july frenzy and heat!

This week has been pretty crazy, and the extreme heat (I estimate I sweat 2.5 Liters per day) does help to make one want to dig into the work! Still, it´s fun that things are getting going.

Monday I had my lifeskills session at the Community Center and Nelson (volunteer from Sao Nicolau) was in town so he came and helped out. It went great! I was starting to get frustrated captivating 20 young male teens twice a week during their summer break to talk about good communication skills, but Nelson helped me brainstorm some good incentives to compel positive behavior, and we turned “Assertive Messages” into fun comic designs. I´m still looking for ways to keep these sessions interesting and less serious/school-like. There are only so many role plays the boys want to do, so drop me a line if you have any ideas of good group games, leadership, team building, etc. (After all my years at AGQ this should be a breeze!)

We dipped over to Buracona with Rachelle and Nelson on Tuesday, and showed them the tumultuous sea that almost carried Jacky away last December. (Plus we jumped from an awesome rock ledge into the natural pools!)

I went turtle patrolling on Tuesday and saw 2 female loggerheads nesting! They looked so prehistoric, and the way they dig their holes reminded me of some chanting dance moves, so we named one that wasn´t yet tagged, Dancing Queen. I´m heading out to patrol again tonight, helping with the data collection where as the military troops and police do the protection from hunters bit (there have been a few run-ins but I wasn´t present).

On top of all that, we are barring up our windows, getting ready for an amazing community diversity festival this weekend, planning for a Dia de Serviço in September and heading to PST 2009 next week! Holler.

Last thoughts: join the campaign, stop the “heat” – climate change in Africa.

Tito Paris and the LISBON Orchestra!

This weekend was wild! With Rachelle visiting from Maio, and Nelson visiting from Sao Nicolau, we had to get out and about. Friday we went for Pizza and caught the end of the T-KLA 2 concert, a electronic, dance, hip-hop music duo who was playing in the newly remodeled outdoor theater. We danced to a homage to Michael Jackson and had a grand time.

Saturday we woke up early to meet with a group of Cape Verdean Americans who are going to work with us on the Festival de Comunidades that we are participating in next weekend! Rachelle is practicing singing the national anthem with the kids, who are going to sing and dance on stage for us. Plus, we will have a booth with maps, posters of the statue of liberty, videos of Obama and PCorps mission playing, a few carnival games and American food available for tasting!

Tito Paris in Concert! Saturday night we went to the Salinas of Pedra de Lume, an old salt mine that was at once one of the biggest salt producers worldwide! They set up a huge stage, and Tito Paris played mournas and great Capeverdean music with the acompanyment of the Lisbon Orchestra. They even played my favorite song, “Dança ma mi kriola”. It was spectacular.

turtle watch!

Jacky, Rachelle and I went turtle patroling last night! I actually didn´t see a Loggerhead, but I got to move a nest of eggs to a hatchery where they would be safe (the light pollution on the beaches confuses the little guys, and they can die walking towards artificial lights and not towards the sea).

This weekend:

T Kla 2 concert

Tito Paris and the Lisbon Orchestra in the Salinas!

and preparation for the FESTIVAL DAS COMUNIDADES (check out our America tent!).

turtle season!

Today Jacky and I are heading to Santa Maria to do our twice weekly Kriolu lessons with SOS Tartarugas. Check out their blog! This year their have been record numbers of turtles on the beach, as well as record numbers of turtles being killed (a few men were on trial today after being caught selling turtle meat and cooking the eggs in their home).

i´m on the news for kids!

Check out this article! «– click here

sand on the beach is always cold and wet

So I recommend, even when it is hot and sweaty all day long, not to sleep on the beach without a blanket. And a thin shawl (or alternatively headwrap if you are in Africa) does not count as a blanket, though satisfies as protection from the sand.

Jacky and I went on a ‘passeo’ – aka a big sleepover at the beach with everyone from the community center. It was wild, most of these family folks didn’t sleep a wink and kept the music blaring (to the chagrin of the turtles – and yes we sadly say a cut fin and and turtle belly, remains of hunters who eat the “tastes like chicken” meat for extra mojo) until 7am. Jacky and I attempted to sleep in the sand, were joined by a crab, and mostly just attempted various methods of burying ourselves in the sand to get damper but avoid the winds. Swell.

The rest of the weekend was recovery time from the beach burn, and we watched a few handball games (the national champs for the men’s side were from Sal, and now get to go to South Africa!).

Today I went to teach my lifeskills session at the community center, but talking about aggressive, assertive, and passive behaviors in a hot room with a bunch of wresteless teens is not easy, and I’m not sure how much they are actually learning… so I’m thinking I need to change methods and I just haven’t figured out how yet. More group work (dreaded words I know…) or maybe more games (most definitely more games).

I am about to hit the ONE YEAR mark here in Cape Verde, so what am I going to do next? I know I still have lots of time, but still, time flies by even in the island sun. Should I go back to school? Check out this cool free University initiative. If so, in what? International Development? Energy Resources? Agriculture? Environmental Policy and Law? Maybe when we get to the lifeskills sessions on decision-making I’ll have an answer. Until then, I’ll just try to take more photos. 🙂

bjs             – leah

low-lights of the weekend…

1) Didn´t sleep enough due to early morning soccer games and commemorative flag raisings in the patriotic spirit of Cape Verde.
2) Getting robbed. Window left cracked open during dinner out Saturday night = goodbye money, jacky´s laptop and ipod
3) my laptop looks like frankenstein

almost the 4th!

It´s almost the 4th of July, I´m getting all nostalgic for Northern Michigan, both Burt and Lake Michigan, fireworks, cool nights with grasshoppers making all that slightly annoying slightly soothing barulho. If only I had a sparkler.

But never to fear, because Cape Verdean Independance Day is July 5th! (stranger coincidences have happened, but still…). There are a few activities that Sheila is putting together at the library with Katia, including a Feria de Livros Cabo Verdianos (book fair). I already acquired this sweet book.

pretty book that I got during the Cape Verdean Book Fair

We have some patriotic soccer to play Saturday, Jacky and I discussed sleeping on the beach, and Sunday we are marching in a parade! YAY! Waving flags is fun.

A Partilha do Indivisível

Also, this week Jacky and I got visited by our coordenator, Ana Lisa, who is really cool. Just to check up on our work, I´m about to go cook dinner and try to impress her.

P.S. Final Thoughts: Technology as a PCV (especially true in super-mod Cape Verde), an email from Brian.

“In fact, more than 90 percent of all volunteers use cell phones at their site, according to a 2008 Peace Corps survey. About 94 percent connect weekly to the Internet and 43 percent write a blog.”

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