25 September 2006

I feel like our lives have just become amusing jokes. Not to everyone else. But just to us. Leland and I constantly find ourselves in situations that would, under normal circumstances, make us angry or frustrated. We find now, that we can't really do anything about anything so we just laugh. And our lives are somewhat unhumerously funny. We are still living in a hotel (and yes, if you do the math, that is now 14 nights). Yes, the hotel has it's positives for sure, like air conditioning, and I don't clean my own bathroom. But let me just tell you that when it comes to eating, WHAT A PAIN IN THE TUSHIE!! There are mas o menos 5 restaurants in all of Vila Sal Rei. That includes our very expensive hotel restaurant. So, needless to say, we absolutely dread meal times. Eating out all meals of the day might sound like a tasty treat. And it might be if all the restaurants served different types of meals. You know, a little Chinese, a little Mexican, a little American flair. Yeah it's not so much like that. I rotate between a circle of about 4 meals: chicken, tuna, spagetti with tuna, and pizza (believe me NOT Oregano's style). Each dish, everytime, is served with french fries, rice, and a 'salad' (by this I mean sliced tomatoes, and the occassional piece of lettuce or if we're lucky some carrots :)) My cholesterol level has skyrocketed I'm sure. The independence of having your own home where you can cook for yourself and add some variety and flavor to food is sorely missed. Leland loves to cook as well, so for us this is our small torture. Meal times have become chores and completely dreaded events. Which is such a bummer, because you all know how much I love to eat. Leland and I spend most of our meals immagining we were eating something else. We often say things like "Yeah! And when we have our own house, I'm totally gonna make ENCHILADAS!!" or "Chicken CURRY!!! Yeah!" I say, "I can't wait for my mother to send me all those INDIAN SPICES!!" And so the majority of our discussions now revolve around the dream schmorgasbourd (sp??) we will create the instant we move in. We have even gone so far as to go online to look up recipes. Stuff we can make with the limited supply of ingredients available to us on this island. I think we have a small cookbook by now. Thinks like casserole, chile, tacos, enchiladas, alfredo sauce. Yes I have even looked for the perfect way to make my own tortillas. Whenever I get a free moment on the internet I browse through allrecipes.com. Leland is a member at Epicurious.com. We are going loony. I am aware of this. But, as I am a Fazel, I already have food on the brain more than most. And how does the old saying go? "You only appreciate something when it's gone"? Or once you've lost it? Something like that. Well we for sure miss the flavor of eclectic foods and the lack of a home just becomes an even greater hole when we don't have a place we can create our own things, or have a tiny glimmer of control on our lives. And I can't believe I went on that long about food.

But school has started. And when I say started, I mean it just sort of began. Classes are supposed to begin at 7:30am. So me, being the fairly prompt American that I am, decided to get there this morning at around 7:10. I don't know where my classrooms are yet, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to ask Denise (my counterpart and director of the school). Well not one single solitary soul was at the school at that time this morning. Well I come to find out that acutally we won't really be teaching today, or tomorrow, or probably the next day either. Dude, what?? This week is pretty much just a type of 'getting to know you' series of information sessions. Today the director talked to the whole school (and actually it was just the 7th, 8th, and 9th graders as the upper levels don't have class until the afternoon) and the teachers went around and introduced themselves. About 1/3 of the teachers just simply decided not to show up. And, of course, my schedule has changed. I am now only teaching 22 hours a week (yay! one whole hour less!) and I am now teaching 8th, 10th, and 11th. They also did the language teachers a small favor by rearranging all the classes so they are no longer mixed level. But that also means that I am teaching a total of four different levels. My 8th graders are Level II, along with one of my 10th grade classes, the other 10th grade class is Level IV and my two 11th grade classes are Level III and Level V. But I don't really mind. I spent all yesterday making Trimestral Plans (plans done by week to show what you will teach in general each week of the trimester) and daily lesson plans for each level for each day. It sounds like a lot, but once you get into the grove, things flow pretty well. It may change, like so many things do.

But Leland and I have come to accept change as a part of our new lives. When something doesn't go as planned, we aren't surprised; but it does surprise us a little if we didn't see the change coming. Change has ironically become our constant, the only thing we can count on these days. We have adapted remarkably to 'going with the flow'. A mental necessity that is crucial to the survival in this little world of ours. The initial dust storm has settled and we have been left with a faint (but potentially wonderful and much needed) direction, never-ending patience, and acceptance. We have found ourselves content, and looking forward to our new life here.

We often joke that if World War III were to errupt, well first, we would have no idea (we're a little removed). And second, that we might be in one of the safest places on this earth. The ambiance is so relaxed, so 'chill' (for lack of a better word, sorry). It took a little bit to slow us fast-paced Americans down. But we have evolved and wedged ourselves into this welcoming society.
Now if we could only find a house... :)

Remember that roller coaster ride I talked about last time? It continues. It was brought to my attention that certain phrases or sentences I use in my blogs tend to sound unintentionally bad or, I believe the term was, racist. When any of you who know me at all would, I am sure, immediately laugh at that fact, I just wanted to clear up that when I describe people in a certain way or with certain features, be it the color of their skin or their particular accent, I in no way mean to sound racist or against them in any way. Since not one of you are here to actually experience what I am experiencing, I try to give the whole picture. This may include describing a particular feature a person I am talking about. Maybe I should conduct my speech with more tact, but this is a blog and I am just me talking about my life. And again, I don't mean this to sound mean or snooty in any way, but if you have a problem with the way I conduct my blog, you can go and read someone else's blog who I'm sure has the time to sit and consider exactly what they are writing and proofread it, and go over it AGAIN, and then publish it. I, unfortunately, am not one of those people. So my blogs contain what I think and what I experience, and thus is the nature of a blog in my opinion.

Anyway, sorry if that offended anyone. But I had good news today!! Leland and I finally have a post office box, so it is nice to see that we actually exist in this world. I was beginning to think we were just lost forever in the Hotel Boa Vista. We don't have a house, but I was told today by my VERY NICE AND CARING Education Director (his name is Yonis, the Dominican Republic man I referred to earlier) that it is possible we may have an apartment by tomorrow. Which in Cape Verde Time means possibly by this weekend. Which is good news for us. I am thinking of a getting a cell phone (Ha I know can you believe it??) they are a little costly, but as the house thing is still in the air, I think a phone number would help me feel a little more at ease. But we shall see.

I also got my school schedule today. Classes start on Monday and we have been having meetings all this week. Let me just begin by setting this scene up a little for you. The maximum amount of time a teacher is supposedly allowed to teach in a week is 22 hours, and only on rare occassions. The secondary schools here go from 7-12th grade. These 6 grade levels are then divided into cycles. First cycle is 7th and 8th grade, second cycle is 9th and 10th grade, and third cycle is 11th and 12th grade. As far as Foreign Language classes are concerned, students are allowed to choose whether they want to take English OR French when they enter 7th grade. They then take either of the two foreign languages they chose throughout the first cycle (meaning 7th and 8th grade). Once they reach 9th grade, however, they HAVE TO take both English and French for the entire second cycle (meaning 9th and 10th grade). Don't ask me why I don't know who thought of this bizarre notion. Students who chose to take English in 7th grade start at level I English (obviously) and move up one level for each grade level they move up in school. Example, if the student chose English in 7th grade, he/she would be in English I. In 8th grade, would be in English II, 9th grade English III, 10th grade English IV and so on. If, however, the student has chosen French in 7th grade, the student would then be starting at a Level I English class when he/she entered 9th grade. Do you see where I am going with this? No? Yes I know it's confusing. They do not mix the grade levels; in fact, the classes are put together and the beginning of the year and they stay in one classroom the whole year. Each period, the teacher goes to the class. So I don't have my own classroom, I go to each room, each period, where each of my classes remains. Here is my point: there aren't enough teachers to divide up the second cycle language students into different classes, which means in my 9th grade class, I have studets who have never taken an English class, and for other students this is their third year in English, they are level III. The same goes for my 10th graders. They will be both Level II and Level IV all in the same class.

I, by the way, will be teaching 23 hours per week (yes, 22 is the maximum), including Saturdays. And I actually cannot wait. I will be soooo busy, I cannot possibly be bored in this little one-horse town. Of course, everyone I tell looks at me like I am crazy. Even Yonis was a little worried about my morale. But today I am in good spirits. It's funny that the smallest things can make you happy. Like a schedule, or a post office box. And by the way, did you know that Amazon.com ships to Cape Verde?? I know, awesome, right. Ha. Anyway, things are finally starting to look up, I knew they would, it's all about my good friend the rollercoaster. He and I are best buds by now. If you don't understand the school thing, that's understandable, it's a little confusing. But if you have any questions about it, or any unique suggestions to get children motivated, let me know!! I love and miss everyone.

September, 15th 2006


They tell you to be prepared for a rollercoaster ride when you get to your site. Well I am here and lets just say this is unlike any other rollercoaster I have ever been on. I don't particularly like it. As I mentioned earlier, I am still living in a hotel, while my Peace Corps boss on another island just keeps saying in his Dominican Republic accent, "don't worry, Nadia, we will get everything worked out. You just relax." That is far easier said than done. I know I am on a beautiful beachy island, but the rollercoaster ride is giving me whiplash and I'm exhausted. I don't do much just yet. My daily activities include waking up around 8:30, eating breakfast wandering over to the high school maybe hanging around there not doing much for about an hour. Then I walk across the street to the Youth center where I sit on the internet until about lunch time. The rest of the day is spent either looking for a house or just wandering the town.

Yesterday, however, was a small break from the ordinary. I was able to see the sea turtles. The Youth Center has put together several programs for the children each day. Yesterday we drove the 2 hours to the other side of the island to watch the baby turtles hatch. It was so cute and a high point of the week for sure. (I have pictures, they will be up I promise as soon as I settle down and actually unpack some of my things). But the morning is usually a low point of my day, I am most down when I wake up. During the day, things get better and there is usually hope that maybe we have a house, or maybe things are moving along; but by evening usually something comes along and we are dissappointed again. This is the cycle of my day and my emotions. It is at times like these where I miss the rest of the friends I have made here in Cape Verde and I actually miss the training site on the other island. And of course, I miss home. There aren't a lot of people here in Boa Vista, the town was surprisingly small. And since Leland and I look like tourists, we still get treated like them. Meaning we pretty much get completely ignored.

I know these first three months are supposed to be the hardest and I expect that they will. I will be teaching 8th, 9th, and 10th, all three different levels, so my work is clearly cut out for me. But I know things will get better. There are about 8 of us newbies who have Capricorn birthdays, which as you know falls conveniently around Christmas break. Leland and I are 2 of them so we have decided to host a large party here during the break for all who want to come. Our house that is currently in construction looks very nice and will be brand new and big :) So we have that to look forward to and seeing our friends again during the Holiday Break. I know this pales in comparison to the giant family cruise my ENTIRE family will be on. But for us it is enough and we take the tiny pleasures any way we can. I miss everyone and seriously hope I have some good news next time around, haha.

Arrival in Boa Vista

Well I am here, and it is definately beautiful but Leland and I don't have a house which is frustrating, so we have been living in a hotel. The high school is a dump, it's exactly what any of you would picture a high school in Africa to look at. Which makes me happy and sad. Sad, of course that they can't find the money to build new buildings and happy that i'm here because they clearly need my help. I am one of two English teachers, which means I will be teaching all the students in the morning cycle of classes. I will be teaching a total of 22 hours a week, 2 7th grade, 2 8th grade, and 2 11th grade classes. Needless to say I have my work cut out for me. The housing situation is a mess, i'm a little nervous that we won't find a house. But the town is so cute, and there are a lot of tourists here but they community is nice and we have tried already to make friends. It's important to us not to be seen and tourists. For me it's a little easier, i'm not white, but my roomate Leland is a whitey and they basically just think we are toursits. But soon, hopefully things will work themselves out. Sorry this one was short, but time is limited and I need to find a house!!