This week has been crazy!!! Ok so first thing first. I live in a town named Txan di Tanki in Santiago. Most towns in Cape Verde have a patron Saint and they have Saint Days. The saint for TDT is Senhora Graça and her Saint day is August 15th. Although, it is only supposed to be for one day TDT celebrates for an entire week. So starting on the 11th, people were buying clothes and getting food. Music was being played at every house, all day, everyday. There was a huge soccer final game on the sunday before between Txan di tanki and a neighboring town. They got down to the end and neither team scored. So because it was the final they played sudden death. But here, Sudden death is done differently instead of people staying in their seats, biting their nails, and peeing in their pants, everyone, and I mean everyone, gets on the field and surrounds the goal post. So there I was with the entire town standing on the field and watching as txan di tanki ...lost. It was so sad. Everyone was sad...I couldn´t really see any of it but I knew they lost because my host sister pulls me and was like "nu bai gosi" (let´s go now). I was wondering why she was pulling me but then I realized because the other town was going crazy in victory... and tdt was going crazy in anger. There were fights, and a lot of drunk people and a lot of people who were just there for quinze de agosto looking to have a good time. So we left to the safety of our side of town.
Because Community development is the only group in Txan di tanki we were able to get Aug 15th off as like a holiday. My families exteneded relatives came form everywhere (neighboring town, islands, etc.) and stayed in the house. There was always a different group of people in my house laughing, eating, and drinking. I never realized how important food was here but literally they take it seriously. You prepare, cook, and eat all day during holidays. I woke up on the 14th to the sound Pigs, cows, and goats being slaughtered. Literally, starting on the 13th multiple families had the skins of animals laid out in the front or on the side of their houses. Needless to say, it was a party for 3 days prior to the actual party.
Anyways on the 14th everyone cooks all this food and at night people go to the discotec (club). Well me being an American I thought oh we should probably get to the club around 11. Umm no. We actually left our houses about 11 and walked through the streets. It was like a huge town block party. We get to the club around 12am which is still early for Cape Verdeans. Other PC Volunteers from two towns over came and surprised us about an hour later. Let me just say that I thought I had danced before but you have never had a real dancing experience until you have danced to reggaeton, reggae, and then Funana (a traditional dance in Cape Verde...Think of the fastest hip-hop song and then multiply that beat by about 20) in a club with no air conditioning or fans, with windows that blow no air in because it is almost as hot outside as it is in, and filled to complete capacity (a space for maybe 300 with about 600 people there). We left the discotec around 5 and I went to bed around 5:40. But I later found out that wasearly, generally on quinze de agosto you donºt leave the club until 8...so we were lightweights compared to everyone else. ~
Because Community development is the only group in Txan di tanki we were able to get Aug 15th off as like a holiday. My families exteneded relatives came form everywhere (neighboring town, islands, etc.) and stayed in the house. There was always a different group of people in my house laughing, eating, and drinking. I never realized how important food was here but literally they take it seriously. You prepare, cook, and eat all day during holidays. I woke up on the 14th to the sound Pigs, cows, and goats being slaughtered. Literally, starting on the 13th multiple families had the skins of animals laid out in the front or on the side of their houses. Needless to say, it was a party for 3 days prior to the actual party.
Anyways on the 14th everyone cooks all this food and at night people go to the discotec (club). Well me being an American I thought oh we should probably get to the club around 11. Umm no. We actually left our houses about 11 and walked through the streets. It was like a huge town block party. We get to the club around 12am which is still early for Cape Verdeans. Other PC Volunteers from two towns over came and surprised us about an hour later. Let me just say that I thought I had danced before but you have never had a real dancing experience until you have danced to reggaeton, reggae, and then Funana (a traditional dance in Cape Verde...Think of the fastest hip-hop song and then multiply that beat by about 20) in a club with no air conditioning or fans, with windows that blow no air in because it is almost as hot outside as it is in, and filled to complete capacity (a space for maybe 300 with about 600 people there). We left the discotec around 5 and I went to bed around 5:40. But I later found out that wasearly, generally on quinze de agosto you donºt leave the club until 8...so we were lightweights compared to everyone else. ~
I woke up around 10 and watched a huge processional from the city to our village from the town street. I joined in with other Peace Corps Volunteers once they passed my part of town. We walked through the town with the Senhora Graça statue at the front, next to the priest who was giving his sermon over a huge intercom (speakers in the back of a pickup truck). After Misa (mass) we all went to random houses and ate all the katxupa (cuchupa...traditional CV dish), txeren (cheren...cv form of grits), and arroz (rice) we could stomach. Although Grouge (the official liquor of Cape Verde...the strongest form of liquor I have ever encountered) was very abundant. So it was an intense 5 days for me full of random cultural events. I ate, danced, and witnessed a lot... and it was fun!!!
Yesterday was a big day for Peace Corps volunteers. We actually got our site placement. Which means we all found out where we are going to live for the next 2 years. To find out we had to play a game. The current volunteers made pinatas. One was a donkey for all the Community development people and one was a pig for the TEFL people. We had to break them and inside was candy with papers with our names and site written on it. Each person picked up one and read it.
So my wish came true and I am staying on Santiago. I am going to live in Calheta de Sao Miguel. I will be working with 4 different organizations. OASIS (agricultural group) OMCV (the large Women´s association), One of the CEJs (youth centers), and the local Camara (like a city hall). Yeah it is gonna be a lot but I am so excited!!! I am apparently living alone but my current LCF (language teacher) lives in the town and I am soo excited because she knows everyone and that will really help me integrate into the culture there. I am pretty sure I will have electricity and possible water. Oh and I am very close to the beach! Well this was a brief overview of some of the events of the week. I will try to put more pics up soon but my camera died so I need to charge it before I can put all the pics from site announcement day and quinze de agosto. I must take a pic of the wildlife here (roaches, spiders, etc.) because they are unbelieveably big. I actually could here them crawling around my room at 3am. But I couldn´t see because we don´t have electricity after 11pm and didn´t have my flashlight...it was a very sleplees night. hahaha!
Yesterday was a big day for Peace Corps volunteers. We actually got our site placement. Which means we all found out where we are going to live for the next 2 years. To find out we had to play a game. The current volunteers made pinatas. One was a donkey for all the Community development people and one was a pig for the TEFL people. We had to break them and inside was candy with papers with our names and site written on it. Each person picked up one and read it.
So my wish came true and I am staying on Santiago. I am going to live in Calheta de Sao Miguel. I will be working with 4 different organizations. OASIS (agricultural group) OMCV (the large Women´s association), One of the CEJs (youth centers), and the local Camara (like a city hall). Yeah it is gonna be a lot but I am so excited!!! I am apparently living alone but my current LCF (language teacher) lives in the town and I am soo excited because she knows everyone and that will really help me integrate into the culture there. I am pretty sure I will have electricity and possible water. Oh and I am very close to the beach! Well this was a brief overview of some of the events of the week. I will try to put more pics up soon but my camera died so I need to charge it before I can put all the pics from site announcement day and quinze de agosto. I must take a pic of the wildlife here (roaches, spiders, etc.) because they are unbelieveably big. I actually could here them crawling around my room at 3am. But I couldn´t see because we don´t have electricity after 11pm and didn´t have my flashlight...it was a very sleplees night. hahaha!
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