Only in Cape Verde...

A random list of some of things that could only happen in Cape Verde (and are reasons why I love this place!):

1. You can walk into a store with a cup from home to purchase just one cup of wine (to either drink there or take back home with you). This applies to other things as well – you can buy a whole pack of printer paper, or you can ask them to open the pack to just buy by the page.

2. Every conversation begins with a back and forth of asking “How are you?” in almost every way this language allows:
• “How are you?”
• “Are you fine?”
• “Are you super?”
• “Is everything good?”
• “How is life?”
Even after the conversation gets going, if there is ever a lull it is almost always filled by someone asking, “So, everything’s good?” and the back and forth begins all over again.

3. You can blast Michael Bolton or Celine Dion in a public space and not get weird looks.

4. When asking for/giving directions, a perfectly acceptable answer to, for example, “Where is the bakery?” is “La (there).” The amount of stress placed on the word, la, indicates the exact distance – La (just there) or Llllllllllllllllllla (wayyy over there).

5. When you visit someone at their home they will always offer you food or drink, even if they have close to nothing and are living in a shack made of corrugated metal and shipping crates.

6. Criteria for something to be considered a real meal:
• There must be at least one serving of rice and/or beans on your plate
• You must use a spoon or fork to eat it
• To make something fancy, just put a fried egg on top (yum!)

7. Going to pay your electric or telephone bill is an all-day event. But nobody seems to mind (maybe because they are the only air conditioned buildings in town).

8. The most popular activity is to stroll around the block to see what other people are up to and stopping to chat with everyone you run into. Or you can just park yourself somewhere on the side of the street and yell to everyone who walks by.

9. EVERYONE (and I seriously mean everyone) watches and loves Brazilian soap operas.

10. When meeting somebody for the first time the line of questioning is often:
(after the series of “how are you?” questions, of course)
• “What is your name?”
• “Where are you from?”
• “Do you have kids?”
• “Do you want a Capeverdian boyfriend?”
(the order of these questions can vary)

11. Everything shuts down when it rains.

12. Justin Beiber and Eminem are national obsessions. And James Blunt is the karaoke artist of choice.

13. From breakfast to midnight snack, anytime is a good time to eat fish.

14. It is possible to hear Christmas songs randomly played in restaurants, year-round.

15. I have thoroughly confused everyone here about my nationality. I’ve gotten everything from Chinese to Mexican, but never American. I can have a 5 minute conversation with someone trying to explain that I am from America and they will still leave unconvinced.