I made the momentous decision...
...a few weeks back to start changing my underwear each day, as opposed to once every few days. I think this changeover occurred when I stopped having to come into the office for the full day, freeing up some more of my time for things like laundry. So, that has been going well. I have been washing clothes more frequently, but I probably smell a bit better. I also got, I think in English you call it a clotheshorse? It’s a thing if you don’t have a closet, you can still put clothes on hangers and hang it on there. So that has made me happy, now if my overhead light would actually work (and the kitchen light too), the place wouldn’t be so bad to live in. And if would help if the Câmara would move those two people out of the living room.
But one nice thing of having that office there is that the woman working there also volunteers for the OMCV, so I have been talking to her a bit more about their organization, and things to do in Mosteiros. She has done in the past, and wants to once again go to the high school, and various zonas, and give presentations about HIV/AIDS. So, even though this is not something I am specifically that interested in doing, I will be helping her out. She suddenly wanted to go to the night school (which is basically like adult education) and give a presentation. I think she is seizing on this, since the OMCV here has no money, but she figures that I can cover the cost of the color copies that she wanted me to make of all these genitalia that were infected with various STDs, for us to tape up on the walls. She was saying that once I watched her do this once or twice, then I can start doing presentations at the school next year. Hah, yeah right. The day my Kriolu gets that good, I’ll find a wife and stay here for the rest of my life!
Oh yes, the sacred institution of marriage here in Cape Verde. A few weekends back, I ended up participating in the first stages of what will probably end up as adultery. I had a hint as to what was going on when a guy I know invited me to take a ride with him to visit another zona. We were going to visit an “amiga” he told me, and it would be better for him if he could tell his wife that I was going with. So, I was hoping that there was some sort of other innocent explanation, and that I was just culturally ignorant as to what was going on. But no, once we got to where we were going, it was clear what was up.
This does not amuse me, but I am not sure exactly what to do about it. Sure, I can refuse to go with him on any future trips that he may request of me, but that will not seriously slow him down. He will simply find someone else, someone who would probably be less disapproving than I would. Confronting him about it would do nothing, because I know his mindset as a Cape Verdean male. Looking upon women as equals is not something that seems to exist widely here.
I could go on and on about what I think about Cape Verdean men, but since you wouldn’t be able to see me shake my fist, roll my eyes and swear a lot, there is no point. So, anyway, I am currently recovering from a sore throat that I got from some food I ate, earlier in the week. Odd, I know. But really, when I started eating, my throat felt fine, and by the end, it was sore. So, my medical advisor (Darney O’Malley) suggested that maybe I hadn’t washed some pesticides off of my food correctly or something.
It probably also didn’t help that when I was in the early stages of this sore throat, I went out drinking with the two Chinese loja owners again. And now there are two more Chinese here in town, with the opening of their loja, and space is currently being constructed for a third one. I actually sometimes avoid the loja right behind my house since I am afraid if I see them, I will kind of be obligated to go talk to them. Considering the puny amount of small tack with them, I prefer to take the long way around. But yeah, we’ve gone out twice, and I have learned some interesting things about the way the Chinese operate here in Cape Verde. This guy (and I assume it is the same with all owners) goes back to China to visit family and stuff every year. He also brings back samples of things that he finds here which are popular (which mainly originated in Brazil). So, he carts these things back to China, where he has some kind of agreement with folks, and then these people make ripoff copies of the clothes or whatever, which are then brought back to Cape Verde and sold in the lojas. So, three tendrils of the humungous Chinese manufacturing machine will soon be settled firmly here in Mosteiros.
After I had heard from Lady N a story about some Chinese loja owners in Praia which I assumed to be utterly false (that when a Cape Vederan broke something in a loja and refused to pay for it, the loja owners locked the person in the basement, and the police had to come rescue said person) I asked the loja owners here about it. After looking thoughtful for a second, the guy said, it could have happened. He then regaled me to this story about how some loja owners in Praia caught a thief trying to steal something from their store, and then they just started beating the guy up right there. Then they lowered the store shutters down so they could continue to beat the guy, and the cops had to use a battering ram to get in and rescue the guy. So, probably not the highlight of Cape Verdean-Chinese relations, but it is amusing nonetheless.
Have you ever been just handed children and told to watch over them? This has happened to me twice in recent weeks (once by Lady N and once by her little cousin) and it must mean that I’m integrating, right, if they’ll trust me with their children? .-)
Did I mention that the less that I do here at the Câmara’s Multimedia Center, the happier I get? Stop me if I’ve said this before, but I did not need to leave the U.S., as well as all of my friends to come to Cape Verde, where I know no one and nothing, and work at an Internet café, helping kids set up email accounts so they can send pointless emails to each other. I could be doing that in the States. Sure, this may be development work on some level, but it is the kind I am not interested in. Translating requests to join hi5, which is like the big thing here now, is not exactly exciting or meaningful work, in my mind.
Well, I could go on, but I have been trying to pop out this blog entry for a while, so I will just stop here. I should be going to a festa this weekend in Sao Filipe, so I hope to have some fun stories to report on next week. Oh yes, one last note, if my father didn’t see my credit card bills, I’d be donating money right now to the Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation, which looks to have this kick-ass project to help save girls from indentured servitude in Nepal. I think a hundred bucks ensures that a daughter from the family is not sent away to some far off city as a house servant. So, for the love of Jeebus, donate!
But one nice thing of having that office there is that the woman working there also volunteers for the OMCV, so I have been talking to her a bit more about their organization, and things to do in Mosteiros. She has done in the past, and wants to once again go to the high school, and various zonas, and give presentations about HIV/AIDS. So, even though this is not something I am specifically that interested in doing, I will be helping her out. She suddenly wanted to go to the night school (which is basically like adult education) and give a presentation. I think she is seizing on this, since the OMCV here has no money, but she figures that I can cover the cost of the color copies that she wanted me to make of all these genitalia that were infected with various STDs, for us to tape up on the walls. She was saying that once I watched her do this once or twice, then I can start doing presentations at the school next year. Hah, yeah right. The day my Kriolu gets that good, I’ll find a wife and stay here for the rest of my life!
Oh yes, the sacred institution of marriage here in Cape Verde. A few weekends back, I ended up participating in the first stages of what will probably end up as adultery. I had a hint as to what was going on when a guy I know invited me to take a ride with him to visit another zona. We were going to visit an “amiga” he told me, and it would be better for him if he could tell his wife that I was going with. So, I was hoping that there was some sort of other innocent explanation, and that I was just culturally ignorant as to what was going on. But no, once we got to where we were going, it was clear what was up.
This does not amuse me, but I am not sure exactly what to do about it. Sure, I can refuse to go with him on any future trips that he may request of me, but that will not seriously slow him down. He will simply find someone else, someone who would probably be less disapproving than I would. Confronting him about it would do nothing, because I know his mindset as a Cape Verdean male. Looking upon women as equals is not something that seems to exist widely here.
I could go on and on about what I think about Cape Verdean men, but since you wouldn’t be able to see me shake my fist, roll my eyes and swear a lot, there is no point. So, anyway, I am currently recovering from a sore throat that I got from some food I ate, earlier in the week. Odd, I know. But really, when I started eating, my throat felt fine, and by the end, it was sore. So, my medical advisor (Darney O’Malley) suggested that maybe I hadn’t washed some pesticides off of my food correctly or something.
It probably also didn’t help that when I was in the early stages of this sore throat, I went out drinking with the two Chinese loja owners again. And now there are two more Chinese here in town, with the opening of their loja, and space is currently being constructed for a third one. I actually sometimes avoid the loja right behind my house since I am afraid if I see them, I will kind of be obligated to go talk to them. Considering the puny amount of small tack with them, I prefer to take the long way around. But yeah, we’ve gone out twice, and I have learned some interesting things about the way the Chinese operate here in Cape Verde. This guy (and I assume it is the same with all owners) goes back to China to visit family and stuff every year. He also brings back samples of things that he finds here which are popular (which mainly originated in Brazil). So, he carts these things back to China, where he has some kind of agreement with folks, and then these people make ripoff copies of the clothes or whatever, which are then brought back to Cape Verde and sold in the lojas. So, three tendrils of the humungous Chinese manufacturing machine will soon be settled firmly here in Mosteiros.
After I had heard from Lady N a story about some Chinese loja owners in Praia which I assumed to be utterly false (that when a Cape Vederan broke something in a loja and refused to pay for it, the loja owners locked the person in the basement, and the police had to come rescue said person) I asked the loja owners here about it. After looking thoughtful for a second, the guy said, it could have happened. He then regaled me to this story about how some loja owners in Praia caught a thief trying to steal something from their store, and then they just started beating the guy up right there. Then they lowered the store shutters down so they could continue to beat the guy, and the cops had to use a battering ram to get in and rescue the guy. So, probably not the highlight of Cape Verdean-Chinese relations, but it is amusing nonetheless.
Have you ever been just handed children and told to watch over them? This has happened to me twice in recent weeks (once by Lady N and once by her little cousin) and it must mean that I’m integrating, right, if they’ll trust me with their children? .-)
Did I mention that the less that I do here at the Câmara’s Multimedia Center, the happier I get? Stop me if I’ve said this before, but I did not need to leave the U.S., as well as all of my friends to come to Cape Verde, where I know no one and nothing, and work at an Internet café, helping kids set up email accounts so they can send pointless emails to each other. I could be doing that in the States. Sure, this may be development work on some level, but it is the kind I am not interested in. Translating requests to join hi5, which is like the big thing here now, is not exactly exciting or meaningful work, in my mind.
Well, I could go on, but I have been trying to pop out this blog entry for a while, so I will just stop here. I should be going to a festa this weekend in Sao Filipe, so I hope to have some fun stories to report on next week. Oh yes, one last note, if my father didn’t see my credit card bills, I’d be donating money right now to the Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation, which looks to have this kick-ass project to help save girls from indentured servitude in Nepal. I think a hundred bucks ensures that a daughter from the family is not sent away to some far off city as a house servant. So, for the love of Jeebus, donate!
posted by jende turtle at 11:56 AM
1 Comments:
Wow. You have so many strange things happening to you. You babysit little children (as they are ditched on you). You babysit aldultrous men who take rides with you. Lets not forget the color copies of genetalia! Holy crap! Its crazy. But you seem to be having fun. I like the blog!
~New Poster
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