N mataba pomba!

The title of this blog says “I killed a pigeon!” Leah’s brother killed one and I killed the second. Afterwards Leah’s sister and I plucked them and watched her mom gut them. We held them tightly by the head and spun the bodies around until their necks broke. I think I’m going to kill one of our chickens soon.

Other than that extreme update, all’s been well. Kriolu is coming along all right. We had a practice test to see at what level we can speak. I made intermediate-mid which is what we need to get commissioned, so I can breathe a sigh of relief. On Fogo I’ll have to learn a slightly different dialect of Kriolu but it’s mostly the same. I hope to pick up Portuguese after I get solid in Kriolu. The volunteer I’ll replace indeed got quite good so I hope to follow suit.

I was sad on Saturday as I missed Michigan’s opening football game for the first time in years. As I write this on Monday night I still don’t know if we beat Utah. All I can do is hope for the best. I’m not sure it’s possible to watch a game live in Cape Verde; perhaps Praia has a bar that gets American TV.

We went to Praia on Friday to visit some various agencies. It was nice to return and see that it’s really quite manageable when you can speak Kriolu. We went to a huge supermarket (by CV standards, so maybe like a smallish Kroger). It was incredibly overwhelming after only seeing mini-markets and the regular market in Assomada. I left with a headache and none of the groceries otherwise unavailable in Assomada and certainly Fogo.

Sunday we did an activity with the village kids. We played duck-duck-goose (or duck-duck-turkey because we didn’t know the word for goose in Kriolu) and then did a project, making picture frames from trash we found in and around Assomada. It went pretty well. It’s amazing how creative some of the kids are. The boys make really intricate cars from discarded tin cans, bottle tops, and wire. It always makes me wonder what kinds of awesome things they could do if put in the right situation. I think it’s important for us to at least tell them they’re smart and creative since they’re relatively ignored by their parents, who are too busy working. Mostly kids are surprised we’d even stop to say hello, let alone compliment them.

Anyway that’s about it here. I’m enjoying myself in the village but look forward to relocating as well. It’ll be tough to say goodbye to the other trainees (or volunteers by then) but the challenge excites me. Thanks for reading and leaving comments. Ti logu (until later).