Wednesday, July 11, 2007

No, I don´t want more fish

Shoot, Cape Verdeans eat a lot of fish...especially my village on the water. Fish for dinner, fish re-fried for breakfast, and whatever is left for lunch!!! I don´t know if I can take 9 weeks of fish, but we´ll see!! I just now am getting over a cold. I think most of you have been privy to seeing one of my dramatic coughing fits that go along with my colds and I think that everyone here thinks I am dying! My mama keeps trying to get me to go to the hospital and there is no way to tell her that this will pass and that I am getting better. I had a breakthrough last night though when I actually wanted to eat the fish instead of wanting to throw-up from the smell!! Anyways, those are my only gripes right now!! I am aclimating quite well and for only being the second week in the village, my Kriolu (the local language) is actually quite good!! Thank god for my background in spanish. Those that don´t have a strong language background are stuggling a bit, but we keep trying to remember that it is only the second week and there are 7 more before we are on our own. Today was a great day for us youth developement volunteers...we got to go see a couple of the youth institutions in Assomada...the bigger city of my zone. We went to an SOS (an orphange of sorts that is an international NGO and they are all over the world so you might have heard of them) and right after we went to an orphange that is run by the government here. wow, what a difference money can make. But the strength and resiliance of kids never ceases to amaze me. The girls at the home danced Batuk for us...Batuk is this amazing dance created by the slaves that passed through here to show that they still had life in them. It is basically an ass shaking dance and that is all that moves, it´s in the blood of the people on this island because nowhere else in the world can this be done...i wish i could show it to you because words cannot explain the power behind this dance. Ummm what else??? I will be in the bigger city shadowing the one youth volunteer here from sunday until wednesday. everyone else gets to go off the island to shadow a volunteer in their sector, but Courtney is the only youth volunteer in cape verde, so all 4 of us stay in the city where we are training!! I told everyone they had to take pictures of the different islands because I don´t believe they exist!! Anyways, gotta go catch my iasi (pronounced like yass) back to Ribeira di barca. Miss you all!!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

La,
Can't wait to hear more of your host family life.

Glad you are feeling better sweetie.

Love,
Mom

Anonymous said...

LOL...no more fish. I hope that you develop an appetite for your new staple soon:)

Is the language spoken in the village a variant on any of the romance languages (ie Spanish) or were you just saying that adopting a new language is easier because you've done it once already?

I think the youth work sounds very noble. I feel like a bit of a stump...where's my log? Thanks for the role you are playing!

I enjoy reading your blog and hope you are safe and feeling well.

Mitch P

Unknown said...

Hi- I came to your blog kind of randomally, I'm currently in Ghana and an RPCV from here. Your experiences remind me of a lot of my own from 10 years ago.

Anyway, the random reason why I happened across your blog is that my sister is about to be stranded in Cape Verde (Praia) with very little means. And I'm trying to help her find cheap (but safe, relatively comfortable) accommodations somewhere in/near Praia, and I know nothing about Cape Verde and it doesn't help that I'm currently in Ghana! She has no internet access right now but she has email, because she's on a ship doing some geological research (climate change research, NOT digging for oil). But the ship is broken and there is no money to pay for hotels.. my sister is a poor grad student with very little money...

Sorry if this is weird, but I know that PCVs have the best knowledge of cheap accommodations- if you can tell me anything useful, that would be great! I'll pass my sister's email onto you if you want.. or if you know someone else who has been in country longer that would be good too.

Thanks for anything you can do.. I'm just worried about my little sister!

danielle
rpcv ghana 97-99
currently in Ghana doing my own research on US-Africa trade & AGOA issues

Unknown said...

Oh- wanted to leave my email. it's danilangton at gmail dot com.

yes i know this is very random and sort of a shot in the dark!

Anonymous said...

I loved your newest blog!! I love that you love cooking from scratch and dance around while you cook but at the same time are sweating your booty off. The pictures are gorgeous and absolutely remarkable. Dodds and I are trying to find a weekend when we are both in town to get you a gift package. David Ingols is working on one too. We miss you so much and I think about you a lot. I love you Lauren...keep having fun and cooking! Amy