In about 1 hour, I will be finished with school... completely. Well, in Cape Verde, at any rate. English Unlimited, under it's current ownership, has closed. The school will be moved to a new locale, one which is off the beaten path, but cheaper. We paid the higher price for visibility this year and now that a reputation has been built, the new owners will be able to move to a side street. Things have been absolutely insane this week. We were contracted to translate over 200 pages of .pdf files for a company website, which we promptly translated in a miraculously short amount of time. I assumed that my life would be less hectic after our graduation ceremony two Saturdays ago, but I was WRONG. In fact, I continued to teach a couple of summer classes and translated my brains out. I'm totally fried and have been battling a stomach problem for over a month. I NEED A VACATION. So, luckily today is it. I will be on vacation for my last week in Cape Verde. I'll be flying out on Sunday the 10th and I'll arrive in Mississippi on the morning of the 11th. Jackson, my adorable cat, will be with me. He's been a trooper this year and will be SOOO happy to back to the land of birds, squirrels, and rodents. His hunting instincts will surely need some sharpening.

As time draws near, I am thrilled to have had this experience. Cape Verde has been a blessing and a much needed change. I can't wait to return to the familiarity of America. Life here has been so different from my experiences at home. I'll always appreciate what I've learned and the growth and personal development I've made here. I'll also appreciate the people I've worked with and the things I leave behind as my gifts to this country. Volunteering and teaching both have the bonus of making the person doing the service or the job a better person, which is far more than you actually give or do for others.

Signing off for now... the electric company is here to shut off our lights at the school. I'll teach my one last class without lights, but the sun is shining brightly here at English Unlimited... NO WORRIES.

We made through a rather grueling 10 month English course!!! WHEW! Last Saturday, we had a graduation ceremony for our students. They came and received their diplomas, which you can see some of them holding, and we fed them and told them they were great and then everyone went home happy! It was a nice celebration and very SAD at the same time. We'll be leaving, but I am happy to report that a British couple is taking over the school. Our students will continue to learn English! I am sad to leave but happy to be leaving with the knowledge that what we started will continue!

The teaching staff at English Unlimited went for a weekend getaway to Santo Antao back in April. I thought you might like these photos. You can see the group of Americans in one photo. David was taking the photo, so he didn't make it in. But, you can see me, Nadia, Nick, and Josh. Also, the hotel there is a great little place that an Italian friend of ours owns. He's taken to calling me "irish" because my name is Casey Malone!

I realize that Carnaval happened back in February, but I finally got hold of a picture of my costume. My friend Nadia and I were Butterfly type characters. You'll notice a FAKE tattoo! Don't worry Mom or Grandmother, it really is fake.

The latest meeting of the hiking crew was over in Santo Antao during the 5th of July, Independence Day weekend. As you may recall, Cape Verde gained its independence from Portugal on July 5, 1975. In celebration, we went hiking. This time we went to Lajedos, which is just a few kilometers outside of the port city, so we didn't have to spend much time in cars! We spent Saturday hiking around the city and through the mango groves. We hiked over to the house of Baltasar Lopes. He was a famous Cape Verdean author. He lived in Santo Antao for a period of his life and was inspired by his surroundings. His house sits high on a lonely hill overlooking the valley and ocean below. Its a great view.

On Sunday, we headed down to the "mine." Well, it's really just a tunnel that carries water from its ground source in Ribera das Patas (a few miles north). But, it's a really long tunnel. We walked for about 40 minutes in the tunnel. Along the way, there are large tunnels heading out into the valley. We headed out one of these exits, you can see it in the picture above. It's pretty far up the valley wall, so we had to scale the wall to get out into the valley and then we hiked up the valley to the next town. After that, we had to hike up the mountain and onto the main road and walked back down, picking mangoes along the way! It was a great, very nice, very relaxing trip. We really enjoyed it.

So, enjoy the pictures.

Last night it finally rained. We got our first touch of the "rainy season" here in Mindelo. The rest of the country has reported rain, but as always, our island is the last to get rain. It's overcast today and gloomy which is actually really pleasant. I hope it continues! Everyone stays inside and the city is quiet.

ALSO, happy 4th of July. Tomorrow will mark the 3 year anniversary of my move to Cape Verde. Time has flown by and when I look back on what I have done in this country, it's amazing. My 30th birthday is on Tuesday, the 8th and I can't believe that I'm 30 either!

Anyway, as many of you know, I will be returning to the states on August 10th... for good. I have been offered a position at the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast campus. I will be considered a visiting professor for one year and then a full, nation-wide search will be done, at which point, I will hopefully be hired as a full faculty member. Anyway, I'm turning 30 and I am being offered a "big kid" job! I'm so excited and can't wait to be home. I will miss Cape Verde and the school dearly, but I am thrilled to get to live in Mississippi again.

Sunday morning, I went for a hike with about 11 other people. This time, we went out to an old lighthouse. This lighthouse is out by the airport and is no longer in operation. I found out on the hike that people used to take turns working out at the lighthouse. They would spend 15 days to a month out there with their families, taking care of not only the lighthouse, but also bringing in water for the people of Cape Verde. You see, the water level used to reach the lighthouse. As you will notice in the photos, the waterline is now about 500 feet below it's previous level! It's incredible. And, now you can hike below the lighthouse, there are stairs leading down to the underside of a cliff. It's pretty neat. We had our usual breakfast and planned our trip to Santo Antao. We will be headed there next Saturday morning for a hiking trip and to celebrate Cape Verde's Independence Day. Their day of independence is the 5th. We'll get to hike through a mine and head out to the mango groves! Should be fun. I'll keep you updated. Enjoy the photos...

I mentioned on a previous blog that I was attending a dinner for a group of students who recently completed a 9 month course with me! They were my first group. I must admit that although they are nice people, they were terrible students. They really enjoy the "idea" of learning English, but they fail to put any effort AT ALL into the process. At the graduation ceremony, they mentioned that they planned to really make an effort NEXT year! We'll see. Here are a few photos of the event.

Oh, they were really sweet at the dinner. They gave me a glass covering dish for a cake. And, one of my students decided to profess his love for me and gave me an expensive bottle of perfume (unfortunately, it doesn't smell very good).

You'll see here a goat, some cute little piggies, a few photos of me and my cousin Jill, my mom and my Aunt Pat, and two pictures of Jackson getting himself all wrapped up in my covers! I know they are a random grouping of photos, but they are just things I have been meaning to share! Oh, on the weekend of the 5th of July (Cape Verde's Independence Day), we'll be taking another hiking trip to Santo Antao. This time we are visiting a tunnel and the mango groves! Then on the 8th it'll be my birthday and I am having a big 30th blowout on the 12th! YES! Tonight, my students from the port authority class are having a dinner for me to celebrate the completion of our class! I'll be sure to bring along my camera for good photos!

Wireless internet has come to Mindelo. The unfortunate part is that the company with wireless towers is being held up in litigation by CV telecom. CV telecom is the ONLY phone/ internet company in Mindelo, holding a 100% monopoly on both these services, which also includes cell phones. Oh, I forgot to mention that CV telecom is a government owned entity. When the government owns these major services, they aren't too willing to allow competition to enter the picture, hence the delay on the wireless service. In theory, the wireless company will have an inauguration ceremony on Monday and run a week of testing to ensure the service is running well. The public should be able to use the service by the beginning of July.... IN THEORY! So, we are all waiting. The new service will be cheaper than the other service. Also, currently, the ADSL service only allows each account 1GB of downloading per month, which is not much, so not only is the service somewhat expensive, and requires a router, it also has a ridiculous limit on downloads. I am anxiously awaiting the new company. I have already registered with them and plan to be one of their first paying customers. The service will include unlimited downloading and has no contract, simply a monthly fee.

Hopefully by the beginning of July, I will have internet in my home and will be able to be in more frequent contact with everyone! Keep your fingers crossed!

During my stay in America, I was fortunate enough to be the maid of honor in my dear friend Jill's wedding. I mentioned this before... I believe. I am finally getting around to posting some photos from the momentous occasion.

As you can see from the title of this post, I did nothing special this weekend. I planned my lessons for this week of classes, which took me only a few hours this weekend. I am gearing up for the end of one of my business courses and just completed a course two weeks ago. Normally, that would free up my schedule, but it won't because we are starting a short, two month course today that will take us through the end of July. In theory, David and I will be "team teaching" the course, but that never really works our for one reason or another, so let's hope it goes well.

That's about all for now! I'll post pictures this week... I promise.

On Saturday, the most famous Sao Vicente soccer player died. Today, the city has decided to let everyone off of work to attend his funeral. So, as I type, there are hundreds of people lining the streets in front of our school... Oh yeah, we have a school next to a funeral home if I've never mentioned that! In Sao Vicente, the tradition is that funeral processions must lead through the city and make their way around a statue in front of the funeral home (convenient spot for a funeral home, huh?) before heading off to the cemetery.

So, who's this famous guy you ask? He is named Carzolinho. He played soccer for Benfica (a famous Portuguese team) as well as began a soccer camp here that selects youngsters to go to Portugual to be evaluated for professional training camps. He has a nice, big soccer complex here with astro turf fields. According to friends, he is an important symbol of hope for the people of the city.

So, how did he die? He was in his 50's. He was in Angola at a big hotel. He was on the 6th floor, called for the elevator. When the elevator came up and the doors opened, he stepped into the space where the car should have been and fell to his death. People here are somewhat convinced there was foul play involved.

Folks, it's never a dull moment here in Cape Verde...

I'm back after a short trip to the states to visit friends, family and participate in the wedding of my dear friend, Jill Weber. So, I am pledging to resume my blogging efforts since I now have a new memory card for my camera, so I am out of excuses. AND, I know that people are out there just dying to read about my adventures! :) I will be writing more frequently and getting some photos up really soon.

Also, a friend of mine from high school has a brother who has offered to build me a website for my 40,000 dollar campaign. He will build the site for all PC volunteers to create an account and have their student debt repaid. I hope this will be a forum for the government to see what I am trying to do and begin to help us! YEAH! I'm getting dollars in the mail all the time, so keep them coming or you can pay through my paypal account! PEACE!

So, I haven't written in a while, but I am planning on posting a few photos I have recently taken. But, the latest and greatest news in my life is that I'll be coming home in May. I'll be headed to Toledo, OH for Jill's wedding. I'll also be visiting the South, of course! AND, in August, I'll be moving home, FOR GOOD. I know my life is headed in wonderful directions and my time in Cape Verde has been fantastic. The school is going wonderfully, and it will continue to run with my support. But for me, now it is my time to get home!

Now to the 40,000 dollars.... well $39,060.30. When we were children, my mother always told us never to say ONLY unless the amount we wanted was under 50 cents. Well, I figure that with inflation and the current economy, that I can say ONLY a dollar and get away with it! So, 39,060.30 is the amount I currently owe in student loans. I have decided that I will repay this amount immediately. The way I plan to do this is by asking 39,061 people for $1. AND I CAN ACCEPT ONLY $1 PER PERSON! Then, I will petition the loan companies, on behalf of the Peace Corps to help reduce loan debt for former volunteers. This is my latest and most important passion. I know that I will meet my goal and I know that loan companies and the federal government will come together to see my goals met. I have no doubt about this. So, all of my readers can take a dollar out of their wallet right now and mail it to me. You can send it to 6404 Shore Drive, Ocean Springs, MS 39564. If you can include a short letter with your signature, stating, "I support Casey Maugh's efforts to relieve student debt for returned Peace Corps volunteers." Or you can pay through my PayPal account just by entering my email address: caseymaugh@gmail.com. So, while you are sitting at your computer reading this, you can hop over to PayPal.com and send me a dollar! To help, you can also forward my blog address to EVERYONE you know and get them involved. If everyone just gives a dollar, I'll have achieved my goal in NO TIME. I know I can meet this amount in the very near future. And I am helping others do the same... just one dollar at a time

Imagine the power of 39,061 people coming together to support a cause!!!!! We get exactly what we want out of our thoughts and feelings! So, get going...take out that dollar and put it in the mail. Then, ask the person next to you at work or at the gym or at church or in the grocery store or at your next social function for $1. WE will quickly have met the goal and help others do the same. I'm going to share this approach with other return volunteers as part of this campaign! Watch what I can do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I mentioned in my blog yesterday that I was getting a new house. Well, as of this morning, it's official. I paid my rent and I am getting ready to move. The first order of business was to carry over my hammock that I bought in Peru years ago and hung it up. It has a great home now on my roof. It's comfy and will get a lot of use!

Before moving into the new house, I have some minor carpentry that needs to be done. I need to put in some shelves and a closet, which luckily can be done pretty easily in this country. I have a guy coming on Monday morning to get after these little things. I have another week in my apartment, so I am not in a huge hurry. I want to get those things installed before I move everything in.

Let's see... tonight is the big party, so I'm going home to rest up for a while. Then I'll be ready to rock tonight. The party starts at about midnight, so we'll be home before sunrise... hopefully.

Not only are we kicking off Carnaval, we just got ADSL in the office and I found a new house! It's been a pretty good week. Sorry I haven't been better about keeping up with the blog, but my teaching schedule has been so crazy lately that I haven't been able to keep up with this writing. Also, we haven't been going on our hikes because the weather hasn't been so great. The brumaseca has set in, so the dust clouds from the Sahara Desert make it difficult to see. The hikes aren't so fun when there are big yellow, sandy clouds everywhere you look. So, we'll resume after Carnaval, in a week or so. Oh, I also haven't been writing because, as I mentioned previously, my memory card for my camera isn't working... still.

Let's see... The new house. It's one street over from my work. YEAH. It doesn't have hot water, but I am getting a heating system installed before I move in. It is super cute. It's a house, so I won't have noisy neighbors. The house is cute and on a quiet street. It has a nice tree in front too. It gets lots of light, and the best part is that the house has a ladder up to the roof! That's right, a roof for me to hang out on. All of my plants will be soooo very happy and I even have a space for my hammock. It's cool. Best of all, the woman who is renting it to me is a Doctor and she is really nice. She is from Cuba and really talkative. So we were talking a mixture of spanish and portuguese the other day and she asked me if I lived alone. And I said yes. Then she looked really sad. I asked her how much the rent is, and she said that it was 20,000, but because I am alone and she feels sorry for me, that she would only make me pay 16,000! Great. I got reduced rent because the woman feels sorry for me! So, being single won over the fact that I am white for once! I've never had this experience. Usually the price is more.

So, things are looking up. I am also happy to report that the school is going well. We are very busy. We are just about to start a couple of new courses, which will be starting just after Carnaval! Speaking of Carnaval, there is a big party tomorrow night (Saturday). We went to one last weekend, but this one should be bigger and crazier. A couple of the Peace Corps volunteers from Praia are up to check out the festivities, so we are showing them a good time. And, we'll be watching the Super Bowl on David's new TV this weekend as well. So much to do. OH, and I have to teach on Monday. The school will be closed, but unfortunately, I teach the business classes, so I'll still be working on Monday! Lucky me.

That's about all the news from Cape Verde. I'm healthy and happy. I'm also missing the states A lOT these days!

These are just a few nice photos that I took just before I went to the states. Thought they were pretty....

On Thursday, I got packages in the mail from my mother. It was 30 gift wrapped watches. The boys were THRILLED. They were so happy. I think I am a professional watch setter now! I was so happy to see them so happy. It's great. AND, the other great news is that the 1,000 cranes is finally hanging up. It looks so beautiful. I was so happy to see it up. Once my camera is working, I'll get a great photo of it for the blog! Anyway, I just wanted to share the exciting news about the boys with you!

Getting back and forth from Cape Verde is always a challenge. After about 20+ hours of waiting around in airports, I am back and hard at work. We opened several new classes and signed contracts with 2 new businesses this week, which means that we will have even more classes beginning. We also welcomed a new teacher, Josh! He flew in on Wednesday and is getting adjusted to his new life here.

Oh! Jackson is doing fine. He was slightly annoyed with me for leaving him over the holidays. My friend Ivan took good care of him. He was well fed and quickly got over his attitude. Now he won't leave my side for fear that I will leave again!!!

Let's see, other than that, I'm teaching 28 hours per week, which is absolute insanity. Nick is teaching even more than me, so our schedules are FULL. But, carnaval (Mardi Gras) is on the 5th of February, so we will have a short break.

I think that's about it.... Except, my memory card on my camera has gone out. Hopefully it's just a temporary thing. I'm giving it a couple of days to rest before trying again. My New Year's resolution is to be positive, so I'm positive this is just a little glitch!

We finally put all of the cranes together. They are now on 25 different lines, all connected together. The 1,000 cranes project is finished, but we have yet to put the cranes up on display. There is some debate about where to hang it. But more than that, the director of the center doesn't want us to place it where the boys can touch it. So, we need to put it up high. Anyway, now it is sitting in a box, waiting for direction! It's very frustrating. But, it's still pretty.

This past weekend, I was invited to meet a friend's dog. He mentioned that her name was Victoria and that she was "big." When I think of big dogs in Cape Verde, I usually think of pit bulls because a few people have them and think it is cool to have them because it makes them seem like a ganster or rap star! But, my friend is neither a ganster or a thug, so I figured he had a different kind of dog. We went out to "the farm" and met Victoria. He is a beautiful Great Dane (or some version of a Great Dane). Anyway, she is super sweet and affectionate. We had an amazing time with her. You will see a photo of her up top. I did it in black and white to really show off her beautiful gray colored coat. The other photos here are of the farm. Oh, and the big fake tree that has been designed inside a new restaurant here. It was a great Saturday, all in all.

Here are the photos from our weekend away in Santo Antao! A great weekend and a great group!

These are some photos from the day we cleaned up the Beach! Good looking group, huh?

I had a nice, BIG barbeque at my house on Saturday. It was a going away party for my house. We certainly had a fun time and lots of food. I invited my friends and some students. We had about 60 people there and grilled fish and chicken. I was fortunate enough to have a student whose family owns a boat, so he donated all of the fish! I also had another student who took the fish to get cleaned and prepared. It was such a nice night. I'll be sure to post pictures from the party soon! I also have pictures of the boys and their cranes. The project is coming to a close, so the cranes are starting to go on the string and they look great!

And I moved.... I am not a fan of moving. I'm not a fan of packing and unpacking. And, my new house is smaller, so that means that all of the things I had in my house are now crammed into the new house. I don't have an outside space, so I am really missing that. Anyway, I'll survive in the new house! Jackson isn't so sure about it and keeps running back to the old house. Luckily, the old house is just a short walk away, so I can get him and carry him back! It's a new game we have.