New Number and Address

I opened up a p.o. box at the post office so I now have a new address. Please send letters this way instead of with the other address other wise it will be months before I get letters (or packages which are now very welcome!)

Yesterday I spent the day cleaning up the apartment and getting things out of bags. It is a huge relief to not be living out of my suite case. I tried to hang up my tapestry and my lanterns but no matter what kind of tape I use they fall down. Itºs quite hot and humid here (despite it never raining) so the tape doesnºt work very well. I am going to look into finding tacks but I havenºt seen any so far and Iºm not sure if they would go into the wall because Iºm pretty sure that wall is made of cement. Iºm going to have to look into some other option.
The apartment has a small balcony that looks over the harbor and the rest of the city, itºs a really nice location and Iºm looking forward to a clear day so that I can see Santa Antao.
My job at the SOS is quite far out of town which is kind of annoying. My boss called me to ask me when I was coming in on Monday and I had a lot of trouble hearing here, and since I had no idea where the place was I had to ask around. I had to have asked like 30 or more people and no one in town knew where it was which was really frustrating. On the internet I figured out what concelleo it was in but still didnºt know how to get there. Finally I went to the Camara and asked a security guard who was so sweet and after about 20 minutes he told me what bus to take and gave me a general idea of where it was. Needless to say I was a little nervous about getting to work. I found the bus which is luckily a block from my house and although the bus driver didnºt know where it was, there were 3 kids on the bus who were going there and we walked together. It was a really great moment getting there because I was able to do it through my broken Kriolu (the speak Northern Kriolu here too which I have to pick up) and with the help of some really nice people. So despite the frustrations and the fact that it would have been easier if my boss had just told me what bus to take (had I of course understood her on the phone), it was a good test of my language and my patience and Iºm pretty proud that I was able to do it by myself. I also made 3 adorable little friends who at the end of the day walked back with me to the bus stop (we ended up having to run after the bus, which was a really funny site Iºm sure for onlookers).
Anyway, I shall post again soon. Hope everyone is doing well at home!

Arrived in Mindelo!

So I have finally arrived in which is really exciting and nerve racking. Having a week of luxury in Praia before I came will probably make this adjustment a little difficult. I just arrived yesterday so I havenºt gotten to see the whole town yet but I am excited about exploring some more. Mindello has a very European like feel to it and it seems quite nice.
Anyway... tomorrow if I can figure out how to get to the SOS i will be going to work... Today I talked to my counterpart and had an unbelievable time trying to figure out where the place is located and therefore have no idea how to get there and no one in the area knows where it is. Plus I have no idea what my address is so itºs hard to explain where I am.

Mindelo is the second largest city in Cape Verde. I’m living with another volunteer in an apartment in basically the middle of town. It feels like a pretty safe neighborhood and our apartment building mostly consists of families which is very nice.

Lindsay and I after finding out that we would be living in Mindelo together.

My Room

Kitchen and living room

Another view of the Harbor from the balcony

Almost there....

We'll I am offially a volunteer now. We swore in on Saturday which was really nice and a relief to be done with training (well sort of done). Right after swearing in we had a small get together with out host families but than unfortunatly I was rushed out and didn't feel that I got a really good proper goodbye to my host mom which was very frustrating. She was extremely upset and it was really hard to leave people who have essentially become my family. My host family was incredible to me and we had gotten really close. They all had an incredible amount of patience with helping me learn Kriolu especially my host mom who is a kindergarden teacher and would make sure that I wrote things done/said things back to her to make sure I understood everything (which was great because it ensured that I didn't just say "uhh huh" back and not really get it). Anyway so I was pretty bummed out to not get to have a proper goodbye to my host family who had been so great to me, but I'm hoping to get to visit them in a few months when I come back to Santiago.

Picture of Andrew and I bringing our bags to Assomada before swearing in.

Anyway... So this week I am doing an additional week of training with the NGO that I will be working for in Mindello. I will be working for the SOS-Kinderdorf which is an international organization, founded by a man in Austria after WWII, that provides homes for orphaned children, counseling and social development in over 132 countries. This week I'm just learning more about the organization and what my role will be there. So far it seems like a very interesting organization and I'm pretty excited about getting to work there. The SOS in Mindello is brand new which is exciting and they are trying to do more community oriented activities/ counseling for families instead of just being a group home, in an effort for children to go back with their biological parents if at all posible.

The only thing about staying here in Praia for an extra week is that I didn't get to go to Mindello with my roommate and check out our apartment which is kind of disapointing, but I think that it will all work out. We are staying in SOS housing which is really nice and has A/C which is crazy and so awesome because it is super hot in Praia, much hotter than in the country. But it's also a really weird transition into service because it is all so nice...
This was after we thought Dacia killed the cockaroach and than it came back to life...
I will be changing my address sometime soon once I get to Mindello and get a P.O. Box and I will most certainly keep you all posted on that so I can read more of all your amazing letters which I love so much.

Here are two links about the SOS if you are interested in learning more about the organization:
http://www.sos-ro.org/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=61
http://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/What-we-do/Pages/default.aspx

Hope everyone is doing well back in the USA and I will try my best to start writing more now that I have more time.

Baptism in Cape Verde

Today I went to a baptism which was pretty much like any baptism in the United States except they do like 20 kids at once and than have this crazy photo shoot with funny backdrops and all outside and than there is a festa. Before heading to the Festa we jumped in the Hillux with the godfather (leahºs host father) and drove around town picking up drinks (as that is the job of the godfather). Before we arrived at the party we also drove through the whole town honking to let everyone that we arrived. I certainly got a kick out of it. After picking up copious amounts of beer, soda and wine (the host family provided the grouge) we headed to the festa where I ate a rediculous amount of food. At all social functions there are a few staple foods that are served. Bongolong (which is a white bean dish with corn balls and some meat), Rice (of course) and Xarien (which is basically like a corn couscous type texture dish). For dessert they have lots of random sweet things, not too much chocolate which is unfortunate but ok, but than they throw in weird thhings that they feel should be served with dessert such as fish patties, but most certainly arenºt what you wnat when you are eating a piece of cake. One of those things you have to try and make the mistake once and never make again!

São Vicente

I found out that I will be living in Midello, São Vicente which is one of the northern islands in Cape Verde. Itºs a large port city and is about an hour boat ride from Santa Antao. I will be living with one other volunteer who is also from New York. Iºm very excited and I think it will be a great vacation spot for anyone considering coming to visit me!!

So far so good

Hey, everyone! Sorry that I have not really written any posts since Iºve been here. It is definatly harder to get to the internet than i expected.
So i am living in a small town outside Assomada, on the island of Santiago. Itºs a pretty sweet village(Ribiera Manuel) and everyone is really awesome. I am living in a town with 3 other volunteers and they are each about a 3 minute walk. I am living with a really sweet host family. There are awesome, they love to laugh all the time and they crack me up. My host mother is a kindergarden teacher and is therefore very patient with my Kreole which is not so great at all. I am learning ways to explain things and I can express my basic needs. I also have two host brothers and a host dad, all who are really cool. I have a small room but itºs enough room for all my stuff and I donºt really hang out in it all that often anyway, so it doesnºt matter.
Itºs currently the rainy season here, its actually rained 4 days so far, which is awesome. Itºs also pretty humid, which i was definatly not expecting.

My host family works (mondaºs which is like hoeing the ground, i think) alot in their field and also on other peoples fields as well. Everyone grows corn (midju) and there are alot of dishes that have corn in them. The food is ok. Iºm not loving all of it but i donºt hate all of it either. its interesting. There is a lot of rice and beans just in different forms. The other night I was pretty desperate for spagetti though and they let me make it for them which was cool. It wasnºt as good as it could have been but I did use tomato paste because there is no sort of tomato sause.
Transportation is really funny here. There is a car called a Hillux, which is a brand of toyota. So itºs bascially a pick up truck with a cover over it and seats. They can jam alot of people into one and its a bumpy and interesting ride, but its an awesome cultural experience to say the least. Since all of our families know all the hillux drivers we donºt have to many problems with them.

The only rediculous thing that I am yet to get used to is the amount of stops that we make when ridding them. People just yell para and then get out and go to the store pick up some rice, maybe a goat, whatever they want and the driver will wait for them. So therefore it takes a really long time to go anywhere. We live about a 15minute hillux ride from Assomada but many days it can take us 45minutes with all the stops that we make. Time is one thing that I am definatly having some trouble with but Iºm trying to learn to embrace it and chill out a little about it.
Last weekend we went on this three hour hike through the Riberia to the beach, called Agus Belas. It was a very long walk and there were lots of rocks to twist your ankles on but once we got to the beach it was completly worth it. There was a Grotto there also, which was a beautiful cave. When I figure out how to upload pictures you will be amazing about how incredible it was. The beach wasnºt your typical sandy beach, it was a rock beach but equally cool. The Atlanic Ocean on this side is amazing. Itºs warm, a little rough, but really sweet. It was also a very clear day and we could see the island of Fogo, which is also a volcano and is really pretty. I got sick on our hike back but it luckily didnºt spoil my mood about the day. Thanks to our medical sessions Iºm starting to accept that I will get sick a good bit, with lots of fun stomach problems, but hopefully it will make my stomach stronger!

A few weekends ago we went to Tarrafal which is also a beach area and is beautiful.

Anway. Please send letters! Talk to you all soon!

Made it to Cape Verde

Hi. Just wanted to let everyone know that Iºve made it. I donºt have a cell phone yet and donºt think that i will be getting one until September once training is done. But letters are very much welcome so please do send. Also I have limited access to the internet so letters are the best means of communicating with me. Talk to you again soon.

Welcoming event at the U.S. Embassy with some Dancing