Can someone send me...
...sesame oil in a plastic container? I only say plastic because I’ve been sent soy sauce in a plastic container (which was in a box) and it seemed to survive the ride over. I have one or two recipes for some fake Chinese food, but it needs sesame oil, which you cannot buy here. Lady N said that she has never eaten Chinese food, so I thought I would try making something. Drop me a line if you can, thanks.
In exciting news, I was sitting out on a bench when some random guys drove by in a pickup trying to sell me eggs. What was really exciting about it was that they flagged me down by yelling, “oy, Americano!” I think that is the first time I’ve been screamed that by someone. Really, it made my afternoon.
Before I forget, a few weekends back, I went up to Cha das Caldeiras with my coworkers from the Câmara for a festa, celebrating the anniversary of the 1995 eruption of the volcano. I thought the festa was boring, but considering that nothing really happens up in Cha, I can see how it was an exciting event for them. The attempts to get goat fights going were interesting. People would basically push to goats together to lock horns, and then hope they would start to go at it. However, I guess they were all friends, since there was no fighting to be had. To make matters worse, the male goats started trying to mount each other, which though amusing, also did not lead to fighting (or sex). The solution was then to bring in a female goat, who was not enthusiastic about this at all, in the hopes of getting all the males riled up and then fight each other for her. That also didn’t work, so at that point I ended up leaving. The chicken fights later on where more interesting, since there was actually violence involved.
I can totally understand the concerns of animal rights activists, and in general, see no point in having animals fight each other for our amusement. However, the absolute lack of any sorts of amusements up in Cha lead me to believe that I would rather have the kids up there watching goats fight, as opposed to them having sex with each other in some pit of lava rock, popping out kids they won’t be able to support.
In other news, work has actually been filled with work recently. Though I don’t consider working to reorganize our library of 700-some books as development, at least it gives me something to do. The annoying thing is that a few months back, our boss Toes had us enter every book into an Excel spreadsheet. So we did that, but we weren’t too careful as to where we placed the books once we had entered the information. If he had said that we would eventually be arranging everything by subject matter, we could have made sure that the books stayed in the same order as they were listed, which would make finding them much simpler. But instead, we pick a random book off the shelf, and go through the now alphabetized list of books, trying to figure out what type it is.
I should have assumed that at some point, they would have wanted to actually organize the books, but since we were doing everything else in such a haphazard way, I wasn’t really worried about it. So this task has been taking up our time this past week. I don’t even want to think about how the lending system is going to work.
I’ve tried interjecting my opinion with Lady N about ways that things can be done easier and more efficiently, however, due to a) her general Cape Verdean concrete sequential attitude of “I will do it exactly how my bosses tell me” and b) her general disregard for my opinion, my views usually do not carry much weight.
I’ve actually been spending more time with her family. Part of it is because they got a new computer sent over from the States (their father works in Brockton) and I have been helping them with this and that. It’s been nice to hang with them because even though I cannot understand about 80% of what they’re saying, I feel like I might every so slowly be integrating with at least some Cape Verdeans. I’ve also been learning some interesting tidbits about Cape Verdean culture, or at least how it’s filtered through her family.
For example, I’ve always worn my watch on the inside of my left wrist, so I turn my palm side up in order to see the time. I was recently informed by them that it’s only women who do that, and that men always have their watches on the ‘outside’ of the wrist. When I was asking some other people about this, they even insisted that men could only place their watches on the right hand, as opposed to the left. So, I finally decided (after thinking about it for a few days) to make the switch. Though I doubt that it will really hasten integration, it can’t really hurt. But I actually spent quite a while trying to decide if I should conform to their cultural standards or not. I eventually rolled my eyes and decided to do it since it doesn’t really matter one way or the other to me.
Another time, I asked if it was possible for a 25-year-old woman to date an 18-year-old guy. I was curious, since it’s perfectly acceptable for a 25-year-old guy to date an 18-year-old (or younger woman). Nice (Lady N’s sister) had explained once that eyebrows would only be raised if it was like a 40-year-old guy with an 18-year-old girl. Lady N said that it was of course possible for an older woman to date a younger man, but she said that they would be “ugly.” Though I kept pressing as to why it would be a bad thing, she had no reason, and after thinking about it for a minute, she just shook her head and repeated that it was “ugly” for them to date. But after talking with a coworker at the Câmara, he said there was no problem. So I guess the jury is still out on that one.
And the other night, I was sitting around with them talking about parents, after showing them my photo album of me and the family. If I had known more about Cape Verdean culture, I would have included pictures of my aunts, uncles and cousins, but I had limited it to my parents and friends (Cape Verdeans are always amazed when I tell them I only have 6 cousins). I was explaining to them about my mother and her health problems and living with my grandparents. They asked me if she would be moving in with me once my grandparents died, and I was noncommittal about it, since it actually hasn’t been something that I’ve thought about in a long time. They were just shocked at me and were laughing. Lady N said she wanted her mom to move in with her when she was older, since her mom had taken care of her when she was little. Lady N’s aunt was basically saying that I owed my mom, since she carried me for nine months, fed me her milk and raised me into the world. She said I would someday understand once I had kids. Lady N’s aunt said several other things, but she was speaking so fast, I didn’t really catch it all. But rest assured, there was laughing involved, and probably thoughts of, “we let this barbarian, mother hating American into our house?”
Then they started asking me which parent I liked best. I thought this was some kind of trap on their part, and I tried to explain I liked them the same. But they asked me this a few times, and then finally explained that here in Cape Verde, or course you like you mom more than your dad! She’s done more for you and been there more for you than your father, so of course you have stronger feelings for her. When I explained I wasn’t that close to either of my parents, I got another round of shocked looks and laughter. At the end of all of this, Lady N’s aunt asked if I was mad at them, since they basically said that I didn’t care for my mother, since I wasn’t willing to take her in.
Speaking of women, in my ever continuing quest to break down some of the badder habits of Cape Verdean culture, I finally talked to Sandra, one of the loja owners, who also teaches at the high school. For like the past few months, I have been meaning to talk to her about the status of women in Cape Verdean culture, especially here in Mosteiros. I had only come up with four questions, and was afraid that since I had been talking to her since before the new year about talking to her about women here, our conversation would be a letdown. But it went on for like 10 or 15 minutes, and it was informative, but I don’t think I necessarily learned anything new. But after talking with her, I think it would be best to try to form a girl’s group next year at the high school, and work on life skills stuff with them. How to make good choices, why it is good to wait to have babies, the importance of education, etc etc.
Even if my Kriolu was good enough, I don’t think it would really make sense for me to be the facilitator of the group, so I hope to find either a teacher in the school, or some other woman in the community who would be leading the group, and I could do more behind the scenes support. I had been before been thinking about trying to have an women’s group for adults, which still might be a good idea, but I am not sure what we would focus on. I need to talk to more people in the community to learn more about their needs. And that OMCV lady, I think her back problems are better now. So, I guess I am slowly chugging along.
Book Reviews: I promise I will be getting into more interesting books soon. I’ve been doing a lot of magazine reading, but am going to start hitting the books with a vengeance.
Sammy’s Hill by Kristin Gore
I never actually worked on the Hill or knew that many people who worked on, but I thought she did a good job catching the general vibe of D.C., especially for us younger folks. The story was a bit convoluted, but still an engaging read. It was a good distraction from my “studying” for the FSWE
An Outline of American Economy by the U.S. Information Agency
Boring. However, necessary to read for the above mentioned test. I think I got something out of it, but I am just not sure what.
The Challenge of Democracy: Government in America by Janda, Berry and Goldman.
Well, I didn’t actually read this entire textbook, since it wasn’t all relevant, but I did get thought all the chapters related to our glorious governmental system and how a bill becomes a law and all that other fun stuff. I think this did help me with a question or two on the test.
In exciting news, I was sitting out on a bench when some random guys drove by in a pickup trying to sell me eggs. What was really exciting about it was that they flagged me down by yelling, “oy, Americano!” I think that is the first time I’ve been screamed that by someone. Really, it made my afternoon.
Before I forget, a few weekends back, I went up to Cha das Caldeiras with my coworkers from the Câmara for a festa, celebrating the anniversary of the 1995 eruption of the volcano. I thought the festa was boring, but considering that nothing really happens up in Cha, I can see how it was an exciting event for them. The attempts to get goat fights going were interesting. People would basically push to goats together to lock horns, and then hope they would start to go at it. However, I guess they were all friends, since there was no fighting to be had. To make matters worse, the male goats started trying to mount each other, which though amusing, also did not lead to fighting (or sex). The solution was then to bring in a female goat, who was not enthusiastic about this at all, in the hopes of getting all the males riled up and then fight each other for her. That also didn’t work, so at that point I ended up leaving. The chicken fights later on where more interesting, since there was actually violence involved.
I can totally understand the concerns of animal rights activists, and in general, see no point in having animals fight each other for our amusement. However, the absolute lack of any sorts of amusements up in Cha lead me to believe that I would rather have the kids up there watching goats fight, as opposed to them having sex with each other in some pit of lava rock, popping out kids they won’t be able to support.
In other news, work has actually been filled with work recently. Though I don’t consider working to reorganize our library of 700-some books as development, at least it gives me something to do. The annoying thing is that a few months back, our boss Toes had us enter every book into an Excel spreadsheet. So we did that, but we weren’t too careful as to where we placed the books once we had entered the information. If he had said that we would eventually be arranging everything by subject matter, we could have made sure that the books stayed in the same order as they were listed, which would make finding them much simpler. But instead, we pick a random book off the shelf, and go through the now alphabetized list of books, trying to figure out what type it is.
I should have assumed that at some point, they would have wanted to actually organize the books, but since we were doing everything else in such a haphazard way, I wasn’t really worried about it. So this task has been taking up our time this past week. I don’t even want to think about how the lending system is going to work.
I’ve tried interjecting my opinion with Lady N about ways that things can be done easier and more efficiently, however, due to a) her general Cape Verdean concrete sequential attitude of “I will do it exactly how my bosses tell me” and b) her general disregard for my opinion, my views usually do not carry much weight.
I’ve actually been spending more time with her family. Part of it is because they got a new computer sent over from the States (their father works in Brockton) and I have been helping them with this and that. It’s been nice to hang with them because even though I cannot understand about 80% of what they’re saying, I feel like I might every so slowly be integrating with at least some Cape Verdeans. I’ve also been learning some interesting tidbits about Cape Verdean culture, or at least how it’s filtered through her family.
For example, I’ve always worn my watch on the inside of my left wrist, so I turn my palm side up in order to see the time. I was recently informed by them that it’s only women who do that, and that men always have their watches on the ‘outside’ of the wrist. When I was asking some other people about this, they even insisted that men could only place their watches on the right hand, as opposed to the left. So, I finally decided (after thinking about it for a few days) to make the switch. Though I doubt that it will really hasten integration, it can’t really hurt. But I actually spent quite a while trying to decide if I should conform to their cultural standards or not. I eventually rolled my eyes and decided to do it since it doesn’t really matter one way or the other to me.
Another time, I asked if it was possible for a 25-year-old woman to date an 18-year-old guy. I was curious, since it’s perfectly acceptable for a 25-year-old guy to date an 18-year-old (or younger woman). Nice (Lady N’s sister) had explained once that eyebrows would only be raised if it was like a 40-year-old guy with an 18-year-old girl. Lady N said that it was of course possible for an older woman to date a younger man, but she said that they would be “ugly.” Though I kept pressing as to why it would be a bad thing, she had no reason, and after thinking about it for a minute, she just shook her head and repeated that it was “ugly” for them to date. But after talking with a coworker at the Câmara, he said there was no problem. So I guess the jury is still out on that one.
And the other night, I was sitting around with them talking about parents, after showing them my photo album of me and the family. If I had known more about Cape Verdean culture, I would have included pictures of my aunts, uncles and cousins, but I had limited it to my parents and friends (Cape Verdeans are always amazed when I tell them I only have 6 cousins). I was explaining to them about my mother and her health problems and living with my grandparents. They asked me if she would be moving in with me once my grandparents died, and I was noncommittal about it, since it actually hasn’t been something that I’ve thought about in a long time. They were just shocked at me and were laughing. Lady N said she wanted her mom to move in with her when she was older, since her mom had taken care of her when she was little. Lady N’s aunt was basically saying that I owed my mom, since she carried me for nine months, fed me her milk and raised me into the world. She said I would someday understand once I had kids. Lady N’s aunt said several other things, but she was speaking so fast, I didn’t really catch it all. But rest assured, there was laughing involved, and probably thoughts of, “we let this barbarian, mother hating American into our house?”
Then they started asking me which parent I liked best. I thought this was some kind of trap on their part, and I tried to explain I liked them the same. But they asked me this a few times, and then finally explained that here in Cape Verde, or course you like you mom more than your dad! She’s done more for you and been there more for you than your father, so of course you have stronger feelings for her. When I explained I wasn’t that close to either of my parents, I got another round of shocked looks and laughter. At the end of all of this, Lady N’s aunt asked if I was mad at them, since they basically said that I didn’t care for my mother, since I wasn’t willing to take her in.
Speaking of women, in my ever continuing quest to break down some of the badder habits of Cape Verdean culture, I finally talked to Sandra, one of the loja owners, who also teaches at the high school. For like the past few months, I have been meaning to talk to her about the status of women in Cape Verdean culture, especially here in Mosteiros. I had only come up with four questions, and was afraid that since I had been talking to her since before the new year about talking to her about women here, our conversation would be a letdown. But it went on for like 10 or 15 minutes, and it was informative, but I don’t think I necessarily learned anything new. But after talking with her, I think it would be best to try to form a girl’s group next year at the high school, and work on life skills stuff with them. How to make good choices, why it is good to wait to have babies, the importance of education, etc etc.
Even if my Kriolu was good enough, I don’t think it would really make sense for me to be the facilitator of the group, so I hope to find either a teacher in the school, or some other woman in the community who would be leading the group, and I could do more behind the scenes support. I had been before been thinking about trying to have an women’s group for adults, which still might be a good idea, but I am not sure what we would focus on. I need to talk to more people in the community to learn more about their needs. And that OMCV lady, I think her back problems are better now. So, I guess I am slowly chugging along.
Book Reviews: I promise I will be getting into more interesting books soon. I’ve been doing a lot of magazine reading, but am going to start hitting the books with a vengeance.
Sammy’s Hill by Kristin Gore
I never actually worked on the Hill or knew that many people who worked on, but I thought she did a good job catching the general vibe of D.C., especially for us younger folks. The story was a bit convoluted, but still an engaging read. It was a good distraction from my “studying” for the FSWE
An Outline of American Economy by the U.S. Information Agency
Boring. However, necessary to read for the above mentioned test. I think I got something out of it, but I am just not sure what.
The Challenge of Democracy: Government in America by Janda, Berry and Goldman.
Well, I didn’t actually read this entire textbook, since it wasn’t all relevant, but I did get thought all the chapters related to our glorious governmental system and how a bill becomes a law and all that other fun stuff. I think this did help me with a question or two on the test.
posted by jende turtle at 11:56 AM
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