So I am taking advantage to throw out a brief update. If I have learned nothing else in my year in Peace Corps, I have learned the utility of brevity, so I will bullet out my important points to be eventually followed by Jack Handy-esque "deep thoughts" in the next weeks. Over the last two months or so...:
- The new Trainees arrived and are spread throughout my concelho (county) happy in their homestays. It seems that the new model of Pre-Service Training is running smoothly, at the very least much more smoothly than ours went last year. They are picking up language quickly and have very few complaints--it's practically a miracle, as last year all we did was complain about the ineffectiveness of the program. So kudos to PST staff and the new model.
- The four YD Trainees shadowed me for five days, stayed in my house, went to the girls' Center with me, and hopefully got an idea of what life is like for a YD volunteer. With the presence of four new people, I couldn't do some of the things I would normally do at the Center (attend institutional meetings, write proposals, and go on family visits), so instead I think they felt like camp counselors most of the time. But the girls adored them and all the extra attention--it was like Christmas at the Center. I appreciated the chance for them to see what life is like for a Volunteer in my sector, even if I struggled to juggle four different individuals' needs and interests. Hopefully it worked out alright and they learned a thing or two.
- One of the YD Trainees (I swear some of these bullet points will be related to non-PST topics) decided to leave, as being here serving in Cape Verde wasn't where she decided she should be at this time. I am sad to see her go, she is an excellent individual, very sweet and funny and very experienced, but I am happy that hopefully she will be in a more appropriate place for now--and that she decided beforehand, rather than waiting until she was already at site.
- Just last week, the psychologist (Ercilia) announced that she had accepted the position as the new coordenator of the Center, which so far seems like an excellent decision. She will do a wonderful job, I am confident. Within the first week, Ercilia asked for my help in preparing a large proposal for support from the Cape Verdean institution that combats AIDS in funding a year-long training project we want to do with the maes and girls. We have been talking forever about how much the maes need to be trained and helped to know how better to work with troubled children, to give both them and the girls support in their day-to-day interactions, and have been waiting all year for approval from ICCA for the trainings, with no success, so Ercilia found a new way to get it done. It is a grant for over $20,000, so I'm really keeping my fingers crossed.
- The other day I was walking down the road in the direction of my house, and I saw an old woman walking the opposite direction. I usually like to say good morning/afternoon to people I see in town, including people I don't know, just to be friendly and show respect; so I was about to say "bon dia"to the woman, and before I could finish the "bon", she looked me directly and unfalteringly in the eye, with no particular hatred nor humor, and said loudly and strongly, "Feia"--ugly. It took me by complete shock so that I didn't know what to say. She kept walking, as did I, and I just had to laugh at its irony. Every day, multiple times a day to the extent that I believe that one day I might snap and punch someone in the stomach, I am called "beautiful white girl" by sleezy Cape Verdean men. No matter what I do or what I look like, my skin color and appearance affords me the privilege of beauty, as well as the curse of being seen as little more than a body wrapped in white and detailed with blonde hair and blue eyes. Normally I am "beautiful". This day I was "ugly". Ha.
- I decided once the newbies swear in as Volunteers on September 1st I am going to disappear and take a small trip to Fogo, where hopefully no one will "bother" me and I can relax and recuperate from a long summer. I need it, and I deserve it.
- Nick is gone in South Africa for three weeks of vacation, which means I have the house to myself--hooray! No offense, Nick, but sometimes it's just nice to be able to walk around the house in your underwear and sing as loud as you want.
- I will likely be sent to the island of Maio for a week with the CEJ to help promote and develop the Centro em Movimento program that has been running all summer long. Free trip to Maio is always nice, though it means I will miss the new Trainee's site announcement, which we have been making cool pinatas for. Oh well, can't be everywhere at once.
- I have been translating for the CulturArt program that just started for the first time in Cape Verde, and it has been fabulous! It brings in 20 US high school students and 30 Cape Verdean students for a two week intensive training in the arts (vocal music, instrumental music, theater, dance, and visual arts), which they then present in various communities and finally in a concert in Praia. It was so encouraging to be around such creative juices and artistic passion! I am pretty much done with my part now, and I had such a wonderful time. Unfortunately I won't be there for the final concert since I will be in Maio, but hopefully it will go wonderfully. I may give more details on this program later...
Unfortunately time is out for now. But there will be more updates soon if my life ever "settles". Yeah right. But I promise I will try. But more important is responding to letters I have received--sorry for the wait, guys. I appreciate your correspondence, though!
