Three islands down...five to go!

First of all, just wanted to say sorry…I went back through and read all my old blogs and realized I don’t proofread. Ooops. There are lots of mistakes but one other sorry, I’m not really going to start proofreading now, I just wanted to acknowledge that I am a bad writer!

Mel, Sarah and I took a vacation to the island of Brava last week. It is called the island of flowers and it definitely deserves its name. In contrast to the stark brown of Fogo this time of year, Brava is full of color. There were hibiscus and gorgeous Bougainvilea everywhere. The island of Brava is tiny and only accessible by boat from Fogo but if you are looking for tranquility and like hiking, it is definitely the place to be. We were there for 5 days (there is really no way to stay for less time because of the boat situation) and getting back to Fogo I was rested and ready to go again.
I met with the girls who are helping me organize a youth group here in Bila. We made an invitation to our first meeting of the Centro de Juventude’s “Grupo de Apoio”. The meeting was planned for Saturday and in my mind was a success. On that Saturday, with the great youth who showed up, we brainstormed ideas for the group and discussed the reasons we were all there and wanting this group to become a reality. We already have some events in mind (there is a huge festival in Bila in two weeks so we are planning an event for then) and our next meeting is Thursday to firm up the plans. I really hope the group survives, since this is a project I have had in my mind since my arrival on Fogo. This is where I think the youth of Fogo can show their strength and ability to make an impact in their communities.
While I sit and ponder the development of this new project, I am also at the stage of realizing, as I said last blog, that it is really April. One year ago, at the end of this month, I received a package in the mail telling me I was going to be spending two years of my life in some little country I had never heard of called Cape Verde. Wow, what a difference a year makes. Now we here are in the process of filling out applications to help with the training of the new group coming in, and I realize that maybe right now in some state in the US there is someone opening that same package that came to me and set me on this course. Head-trip.
In other news, Katxupa is huge and happy and will be 6 months old at the end of this month. We in the process of trying to figure out where to go for her “I’m a big girl and my owner doesn’t want me popping out pups” operation. She comes with me to work most of the time and when I don’t bring her everyone asks where she is. Today, I was sitting in a different zone than my own without her, and this man I did not know started asking me about where I was from and where I lived. I told him my zone and his reply went as follows: Oh, you’re Katxupa’s owner! She is definitely better known then me! She had a great time staying with Uncle Sam in Cha while I was in Brava. She really loves it up there because we let her wander like a true Cape Verdean street dog. She goes off to play and comes back when she wants something or is tired of chasing the chickens and the goats.


p.s. Just so the world knows what those of us living amongst wild animals or on farms already knows. I was watching a movie the other day and there was this picture perfect scene where a rooster is crowing at the crack of dawn to awaken the peacefully sleeping family. Well you should all know that in the real world this is not what happens. Those damn animals crow at all hours of the day and night. Ok, that’s all, just wanted to set the record straight.

Ok, not in Brava, but another perk from the festival in Cha...pictures on the donkey.

This is my favorite sign of all time. It is telling you not to throw up on the floor of the boat.

We got a little lost with me as the trail navigator..

Our "camp" at the "beach" in Brava. I got to use my new tent!

How many people does it take to start a fire??

A Cape Verdean's first s'more.
Ok, not on Brava, but there is a new puppy on the block. Look at what a beast Katxupa is!

I bet Hawaii isn't as cool as Fogo!

Our new friends from Dakar
The Fogo girls

Imagine playing on a field of lava

Last Wednesday, April 2nd, was an important date to the Mel and Sam's town of Cha das Caldeiras. It was the anniversary of the eruption in 1995!! Of course you know what that means in this culture...PARTY! All the volunteers, minus Sean, were able to make it up for the celebration. We also had some additions to our group of 8 peace corps; Brittany's mom was here from america visiting, Sarah and Alex from Santiago were here as well as 4 american students studying abroad in Dakar that they met on the boat coming over. In all we were a dinner and party group of 16! The 4 kids from Dakar made an excellent addition to our party group but i think they may have gotten a little more than they bargained for in the way of tour guides...they were always with one of us volunteers! But they definately returned the favor of free tour guides by sharing their Duty Free store bottle of Bombay Saphire with us!

The festival included dances, bicycle races, donkey races, soccer games, really good BBQ meat because of course they kill lots of animals for festas and there were supposed to be goat and chicken fighting but only one of each species showed up for the match! I guess the others got a bit scared and backed out. Everyone went their seperate ways on Thursday, which for me included going home to pack for my vacation in Brava!!

The satisfaction of a completed project

Sorry, wrote this a couple days ago and never got it up so it's a bit dated:

Well, it’s the end of March, the end of month 9. It’s crazy that April 1 will be the beginning of my 10th month here. You know, I went back and visited my host family for the first time since leaving them after training. I had left this place, my first family in Cape Verde, 7 months ago and going back was like worlds colliding. My town of Ribeira da Barca looked the exact same. All the people were still there, but something had changed. When I left there in September, I don’t think I fully appreciated, or even realized, everything that my first family gave to me. I was frustrated that I still had no idea what Mama Julia was saying AT me and I was ready to be living on my own again. When I left, I still couldn’t communicate. But going back was unbelievably uplifting. I was greeted by a group of kids running at me screaming “Laura, Laura, Laura!” and the beautiful smiles of my family and neighbors, who have taught me about accepting a stranger, no questions asked, and making them part of your family forever. I could see how far my language had progressed first hand as I sat with the women who had looked after me for those two months and I told them what I was doing and they told me all that I had missed and we all understood each other!
My worlds collided again 2 days after seeing my host family, when I picked up my biological parents at the Praia airport!! God, what a head trip that was, to see part of my American life here as part of my Cape Verde life. It was great to see them, of course, but again, it just seems crazy to me, that I have been in this country long enough to warrant visitors. Alan and Ellie had a great time here (or so they tell me!) but I think it took them some time to get used to some of my everyday things like walking all over (and always walking uphill), no electricity in Cha, my stove that has no temperature control (it is just always on high, simmer isn’t an option!), the fact that the noise that comes from my upstairs neighbors sounds like they are in the next room with a megaphone and how to bucket flush a toilet! At the same time, they can finally picture where I am, they can picture my wonderful neighbors who protect little single and alone me; they can picture the woman in the market where I buy my vegetables and they can picture my wonderful friends on this island (who thank God helped me play tour guide cause I was getting a little tired and stressed towards the end of the week). Next up on my visitor list….my bestest friend, Miss Emily Marie Dodds, in May/June!
(sorry i know that was a bit melodramatic, but true non-the-less!)
The end of March also signifies the end of my (and Sarah’s) stressful Cape Verde Women’s Day project. Since I have been lazy and not blogged about this project before, I will tell you quickly what we planned. The 27th was Cape Verdean Women’s day. Sarah got it in her head (and I helped to push it along) to make this giant exchange of women on the island to talk about issues concerning all women on Fogo, domestic violence, education for girls and micro-credit. We took our idea to the local women’s organization for advice and from there, it just took off . We had thought of only using women from zones where Peace Corps was represented, but we ended up inviting 2 women from every zone on the island…in all about 180 women invited with a budget planned for attendance of 150. Well after a few stressful weeks leading up to the event, Thursday the 27th finally comes and Sarah and I are just hoping that some women actually show up. I won’t have an exact count till tomorrow, but it’s in the range of 130-140 women of Fogo!!! In all a great success even though we started 2 hours late and changed the entire program for the day the morning of the event. You see the night before there was an extremely tragic murder; a 20 yr old, mother of two, was killed in an act of domestic violence. She was the cousin of one of our speakers and so in light of that event, we put a little more emphasis on domestic violence. The day lasted until 4:30 and in all the women gave us incredibly positive feedback. Hopefully this can be an annual event as the women really felt empowered and like someone was listening to what they were saying.
Next up…youth group in Bila, camping trip to Brava (another island) and the anniversary of the ’95 eruption in Cha!

Random photos

Here are some pictures taken when the jump drive was out of commission. They finally make it on!

Cha and the Volcano:
This is what we do to pass the time...YATSY

These pictures are not of me, but they show perfectly how you really get down the volcano!

Katxupa and the neighbors:
This is Alia...she is the cutest most spoiled kid i know, and when katxupa was little she would not put her down!

Simara lives across the street, she is such a tomboy and that is why i love her!

Thanksgiving:

Mel really likes Sean´s pouring ability!

Mel and Sam being silly...i guess with no electricity in Cha, they spend time perfecting their weirdo faces.

Dave makes some really good sweet potatoe soup, as you can tell by Sean´s perfectly natural reaction!

Is someone trying to be a big shot? I think i see a smile almost breaking through!!

This is how we eat in Peace Corps..you only get 4 chairs! But oh that Turkey pot pie is delicious no matter where you are sitting!

Dancing Sam...doesn´t happen very often so it is great that he was caught in the moment!




Katinka and Me...I miss my german friend; Katinka come back!

Mel always finds time for arts-n-crafts, even if it´s in the middle of a party!

Aren´t we cute, this was the last picture in a series, which i spared you all, where we took 5 pictures like this and this was the only one that had both of our faces!! Apparently we need to practice the self-picture taking.

Oh Minga...unfortunately Minga the cat is no longer with us, but she sure did bring entertainment to our night!

Oh the holidays...

So I have been getting crap from my mother about having not posted a blog in so long so here we go. What have i been up too?? Well I have been at war with ants. The little sons of bitches are invading my house. It doesn´t matter how well I clean up or how much poison i spray in their little holes; if there is no speck of food to be found they attack the sponge that i wash the dishes with or the spoon i used to stir the broth with, that has been thoughroughly cleaned, but i guess still has the residue of leftovers. They got into all of my dried food a while back and I had to throw out my milk and flour. What else...we had a massive flour shortage last month...you couldn´t find flour in any market for three weeks, unless you were willing to participate in what seemed like a drug deal. You had to ask the assistant at one of the markets for flour. He would repeat that there was no flour to be found...but if you gave him the wink he would tell you to ask the cashier. The cashier would also tell you, no we doñ´t have any, but if you gave him the wink, he would look at the assistant you had already spoken too, who would give the cashier the head nod and then finally the cashier would quietly ring you up some flour. But that wasn´t the end of it, once you had paid for everything and had your bags in hand, you had to give them to the assistant who would take them in a back room and secretly put in your kilo of flour. It was crazy!!! Humm...more about what I have been doing. Does anyone know the record for how many of solitaire you can play without winning?? I am at 25 and i must have played at least 10 games before i started counting. I of course, have been reading a lot when i am not losing at solitaire. I am reading MobY Dick right now. It is fantasic, i recommend you all go out and pick up a copy! I don´t know why they have high school kids read it, i definately was not ready for it then and it is way to long to be a required reading, but when it is read for fun and in your own time, it is genius! Sticking with the classics, i also just finished Madame Bovary and hated it!! If classics aren´t your thing and you liked the movie MOmento...go get the book Dermophoria by Craig Clevenger. It is the most entertaining novel i have read. Other news. Thanksgiving was excellent. The volunteers of Fogo got together and made dinner. We had a blast and i have pictures to prove it! Our thanksgiving dinner coincided with a huge Saint Day festival in the town where we were so there was basically three days of non-stop partying. You know those Catholics and their saints (well and their drinking too!). I think we will get together for Christmas in Cha (the volcano) and maybe do new years here.
Ok, ok, i know none of that has anything to do with actual work; and since i get the question "do you actually do anything over there" I guess i can tell you a little about that too. I have started english classes 4 times a week. They are with the high school kids and it is more like english tutoring because i am definately not cut out to stand at the chalkboard and teach! I also am helping out with an NGO based out of the states that deals with domestic violence in Fogo. They have me translating documents from Portuguese to English which is quite amusing since I haven´t learned Portuguese!! All of us first year volunteers are meeting on the main island for some more training next week, so most of my stuff will be put on hold until after the new year. I also hope to get a youth group going once i get back. All things in the works....see i do do things!!

Ok, you all satisfied now!! Oh by the way...I am getting a puppy!!! One of the volunteers from Fogo just took a vacation on Mayo (another island) and somehow asked for a puppy and was given two, so she is bringing both of them back and they should get here saturday!! Oh god, what am i getting myself into!! You think I can train her to eat ants??? Anyways, if anyone has a good name for a girl puppy let me know!! I tend to like names that deal with alcholic beverages!!

Anatomy 201

I have spent all of this past week trying to remember what I learned in Anatomy 201 in college. Why you ask…because every muscle in my body hurts; even the teeny tiny ones in my toes!!! Last weekend was jam-packed full of hiking, which means that when Monday came, I couldn’t move my legs. Friday, I caught a ride up to Cha das Calderas (the town on the volcano) and stayed with the two volunteers up there, Mel and Sam. Saturday, the three of us got up early and hiked up the volcano. It took us 3 ½ hours to get to the top (mainly because of me…I am a slow mover!). Sam, who I like to call Turbo Man, and who Mel has decided is pure ADD rolled up into a functioning human form, can hike to the top in 2 hours (it’s a change in elevation of more than 1,500 Meters). Once at the top though, it is outstanding. It literally feels like you are on top of the world because you are above the clouds looking down on the little town of Cha and the big blue Atlantic Ocean (don’t worry; I know I am a cornball!!!). However, what really makes the trip up worth the pain is the trip down. You don’t go down the same way you go up, something I did not know when we started because Sam likes it to be a surprise. While the hike up is pretty traditional in the way of hiking, ie. some switchbacking and rock climbing, etc., the way down is straight down. You basically run down the side of the volcano in knee deep volcanic rock. As the other Lauren told me before I came here, “it’s like running on black cheerios.” It is definitely pretty close, but I might even say more like powder skiing in black cheerios! It took us only an 1 ½ hours to get down as opposed to the 3 ½ to get up and it really felt like we were the only people on earth who had ever been on this volcano (I know, cornball again!). So, it was a much faster trip down and way more fun!!

I stayed Saturday night too in Cha, and then Sunday, Mel and I got in hiking mode one more time to make the 4 hour trip down to Mosteiros to see Sean and Dave, the volunteers there. After the hard cardiovascular hike up the volcano, I naively thought this trip down to the boys would be a cake walk…boy was I wrong. It is 4 hours of straight down; no breaks, no ups, nothing but down. There were points along the trail where Mel and I were literally running because our legs were no longer strong enough to stop our forward momentum. I was actually hoping that there would be a point where we would have to go uphill a little, but no such luck. By the time we got to the bottom, our legs were jell-o, our feet were torn up and on fire, and we had both taken one pretty nasty fall along the way in the wet mud. I think we must have looked pretty pathetic by the time we reached the boys, but it was nothing a cold beer couldn’t fix…which we drank Cape Verdean style, which is to say that we popped it open right after leaving the store and were finished by the time we reached the house.

The boys already had some activities planned for the evening, so we tagged along to the big soccer game that was happening in town. It was the finals of the girls’ league and it was amazing to see all of the people that were there cheering and really getting into the game. After the game, we went back to the house where Dave, the cook of the house (they have it worked out so that Dave cooks and Sean does the dishes…he might starve if not for Dave…we definitely have to get him cooking!!), made a yum dinner and we sat out on their fantastic roof and drank some beers and talked. I think they definitely have the best volunteer house on Fogo, their rooftop space is bigger than the inside of their house! Mel and I left on the early Hiace Monday morning, and were back in Bila before 8 am. I spent all day Monday trying not to move because my legs were not wanting to work. All is better now, but I think it will be awhile before I do that hike again!!

Sam eating some yummy cookies

Not the best pic, but this is Mel

Mel and me

I made it to the top!!

Going down anyone??

Do you even know what a mop is or how to use it??

I thought I would clarify for all my skeptics out there (Sara Martin…and probably anyone who has ever lived with me/known me), YES I have become quite well acquainted with my mop!! I may not have used it much before, or really maybe never before(!) but I am a good little cleaner now. I clean my house twice a week, can you believe that 2 times in one week! I know I know, I am making people fall off their chairs right now, what with liking onions and actually cleaning on a regular basis. Oh, and I would like to say that I have passed the month mark living here in Fogo, and you can still see the floor of my room. My clothes actually go in a dirty clothes bin, or yes, even get hung up. It is amazing what the threat of cockroaches, ants and dust will do to a person!

As for how my actual work is going here is a little update…I am still going every afternoon to a health “formação (=seminar/talk/discussion)” in different “fora(=rural)” zones of Fogo (sorry there are just some things that don’t translate right coming back into English, so you all get a little Kriolu/Portuguese lesson). I do absolutely nothing but sit there but it is great for me to be getting out there, seeing the different youth of the different zones that I might be working with, and for them to get comfortable seeing me! I am going to start next week at the youth center here in Bila doing something with English, maybe tutoring, maybe lessons, I don’t really know because I think something got lost in translation…my language is still horrific! But I have started really studying, another big shock, which is something up until now I haven’t done…so hopefully I will get over this hump. The peaks and valleys of learning a language are real mental challenges.

And for an update on the fun part of my Peace Corps experience (well it’s all fun but this is just silly), I was a judge at the Miss Fogo competition last Saturday night!! Hahaha, I really don’t know how this happened but it was definitely entertaining…but it was way past my bedtime because it started at midnight and ended at 3:30 am…talk about a culture difference! And then yesterday, I was asked if I wanted to “fazi ginàstica”, which literally translates into “make gymnastics” and my mind immediately goes to “oh my god, they want me to go to a class with a balance beam, vault and floor routine. The woman I have been going to the formação with, who speaks great English, said that no, it was an aerobics class, so then my mind goes to Jane Fonda in the 80’s or sweatin’ to the oldies with Richard Simons, and I think sure..let’s have a little fun. Well I get there and it turns out to be a high impact kick-boxing/Tae Bo class!! It was great! It is held outside on the patio of the primary school where you can see the sunset over the ocean…not to shabby if you ask me.