“Txiga” – “come over!” all the neighbors yell this when you walk by. And its polite to go over and talk for a bit. There’s been a lot of txiga-ing these past few days.
The transition to my new home is going really smoothly! The house is really nice – living room, kitchen, dining room, bathroom, 3 bedrooms (I’m not quite sure where everyone sleeps because there are a lot of people and not very many beds). They have a nice gated patio where I spend most of my time (well, the little time I have off from class) talking and playing with my sisters and neighbors. Cruising the block is the thing to do and there are ALWAYS visitors at our house – partially the reason as to why I had such a hard time the first night trying to figure out who was actually in my family. Neighbors just walk right in the house and often times end up staying for dinner. There is quite a lot of hustle and bustle about. The weather is fantastic – not too sunny and it can’t be more than 80 degrees during the day. It’s the beginning of the rainy season so things will probably start to get very humid. A volunteer that I met in Praia warned me that humidity is so high that everything and anything will start to mold if its not hung to dry immediately…
I’ve got my own room, which is pretty basic, but still nice. It gives me a little getaway from all the activity in the house. Its decked out with mosquito net, very comfy bed, purple flower sheets and a large wall hanging of Jesus at the Last Supper – its quite lovely.
I figured out that the older woman who is always here is not related to us, just a neighbor that they’ve kind of adopted as a grandmother. She is a riot – keeps talking to me really fast and really loud even though I’ve asked her several times to just speak slower. And the whole time she will either be hugging me or hanging on to my arm. I have quickly learned that personal space bubbles do not exist and it is not uncommon for two people to be shaking hands for the entirety of a conversation. My sisters are great and have been helping me practice my kriolu. The oldest sister, Nuka, wants to learn English, so we’ve been helping each other out. It worked out really well because I have 2 sisters that are around my age, but there are still 2 younger kids in the house. It’s a nice balance. And of course, my incredibly patient mai! I feel so bad sometimes because I can’t understand what she is saying. If I can’t understand her after the 5thtime I usually just smile and laugh and say my catch-all phrase, “sim, sta bon” (yes, that’s good). Its been working pretty well so far. But I definitely think my kriolu is getting better! I have language class from 8-12:30, go home for lunch, and am back at class from 2-4/5ish. But even when I’m not in class I’m still speaking (or at least trying to speak) the language. Its amazing to think that its only been 1 week!
Ok, getting tired so I’m just going to make a quick of list of things I wanted to share with everyone:
-the school I go to for language class is a couple towns away, I was supposed to walk or take public transportation, but it turns out they are installing a new sewage system in the town so the roads are a disaster!! I’m talking massive ditches along the side of the one-lane road, and the potholes are the size of manholes. Its all dust so its impossible to see and there are lots of people/animals/trucks still using the road. Luckily, PC has assigned me a driver, Estabo! So I get to ride in the PC LandRover to and from class and practice my kriolu with Estabo. Mutu bon!
-all CV houses have really nice floors. My house has a nice white tiled floor that is patterned to look like marble. I’ve visited a couple other neighbors and PC trainees that live near me and they’ve also got nice tile and wood floors. And they are all very proud of their floors and make sure to point it out to us as we’re getting the house tour
-CVians like Jean-Claude Van Damme. My sisters and about 5 other neighborhood kids watched some Van Damme movie that they had gotten at the market. I think it started halfway into the movie and it was in Engilsh so none of them could understand what was going on. It was by far the cheesiest movie I have ever seen, but everyone seemed to be into it. My sister said that Van Damme is very popular here and they have seen many of his movies.
-Funana is a national obsession. Funana is a type of music and dance in CV, very upbeat, mariachi, carnival, island sounding music. Everywhere I go I hear funana. Even when we’re sitting in our classroom we can hear it being played in the house next door. I took a hilux (the equivalent of a taxi) the other day and they were playing funana. It is everywhere. I like it right now, but I’m sure that by the end of my 2 years I will never want to hear funana again.
-my mai feeds me every meal like its my last. So much delicious food all the time. Even when I tell her I’m full she’ll try to sneak more servings on to my plate when I’m not looking. Also, even though my family and Matt’s family are “um familia grande”, there are still 2 houses, which means I eat 2 dinners. One with Matt’s family and one with mine. I definitely will not be going hungry over here.
My sisters and neighbor gettin her hair did
My sister, Nuka, me and Matt's brother Gil walking home from church. The mountain behind us is the landmarker of Picos. It will be climbed eventually.
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