Once again its been a long time and I’m not sure where to start but as of now I am at my site and have been for nearly two months. I’ve put up some pictures of my house which I must admit is really nice. Obviously, if anybody comes to Cape Verde they can crash.

The first and most important thing is the election. I guess it’s obvious to say that I was ecstatic when I found out that the next president will be Barack Hussein Obama. I always believed that eventually there would be an African-American president but I definitely did not think this soon. And yes…it is important that he is African-American for many reasons. Most importantly, it is a huge milestone in African-American history. This is on par with the Emancipation Proclamation, Brown vs. Board of Education, as well as the Civil Rights Act in ‘64. Just as those events provided opportunities that were previously not availably to African-Americans so too does this. The difference is that those laws served as normative and ideal statements which were later actually enforced while Obama provides and example of what CAN be and what IS possible for blacks to achieve in the United States today. He is the result of the enforcement of these previous events. In no way am I saying that racism suddenly no longer exists in the US because that is obviously not true. I also admit that Obama did not exactly come from the projects but is that what it means to be black in America? I don’t think so. What I am saying is that it challenges many African-Americans who believed that they could never achieve success in the US. This is the fruit of the labor of those who have come before and to say that blacks can’t achieve success in America is to disgrace their tireless effort.

The election night, here in Cape Verde was one of the better nights I have had so far. All the volunteers on this island met up in the capital and hung out at a bar. We forced the bar to keep the election on all night. This was actually one of the nicest bars that I’ve seen here in Cape Verde. It had two flat screen TVs with one showing the election on CNN and the other was playing a Celtics game on NBATV. I felt right at home. We must have stayed at the bar until around 4am just watching the election. When it was finally obvious that Obama would be the next president many of the volunteers including me shed a few tears. What made the event even more special is that there were many Cape Verdeans also at the bar who seemed equally as interested. It’s amazing that not only has Obama given hope to those in the United States but even people in Cape Verde are optimistic about the future. Though I feel that people here are falsely optimistic and will be sorely disappointed, I still entertain their dreams.

People in Cape Verde seemed far more interested in American politics than they are in their own. This does not just apply to the recent election but in general. I never hear people talking about current Cape Verdean politics. It seems to be a fairly apolitical society. Even the newspaper is barely read. In part, this has to do with the newspaper being in Portuguese and many people cannot read it. Still, when I watch the news I do not see many stories about the politics of Cape Verde. Maybe this is good since it seems that many countries in Africa that are considered highly politicized tend to express their political views through violence. Cape Verde has not experienced much violence historically. They peacefully gained independence from the Portuguese in 1975 in tandem with Guinea Bissau. Though there was a revolution most of the fighting was done in Guinea. Plus there are no extremely wealthy people here like in some other African countries that have natural resources. The distribution of wealth is relatively even. Maybe this has to do with why they are relatively peaceful…I dunno.

On other things, the teaching thing is going okay. I wouldn’t mind doing something else but the students are starting to grow on me. Plus I am starting to really invest my time in creating the English library in the school. Kids here definitely do not study as much as they should at home. Much of this has to do with the fact that they have no place to study. I remember when I was in middle school and high school I had a desk at home in my room where I did my homework. It was quiet and organized. Here most, if not all, of my students do not have that. Maybe they do their work on the kitchen table but often families do not stress the importance of education. Sure they may do well in high school but after that…then what? Maybe they will go to the university in the capital but after that there definitely is not much else they could do unless they go abroad which for many is just a dream. I figure if I create the English library then students will have this space. Plus the teachers will get into it because they will have a place to do their own research, write lesson plans, and store materials. LESSON PLANS, MATERIALS, NOR TESTS ARE RECYCLED. So every year the teacher has to recreate their lessons. It makes sense to leave room for the teacher to add their own creativity but its difficult when you don’t have any textbooks, any materials and basically have to start with nothing. It is a big waste of time.

There are a couple weird things that happen at school. I definitely will never get used to teachers blatantly hitting on female students. It’s actually kind of disgusting how overt it is. I’m sorry but that is where my cultural relativism stops. Some of the teachers hit on the little girls in eighth grade. These girls are THIRTEEN AND FOURTEEN YEARS OLD. That will never be okay in my book. Besides that there are just random occurrences that happen at school. Obviously electricity comes and goes. At one point we didn’t have electricity for a week but since then we have had it fairly constantly. When there is no electricity at school obviously they cannot ring the bell so they beat this metal bucket with a stick as loud as they can. Pretty cool but definitely different. Another time, the school almost caught on fire because at one of the junctions on the phone line blew up and caught on fire. Now, there are no fire fighters anywhere close and the telephone pole is made out of wood. Yea...it wasn’t a good situation. Luckily, here most things are not built out of wood but it was still pretty scary. Another time, I had a random crazy girl who was not a student at the school come into my class and try to hit me with a notebook. My students tried to warn me that she was crazy but I didn’t realize that she was actually out of her mind. She then proceeded to run around the close trying to hit other students in the head. Eventually I grabbed her and put her outside but she was definitely not good in the head.

Other things…Did anyone know that World AIDS Day is coming up? Its funny how many people here know the date of World AIDS Day, especially when the prevalence of AIDS here is really low…something like 0.8% which is equal to the world average and definitely lower the most African countries. Anyway, I think I’m going to do something for that. Need to work on it more but I’ll tell y’all about it later. I feel like I’ve said enough. I’m out. Check out the pictures of the house. I also put some other pictures on Facebook. PEACE.

It has been a while since I have written on the blog. So much has happened and as usual I am unsure of where to start. Everyday I am amazed at the progression of my language. For everybody who has taken language classes in the States, like me, the speed at which your proficiency increases just by being in the country is exponential. NO COMPARISON. I feel like the less amount of language classes you take in the States before going to the country the better it is. On some level, I am thinking in Kriolu. I’m definitely not having dreams in Kriolu or anything but I can have a far more fluid conversation in Kriolu than I can in French. Its no longer a systematic or academic thing.

On other things, today is the last day of Model School. Its been going real well in general. My first week was more difficult because the kids did not know as much English that this week but that’s understandable since my first week I taught in a more rural zone while now I’m teaching in a city. Teaching English is definitely more difficult than I thought it would be, not to say that anybody who speaks fluent English couldn’t do it, but there are just things that you wouldn’t otherwise think are necessary in order to teach someone to speak a language. For example, when I speak English, there are really no phrases or tenses that I find to be far more difficult than others. Sure some words are big and hard to pronounce but as far as tenses they are all about the same for me. Now here, I need to actually think about what is a difficult tense to form and what is not. Then on top of that when I’m speaking to the students in class I need to only use the tenses that I’ve taught them or else they may not understand what is expected. Weird little subtleties like that are really annoying but I dealing with it.

Most of the new pictures that are up are from either my birthday celebration which was the most fun I’ve had since I been here or they are from our trip to the biggest tree in the country. Sounds kind of lame but actually it was a REALLY BIG TREE. There is no other way to describe it. The hike to it was pretty cool too because it was in a valley which makes sense since the country does not get a lot of rain year round. What was even better was that on the way back from the tree we ran into this “pool” which was randomly placed in the valley. I write “pool” because it really was more like a tank and the water was pretty dirty. The tank is used for irrigation purposes but kids also use it to swim when it is hot. Although the water was dirty and none of us had swimming trunks, some of us, including me, decided to jump in anyway. Good times. I definitely had a little cold the next day but hey, I’ll only be in Africa for two years once in my life. Plus we went on my birthday and you only have a birthday once a year. What other birthday will I be able to say I swam in a dirty pool in Cape Verde in my boxers.

On other news, at the end of next week I move out to my actual house that I’m going to be in for 2yrs. I’m definitely excited about this. If you want to know more about it send me an email. I can’t leave my site or have visitors for three months but I doubt that any of those two things will need to happen. Overall, I think I still get nervous about the fact that I will be here for two years. At the same time, I grow more confident that I can make it my home. Life now really is not difficult although there is no running water and we do not have electricity all the time. Adjusting definitely was not as difficult as I thought it would be. Also, after seeing volunteers’ houses which in my opinion would be a nice apartment in any country, I definitely have nothing to complain about. Plus, my roommate and I will have electricity most of the time and have running water (possible both hot and cold). I’ll definitely make sure to take pictures once I move in. Once I do move in I will miss my host-family. They were the main reason that I was able to feel comfortable here so quickly. My host-mom was excellent and I would not have wished for a different family or location. They treated me exactly as they treat their own eldest son. If I had to choose one thing that I think the Peace Corps did really well it would be my host-family placement.

Lastly, I just finished reading Lee Strobel’s Case for Christ. It was a pretty good read. I decided that I needed to read a book like that because it presented A LOT of proof to say that the stories about Jesus are reliable. Anybody who has gone through many years of schooling which has taught them that the scientific method is the only way to find truth, like me, should read this book. Its not that the book teaches you a different way to discover epistemological and ontological truths but instead it uses the scientific method of analysis to prove the stories of the bible and other characteristics of Jesus. Definitely what I was looking for. At the very least the book is interesting. I don’t know where I am on the spectrum but I guess I have the rest of my life to think about it.

I HAVE NO COMPLAINTS. I’m sure there are things worthy of protest but once I put my life in perspective it is impossible to really think of crucial problems. For example, yesterday was the day of Nossa Senhora de Graca. Basically this is just another national Catholic holiday where people go to mass in the morning and soon after proceed to get far drunker than I have ever seen, even after 4 years of college. All of the trainees went to this event in a town called Chan de Tanque. Though there were many annoying drunk vagrants walking around, we all had a great time just hanging out at each other’s houses, listening to music, and talking with our Cape Verdean friends. Like I said, I have nothing to complain about. The drunk vagrants always provide a good laugh anyway. One drunken, seemingly homeless, male walked up to one of the trainees and proceeded to grope him. Definitely one of the funnier things that I’ve seen in my life but at the time I do not think the kid was laughing. Afterwards I definitely was though. Some of the newer pictures are of our time at the festa in Chan de Tanque. The other pictures are our long three hour hike to a place called Agua Belles. Agua Belles is on the northeastern coast of Cape Verde. Basically it is a beach but instead of sand it has rocks. Though that may not sound so great the view was beautiful the lack of sand was well made up for with a scenic grotto. The rest of the newer pictures are from our visit to Agua Belles.

I guess I should talk about my disposition now. Like I said, I’m doing great. Language is coming along as it should I think. Still annoying to be learning Portuguese in the training sessions and then speak only Kriolu when I get home but I’m coping with it. It is somewhat discouraging when everyone, from the current volunteers to the Cape Verdean language trainers, tells us that we will not use the Portuguese much. At this point my main motivation for learning Portuguese is to pass the final language test which allows us to finally be sworn in as volunteers. At the same time, compared to Cape Verdean citizens I do not have it that bad. Their knowledge of Portuguese or any of the main languages in the world is far more crucial than mine. Someone who can fluently speak English in the country will always be able to get a job.

Today, I realized how crucial the English language really is and how much it affects their lives. My host brother asked me if I wanted to watch a movie so I agreed. It was a Kung-Fu movie that was dubbed over in English. My younger brother (Tomé), my younger sisters (Annie and Rosangela), and my youngest brother (Simon) sat down to watch the movie. At the beginning of the movie I made a joke about how I was the only one who actually understood what was happening in the movie. They chuckled but it definitely was not a genuine laugh. We all usually joke about everything but at that moment it surely did not feel like any other joke. I realized at that point that the fact that they do not know English is often evident to them. Not only are they constantly reminded of this but they also regularly talk to me about how useless Kriolu is and how lucky I am that I know English. They are conscious of their disadvantage since they are not fluent in English, Portuguese or French. I say these three because these are the most accessible languages here besides Kriolu. I do realize how important it is that I speak English fluently. Of course I always respond by saying that I love Kriolu and I am far more excited about learning Kriolu than Portuguese, which is true. At the same time, I will no longer take my knowledge of English for granted. All those people who say that poor people are happy because they are oblivious to their position in the world are wrong. My host family lives in a semi-rural area in Cape Verde, owns cattle, and grows crops for subsistence purposes. I am in the middle of no where and they are well aware of their shortcomings. They knew about this far before I got here and so do most people here.

On other things, I am trying to think about what I want my secondary project to be. I still have no idea but I want to do something. There is one kid here who I met that just finished his service and he has started up a graphic design business. He is currently moving into his new apartment with his Cape Verdean girlfriend. Though his situation does sound pretty sweet I definitely am not thinking about staying in Cape Verde long term. I just want some other project that will hold my interest because I know that teaching English will not. Lately I’ve been reading up on starting a business in the Third World. I do not know what kind of business I would start or help others to start but its interesting stuff regardless. If anybody has any ideas let me know. Obviously an English learning center is always a possibility but who knows. Anyway people, I think it’s about that time. Passage out. If the pictures are not already up they will be coming soon. BEACH TOMORROW if it’s not raining. Will be taking pictures of that too. Peace.

Sunday, July 27, 2008-6:49PM (CVT)

I’m here getting ready to start my second week at the homestay. I really seems as though I have been here forever but I am also reminded that it has only been a week every time someone speaks to me in Kriolu because I rarely understand the first time. My Portuguese is progressing at a natural pace and I feel confident that I will be where I need to be in a few months time. Unfortunately, like other African countries, the European language is spoken in business situations while the local language is spoken everywhere else which is basically all the time. What the Portuguese will help with is when I am writing grants proposals to the government when I get to my site and start my secondary project which I think will have something to do with nutrition and physical health.

I guess I should be describing some of my daily experiences so basically yesterday I went to a festa in a town that is about 30 minutes away. We rode in what they call a “Yass” which is basically a skinny minivan which serves as a taxi. Its not the typical taxi that fits four people tops but instead you just pile as many people in a possible and the driver drives as fast and reckless as he can to get you to your destination. Different Yass’s go to different places so one may be taking all of passengers to Praia while another will be taking all to Assomada and so on. The Third Worlders know what I’m talking about because I’m sure there is an equivalent in their country. In Trinidad these are called “maxis.” So we basically got to this festa at 11AM. Don’t know what kind of party starts in the morning but basically it was some religious holiday so many people in the town went to mass which I guess was about 2.5hrs long and then afterwards you’re supposed to go around to the houses of the families you know and eat and drink until the night when the partying and dancing starts. The country’s devotion to their religion is fairly comical. Go from mass straight to getting drunk. Ohwell, to each his own. For me, I did not go to mass because mass is one of the most boring and dreadful experiences that I have ever had and a Cape Verdean mass is just as boring as any mass anywhere I’m sure. While in Chadalain (the town of the festa) I definitely realized that I got shafted on the housing situation. Some of the other Peace Corps trainees houses and rooms are ridiculously nice. One kid basically has a rooftop apartment and another is living in a legit American standard house while I still have a random stray dog that roams through my house periodically. Its okay though. I did not come here to live like that any way so I’m definitely not too jealous. It would have been nice though.

The real problem with these types of festas is the food. Though a lot of the food here is great, after one week I find myself already getting tired of it because everything eats the same thing and the selection is very limited. Also, you can never trust the cleanliness of the preparation. Since it is rainy season now there are a lot of flies and when people put food out it is inevitable that the flies will get on them which is not even the bad part. It’s the fact that food is not always cleaned properly which would basically entail soaking it in chlorine. Even more, there is this one dish that is made up of beans some other vegetables and pig skin. Though pig skin sounds bad enough to me I would probably eat it if was cleaned properly but the problem is that you can still see the hair on the pig skin. Definitely was not about to eat that. This all goes to say that yesterday and this morning diarrhea was definitely happening for me. Loose bowels are always fun. It was not as bad as before though. I’m good now. I have come to realize that I can’t eat as recklessly as I would like to. By 6 or so I think everybody was beat and we headed home in this pick up, migrant worker looking truck thing. Any of us could have easily fallen out but I guess its normal. I definitely felt like an illegal immigrant crossing the border of something.

Besides that nothing crazy has really been happening. I’ve been mostly spending time in the community and hanging out with my host family who continuously laughs at my bad Kriolu and feeds me every second. As far as meeting people in the community, most do not recognize unless told that I’m an American. Some get really excited and intrigued when they realize that I am an American while others don’t. I definitely do not get the same reaction as white Americans though which is good and bad. Can be annoying to see brain-washed Cape Verdeans worship white people like they are something better but at the same time once I learn the language I’ll be able to see things in the country that other people won’t.

Final thought I guess comes from this “American Apartheid” book I’m about three-quarters of the way through. Basically its about the construction and maintenance of the American ghetto and how this is the root of race relations in the United States. Basically goes from the late 1800s through to the present and shows how policies and actions in the United States has held onto segregation through discriminatory housing practices. It shatters the idea that class is more influential the race. Anyway, it made me think about the segregation on an international scale. Why is it that every country that is made up of mostly black people is of the Third World? On top of it, it seems like the poorest countries have the darkest people which are generally in Africa, the middle income countries usually have brown or lighter skinned people like India, Brazil, etc, and the richest countries have the whitest people. I’m not saying that its all based on this and there are definitely exceptions like Afghanistan and Paraguay but in general the correlation holds. Begs further thought about a seemingly internationally universal conception of skin color and maybe the systematic construction of an “international ghetto.” Even, here in Africa, the northern African countries are far more advanced that those of the Sub-Sahara. Is it just coincidence that their people are lighter-skinned? I guess you could say that they more involved in the Middle Eastern economy but Cape Verde for instance is not. Here there is a far higher standard of living than most African countries. Is that also a coincidence that people here are lighter-skinned? Who knows. Just interesting to think about it. Anyways, I’m out. Get at y’all later.

Day 1:

This was one of the most tiring days of my life. We arrived in Praia around 8am. I forgot what it was like to go to the baggage claim in a Third World country. It took forever for everybody to get their bags. I’m sure that there are about two guys who manually get into the luggage portion of the plane and remove the bags by hand and then put them on the conveyor belt where people receive them. We finally got out the airport. Got that VIP Peace Corps pass so we didn’t have to go through customs. As soon as we stepped out of the airport, or off the plane for that matter I realized how amazing the weather would be. Its PERFECT. Not too hot with an amazing coastal breeze. Anyway we finally leave the airport and arrive at this dormitory where we will be staying for the next couple days. When I saw dormitory I really do mean just like West freshman year without running hot water. I had to drag my bags up four flights of stairs because there was no elevator obviously. Not too bad though. Afterwards we grabbed some quick food and then went straight into meetings. MEETINGS ALLLL DAY…HOLY SHIT. I could not take it anymore. I understand that its all important and that Peace Corps must do these things but its just annoying. I was definitely falling asleep multiple times while the country director was speaking.

Rather than go through an entire summary of my day which just consists of meetings from the second we got off the plane until now (9pm) I would rather give an explanation of how I’m feeling. I’m far more excited than nervous. Though I know no Portuguese or Crioulu, I’m not too worried. Its expected that I won’t know anything on the first days. The kids are cool. Its your typical liberal, optimistic, grassroots crowd. Obviously I’m the only black male in the group but the good thing is that I’M IN AFRICA. I AINT THE MINORITY NO MORE. It gives me a little chuckle to see some of the kids MAD SCARED while walking on the street. Not to say that I’m totally comfortable but I certainly will be able to blend in much better than others once I learn the language. Plus I’m usually pretty good at getting accents down. I may not have the words correct but the accent is usually really good. I HATE when Americans speak other languages and do not try to emulate the accent. You might as well not even try to learn the language. The “mainstream” American accent is pretty annoying to listen to when you think about it. Like I said though, in general most of the kids are cool. Just excited to experience Cape Verde as I am.

Right now I’m sitting in the hallway of the dorm writing out this blog entry on a word document and everybody keeps asking me if I’m getting wireless. I just want to slap people and be like “YO, YOU’RE IN AFRICA!!!!” Wireless internet??? Not happening. Anyway, this may have to be the end of this entry but today has been very tiring. We have not stopped going since we got off the plane. It does not seem like I arrived this morning. It feels like I have been here for weeks. That just goes to further emphasize how long the day was. Anyway yall at home, I’m missing everybody. Wish I could call or something but there is no phone anywhere that I’ve seen. Also the food is GOOD so far. We ate in the cafeteria for the building and it tastes like food I would order from a restaurant back home. Peace out from Cabo Verde.

Thursday, July 24, 2008-Written at 4PM (CVT)

Is seems that whenever I sit down to do this journal/diary I never know where to begin. Well I can I can nearly safely say that I am over my illness. My stomach still gets nauseas but in general everything seems to be working out well. I must say that I have NEVER had more diarrhea in my life. I must have had ten diarrhea sessions per day and that may be being modest. It was actually a relatively scary moment. The night before I came to my host family’s house we all had a “festa” at the Peace Corps Recreation Center. Basically, it was the last time we would meet together as “bourgeois” people in a fancy place. At that point I was certainly questioning the difficulty of my Peace Corps experience. You can see from the pictures what the place looked like. Later on during the guitar players performance I my stomach definitely didn’t feel good and them all of sudden I started to have this crazy uncontrollable turrets syndrome shake. At the same time I started to get goose bumps while it was probably 80 degrees outside. Craziness!! Diarrhea proceeded the next day. Good times but I’m all good now and back to my carefree, gluttonous eating habits. My host mother makes the most amazing food and she was real cool about my sickness.

On that note, she treats me like a king. Although I’m pretty sure that I have one of the poorer families, she gives me everything that she can. When she makes dinner I eat with her before the rest of the family. Even worse, I think the family basically eats our leftovers. She may be making another batch of food for them but I’m know that one of the nights I definitely say the family eating from our leftovers. I want to tell her that I wish the whole family could eat with us/me but I don’t know how to approach the situation. It’s a pretty large family too. My host mother Aldonca has a husband and 6 children. I do not know where they all sleep nor where they use the bathroom because there is one bathroom in this place and I’ve not seen anybody else use it besides me. Maybe there is another bathroom somewhere else or something but if there isn’t that means they are all using the bathroom outside somewhere. A good thing is that now their 21 year old son just got home from studying theology in Portugal. Seems like a cool kid. He ate dinner with me last night before that rest of the family so I did not feel as bad. His says that his Portuguese is not that good although he has been taking classes there for three years now but obviously it was still far better than mine. Though he spoke to me mostly in Kriolu he helped me with a lot of Portuguese words. It definitely is going to be good to have a male that is my age in the house. I’m sure we will have much to talk about and if all else fails I’m sure soccer will always be a popular conversation.

All in all, being catered to is all of the complaint that I have. Sure its hot but really not that bad at all. It probably gets into the low eighties regularly. Sure I’m using hand signals to explain a lot of my words. Sure I’m thousands of miles away from anything that I have ever known but this is what I signed up for. I’m just waiting for that moment when I my body and psyche has to deal with the fact that this is HOME. On some level it still feels as though I am on some wild vacation or as if I was doing a term abroad. I’m sure I will settle down and the rush that I’m getting from being here will fade and I think that is when the real challenge will start. If I’m lucky the rush will never go away. There are some things that I know I will never take for granted here. One is the AMAZING view that I have while I’m walking from the l’escola primaria where I take my language classes to my house. Its only a 3 minute walk but to the right of the road is about a 500 foot decline of dispersed grass and dirt and off into the distance the mountains start which extend to the clouds. This is what I see every day and just to be around something like that makes me very thankful. It is cliché to say that it makes you appreciate all the small things that you in the United States but it is very very true and far more profound now that I am in this position. You can see just from the picture that it feels like I’m sitting in a national geographic site.

Ohyea…like I said this really won’t be a vacation. At least these three months of training anyway. All I do now is sleep, wake, eat, take classes, go to country training and that’s about it. I usually go to sleep around 9:30. Also the country is poor. I don’t know how the other places are but where I am is very very poor. It is also very rural but they have do not have much here. Like I said, there is no running water in the house and electricity is sporadic. If after training I get a spot close to a nice beach, as opposed to one where people think it’s a good idea to use the bathroom in then it will feel closer to a vacation but as of now. Definitely not. I do know some people who are living with families that have sick houses and others that live on the beach but not I. Kind of sucks for me but at the same time I wouldn’t have it any other way. You can go to Miami and see a nice beach. No where in the states can you see what I’m seeing right now. On that note, I’m out. I’ll get at all later. At the end is the phone number of my host family including the country code. Remember that Cape Verde is three hours in front of the east coast in the US. Miss everybody back home. Think about visiting. I should know Kriolu and Portuguese well enough by then to get around. We can go to this place called San Francisco where all the British tourists go and own time shares. It’ll probably be the first time I’m there also and I want to see it anyway. Heard its pretty sick. Aight I’m out for real. Peace. Pics will come soon I promise.