Sao Joao

These are pictures from Sao Joao. This is a festival held throughout Cape Verde. DIfferent islands celebrate it differently, but normally, there is a saint, Saint John, who is celebrated on this day! You will see here the boats that people wear. They are elaborate little wooden boats that people wear on straps and dance throughout the city on the way to the church. Once at the church, people pray to St. John. Then, after the prayers, you can see the pictures of the festival. People gamble, dance, eat, and wear the necklaces you see in the last picture. They are long strands of peanuts, candies, and colored papers. The small shacks that you see in the pictures are made just for this day and are left up all year in anticiaption of the next Sao Joao festival.

Origami Exhibit

Last weekend, we had our origami exhibition! Well, actually, the boys got to show off their origami, a paper making project, clay work, and woodworking. It was great. All of the boys from all o f the different centers came together to have a big lunch following their soccer tournament. My boys won the tournament too! They were soooo happy! The exhibit was great. The boys were so proud to show off their work and I put up lots of pictures of them as well!

more pictures

These are old pictures from Sao Domingos. When my mom was here we visted my family. You will see a photo of the kitten nursing off of the DOG! It was weird, so I took some photos.

You will also see my old dog MAX! He is still crazy as ever and doing great now that he lives out in the mountains! He loves his new life. He was soooo happy to see me and didn't want me to leave. He stuck by me the whole time! He's a cutie, but I haven't forgotten the biting!

Okay, I have a ton of pictures from my origami exhibit this weekend. It was amazing and I'll write all about it once I choose the pictures. We also just celebrated Sao Joao, a big festival here. I have those pictures too and will post them soon.

more photos of the origami boys

the newest photos of my boys!

Checkin In

I don't have a ton to write at the current moment. I am in my last week of school here, so I am anxious to get the final grades done and turned in. Outside of school, things are going really well. The business is coming together beautifully. I must admit that I have 100% confidence that we will be successful because I truly believe that what we are doing is needed and will help others. I am thrilled to announce that a non-profit group, M.O.R.E., has taken on English Unlimited as part of its group, so they will be able to find resources for us as well as take care of our bookkeeping. This also means that since they will be handling our funding, donors can have a tax write off. This will likely encourage more people to get involved and possibly give more. I sure hope that's the case anyway.

The other HUGE news is that Monica Battle, a friend who works in Pascagoula, MS, and her son are organizing a coast-wide event to fundraise for English Unlimited. This means that a huge effort will be made on our behalf to raise money on the coast. I can't believe the generosity that Monica and her son have displayed. I know that we are going to be successful!

Well, the results are slow to come so far, and we are anxious to get money in the bank so that we can start doing what we need to do. But, I know that the fundraiser and other things will put us in a great position to meet our goals! Also, I hope that all of my faithful readers are also contributors! I really appreciate all of the support we've gotten so far and look forward to more.

My first funeral march

This morning, my downstairs neighbor passed away. She had been ill lately and in and out of the hospital. In Cape Verde, the burial is held the same day as the death (if possible) because there is no preserving of the body. So, at 5pm, we joined her funeral march. Her husband, the famous music composer Manuel D'Novas, did not join the march, but we did pass the house after walking through town and he watched from the window as his wife's casket passed. He cried and wailed. It was probably the most heartbreaking thing I've seen in a long time. Imagining an elderly couple being separated by death is so sad. He was overwhelmed at the loss of his wife. I can't imagine how he will continue with such a deep sense of loss and saddness for his wife of so many years.

Baby Party

There is a tradition in Cape Verde of celebrating a baby's birth 7 days after he or she is born. My student Simon had a baby last Monday, so on Sunday night we had a party. This party is more for the parents (well, the father) to celebrate with friends. We had a grill going with grilled fish, then at midnight, we ate arroz con tudo (rice with everything). Following the traditional midnight meal, we all gathered around the child and sang traditional songs to her. One friend played the guitar while we all sang and the baby was held up for everyone to see. It was beautiful. This is actually my first 7th day party! I have pictures, which you can see here. The party consisted of lots of dancing and a lot of congratulating! The baby is adorable. She still isn't named, so we're all waiting for the final decision to be made on that!

I wish I had my camera...

Yesterday, after a wonderful origami hour, I was crossing a relatively busy boulevard. Cars were zooming down the two sides of the road and people were crossing the streets and buses were loading and unloading. As I crossed the road, I saw in the median 5 goats. There are some beautiful bushes in the planters separating the two lanes of traffic, well they were beatiful bushes. Now the bushes are stripped bare by the goats! It was so funny to be walking down the road and just staring at these goats. What was even more funny was that no one was paying attention. It was so normal for most people, that I was the only person wishing they had a camera. This is truly the moment where the old Cape Verde meets the new Cape Verde. It was a great experience because often times in Mindelo, I forget that I am in a third world country with a rural side to it. Just outside of the city, things are quite different! As I said, I wish I had had my camera!

BIG NEWS

I haven't posted on my blog in some time, so I am trying to catch up! The BIG NEWS is that I am staying in Cape Verde. I have decided to open an English Language school here in Mindelo with my two fellow PC volunteers. We are excited to open our doors in September! This is a huge deal and we are nervous and thrilled all at the same time. We are mostly nervous because we have to raise $65,000 and we aren't sure how that's going to go down. So, if any of you readers out there have several thousand sitting around, you can send it my way! No seriously, if you do have a little extra to send our way, we'd appreciate it!

Okay, so that's the big news. I'm staying here and opening a school, GULP! No, I am very anxious to get this thing off the ground. We are catering to adult English education and will work with business clients too. We are hoping to do some good work with translations as well. Most importantly, we are trying to do this in a way that is cost effective for Cape Verdeans. We are purchasing textbooks and workbooks for the school that students can use rather than having to pay for their own book and workbook. This part of the business will cost us $12,500, which is the part I am trying to get donations for. I already have some nice gifts from friends and family as I try to raise this large amount. I hope that we can get the books and give people a chance to get a good education at a very small cost to them!

So, wish me well. I suppose my next blog will be coming soon! I officially finish my Peace Corps service on August 8th! I will get to go home for a bit and then return for the opening of our school, English Unlimited!

10th Anniversary celebration

On Wednesday night, the Cultural Center of Mindelo had its 10th anniversary celebration. My friend Josina is the director of the center, and she invited me to join in on the festivities. The night began with a discussion about culture and the advancement of culture in Mindelo. Then we sang "happy birthday" and enjoyed some cake and sparkling cider. It was really nice to see the cultural community of the town together and enjoying an evening. The final part of the evening was a great musical group. Another friend of mine Kiso, was in the group playing bass. It was quite nice music and the crowd loved it.

While at this event, I sat next to a group of Americans who were on a school trip from the University of Rhode Island. Their professor, Richard Lobban, is the author of probably the most famous history book on Cape Verde. We chatted briefly, which was great because I think he's done a great job capturing some important aspects of Cape Verdean history. I also was seated next to his colleague, a professor at the University of Mass. This man, John, is originally from Cameroon and had heard about me from two other people on during his travels! He and I exchanged contacts and he will be in touch. They plan to bring a group here in the Spring and hope to coordinate with me for their next visit!

I wish I had pictures to post, but a student borrowed my camera because he had a baby girl! So, I didn't get photos!

origami

Here are some photos of the boys doing their origami. We were making stars this day, which was really a big challenge (for the boys and for my mom). But, we did it. One of my boys was able to figure it out with a little help and then he assisted the other boys, which was a big help. My mom was a big help too because she was able to sit at one end of the table and help some of the kids who couldn't see what I was doing! I will use these pictures in our exhibit on Friday! I can't wait!

update

I haven't posted in forever, so I figure I should get back into it. I have a lot of new pictures, so I'll post them soon. I have been super busy while my mom was visiting, so now I'm getting back into the blog. Today. I am sitting in Praia at the Close of Service conference. This is our last official Peace Corps obligation before we leave the country. So far we have discussed how to get our plane tickets home and howt o get medical insurance after Peace Corps should we contract some awful disease related to our time here! I sure hope that doesn't happen. We even got to watch an awfully boring video concerning how to use the US labor department's health care service, FECA! It was all very interesting.

In the past weeks, I have been exposed to so much and done lots of great things. Most exciting thing so far has been the origami project. My mom came to the country bearing lots of paper for folding and a new book. So, the boys were SUPER excited, and we were asked to put together an exhibit for June 1st (Children's day). I have great photos and we have put together a ton of new origami figures for the big day. I'll post the pictures when I have time!

For now, that's about it. I'll write more as I think of it! Oh, my mom is now gone and we had a fabulous time and I miss her sooooo much.

Domestic Violence

Yesterday, news came out that a local girl was murdered by her boyfriend. She was someone that I saw on a weekly basis; she worked in a grocery store that I frequent. Apparently, her boyfriend is a Military police officer, so he had a handgun. He beat her and then shot her. Today, the store where she worked had a picture of this very young (probably 19 year old) girl in their window. The local political headquarters had her picture and written next to it they stated that this was the second handgun crime this year. A march is being organized against violence and people are extremely shocked and saddened because Mindelo is a calm town and everyone knows this girl and her boyfriend. I have been moved to tears thinking about this girl and her death. I only hope that her life will have some meaning as people gather to talk about domestic violence.