Airborne! (Or, I get by with a little help from my friends)

(Once again we have fallen slightly behind schedule with our blogging, but hope to catch up this week. Although many of you probably know that Carnivale was this past weekend/week, and we did go to Mindelo for the big party, THIS post is dedicated to my friends.)



A month or so ago, we received an oddly cryptic email from our friends Kim and Bird. It was a series of clues with the title "Airborne Art." The clues were similar to those in the photo above (though not as cooly rhymed). We tried to figure it out and weasel some sort of clarification out of our friends...but the last "clue" they had sent stated "Patience is a Virtue;" I knew we were screwed.



A few weeks ago, the package finally arrived! That's me above, feeling pretty excited about the swift delivery. Part of the instructions said we had to invite over a bunch of our sexy friends and make a party out of it - it even came with SEXY necklaces for us to wear - so we planned to unveil the package that weekend.



Not all our peeps could make it, but L & K came down for the night, and we got to work (with the help of a little vino)!



At first, we were a little lost...



Then we made a few important discoveries and were on our way!



Slightly off topic, but check out my shoes! Those are slippers Kim sent to me a while back, and on the bottom they have fabric rope type things on them, so that when I walk I am dust mopping the floor!



Now, if we turn this piece this way...I think maybe...



We've got it!



I know the picture isn't the greatest (because our lighting here isn't the greatest...) but if you can tell, it's a map of the Cape Verde Islands, Jackson Pollock style. The easiest way to see it is to look at the lower left to lower middle - you'll see the islands of Brava, Fogo and Santiago. In the upper right, you'll see our island, Santo Antao. Also see if you can find the clues - the bird rising in the West, Dusty settling in the East. We had such a fabulous time figuring this out - it just took us a couple weeks to figure out where to hang it so the most people would see it.

Continuing on with the Ode to My Friends...yesterday, Kim's missing package arrived! So for anyone counting, we have lost ZERO packages (that we can tell...) and only one letter (but I bet it comes eventually!). The envelope was crammed full of spice packets, Good Seasoning salad dressing mix (omg Kim, awesome idea, our salad last night was increadible, first time we've had a salad in fact in months!), and hot cocoa. And because a package from Kim wouldn't be complete without a little something fun(ny)...



Snickerdoodle thought this was particularly hilarious. We were also just informed that there are directions on the back for use - too funny.

I also want to thank Meredith for including me in the "book tree" and including all the letters and lables so that life was a lot easier - I got them all mailed out and the book I'm supposed to send is in the mail! I'm so psyched to see if I actually get any books back :o)

I have truely been amazed at the level of involvement our friends and families have had while we're over here...we've been well stocked with letters, spices, books, movies, candy, cookies, music, all the things from home we've been missing. If any parents or friends of other PCV's or future PCV's are reading my blog, know that there is nothing as exciting as getting mail while you are in the Peace Corps. You don't need to send huge boxes or things that cost a lot of money; PCV's get just as excited with a letter, a picture and a bouillon cube :o)

Next up will be our Carnivale 2009 report, and some great pics! (Kim the art supplies you sent, along with the masks, arrived just in time for Carnivale!)

Ti logu,
Dove

PS - Claude, we just got another book that you sent! Thank you!!!

Without further adu...

...a new blog!

Sad to say that there hasn't been a HUGE amount going on, which accounts partially for our lack of reporting. When we last left off, it was after the festival for Liberty Day. The following weekend there was this really cool agricultural fair up in Ponta de Sol, on the other side of the island. It's about an hour drive to get to Povacao, and then another 15 minute ride to P. Sol. We got there Friday night and spent the weekend at the fair. It was pretty similar to the fair in Lagedos that we go to every month (this month was no exception, we were there this Saturday!), except it was bigger, maybe 4 times the people, and at night they had live entertainment. We got tons of good stuff, INCLUDING broccoli and cauliflower! It was worth the trip just to make some of Merediths delicious roasted broccoli with lemon, garlic and red pepper flakes (no olives, sorry Mer!). Plus of course we saw tons of people from the Camara in Port up there, and we always find it good to show our faces around the island as much as possible so that we're really integrating with the culture on many levels. The president of the Camra in Port was there and told us they have a similar fair in PN around June, so we're looking forward to that!
Also that weekend was Municipal Day in the conselho of Ribera Grande, so they had a live free concert in the street, including fireworks (the concerts are pretty common, the fire works are not). The music was great; a funana band from Praia was playing when we got there and they closed out the show. It was freezing with a light drizzle but apparently we survived.
We also made it to Mindelo for Super Bowl Sunday - GO STEELERS! Michelle, if you are reading this, we had several toasts in your honor and even tried to call you, but we got the machine! It was a great night with lots of pigging out on pizza - this restaraunt Flostells in Mindelo has some GREAT pizza, really really awesome, almost like American pizza, and they have one where you can get schwarma meat on it, which is sooooo awesome. Yeah, sometimes, like on Super Bowl Sunday, you just need some beer and pizza.
I've started going up to visit one of the volunteers, the one in Ribera das Patas, a couple times a week. She has a boyfriend who is SUPER patient with language, as is his friend, so in exchange for lunch I can sit down with them for 4 hours and just talk and practice Kriolu and not feel too stupid, plus the volunteer is usually there too so she can help with things I don't understand or help me say it better. It's definately one of the highlights of my week. It also gives us ample opportunity to walk around the town, meet and talk to new people, become familiar with that particular community (which is part of my conselho and are people I hope to be working with) and get some good walking/hiking in!
Work is...slow. I'm not sure what is going on but my counterpart said he is sorry but he has something really important going on and can't meet with me. This is after he said I'd really start seeing clients in February. I have this great four part program, complete with timeline, that i want to start working on, but I can't do anything until I talk with him. Thank you Peace Corps for letting me borrow MakingCents.com's BEST Game to review to see if it's something I want to use in my project - I'm pretty sure it is and I"ll be running a test game with some volunteers hopefully this weekend! It's basically a game that teaches you how to open and run a small business, but it's fun, almost like you are playing LIFE or Monopoly. If it works out well then I'm going to see if the Camara will buy a copy and see if we can't use that to start up some business training courses and possibly a summer business camp for girls, plus a mentoring program for business owners in the community and...ok I'm getting ahead of myself, but you can see I've got some ideas!!
Josh is doing GREAT! He met with NOSI today, the IT department of the national goverment who handle programming for nationwide databases and manage the interisland network. He got to review with them his plans for the new Camara building. He's also started working on some programming to put tax information into a database. Exciting! Well, not for me, but Josh is thrilled to be programming again. I never see him anymore, just like in America ;o)
Right now we are getting reved up for Carnival in Mindeo; we're leaving Saturday the 21st and staying in a for real hotel - can you believe it? Complete with air conditioning and maybe even hot water!!! There is a large group of us from the island that are going together as a bunch of Sexy Cavemen (okay, just cavemen, but you know when I'm involved it's GOT to be sexy!!!). I just finished my costume and am working on the guys now. Plus I had my mom send my tutu and rainbow corset AND I got some great goodies from my friend Miss Fidget, complete with this rockin' wig, so I'm PSYCHED to be dressing up like a fool again - I've missed costuming! We'll definately send pictures from the hotel rooms, but not from carnival itself I think - too much concern for theft and safety.
So that's it, kind of a lame update, but things are going well, life wise. Eating lots of beans. Gotta love that. OH and Pat, thanks SOOO much for sending the musical Christmas card that Josh JUST opened again, for the zillionth time. ARRRRRR!!!!

Ti logu,
Dove