This is a guide for my family and friends about my life as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cape Verde, Africa. I teach English as foreign language to high school students in Boa Vista, Cape Verde. Also as a disclaimer, the comments expressed here are solely of the author and do not represent the United States Peace Corps, the American Government, or any other governing body.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Weekend full of Christmas fun, friends, frozen chickens, and in true Peace Corps style, water shortages.
Day 1: Saturday December 23rd 2006
8:00 am: Wake up, wash sheets, prepare for guests to arrive. Watch several movies to pass the time.
4:10 pm: Guests arrive: Brady, Jon, Yasmin, Jocelyn, and Jocelyn’s boyfriend from the US. We all sit around and talk a while.
4:30 pm: Take Jocelyn and boyfriend to hotel to check in. Walk around the town a bit.
6:00 pm: Everyone’s hungry. All eat dinner, discuss going to discothèque later.
9:05 pm: Come home from dinner, decide to relax a bit before we go out.
11:00 pm: I take a shower, begin to get ready.
11:30 pm: Jon’s turn to shower.
11:33 pm: Hear Jon in the bathroom: “Nadia, I think I am too stupid to turn on your shower”
11:34 pm: Go in to check. Have a small panic attack as we turn on all the faucets in the house and none produce water.
11:36 pm: Enter Leland and Nadia swearing profusely.
11:40 pm: Decide to react to water outage by getting drunk and going to discothèque anyway.
2:30 am: Leave discothèque disappointed at the crap DJ.
3:00 am: Say my prayers before sleeping that water will miraculously arrive tomorrow.
Day 2: Sunday, December 24th, 2006
Update: Still no water.
10:00 am: Head over to Jocelyn’s hotel to brush teeth, wash face, use bathroom.
11:00 am: Decide to go to the beach, there’s water there.
11:32 am: Have a panic attack again: how am I going to cook mashed potatoes and broccoli cheese without water?? If we’re out, then everyone’s scrambling to get water.
I must scramble too!!
11:34 am: Leave beach to go purchase some 5 litre bottles of water.
11:56 am: Come home, feel a little better. Notice funky smell coming from bathroom area. Investigate smell realize it’s result of 5 people living in one house using the same toilet and not flushing. Foresee outbreak of dysentery.
12:20 pm: Everyone else still at beach, decide to take a nap. Having no water is mentally exhausting.
2:00 pm: Take chickens out of freezer and place in refrigerator to defrost overnight.
3:00 pm: Brady, Jocelyn, and Yasmin come back from beach, we go look for some food.
3:32 pm: Find a place serving little tiny sandwiches. Decide to splurge on large dinner. Did not remember we were to have very large dinner the next night as well.
8:00 pm: After some have showered at hotel room to dirty looks of hotel staff, we go to dinner. Discuss going to discothèque again for their large X-Mas bash.
9:45 pm: Disco idea vetoed, as we are all stuffed, tired, and have no water (this seems to influence a lot of decisions made).
11:00 pm: All lie down, watch a movie, I go to bed instead.
11:03 pm: Say prayers again hoping water will appear on Christmas day as a gift from the water company or providence in general.
Day 3: Monday, December 25th, 2006 Merry Christmas.
Update: Still no water, can no longer enter bathroom because of smell.
10:00 am: Wake up. Brady, Yasmin and I go to hotel to shower, brush teeth, use bathroom.
11:56 am: We come back, everyone decides to go on a hike. I stay behind; contemplate cleaning house, cooking dinner, and the funky bathroom smell.
12:30 pm: Take chickens out of the refrigerator. They are still frozen. Of course they are.
12:31 pm: Have a minor panic attack. Decide to clean the house.
12:47 pm: Decide that our X-Mas present to ourselves will be to flush the toilet. The one flush we get until the water comes back on.
1:03 pm: Clean the few dirty dishes with ½ liter of left over drinking water.
1:17 pm: House is cleaner, smells better (thanks to bleach in the toilet), and I am slightly happier.
1:19 pm: Sit down, put on the 7 X-Mas songs I own (including 4 different versions of O Holy Night) and just sit listening. Wish myself a Merry Christmas.
1:46 pm: Check chickens. Still frozen. Enter swear word of choice here (sorry Grandma, and by the way, Happy Birthday!!).
4:04 pm: Decide to marinate chickens anyway. Maybe by 5pm they will be thawed completely. Ignore ice chunks still in between the legs.
7:19 pm: Dinner is completely ready and completely delicious: SUCCESS!
Three baby chickens marinated in piri piri, garlic, seasoned salt, pepper, and rosemary roasted with potatoes and carrots; served with mashed potatoes, broccoli-cauliflower cheese, sweet corn, and gravy.
Give myself a small pat on the back for nothing going wrong (as would have been expected, judging by the weekend we were having).
9:32 pm: Ceremonial flushing of the toilet. Merry Christmas. A fresh start to make a new funky smell.
12:00 am: Can’t do dishes, just go to bed.
Day 4: Tuesday, December 26th, 2006
Update: Nope, still no water.
10:00 am: Wake up, wander around Vila, find that all the important businesses are closed, i.e. Youth Center (has internet and bathroom) and our building office (has person who fixes water).
2:30 pm: Put friends in taxi to airport. Sad to see them go.
2:36 pm: Depression sinks in as friends are gone, no washing of the dishes or flushing toilet is possible. Decide to drown sorrows by sleeping the rest of the day.
Apartment once again smells like a port-o-potty.
Christmas would not have been the same without the friends. I am very grateful they came. A lonely Christmas dinner with no water would have been miserable, but they made it bearable and funny. I also discovered that I very much need to find a hobby/occupation for the next two weeks or I will go crazy.
Short update: we still have no water and when I asked our landlord this morning when he thought we were going to get water, he said that water this week is very difficult. Even though it is only our building that seems to be having trouble with water. But, he said, maybe by Friday we would have water. For those of you that were paying attention, that will add up to about 1 week without water. Our apartment smells like rotten food. Aaaaand we've hit another low point. Hope you all celebrated your holidays well. I will have pictures of our dinner and stuff up in a little while. Happy New Year!

Friday, December 22, 2006

First, I just want to say thank you for the comments. I don't think you understand how much I appreciate it when people leave comments on my blog. It's very comforting, if that makes any sense. So thank you :)

Well I went to the market this morning to pick up my freshly killed chickens, and the lady who was supposedly getting them for me gave me some story about maybe they were here yesterday, but now they aren't here. Sorry. I was actually not surprised. Or angry. Well now what to do? Earlier in the week, I had seen some frozen turkeys in one of the mercados (small grocery store). But when I went over there this morning, no turkeys. All sold out. They did, however, have whole frozen ducks (I know right?!). They also, thankfully had little teeny frozen baby chickens, each about 2-3lbs each. So there were my choices: tiny frozen baby chickens (halal chickens from Brazil, no less. I know, very bizarre), whole frozen duck (I don't even know how to begin to cook a duck), OR we could go to the large grocery store and pay $15 a kilo for a whole roast to make roast prime rib. It was quite the weird, twilight zone sort of choice. Well, Leland and I didn't want to pay the money for the beef, plus our oven is finicky and if I screwed up a $30 piece of meat I would be very angry with myself. I have no clue how to cook a duck, plus duck on Christmas seemed a little odd. So we will now have seven people for Christmas dinner here: a Jew, a Muslim, a few Christians of various sects, and an agnostic. All sitting around three baby halal chickens. On Christmas. I thought the idea was very amusing. Sorry if I offended anyone with the religious comments, I just thought it was funny.

I will also make mashed potatoes, gravy (thank you mother), sweet corn, and we will roast potatoes and carrots in with the chickens. But the best part of all is the broccoli-cauliflower cheese. And of course fudge for dessert. So hopefully the cooking will go well, and I won't burn down the kitchen like I almost did last time. Our friends arrive tomorrow and we are so excited to have them here. The weather has been nice, a little cool, but perfect for beach lounging. They are coming from an island that doesn't really have any beaches, so it will be a nice change for them. The packages have not arrived, so I will have no gifts this year, but I will have halal chickens and broccoli cheese. And of course, my friends. I mean, come on? What more could I possibly ask for :) Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you celebrate the day well.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

I think I would like to talk about racial issues this time. I do not want to sound racist at all, and it is by no means my intention to offend anyone, I just want to tell it like I see it. And it might be a long blog, so if you're not interested in this type of subject, then skip on my friend.

Briefly: The Cape Verde islands are located just under 400 miles from Senegal on the west coast of Africa. Our country is technically part of the continent of Africa, just as Madagascar is. As I have mentioned before, the people here do not look typically African. There is heavy European intermixing, especially in the northern islands, and here on Boa Vista as well because of the tourism and European business venturists. We have a very strong influence of Italians and Portuguese, and there is a lot of interracial marriages. So in this sense a lot of the Africa people here look like African Americans; meaning they still appear with African influence, but lack the dark color that is stereotypical of African appearence. And then there are people here who have immigrated from Senegal and Guinea-Bassau and even Nigeria. You can always single these people out. The color of their skin is very dark, and they are strikingly black. These continental countries have experienced little interracial mixing, almost none and therefor are true black people. As I mentioned before, they are immigrants, and so work jobs that a typical immigrant works in any country, and are therefore slightly poorer than most of the rest of the "Cape Verdean" population. They live in a seperate part of town, that resembles a slum-like little village and mostly keep to themselves.

Now to most of us (namely most volunteers and Americans in general I would hope) race has long since been a major cultural issue. There is, of course, the occassional off-color comment, or the small joke among close friends (even multi-racial close friends). But the kind of racism that I have seen on this island alone is completely appalling. I have to say that I am wholly surprised at the level and severity of the racism that is freely expressed on a daily basis. I think it stems from the idea that Cape Verdeans don't really consider themselves 'African' in a sense. They seem to have forgotten that, although they are not technically on the continent, their country is part of this area of the world. The continental Africans, those from Senegal and Guinea are often scorned or made fun of. A friend of ours who works at the bar accross the street is from Guinea-Bassau and when we go to the disco, he cannot get any girl to dance with him. Not becuase he is an unattractive person, but because he is "African". Yesterday I was sitting around at the Youth Center with Leland and the five other people he works with there. One lady, Vilma, is probably the lightest in skin color of the five of them. She may be fairer than I am. It looks like she maybe has some Brazillian influence (also very common around here). She is well-educated, has travelled to both Portugal and Brazil, I believe, and is university educated and works with computers. Iva, the director of the Youth Center, made a comment yesterday that we should all go to the continent of Africa for a vacation. Everyone who works at the Youth Center should pick a few countries like Senegal and Guinea and travel around for a few weeks or so. The others were discussing it and Vilma chimed in, "No, I don't want to go to black Africa. Let's go to Brazil!" I hope my mouth was not too wide open when I looked at her.

But that is the kind of mentality that is so apparent here. Their background is so diverse, that I believe they think themselves better than everyone else. It's ironic that the mixed-race people should find themselves for once feeling above the pure-blood race. Very un-Harry Potter :) I was trying to think today if I could complare this mentality with any that most people in the world are familiar with, but I just couldn't think of another instance where this was the case. So I thought I would share this little social conundrum with you all.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Christmas has finally sneaked its way into daily life. The Youth Center where I now spend most of my time, is decorated with twinkle lights and a small Christmas tree. It's a little bizarre. Our friends from Sao Niccolau are coming down on Saturday and I am very excited to see friendly faces. We have asked some ladies that we know in the Norte to sell us two chickens. I made sure that they were going to give them to me ready to cook. I didn't want her to hand me the whole chicken still squawking, as I could foresee happening. So we have decided to roast the two chickens along with potatoes and carrots. I'll make mashed potatoes as well. And get this!! I found frozen broccoli and cauliflower!!! I was so excited yesterday, it honestly made my entire day, and quite possibly my month. I am not even joking.

I have been pretty down lately, as it looks like the the last two packages my mother sent will not arrive. They were sent normal mail, no tracking or anything which probably lead to their theft in the mail. Things thus far have not had a problem arriving, but with the holidays, I believe that people get desperate, especially in a third world country. So needless to say, I am giftless and not a little disappointed. So disappointed in fact that I burst into tears in the Post Office yesterday, much to the dismay of the lady who was helping me send out a package to my family. It's been 7 weeks now since the first package was sent out and I have pretty much given up all hope. It doesn't help that my entire family (including extended family on both sides of my family no less) are ALL on a giant cruise together. And I am here. It is the trip of a lifetime. Some may argue, however, so is this.

So this is just one more struggle that I am faced with, and a little perseverance and several tears later, I will probably get over it. But being a girl, the emotions are currently winning, so I will go home and get my frustration out by putting on my headphones and making tortillas. I promise it's therapeutic.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

I just wanted to get in one last blog before I pass out and die from exhaustion. This morning I gave my 8th grade classes their final test. Believe me when I say that to battle 30 students to no cheat, while answering a million questions at once is no easy task. You have to constantly be on alert. There is no honor system here, no moral stronghold that prevents a student from teaching. In short, this is not PCDS. Ok, I admit that the test was a little harder than last time. And a little longer. But I felt that these students were capable, and that we had reviewed in class and during lessons enough so if they had studied sufficiently, they would have done well. The key word here is study. They prefer, for some reason, to spend the majority of their time making cabula or a 'cheat sheet'. One guy even had his entire notebook opened on the floor. So now after just having given two tests in a row with my heightened alert, I feel like calapsing. So now I have to go home and grade all 60 tests before tomorrow morning at 7:30. I can't wait.

And I would take a shower, but our apartment building, and I think a lot of the town is currently without water. Yes, we ran out of water yesterday. So we can't wash the dishes, our hands (gross), oursleves, or flush the toilet (also gross). I have no idea when we are going to get any more water. I think it comes in on a truck from another town. But if there's a shortage, there's a shortage and there's not much you can do about that really. I've been brushing my teeth with our drinking water from our filter, but that's going to run out soon as well. Buying water is expensive, but if we don't get water soon, we're going to have to start doing that. At least just to brush my teeth!! Well I am off to grade tests, and more tests, and MORE TESTS!! This trimester is never going to end.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Up and down we go. Where we stop, I don't really know. My frustration reached (one of) its peak yesterday. We have had a telephone number and a contract that we paid good money for for over a week and a half now. We even managed to scrounge up a telephone and a cable because the extremely unhelpful really annoying man who works in the CV Telecom office just handed us a phone number and sort of expected us to go away. Being new at this, we didn't realize that the office in Praia had to unblock our number and that CV Telecom would actually provide us with a phone when they came to our house to make sure the line and signal worked. But no one came. So everyday for the past week we have been hiking up to the CV Telecom office (and believe me, the hill in the heat is no small feat) to demand that a technician come to our house to fix our phone line because we now had everything except for a dial tone. I told myself and Leland that I was going to walk into that office everyday until they sent one of only two technicians to our house (but this island does not have that many people on it, so two sometimes three technicians apparently is fine). I don't mind so much because it's the same office as the post office and I have been expecting packages from my family which are unusually late, but that's another story. So we go into the office again yesterday, and again I open my empty mailbox and feel the disappointment of no mail. We spotted the technician outside, who also happens to be one of Leland's old students. He talks to us for a little while (in my opinion mostly about nothing substantial) and he says that they second technician is in the North and that when he comes back he will come by our house. It was around 1pm at that time. So I knew what the guy said was a load of crap and I knew that he knew it was. Why can't people just tell the truth about that stuff? So as we were leaving, he asked us if we had a number he could contact us to let us know when the other technician would be arriving. Yeah, then I snapped a little. I had been mostly silent at this point, but when I heard him ask that question I turned to him and said (slightly louder than I probably should have): No! We don't have a contact number because we don't have a telephone because we have been waiting for you to come fix it! I think I caught myself in the middle and quieted down this small outrage before it could have a lasting effect. But I have managed to keep the Princess inside at bay thus far and yesterday she had had just about enough.

It's funny because you can't really yell at people like that here. There is no Better Business Bureau, no manager, no boss. If you make these people mad, they then don't really care about helping you because they don't really have anyone to answer to. It's kind of like the situation for a our furniture. We have been waiting over a month for shelves and a lock box we were told would take two weeks at the most. It's not that I have a problem waiting (well maybe I have a little problem waiting), but there is no need to lie about the length of time it takes to do something. My point is, however, that I cannot go to his boss or to the company and complain about their delinquent worker. The three carpenters who are building our furniture work in a small yard that has a couple of large tables and one large metal shipping container to hold all their supplies and wood. As a result, Leland and I are still living out of a suitcase. But we have mostly gotten used to that.

The frustrations of yesterday weren't helped by the fact that we found a cockroach in one of our cupboards where we keep our food the night before last. Sooo, needless to say, we sprayed some Raid and then went out for dinner. We did manage to find this really cute little restaurant that serves Gnocchi for about $4.00 and they have homemade delicious ice cream that costs about $1.00. Bonus. We were very excited about that. The good news is we now have a telephone. The technician came to our house today finally. Probably because we hiked up to the office again, and I demanded to speak to him or find out where he was before we left. So our phone is fixed, we have connection to the outside world after 6 weeks of no phone. And I have been assured by the carpenters, that for sure by Friday our stuff will be finished. But I could tell by the tone of his voice, the same tone the technician used yesterday, that he knew he was lying. So we will wait some more for our shelves because there is nothing else we can do about it. And I will continue my finger-crossing in hopes that my mother's packages make it. I justify their extreme lateness by the fact that there are actually more Cape Verdeans living outside this country than in it. So imagine an entire country's worth of people trying to send Christmas presents to their loved ones. In a country this small, that makes for a lot of mail.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Pictures from AIDS day: December 2nd, 2006 These are the students waiting outside the Youth Center for the events to start
And more waiting....

A soccer club doing a demonstration in the Praça
Shon on the left (Tony's son from another relationship) and little Peter on the right (Tony and Helena's son)
Leland finishing the race.
Some of my tenth graders. They're good kids.

The march from behind, getting started.
The march of high school students going through the town.



And it's Monday. The first day of the last week I actually have to teach anything this trimester. We have the last round of testing this week and then next week is spent doing Christmas activities. I have some American Christmas music I will be bringing in and teaching them. Basic stuff like Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Maybe they'll be entertained. And if not, someone famous like Mariah Carey singing Oh Holy Night should at least pique their interest slightly.

I just wanted to take a moment and reflect. I feel as though I have completely settled into this life. I have a routine, I have a house I take care of, a job and friends. There are material things that I noticed I lacked, that I don't notice anymore. Things like Ziplock bags (luckly Leland brought some with him when he came and I had a few also, but we have since run out) How many times a day do you use a ziplock bag? They don't sell them here. Iceburg lettuce. How many times a week do you eat salad? I haven't eaten a proper salad in 6 months. Not that they sell Ranch or Caesar dressing here (but of course thank you Melanie and mommy for sending some). Television. Leland and I don't own a television. We could buy one if we wanted. But they are expensive, and except the occasional American movie or program, it's all silly soap operas from Brazil anyway. Microwave. How many times a day do you use that? I think you could buy that here too, but again, expensive and not many people have them. The shopping mall :) Everyone knows how much I loved my shopping. But these are all things I have learned not to love anymore. Things I no longer rely on. It's amazing how much stuff you can live without.

Hot water. Let's talk a little bit about the hot water. This is the exception. Something I don't think I can forget about. It is very cold outside. I wear long sleeves everyday to school, and in the evening I have to layer my clothes. Taking a shower in this place has since become a bigger pain in the rear. We have no shower curtain and the shower head is hand-held. It's basically a shower base that we stand in in the middle of the bathroom. So needless to say, water inevitabley gets all over the bathroom floor. And we don't have hot water. The cold water showers used to come as a relief after the very hot and dusty days. But now that it's cold outside, let me just tell you how miserable the cold showers are when you are already cold. So I just don't shower very often now. I know that's gross sounding. But I figure that I am also conserving water. Showering is an effort and takes mental preparation and planning because it's cold and miserable, and the bathroom gets completely covered in water afterwords. So the showering isn't done as frequently as normal.

Other than that, I had a very slow weekend. I mostly stayed inside and read. Leland went to Mazurka Saturday night and said it was about the same as last time. I just wasn't up for going. I went to the market this morning (early Monday mornings are always the best time to go) and Tony's aunt was there. She said she and some other ladies come up from the North on Monday mornings to sell what they have grown in their vegetable garden. Which isn't much. Usually watermelon, cucumbers, tiny carrots, and very large squash. Today they had kale, which is a type of lettuce, bitter like romain but very leafy. But I buy what I can from her and her friends, because anything else that they don't sell, I go ahead and buy from my main lady who always has everything else, Luz. She imports other fruits like oranges, apples, and bananas, and occassionally pears and grapes. She has all the basic other veggies like potatoes, onions, peppers, garlic, eggplant, and tomatoes.

So that is all, I will try and post some photos of our AIDS day this evening. Are you guys excited for the cruise yet? :)

Thursday, December 07, 2006

So I have seen my first glimpses of Christmas. It's funny, because I keep forgetting that Christmas is just around the corner. People have begun to put lights in their windows. And they are amazed when I tell them that houses in the US have competitions with lights and decorations and put little miniature Nativity scenes and Santas with reindeer on their roofs and in their yards. I get wide eyed reactions when I tell them about the grandiose displays of Christmas joy and how everyone seems to be in on it whether Christian or not. And the stores with their sales and discounts and lines...ok I've already lamented about the lines. So anyway, I got a little excited when I saw the lights in the windows. Here for Christmas, people do put lights up. They do have Christmas trees as well. Not real ones, obviously, but you can purchase little fake ones from the Chinese Loja.

Sidebar: almost all towns have a little shop that is run by immigrant Chinese people. These shops generally carry really bizzarre and random items that are usually fairly cheap. Things like plates, other kitchen items, clothes lines, mirrors, and random clothes. We buy all our tupperware and plates and stuff there. They don't, however, carry anything Chinese, or east-Asian at all, like soy sauce or Ramen noodles. When I first walked into the Chinese Loja, that's what I thought would be in there. Boy was I dissappointed.

Anyway, Christmas. Helena has offered to lend us her little small tree, as she says she wants Tony to get them a large one this year. So who knows, maybe we will have a little Christmas cheer in our apartment this year. A group of our volunteer friends from another island will be coming down for Christmas, so it will be nice to have some friends for the holiday. We will lie on the beach and sunbathe.

Although, I must say that it has been getting quite cool here lately. I mean, nothing freezing, but I actually had to wear a sweatshirt to class today!! It has been cloudy and very windy, which doesn't help the dust situation; but the combination of the clouds and wind make for a very chilly day.

So next week I give out my final round of tests, and I have decided to make them difficult and cummilative of the whole trimester. It's not that I want them to fail, but if they aren't going to listen, then it's really their own fault. Two weeks left in the trimester, and can you tell I'm excited??

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

So I got punched in the head last week by one of my students. I thought I would start off this blog with a fun little catch line like that. But I'm not joking. So my crazy 8C class has just been escalating (see below for photos). They have been getting crazier and crazier as the trimester comes to a close (we have less than three weeks!) Last week, I put them into groups for some group work. I almost never let them choose their own groups, as this inevitably ends in chaos and some kids getting left out. Well this time, I chose their groups, but I clearly did it wrong. A girl and a boy were placed together that just could not seem to get along. They were bantering back and forth for a little while and I tried to control them. I should have taken the hint and switched one of them into another group. Well next thing I know I look up and the girl has reached across the table and punched the boy in the face. So he reaches back across the table and proceeds to choke her. Another (rather large, 17-year old) boy gets up and takes boy 1 and throws him across the tables, and then proceeds to choke him. By this time, my legs have started to function again, so I go and stupidly stand in front of the girl facing the boys. As boy 1 gets up and starts to come at the girl (and me as well now) the girl takes a swing at him, misses and hits me instead. Yeah that was nice. So I yell at the girl to get out of the classroom, and large boy carries boy 1 out of the classroom and the four of us walk to the director's office. So boy 1 and girl have now been suspended. Later I found out that another boy in the same class was suspended the same day for bringing a knife to school and threatening another girl with it (this boy by the way is the chefe de tourma or class delegate type person). This place is going absolutely crazy. But the trimester is almost over, not that I am counting down the days or anything.

On a separate note, our AIDS race went pretty well. A lot of people came, there were a lot of activities that were planned. World AIDS day was actually on Friday, but because of work and school and such, all the events were held on Saturday. We had different athletic groups perform various skills, there was a DJ there who played music. The students from the high school marched around the town, and then there was our 5k. I think we had about 15 runners. Not too many, but enough for people to cheer when they all came to the finish line. No women runners. Apparently women aren't usually thought of as runners. It's times like that where I wish I could run 5k. To be the only girl in the race would be kinda cool, and show them that woman actually can run. But alas, I am no runner, never have been, so I took position of event photographer (And I hope to post those photos soon). But all in all a good day, fairly successful and the weather was not too bad either.

And finally I would just like to say that I successfully made chicken curry this weekend that was delicious if I do say so myself. I even hand made the chipatis (not too different from tortillas). Thank you Auntie Muneera for the recipe, and mommy for the spices. My next cooking conquest is bread. I am determined to make some good bread for croissants or cinnamon rolls or something. Well that is all for now, I hope everyone had a good weekend.