Fogo

First, allow me to say thank you to everyone who has sent me an email, or has sent mail. It's hard to express how nice it is to get contacts from people back at home, so I really appreciate it. I reread the letters I have every few days! Even though I hang out with Peace Corps people every day, it is still nice to be in touch with all my friends! So keep writing! And yeah, sorry if my responses to you are a bit disjointed, I always feel so overwhelmed when I check my email, and I am sure I give half assed responses.

Yesterday, after some seriously painful waiting, we got our site assignments. I had always thought that they would be going on during week five, so to have to wait till the end of week six was tough. My APCD had us all in the conference room, and I think to torture us, he spent like 10 minutes talking about the process used to pick which site we go to. I seriously think that Helder got a quiet kick out of going into all of the technical details, while all the time knowing that we didn't actually care. Then, they brought us outside to the courtyard. Since there was no power (power has been out in Sao Dao and parts of Praia for like two days), they couldn't do the Power Point presentation that they usually do. Instead, inspired by a suggestion of Monkey Bar's, the Trainees lined up in two rows, and then they called out our names. And like it was a sporting event, we had to run down the row, slapping people's hands and whatnot. So, they call me and the TEFL APCD is like «Jende is going to Santiago!» which is the island that I am currently on. And I was thinking, like «crap.» Not that I have anything against the island, and I didn't have any serious preferences, other than not wanting to be in Praia. But I am also someone who doesn't want to live in the same place that he went to school. So, I was like, whatever. But then, the TEFL APCD, Yonis, was like, «wait a minute» and then he was looking on his sheet and it ended up that he had gotten my name confused with Monkey Bar's, since we both have names starting with J. Monkey Bar was staying in Santiago, and I am going to an island to the west of this one, called Fogo.

Fogo is probably best known for having a volcano on it, which will be cool. And it's funny, since I have a friend in Peace Corps/Vanautu who is getting posted (I think) to a volcano on an island there. So, I am looking forward to a lot of hiking, which should be beautiful. Am I excited about going there, you may ask. To be honest, I am currently neutral. I actually worked hard not to get to know too much about the different islands, before I got here, since I specifically didn't want to develop a preference, and then get disappointed when I didn't get it. And to be honest, I was more concerned with who I would be placed with, as opposed to where I would be placed. I will be living in the city of Mosteiros, which is on the north east side of the island. There will be two other male Volunteers there, another CD guy who has been at site for a year, and a TEFL who I actually roomed with in Philly. Idealist is going to be living in the main city on the island, which I think is called Sao Filpe, with another female Volunteer. I am not quite sure exactly who I will be living with, since there are some minor housing issues that need to be worked out.

My Friend (Who's Father is a Priest) is staying on Santiago, and will be living in a kickass northern city. No Pun Intended is going to Maio, where there is only one other Volunteer. It's funny, since she had been saying before that she was worried about being isolated, and it has kinda turned out that way, since there are only two PCV's there. But I've met the other Volunteer before, and she is cool, and I am sure that they will be getting along fine. Da Geek is going up to Sal, which is like the vacation spot for Europeans, so he will have a good time there. The Va is also staying in Santiago, and will be close to My Friend (Who's Father is a Priest).

I had this horrible dream on Thursday night that everyone I wanted to be with were all placed together on an island, and I was on a different island. So that really sucked. When I woke up, I was all pissy. And it wasn't a good start to the day. I have also been pissy in general because we are going to be doing Computer Model school next week. I am in a group with four people and we will be teaching eight kids next week, most of them who probably haven't seen or touched a computer before. Teaching computers isn't the problem, it's more the fact that we have to do it in Kriolu! Now, as some of you know (especially the Bouncing Wonder) I can hardly speak in English half the time. My Kriolu learning is going slow. I know I have enough skill to pass the language test before Swearing In, but I know my skills are not that hot. So, I really don't want to teach people computers using Kriolu, even thought it will be like «This is a keyboard. This is a mouse». It is going to suck.

But anyways, I am getting off topic. So, at my site, I will be working at the Câmera, which is basically their city government. Beyond that, I have few specifics. I will have a counterpart who is the person that I go to with ideas, problems, and whatnot. I am still hoping to work on issues relating to women's rights and whatnot, but am not clear what sort of opportunities I will have. It will probably take me some time to figure out what the Câmera needs, and what I can do to help. But I wouldn't mind trying to microfinance stuff as a secondary project, or do some kind of women's empowerment thing. But from what little I do understand, the island might be trying to promote tourism, so I could be doing stuff related to that.

And like I was saying, Idealist will be on the same island, but not the same city, which is cool. She is the only other person that I've found so far who has said that she also wants to go work in Africa once she is done with Peace Corps. She is also the person, I think I may have mentioned it before, who I had the conversation with that basically went something like this: (seriously paraphrased)

Me: Well, really, I do think you have to be crazy to want to join the Peace Corps or do the stuff that we want to do in Africa.
Her: Or you really want to help people!

And sure, I figured with Peace Corps people, there were two types. The first type is the type of person like me, crazy. Sometimes, I don't even understand why I joined the Peace Corps. Though I don't see it as a sacrfice in the way that many others have commented that it is, it is a bit wild to have done this.

The second type of person I could envision joining the Peace Corps are those true humanitarian types who are all about saving the world. And I think they are a bit crazy too. So really, everyone falls under the category of crazy.

Of course, in reality, I have to flush this idea out a bit more. I was talking with Da Geek a bit about it, and he pointed out that he thought it was crazy for you to want to work in an office for 20 years of your life. And I agreed, that is a bit crazy too. And since everyone can't be crazy, I need to work on better redefining my terms. But, I think I will have a lot of time to think over the next two years, so I am sure that in addition to writing about what is going on in my life, I'll use the blog to hash out ideas.

But anyways, life here goes through flux. For example, I was going to Sugarlips' birthday party last weekend and as I was walking down my street, I was in a shitty mood, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone, happy to be out of the house, not wanting to have to return to face my family. Then as I passed by Rosa's bar, (someplace that I have not yet got the courage to enter up into) they were blasting the music and in that split second, my mood changed, and I was suddenly so happy to be in Cape Verde I almost had to restrain myself from screaming. So yeah...rapid mood swings!

As for day to day stuff, that is also going well. We have stopped learning Kriolu and are now starting on the Portuguese. That is going ok. The little bit of Spanish I took back in high school is actually being a bit useful, since the languages are so close, I understand a lot of the conceptual stuff pretty fast, but I am still not doing enough of actually remembering the words. When we don't have language class, we are in technical sessions. The TEFL people are off at Model School II last week and this upcoming week, so we don't see them in the mornings. Community Development is very broad, and it's hard for our trainers to give us specific technical training, because we could all be doing very different things. So we learn about a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. It's hard for me to say that I feel especially prepared, since I don't know what I will be needed to do! Training provides a basis for being able to operate in Cape Verde, and then it's up to me to make the most of it.

One thing that is making me sad, though it is a nature of the beast, is that we will all be heading off to separate islands in like four weeks. You become intensely close to a group of people for like 9 weeks, seeing them every day, talking with them, hanging out with them, and then, boom! Everyone off to their own islands. If we were in any other type of country, though you could be far away from other people, you would still be on the same piece of earth as them, and could get to them in a few hours. Being on a set of islands is a bit harder, since there isn't a super easy way to get one from to another. You can fly which is expensive, or you can take a boat, which takes a hell of a long time, and isn't something recommended by the Peace Corps. I'm so used to seeing people everyday, and having that strong sense of community, though there will be 5 PCV's on my island, it won't quite be the same.

Oh yeah, a important mailing note. If you are in the process of sending me something, you might want to hold off on it. Since I am moving to a different island, I am going to be getting a new address. I would love it if you still kept writing me and whatnot, but just hold off on actually sending me something. I will update my blog with my new mailing address, as well as send out an email to people.

As a funny side note, I found out that My Friend (Who's Father is a Priest) sends out long ass emails to her friends. In the one she sent out last week, she included a thing where she wrote in Kriolu, just like I did in the blog. Hah ha. I found that very amusing. Maybe moreso than you are finding it amusing. But I assure you, when we found out that we both did it, we had a good laugh.

Well, I should go. I will be back in town in two weeks, and then I don't know what kind of Internet access I will have at site. I miss you all and hope that life is going well. Ti logo!