AVC, Come and Gone

Last week, I had the glorious pleasure to be reunited with my fellow PCVs from all around the country, for our All Volunteer Conference. As things go in Cape Verde, the first two days are only for the newbies, and is actually called In-Service Training. Then for the last two days, us 2nd years come and it become AVC. This year, under the auspices of our new Training Director, the 2nd years only had to attend one and a half days of sessions. So, basically, I spent five days in Santiago to attend what basically amounted to 10 hours of sessions by PC. I’m reasonably sure I spent more time drinking and relaxing.

This year’s AVC had a lot less interaction between 1st and 2nd years, which I found kinda sad. From my experience, one of the best resources any PC post has, is the 2nd years who have been around the block a few times, and can share their experiences and pass on advice to newbies. Last year, talking with the 2nd years during sessions, I felt like I gained a lot better idea of my role in this country and whatnot. This year, I do not feel that there was a lot of opportunity for this in formal sessions. Of course when we’re all hanging out on our own time and talking, this stuff comes up, but it just isn’t the same.

The last night of AVC, there is always a BBQ on the beach, and a bonfire. There is also this tradition (I am not sure if it stretches back to the year before our group or what) of wrestling matches. Before the wrestling happens, fake matches are announced, just for fun and to take cracks at fellow PCVs. This year, because no one from our group appeared to be doing anything, SIDA Ka Ten Kura, Monkey Bar and myself ended up trying to draw up a list. Do you know how hard it is to be funny? Especially since you want to crack jokes about people (the 1st years) who you don’t really know?

So, after consulting a few first years for some advice, the list was read, people laughed at some of the stuff, but one or two people actually seemed a bit offended. But I mean, if you’re lumped into “The Battle of the Superbitches,” please, it’s not like I’m sitting down and trying to critique your character or anything. Hitchens said at a conference once, that the only good joke is one that comes at someone’s expense. And I’ve really found that to be true. But whatever, I hope this tradition is carried on into the future.

I also had time to go visit the host family in Sao Dao, and wow. My host mother is pregnant! Their living room and dining room has been turned into the new space for their store. Their old store, which was in the back, is going to become a bar. They are building a second floor. They are totally moving up in the world, and it was really happy for me to see. All three of the kids look older, Junior the most of all, though that makes sense since he’s growing the fastest. I think he’s five now. My sister and cousin are both lookin’ good as well, and soon will be finishing up high school. I don’t know exactly what they want to do (I don’t think they know either) but their family will probably have a bit more means to make things happen.

Back in Sao Filipe, desperately tired and just wanting to go home, we had to endure what felt like one of the longest hiace rides in the history of humanity. First we spent an hour driving around Sao Filipe, doing Allah knows what, and then, as we got closer to Mosteiros, we had to stop and take on an agonizing number of people, which resulted in a lot of shifting of seats, and me muttering curses at the driver. But finally, we made it back to home-sweet-apartment, and I could collapse into my bed.

Being in Praia was nice. Not having the Transit House really does suck, but I suppose the newbies won’t know any better. We get placed in the nice tourist hotels, which isn’t that bad by itself, but it really does cut down on the sense of community among PCVs. One more conference in the end of May, and then I should be leaving the country sometime after the middle of August. Of course, it’s all up in the air. I think I will still try to plan one or two trips to see more of the country, but as it gets closer to my COS date, there are all of these travel restrictions I have to deal with.

Now that AVC is over, I really need to start thinking about my post-PC life. Sadly enough, I think I’m in for a tough time. I recently took a glance at the job listings for D.C., on Idealist.org, and I realized that they all looked like crap to me. The only things remotely interesting were things based overseas. Of course, I know in reality I have no idea how I am going to feel once I am back in the States, so I guess it’ll just have to play out. But for now, as I read over job listings for the greater metropolitan Washington D.C. area, I just think, “wow, I can’t find one job that looks even remotely interesting to me.”

Book Review:

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
I think reading great works of fiction while in PC is a good way to go, because being as you are (isolated, to some degree, no matter how integrated you are) it makes you more reflective about life. I’ve come to appreciate fiction a lot more during my time here, as a good way to think about yourself as reflected through the characters and storylines. So, this book has made me think a lot, especially about what it means to be “successful,” what it means to “have a life” and what it means to “make a decision that will ruin your life.” What does all of that really mean? Living here in Cape Verde, as it pretty much is in most of the developing world, you can see that people are still making it, even with a lot less. This is something that I always understood with my brain, but it’s a bit different when you step into it. If for example, I “gave up” everything I had in the States, and moved here, what does that really mean? Am I “being crazy and ruining my life?” Not that I’m saying that I am going to do that, but it’s just become really interesting to me, to think about what it means. But yeah, back to the book. It was great. Some parts, I really had no idea what it had to do with the rest of the book, but I didn’t write so, so whatever.

Not Without My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody
Ah, hah hah hah. Hah hah hah. Ha hah hah. Ha hah. Ha. Oh wait, was I supposed to be scared throughout this book? Though I felt bad for her because of what her crazy husband put her through, I am pretty sure if I met her in person, I would find her a bit annoying. I mean, what, so people don’t take showers, have dirty kitchens and strange customs. So that makes Iran a horrible country? That’s why they’re all uncivilized? That’s why they hate America? She sounded so surprised that there would be anyone in Iran who would hate the government. Though some of her critiques were specific to the Muslim world, most of what she was saying could apply to any developing country. I am not sure if it was more acceptable when she escaped and wrote her book, but her mentality that she exhibited just reminded me of a Western snob who goes to a third-world country, just to say that she had been there, and not really interested in the people there. And I’m sorry, if she had been raised in Iran, I am pretty sure she would have been one of those women toting the party line, and not one of the women who helped her try to escape. It’s interesting to read this book now, especially in light of the U.S. and Iran’s current relations. But it was a fast, no thinking read which was a good break for me.