Killer Cars

I haven’t been writing much about what I do here at Pre Service Training. There’s always something different going on directly related to training or with adapting to the culture. The days feel short and the weekends feel shorter than they should. Time flies by where I don’t remember what I did except study a lot of language, and listen to my iPod. And when you live in a town with only one main road and no traffic lights, you wonder how your weekend flew by so fast.

So here’s a sample of I guess a typical weekend at PST. I’m going to use last weekend as an example:

Thursday:
The day after we are assigned curfews, we all converge at a small bar on the corner of the main road directly after training. We refer to this bar as “Quiznos” because its short for Quiosque Di Nos. The room is packed with trainees and some current volunteers that live close by. Everybody is having a drink to reflect on the long week and hope the next day (Friday) is easy. Card games are played, and stories are swapped. If you are a trainee you have to be here if everybody else is. Some plans are made for the weekend and some trainees talk about what they have planned for the Model School festival. None of us stay out late, as all of us retire to our homes for dinner with the family.

Friday:
In the afternoon there is a mini festival for all the high school kids that participated in Model School. Model School is a 2 week simulation classroom for local high school kids where we teach them English. I taught a couple classes but they were mainly for the English Teacher Trainees. The other Community Development trainees are there to set up, and give treats to the kids as they receive a certificate for the Model School course. There’s a skit for every classroom and the DJ plays dance music and all the kids dance for about a half hour after the formalities are over. Here in Cape Verde all the kids love to dance and we are in shock that they are all having a blast.

After the festival, the kids are invited to watch a soccer game between the Community Development Trainees versus the English Teaching Trainees at the local polivalente (outdoor concrete soccer stadium). I play as a sub and everybody goes back to the bar after for drinks.

Later on at night, I head to another bar at around 10 to meet up with other trainees. This bar doesn’t open very often and is the nicest and most “African” bar I’ve seen so far in this country. I chat with some of the locals and run into a Cape Verdean who lived in Rhode Island for some time. Most of us get tired around midnight and I head back to go to bed.

Saturday:
Saturday morning I am up around 7 and it’s “bonding” day with the family. My host mother teaches me how to hand wash my laundry. About a half hour of scrubbing on a washboard and my clothes are ready to be hung to dry. Later on, I take a visit to fetch some ideas for food that I need to make tonight for the cultural exchange. After taking a visit to the local market, I deem it possible to make spaghetti and chicken myself. I purchase ingredients with the money Peace Corps allotted me and I bring it home for my host mother to help me. She helped me peel the vegetables and get the stove just right, my sauce came out oily thin but it’s still better than anything I made in college.

I was supposed to be at the training center around 5 so naturally I pack my food and get dressed around 5:30. My host mother decided she’ll go later after she takes a bath and insists that me as an American shouldn’t be late. I haul over to the training center making sure not to spill my food. Even though I think I am really late, I’m actually really early.

The last of the families arrive around 7:30 and its munching time. All the trainees brought an American dish to share, and their host family counterparts made a Cape Verdean dish for us to try. I get stuffed immediately and did not leave room for dessert. Almost every current volunteer on the island came to join in on the fun as events like these don’t happen often.

Afterwards, there is batuque drummers and dancers for about an hour and a half and all the trainees are forced to dance at least once. The session continues until late and I retire to bed around 10:30.

Sunday:
Sunday morning I awake with a fever and look forward to be in bed sick. I let one of my fellow trainees know that I won’t be able to make the hike that was planned for today and I get started on getting better. I lay down to sleep but the family insists on being loud so I force myself to watch movies. Before dinner, I have watched 3 movies and bits and pieces of local TV.

Around dinner I get news of a local band that will be playing at the polivalente and that I should take the kids to go. Around 8, I feel a bit better and meet all the other locals outside the polivalente along with several other trainees. Music goes on past midnight and I leave the kids there to go to bed around midnight. I don’t know what time the kids returned as I slept looking forward to another work filled week.

And that is just a typical weekend here at PST. Anything can still happen though and we just recently hit the halfway mark.

Related Posts

• Good Material about Cape Verde
• My official Invitation
• Cape Verde Linkage!
• Typical Weekend Here at Cape Verde & PST

Share this post:      

I haven’t been writing much about what I do here at Pre Service Training. There’s always something different going on directly related to training or with adapting to the culture. The days feel short and the weekends feel shorter than they should. Time flies by where I don’t remember what I did except study a lot of language, and listen to my iPod. And when you live in a town with only one main road and no traffic lights, you wonder how your weekend flew by so fast.

So here’s a sample of I guess a typical weekend at PST. I’m going to use last weekend as an example:

Thursday:
The day after we are assigned curfews, we all converge at a small bar on the corner of the main road directly after training. We refer to this bar as “Quiznos” because its short for Quiosque Di Nos. The room is packed with trainees and some current volunteers that live close by. Everybody is having a drink to reflect on the long week and hope the next day (Friday) is easy. Card games are played, and stories are swapped. If you are a trainee you have to be here if everybody else is. Some plans are made for the weekend and some trainees talk about what they have planned for the Model School festival. None of us stay out late, as all of us retire to our homes for dinner with the family.

Friday:
In the afternoon there is a mini festival for all the high school kids that participated in Model School. Model School is a 2 week simulation classroom for local high school kids where we teach them English. I taught a couple classes but they were mainly for the English Teacher Trainees. The other Community Development trainees are there to set up, and give treats to the kids as they receive a certificate for the Model School course. There’s a skit for every classroom and the DJ plays dance music and all the kids dance for about a half hour after the formalities are over. Here in Cape Verde all the kids love to dance and we are in shock that they are all having a blast.

After the festival, the kids are invited to watch a soccer game between the Community Development Trainees versus the English Teaching Trainees at the local polivalente (outdoor concrete soccer stadium). I play as a sub and everybody goes back to the bar after for drinks.

Later on at night, I head to another bar at around 10 to meet up with other trainees. This bar doesn’t open very often and is the nicest and most “African” bar I’ve seen so far in this country. I chat with some of the locals and run into a Cape Verdean who lived in Rhode Island for some time. Most of us get tired around midnight and I head back to go to bed.

Saturday:
Saturday morning I am up around 7 and it’s “bonding” day with the family. My host mother teaches me how to hand wash my laundry. About a half hour of scrubbing on a washboard and my clothes are ready to be hung to dry. Later on, I take a visit to fetch some ideas for food that I need to make tonight for the cultural exchange. After taking a visit to the local market, I deem it possible to make spaghetti and chicken myself. I purchase ingredients with the money Peace Corps allotted me and I bring it home for my host mother to help me. She helped me peel the vegetables and get the stove just right, my sauce came out oily thin but it’s still better than anything I made in college.

I was supposed to be at the training center around 5 so naturally I pack my food and get dressed around 5:30. My host mother decided she’ll go later after she takes a bath and insists that me as an American shouldn’t be late. I haul over to the training center making sure not to spill my food. Even though I think I am really late, I’m actually really early.

The last of the families arrive around 7:30 and its munching time. All the trainees brought an American dish to share, and their host family counterparts made a Cape Verdean dish for us to try. I get stuffed immediately and did not leave room for dessert. Almost every current volunteer on the island came to join in on the fun as events like these don’t happen often.

Afterwards, there is batuque drummers and dancers for about an hour and a half and all the trainees are forced to dance at least once. The session continues until late and I retire to bed around 10:30.

Sunday:
Sunday morning I awake with a fever and look forward to be in bed sick. I let one of my fellow trainees know that I won’t be able to make the hike that was planned for today and I get started on getting better. I lay down to sleep but the family insists on being loud so I force myself to watch movies. Before dinner, I have watched 3 movies and bits and pieces of local TV.

Around dinner I get news of a local band that will be playing at the polivalente and that I should take the kids to go. Around 8, I feel a bit better and meet all the other locals outside the polivalente along with several other trainees. Music goes on past midnight and I leave the kids there to go to bed around midnight. I don’t know what time the kids returned as I slept looking forward to another work filled week.

And that is just a typical weekend here at PST. Anything can still happen though and we just recently hit the halfway mark.

Related Posts

• Good Material about Cape Verde
• My official Invitation
• Cape Verde Linkage!
• Typical Weekend Here at Cape Verde & PST

Share this post:      

I haven’t been writing much about what I do here at Pre Service Training. There’s always something different going on directly related to training or with adapting to the culture. The days feel short and the weekends feel shorter than they should. Time flies by where I don’t remember what I did except study a lot of language, and listen to my iPod. And when you live in a town with only one main road and no traffic lights, you wonder how your weekend flew by so fast.

So here’s a sample of I guess a typical weekend at PST. I’m going to use last weekend as an example:

Thursday:
The day after we are assigned curfews, we all converge at a small bar on the corner of the main road directly after training. We refer to this bar as “Quiznos” because its short for Quiosque Di Nos. The room is packed with trainees and some current volunteers that live close by. Everybody is having a drink to reflect on the long week and hope the next day (Friday) is easy. Card games are played, and stories are swapped. If you are a trainee you have to be here if everybody else is. Some plans are made for the weekend and some trainees talk about what they have planned for the Model School festival. None of us stay out late, as all of us retire to our homes for dinner with the family.

Friday:
In the afternoon there is a mini festival for all the high school kids that participated in Model School. Model School is a 2 week simulation classroom for local high school kids where we teach them English. I taught a couple classes but they were mainly for the English Teacher Trainees. The other Community Development trainees are there to set up, and give treats to the kids as they receive a certificate for the Model School course. There’s a skit for every classroom and the DJ plays dance music and all the kids dance for about a half hour after the formalities are over. Here in Cape Verde all the kids love to dance and we are in shock that they are all having a blast.

After the festival, the kids are invited to watch a soccer game between the Community Development Trainees versus the English Teaching Trainees at the local polivalente (outdoor concrete soccer stadium). I play as a sub and everybody goes back to the bar after for drinks.

Later on at night, I head to another bar at around 10 to meet up with other trainees. This bar doesn’t open very often and is the nicest and most “African” bar I’ve seen so far in this country. I chat with some of the locals and run into a Cape Verdean who lived in Rhode Island for some time. Most of us get tired around midnight and I head back to go to bed.

Saturday:
Saturday morning I am up around 7 and it’s “bonding” day with the family. My host mother teaches me how to hand wash my laundry. About a half hour of scrubbing on a washboard and my clothes are ready to be hung to dry. Later on, I take a visit to fetch some ideas for food that I need to make tonight for the cultural exchange. After taking a visit to the local market, I deem it possible to make spaghetti and chicken myself. I purchase ingredients with the money Peace Corps allotted me and I bring it home for my host mother to help me. She helped me peel the vegetables and get the stove just right, my sauce came out oily thin but it’s still better than anything I made in college.

I was supposed to be at the training center around 5 so naturally I pack my food and get dressed around 5:30. My host mother decided she’ll go later after she takes a bath and insists that me as an American shouldn’t be late. I haul over to the training center making sure not to spill my food. Even though I think I am really late, I’m actually really early.

The last of the families arrive around 7:30 and its munching time. All the trainees brought an American dish to share, and their host family counterparts made a Cape Verdean dish for us to try. I get stuffed immediately and did not leave room for dessert. Almost every current volunteer on the island came to join in on the fun as events like these don’t happen often.

Afterwards, there is batuque drummers and dancers for about an hour and a half and all the trainees are forced to dance at least once. The session continues until late and I retire to bed around 10:30.

Sunday:
Sunday morning I awake with a fever and look forward to be in bed sick. I let one of my fellow trainees know that I won’t be able to make the hike that was planned for today and I get started on getting better. I lay down to sleep but the family insists on being loud so I force myself to watch movies. Before dinner, I have watched 3 movies and bits and pieces of local TV.

Around dinner I get news of a local band that will be playing at the polivalente and that I should take the kids to go. Around 8, I feel a bit better and meet all the other locals outside the polivalente along with several other trainees. Music goes on past midnight and I leave the kids there to go to bed around midnight. I don’t know what time the kids returned as I slept looking forward to another work filled week.

And that is just a typical weekend here at PST. Anything can still happen though and we just recently hit the halfway mark.

Related Posts

• Good Material about Cape Verde
• My official Invitation
• Cape Verde Linkage!
• Typical Weekend Here at Cape Verde & PST

Share this post: