more space. Then I removed some blocks of wood from the bottom of the desk, which was just enough to get the desk inside the room. It is a very nice desk and we can each sit on either side of it and work from our computers! It's a wonderful addition to our home.

Elizabeth!

Here is a photo of my dear roommate Elizabeth! She is a great roomie. She is teaching yoga three days a week at 6am, so lucky for me I get to take free yoga lessons from her! I am so excited. We start this week, so I'll keep you posted on the classes and how they go. Things are starting to pick up here and now that a real schedule is starting, I'm feeling more at home here on this new island.

gardening

It’s been a difficult transition from Praia to Mindelo! I didn’t realize how hard it really would be, but on Monday, my classes will start and another semester will be underway. I’ll be teaching on Monday nights from 6-8pm and Thursday nights from 8-10pm. This is not the most desirable schedule, but I suppose I’ll survive. I was supposed to teach on Friday nights from 7-9pm, but I refused for obvious reasons! I just couldn’t imagine teaching every Friday evening. That would be awful.

Well, I am now gardening. My mom recently sent me a ton of different types of seeds. I have a beautiful sun room that works perfectly as a greenhouse. I have already planted some herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, and several different flowers. So far, only the marjoram has peeked out of its soil, but I am patiently waiting. Any advice on gardening is welcome! I don’t have the greenest thumb, but I now have great space for this project, so I’m trying it out.

I am also creating a compost area on my roof. Hopefully my compost will be great for my little plants once they start taking root. I’m off to the gardening store this morning to check things out and see if they have anything I might need. Wish me and my little plants the best! They are making me happy! I am talking to them and tending to them with care! As of today, I have three little sprouts... one parsley, one marjoram, and one mint!

Monte Verde

On Sunday morning at 7:30, my roommate, Elizabeth and I got up and hiked a nearby mountain! It was great. I had been there before when I visited Sao Vicente in June. But, when I went before we didn’t do much hiking. So this time I was determined to hike to the top. Since I had a person willing to try it out, we went! There is a road that leads to the top of the mountain, but I was not very excited about hiking all the way to the top on a cobblestone road. That is hard on the feet and the knees and really not very fun. So, I decided that I was going to find the trails used by the farmers to get up and down. The first trail we took led us up the steep side of the mountain, bypassing many winding switchbacks on the main road. We hit the road after a bit of hiking on this nice path, then walked the road for a couple hundred feet. Luckily, we saw a man with a shovel coming down above us. I asked him where the trail led and he said that it would take us near the top, putting us back out on the road. He came all the way down and we met him and started up! It was great. That second part of the hike began at the “pink floyd” graffiti on the wall (easy to remember for next time). It was a pretty good uphill and then led along some fairly serious drop-offs. Elizabeth wasn’t too excited about the sheer edges we were passing, but she made it just fine!

We made it to the top in no time! We traversed some of the farmed land and made it up to a small house. Back in June I met Joana and Julio, an older couple who have a weekend home at the top of Monte Verde. It was great to see them! Joana welcomed us in and gave us a little snack and something to drink. It was a nice relaxing time at the top. Elizabeth got to ask Julio lots of questions about the agriculture there (which she is very interested in… it’s her area of study). Joana gave us a little taste of her homemade “cider” which was really nice. It was cold at the top! I was wearing a long-sleeve shirt I packed! At about noon we headed down the mountain. We ended up at the bottom and looked back up at what we had done! It was a great morning hike. Anyone who comes to visit will surely get to hit that trail. SO, that’s an invitation to all of you people who want to come to paradise! I leave here in 10 months, so you better get a move on visiting!!!!!! I’d love to have anyone come to see me! I miss everyone!

Not for individual sale

You know how in the states, anything that comes packaged inside of another package has a label “not for individual sale”? Well, that label is on products here as well, but there is no one enforcing that rule. I’m pretty sure that the law doesn’t exist in Cape Verde. So, you can open up a package of anything and just buy 1 of them. For example, if you want to buy yogurt, which comes in packs of 4 cups, but you only need 2, then you just tear the two you want out of the package. If you want a cigarette, but not the whole pack, you just as for 1 cigarette. If you want eggs, you just tell them how many you want and they are put in a plastic bag for you. Anything that is sold, can be broken down and sold off for its parts! Pretty crazy, huh?

Along these same lines, there are no copyright laws. I may have written about this before. In this country, students just make copies of entire books if they are required to read them. There is no buying books! I have seen libraries that just have photocopied books available for check out. Similarly, when you go to the video store to rent a DVD, everything is a burned copy! There are NO original films. Basically, every video store in town has the same movies because they are all burned from the same, single, original DVD in the country! It’s kind of strange, but when you live in a country where luxury items like books and DVDs are so rare, it’s the response!

yellow fin tuna

This morning, I walked down to the fish market to get some fresh fish for dinner tonight. Going to the fish market is amazing. All the fishermen are coming in off of their skiffs and hauling huge tuna. These little boats are weighed down with the largest fish you can imagine. Then the men bring them into the market and begin cutting them. They cut out the long strip of meat on the sides of the fish and hand it over to the women. The women take the fish to the other side of the market and sell it or put it in buckets and carry it on their heads around town. There are also young boys who will clean the fish for you before taking it home! It’s just wonderful.

In Praia, the fish market was far away from the port. In Mindelo, they are one. It is excellent to watch the process. There is no big fishing industry here. There is no processing plant. It is just men and women working together to get the fish prepared to be sold. I heard from a Capeverdean that the waters around the islands are one of the only places in the world that is not over-fished. This is apparently because the Cape Verde government has not sold off the rights to the water for commercial fishing. Most other nations have done this so that they can make money off the taxes and export of the fish. But, Cape Verde has learned from other nations that if they sell their waters, they will, in the end, have no fish and their people will have no work. It is, in my opinion, the right decision. Cape Verdeans rely on the fishing they do for the people here.

Bread Factory

I live about 200 yards from a bread factory. This means that every morning and every evening, I get to enjoy the delicious smells of baking bread! The factory near our home is great. They have extremely cheap bread. It is open everyday, all day, so we can run in and get warm, fresh out of the oven bread anytime. They have the regular, standard breads, but they also have a whole wheat bread that is unbelievable!

I also live another block from a vegetable market and the fish market. The women always have great produce, just like in Praia. But, the majority of the produce is grown in a little town near Mindelo, Calhau. I wrote about this town before because of its amazing beach. They also grow lots of veggies there, which means they are not importing the produce from Portugal, which is always better. I am in love with the fact that I don’t have to go far to get everything I need. I have a banana lady now. I have a vegetable lady. And dependent on the kind of fish I prefer, I have many choices of fish!

Calhau Again

I have been back to the awesome beach at Calhau two more times since I last wrote. It is amazing there. I would like to take some photos, but I fear that if I carry my camera there, it will get sandy or wet! I certainly don’t want to risk it!

Anyway, the waves at Calhau are huge. I was out battling them and playing in them when three really huge waves came up and took me for a ride. I didn’t know what was up or down! I managed to get a bunch of water inside my ear when I was flipped over. So, today I woke up with what appears to be an inner-ear infection! Great. I thought salt water was supposed to be healing. I guess it’s not so healing when you get it stuck in your ear and it won’t come out! I’m sure I’ll be fine. I am just taking it easy right now, while my ear drum is all stopped up. Any home-remedies would be great. The doctor here wants me on antibiotics, but she knows that I hate medicine, so she told me to give it some time and see if it resolves itself. She’s a good lady!

4 different posts at once

I just got internet set up at home. I have been writing these posts and waiting for the internet. It takes forever to upload things from home, so I'm just putting it all together!

Getting adjusted to not having internet access

Having moved from Praia, where I had free internet access in two different places, I am having a hard time adjusting to having to pay for internet use. As a result, I am rarely using the internet in an effort to save some money.

Luckily, Elizabeth and I have decided to get dial-up internet at home. Though this will mean that I am paying about $20 a month for the service and use, I will have more regular access to email and to blogging. Okay, now, I’m up and on the internet!!! YEAH.



Calhau

On Saturday afternoon at about 4, I was invited to head down to a beach that is about a 20 minute drive across the island from the city of Mindelo. The little farming town of Calhau is really not much more than some rustic housing and more greenery than I have seen anywhere else on this island. Oh, to clarify, the island that I used to live on was the biggest of the 9 tiny islands. Now I am living on one of the smallest, hence the crossing the island in 20 minutes.

At any rate, we got to Calhau (myself and two other volunteers as well as an Austrian woman who is volunteering here and her Capeverdean boyfriend). We got off the bus and started the 20 minute walk toward a remote beach. As soon as we got near the beach, I could see the waves! They were awesome. Really, the biggest waves I’ve seen in Cape Verde. Nice for surfing. And, luckily, Joseph, the Capeverdean guy happened to have a surfboard. So, I got to try surfing for the first time in my life. What a tough sport. The waves were so big that I could do nothing more than just paddle out and turn around and ride them all the way back to the shore. It was AMAZING. So much fun. I have a nice war wound on my hip from a wipeout, but it was worth it. We also got to see the sun set in the surrounding mountains, which was gorgeous. I can’t wait to get out to Calhau again. I was invited to go again the next day, but it was Elizabeth’s birthday party, so I stayed home! But, I’m in on the next day trip.


Elizabeth’s birthday

On Sunday, September 24th, we celebrated Elizabeth’s (my roommate) 64th birthday. In Cape Verde, as I have mentioned before, you are responsible for throwing your own birthday party. For this particular festa, Elizabeth, who grew up in Brasil, made Feijoada. This is a dish made of black beans and all different meats. She served it over rice and we had collard greens with garlic as well as some fried green bananas! It was an excellent meal. And luck for me, we have plenty left for many meals to come. I love rice and beans, so this is right up my alley. I have lucked out to have a roommate who really likes to cook and likes to eat what I cook. Things are going really well with Elizabeth. She has so many interesting life experiences and things to share. I am constantly learning so much and I really appreciate that.

I HAVE A MAID

That’s right, I’m living the good life… finally. I have a maid who comes to clean our house twice a week and washes my clothes (which I absolutely hate doing). I have never had it so good. This morning, Leisha came to the house, she stayed for 4 hours and cleaned immaculately. Everything is beautiful and my clothes are all clean and I didn’t have to do the scrubbing!

The best part about it is that we only pay her about $30 a month (meaning I only pay $15) for her to come twice a week every week. That’s a good deal in any country. That fits perfectly into our budget and makes life so much easier. In Cape Verde, it’s difficult to keep up with all the dust and dirt that is constantly entering the house! I must say that Mindelo is a heck of a lot cleaner than Praia. Not as much dust and hardly any mosquitoes or bugs. It’s much, much nicer.

Also, I have been running on the beach in the evenings, which is just lovely. I promise that as soon as we have internet, I’ll get some photos posted to the blog! Until then, hold tight!

got em

I got my bags! Of course, I've been so busy I still haven't unpacked everything but that will be today's project.

Oh! I live in the apartment above one of Cape Verde's most famous composers, Manuel D. Novas. He is super famous. It's pretty fortunate too because when anyone wants to know where I live, I can just tell them that I live above Manuel D. Novas and everyone just knows. It's excellent. I have only seen this famous man once, apparently he has been ill. He looked pretty good the day I saw him though.

Well, I'm off to buy a fan. Though it is not as hot here as in Praia, it's still pretty warm at night. I hate having to buy things again that I once bought in Praia and couldn't bring with me. So, in a way, I'm starting all over again.

new address

for all of you who really wanted to send me things when I lived in Praia, but just never got around to it..... you have a chance to remeed yourselves.

My new address is:

Casey Maugh
ISE - Departamento de Ingles
C.P. 299 - Mindelo
Sao Vicente
Republic of Cape Verde
(Air Mail - Por Avion - Route through Boston and Portugal)

I am expecting packages and letters now that I am in my second year!

still no bags

I got a phone call yesterday morning telling me that my 3 bags had been located and would be delivered that afternoon.

Well, it's Monday and still no bags. I stayed home all day yesterday patiently waiting for my baggage, and still nothing. I am hoping I can figure out what is going on today and get the bags. I refuse to go to the airport to get them. It would cost me about $15 to get there and back! I'll keep you posted on bag-watch 2006

The long, winding road

The long and winding road

It’s been a long road to get here to Mindelo, but I’ve made it. I am finally in my new city. But before I take you through the move, I need to update you on Max.

The day before I left my old island, it was pouring down rain! I absolutely had to get Max to Sao Domingos to live with a family there. As I mentioned in a previous post, Max was on to me last time, so he was a no-show when I went to pick him up. This time, I preempted being fooled by feeding Max and keeping him out of the rain for the morning. Then I got him all excited about going in a car. I rented a Taxi instead of trying to get him on a public Hiace with 20 other people. We had our own private ride up to the countryside, through the mud and the muck! We finally arrived near our destination and because of the torrential downpour, the taxi couldn’t get us exactly to where we were headed, naturally. So, we were dropped off on a road above the neighborhood and had to hike down the side of a hill to another road and then walk a ways, but we made it. I only lost my flip flop in the mud 2 times and managed to get there with only about half of my body splattered with mud. Max greeted his new owners, a bunch of kids were at the house and he showed his teeth a few times to tell them when they were getting “too friendly” with him. Other than that, he was a perfect gentleman. He seemed to be happy. I had to leave quickly to visit my own homestay family before the big move, so I tricked him into staying in the house and ran quickly back up the ravine to the road. I prayed the whole way that Max would not cleverly figure out the way back to Praia and show up at my doorstep! He certainly didn’t make his way to Mindelo, so I seem to be in the clear!

So, I am now in Mindelo and feeling both happy and uneasy. I have been very sick for the past week, which means that I have eaten nothing but a little bread at a time, which immediately makes me hit the head. I must have gotten a really, really nasty bug in my system because on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I felt as if I had been hit by a Mac truck. I felt like I had the flu with the worse case of diarrhea a person could have (oh, sorry, that is a very generally acceptable thing to say among volunteers and Cape Verdeans because it is SOOO common here, but I know in the states we are a little grossed out when talking about bodily functions). I have yet to recover from the diarrhea and the nausea. It’s been pretty intense. So, the fever and chills and such are gone and I’m just generally weak and shaky. I’m taking it easy in my new town.

Oh, so I am waiting for the airline to deliver my bags today since they didn’t get them to me when the plane landed. I find it hard to understand how bags don’t make it on a 40 minute flight with no layovers or transfers or anything! It’s pretty amazing. But, it’s not entirely surprising either.

My new home is very nice. It’s not the 5 minute walk from ISE that I was assured it was, but the 15/20 minutes through a not so great part of town is exciting! The house has a really nice layout. We are enjoying the two terraces, the sunroom, the spacious roof, hot water, big bedrooms, a huge living room, nice size office, and great kitchen. We don’t really have any furniture, so I am typing on my computer while sitting on the floor with the computer on top of a empty box. It works, so no problem! We’ll manage to find something to make it feel a bit more homey!

Another interesting thing has occurred. From what I have heard from people who live here, the power never goes out. It is always on, though there are some problems with a shortage of water. Well, the first morning I was here the power went out and it is out again today. I am pretty sure that the Cape Verdean government knows that I moved and is trying to torture me! I wouldn’t put it past them at this point. Okay, that’s like a conspiracy theory, which may be the illness talking.

I will take some pictures of the house and try to get them posted so that you can see what it’s like. Unfortunately, living in Mindelo means less frequent access to internet. Our school has one computer we can use, but it’s slow and I can’t do such things as upload pictures. I’ll have to go pay to use an internet café, which is why I am typing this all at home and then will run over and just post it online for you to read!

No real adventures in Mindelo to report as of yet. My new roommate got here before me and has scoped out the scene, so she’s good for info on all sorts of things. I am looking forward to a good year here and a more relaxing year too. I am taking it easier and not taking it all so seriously.

How do you get rid of a dog?

I have tried to get rid of Max, but it doesn't seem to be working. As I type, he is sitting outside of the door to the Peace Corps office just waiting for me. Here's the story....

First, I arranged for Max to live with Rhett. Then Rhett's roommate didn't want a dog.
Second, I arranged for Max to live with Rhett's homestay family in Sao Domingos. I went yesterday to get Max and take him to Sao Domingos, but he was conveniently nowhere to be found.
Then, I returned from Sao Domingos and ran by my old house to get a few things. When I got there, Max was happily waiting for my return. So, since I am now staying in a hotel across the street from the Peace Corps office, I brought him here to eat and had him stay outside.
Next, I talked to a guard who said he would take Max (his dog had recently died). I thought I was home-free at this point! This morning, I walked out of the hotel, expecting Max to be around with the guy who lives here. But, the man told me that Ze (Max's former owner) picked him up in his car this morning and told the guy that Max had a home in Sao Domingos! I had told Ze this yesterday when I went to Sao Domingos and ran into him and his wife.
Finally, this afternoon, I have to run back to my old house and who is there waiting at the door, but MAX! He returned to my house, from Ze's house!

Honestly, I just can't win. Not at all! This dog is sticking to me. I have to call Ze and figure out what the heck is going on! Goodness gracious! This is getting ridiculous.

he bit me

Max took a serious bite out of me yesterday. I have a pretty nice size bruise with 4 distinct teeth mark places. Luckily he got me through my clothes, so he didn't break the skin. Rhett is no longer taking the dog. I can't say that I blame him. His roommate doesn't want Max. His owners returned from America. He growled and snapped at them. He isn't happy. I just don't know what to do. They don't want him back, so I am stuck with him. What to do???

I'm never getting out of here

My boss just told me that I now have to stay in Praia until next Wednesday for a review of this summer's training. On Saturday the new volutneers will be sworn in as official volunteers, which will formally make me a 2nd year volunteer. Also on Saturday the new folks will be moving into my home, which means that I will have to move into a hotel until the following week when I can get out of here. The hotel has AC and hot water so I am not complaining about this at all.

Oh, I do have a house in Mindelo. According to my new boss, Dora, the house is near her home, is furnished, is close to school, has hot water, and a good roof space. I hope she is right, at this point, I am not all that sure about what things will be like when I get there. I do know that Mindelo is having its cultural festival/ theater festival now, so that will be fun! Now that my moving date has been pushed back, I'll be in Praia a bit longer, which is not all that bad. I will get to see my students once more before going and I will get to get some more work done here before I leave!

hiking in Serra Malagueta

Today I went hiking in the prettiest spot on this island! Serra Malegueta is beautiful, just look at the pictures! We went up to the Principal valley at 8 and hiked for about 4 1/2 hours. There were 12 of us, some trainees and three volunteers. It was a really, really relaxing and nice hike, which is exactly what I needed after the horrendous week I have had. I have been completely and totally stressed out. My new dog has decided that he is crazy. He jumped at me and ripped my shirt, growled and snapped at three friends, and he has just been mean in general. I have talked to a new trainee, Rhett, who will be living in my house, and he wants Max. I am debating about this issue. I'm not sure if I should give up on him so easily, but he seems to have aggression issues that I'm not prepared to deal with. I am going to speak with his former owner about him and see what I should do. Rhett wants to train him out of his behavior, and at this point I am ready to just give Max to someone who is not scared of him! I'll keep you posted on this issue. I am moving on Friday, Sept. 8th, so I will have made a decision by then. Any advice from my friendly readers is welcome!

Pictures of Max and more

My batteries are finally charged, so I have taken some shots Max. He's a pretty cute dog!

In other news...

Still no house in Mindelo and I leave in less than a week. THEN, I just went to pay my electric bill and found out that I owe about $100 for power during the two months that I was without power. It's pretty insane that the power company can completely screw you over and there is nothing to be done. Everyone here just shrugs and pays their bills, including Peace Corps. This is basically 1/3 of my salary that will now go to paying my electric bill this month. I spoke with Peace Corps, but they can't change the power company. At any rate, I have spent the past several hour being frustrated and crying because I can't seem to get anything to go right for me! I just don't believe I should have to pay for power I didn't use. Unfortunately in this country there is only 1 company running everything, so they have a monopoly and the people living here have no choice and no way to change things. Being a foreigner living here is even more frustrating because I don't understand it and cannot just be complacent with this.

In still other news, the Peace Corps transit house officially closed today. There was a house in Praia for volutneers who visit the capital or have to come in for official PC business. The transit house was a central meeting location for everyone and had a TV, videos, books, and stuff like that for volunteers. I recently started a clothing exchange program where I collect clothing from volunteers and PC staff to donate to a women's shelter. The transit house was a great location for this project because volunteers were constantly coming and going and could leave their old clothing there for my project. Unfortunately, the transit house is gone and now volutneers have no common space. We have no place to stay when we come into Praia on non-official business, which means that volutneers are expected to either pay for a hotel or ask a Praia volunteer if he/she can crash at their place, which is a burden on the Praia volunteers. It's been a pretty big debate, but ultimately Peace Corps won out and closed the house down. It's pretty sad. BUT, now when I come to Praia, I can stay in a hotel room with hot showers and air conditioner! There's always an upside to these sorts of things :)

Okay, well, enjoy the pictures and the randomness of this post!

oh, the saga continues

My Peace Corps boss came to me today with another "problem"! Apparently, my new apartment in Mindelo is no more. We are back to not having a house and I am moving in 1 week. I know that everything will work out, but seriously! My boss told me today that the contract on the house was signed and the furniture was being delivered to the house when the landlord told the guy coordinating the move, that he didn't want to rent the house any longer. GREAT. So, we're back to square one. I'll keep you posted on what is going to happen. Maybe I'll just live on the street! Who knows at this point. It's always something around here.

My last week at training

I've been participating in training the new volunteers for 8 weeks now. This will be my last week! I'm pretty excited to be finished and pretty sad to know that come this weekend, I'll not see these new friends for about 6 months. It's similar to my leaving last year, but this year, I have felt like a mentor with these kiddos! I'm older than all but 2 of them and have been here a year longer than all of them. That, in itself, means that I've spent the past eight weeks answering questions, telling stories, giving examples, setting examples, and generally enjoying my time getting to know everyone. I can honestly say that I'll really be sad to leave. BUT, as you all know, I'm moving, so I'm not TOO sad! I'm really excited for what is to come.

I'm working on a proposal for the Minister of Education this week that will, if approved, grant funding for my in-service training project. This project will have me travel to all of the high schools in the northern islands to give teaching workshops and do classroom observations. I'm really hopeful that it will go through!

Oh, one last thing. I heard today that my new house is beautiful. The guy who went to check out the house, told me that it is great. He said that a musician used to live there and it is very clean and very nice. I'm pretty excited to get there and get things set up! Okay, Max is begging me to get out of here. We just had a nice, long run and he's ready to get home for dinner (me too)!

cape verdean men are... prissy

I have been working toward this realization for quite some time now. The other night, I had to get my dog to come into the house after he got into a "tiff" with some other dogs. There were about 15 men at the bar near my house watching this all go down. When the dogs started figthing, the guard across the street jumped onto a nearby porch, another guy ran away quickly, leaving me standing there trying to get my dog to act right. Eventually, I got it straightened out, but all the men just stood by and tried to give me commentary on what I "should" do! It was ridiculous.

Then, to further my general impression that Cape Verdean men are prissy, I was in a car yesterday with all of the staff from Peace Corps who help with training, and one of the men began talking about how he grooms himself. All of the other guys got in on this and agreed that Cape Verdean men, even those who work in the farms like to be "pretty." Cape Verdean men have a reputation for being extremely machismo, which is absolutely true; however, they also at the same time are not like the overblown, testosterone driven males in America. It's just different. Cape Verdean men never fight with their hands, instead they are notorious for throwing rocks at each other!!!!!!! Crazy. I have seen one too many rock throwing fights in my year here.

This is just a general observation, of course, all men here are not like this, but MANY, MANY are!

Missing DOG!

Okay, so I know I just got Max, but I have already lost him. He's been doing well, except the other night he had a minor meltdown. I think he is starting to realize that he former owners are not going to return for him. I believe that he may have gone looking for him. Their house is not too far from mine, so I walked there today in hopes that he might be around. NO LUCK.

I really hope that I haven't lost the dog for good. He and I were getting to understand each other! I am off to try to do a more thorough search for him. I'll keep you posted on the dog search.

packing

I have only been in Cape Verde for one year! In that time, I have moved from Sao Domingos, to my first house, to the house I am currently living in. Each move, as all moves do, requires cleaning out and throwing out extraneous things. This time, I am moving to another island, so I am having to throw out just about everything. It's amazing how much stuff I have accumulated since the last move. Peace Corps paperwork and manuals alone take up a suitcase! I have just about gotten it down to a manageable amount of things for the move. I, of course, have Max, my clothes, some kitchen stuff, and my electronics. I will have to put the kitchen stuff on a boat and send it to Mindelo, and I am trying to figure out if Max can go on the plane or if he and I also must go on the 17 hour boat ride!!!! I have to work all of this out in the next 2 weeks.

Well, my dog is begging me to take pictures of him to show everyone, but unfortunately, my battery charger blew out and all my batteries are dead, so I have to buy some. It's quite a process, but I'm working on it.

On another note, the new folks found out where they are headed for the next two years. It was a pretty cool activity. We wrote their names and sites along with a proverbs on pieces of paper, then stuffed them into balloons. We threw all of the balloons at them, had them each take one and they popped a balloon, read the proverb and then announced the site to the person. It was great because they were the ones telling each other where they were going. They really liked it and we had a great time! There are some very cool people moving near me, so I'm happy. At the same time, two of the girls that I'm pretty close with will be far away, but they are both on islands that I have never visited, so it's a great excuse to visit them!

It's Sunday and I'm returning home to pack some more! I promise to get on top of the pictures!

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride! :)

My very good friend (from graduate school) Steph is marrying another one of my very good friends, Chris next fall. Yesterday, I got a package in the mail with my birthday gift from Steph. She wrote a lovely card and in the card asked me to be in her wedding! I am sooooo touched. I can't wait to share this special time with two wonderful people!

things are looking up

Yesterday my plumbing was fixed (at least temporarily)! I was soooo relieved when the guys showed up to tear up my washroom and bathroom, and after about 2 hours pumping out the "dirty" water and refinishing the flooring, things were back to normal. I am just happy that I don't have to mop up sewage from my floor any longer!

On to other things....

I just returned from training today. The trainees are settling into their normal routines, which mainly consist of attending training, complaining about everything, being bored, going to a bar after school and having a few drinks before returning home to their families. It really is similar to what was going on last year with our group. They are a good group of folks! This Saturday, they will find out where they are going to be for the next two years. I know they are all really, really anxious to find out where they will be headed. I remember just about a year ago when we found out. It is bittersweet to know that you will be headed to a different island than all of your friends. Some people will be headed to islands that are fairly isolated from the rest of the group. Some of these trainees will be sad to have to leave one another. But, I'm looking forward to moving and to finding out who will be living near me for the next year. I think that it'll be great to be living on a different island and to get to know a whole new group of people for my last year here.

I am beginning to think about packing for my move, which is quite a daunting task. I have dishes and kitchen stuff that I bought when I moved to Praia that I want to take with me; however, I'm not sure how much of it I will be able to take with me. With the dog, my things, and the house stuff, it's going to be a challenge. I'm planning on sending things on a boat and I might even go on the boat as well, but I'm not really looking forward to an 18 hour boat ride to my new home! We'll see what happens with that.

I must run to my house and make sure nothing else has gone wrong! I'll post pictures as soon as my camera decides to work properly. Without a pin drive and a crazy-acting camera, it's been quite a challenge to get things posted online! I guess a new digital camera will have to be my next big purchase!

Long time, no post!

Everyone! I am very sorry about the lengthy delay in posting. I will promise to be more on top of my writing. I have had a heck of a week, so I am now getting around to writing a bit. I'm sure that last thing you want to do is hear about it all, but that's what this blog is for, so here it is.

The lights are BACK! Finally, the power in Praia is on and consistently so. We have only lost power during the day a couple of times for several hours at a time, but that beats now power for 36-48 hours at a time. I'm extremely happy to be in the land of the lights again.

The lights are amazing, but the plumbing problem that has since developed is far from spectacular. And now that I have lights, I can actually watch as sewage rises from the drainage hole in the bathroom and floods the floor. It's extremely disgusting and I am in a constant state of cleaning it up. My former roommate made me aware of this, what was then a small problem, the day before she left. It had apparently been happening for several weeks, but I never witnessed the problem. The day before her leaving, she told me about it. Now, when you use the bathroom, any sinks in the house, or take a shower, the bathroom floor floods with the water! I called my landlord. He came to see me about it a week later. He is supposed to be coming tomorrow with a plumber to address the problem. I am just happy I will be moving from the house in 3 weeks. It's disgusting and I nearly throw up everytime I have to clean up the mess.

On a much happier note, my new dog MAX is wonderful. Max came to live with me on Monday evening, just hours after Dianne, my former roommate, left the country. I was happy to see Dianne leave and happier to see Max enter my life. Max has made me sooo happy. He is the coolest dog (except for the Jakes in my life). He is a mutt. He is cute. I promise to post a picture of him very soon. He has two different color eyes and a coat of three different colors. I took him on the Hiace up to Sao Domingos yesterday to see some friends there. He loved sticking his head out the window and checking everything out. And though he weights about 50+ pounds, he really wanted to sit on my lap! He can sit and is very obedient. He loves to play outside and will run the streets without supervision. He's a big fan of following me anywhere and everywhere that I go. He is a sweetheart and seems to get along with everyone. He's playful at times and lazy at times, which to me, makes the perfect combination. The guard across the street from my house has taken to him and so now Max sleeps on the bench across the street at night to keep the guard company. Then he comes inside for sleep and food and hangs out inside when I'm around. He's sleeping here as I type, being a good boy!

Well, that's about it from me. I'm still working with the new trainees, which has proven to be very taxing. I say that not because of the trainees themselves, but because of the staff that I work with. I am now pledging to stay as far away from the inner-workings of Peace Corps as I possibly can. It's not worth it. On the other hand, the trainees are cool and they have repeatedly told me how much they appreciate my spending my summer with them! I think that's about it from here. I promise to write more on a regular basis, Josh!

and then the rain came

And boy did it rain. It's August 1st and we finally have REAL rain. As I type this, it's still raining. At about 4:30 this morning, I shot out of bed because of an unfamiliar sound. It was pounding rain. I quickly realized that my drying clothes, were now completely, hopelessly wet. I decided to get up and take care of moving them around, then looked outside to see the city flooded. Because there is rarely ever rain in Cape Verde, the streets are not prepared for the downpours that happen in August. Currently, the streets are completely full and the cars are trying to navigate the mess. It's quite a scene. But, at least we have the rain.