Back when I was preparing for the interview part of the watson application, I was advised to prepare an answer to the question, “What do you imagine yourself doing on a typical day?” They ask this question, I am told, to make sure the applicant has envisioned himself doing what he says he will do, down to the mundane details. So, back in November, I closed my eyes and tried to conjure up an image of Josh in South Africa, Josue in Cape Verde, Zhou Xuehua in China, etc., and did my best to imagine what I would be doing from day to day. The problem was, (1) I did not really know what any of the countries were really like, and (2) I could never quite see how I fit into the picture. When the interview came and he did, in fact, ask me that question, I stumbled through something about haunting the local community centers and internet cafes and talking to users about yahoo, ebay, maybe even globalization – I can’t really remember.

chefe	hernando & felix	graduation from computer class	me & some peace corps

My typical day in Cape Verde is, to put it mildly, very laid-back. I will typically spend at least 3-4 hours a day doing what I consider to be very little (eat/nap/read/drink/etc). I don’t think my interviewer would have been too pleased if that were my answer, but here people live life at a different pace (and have a different attitude towards efficiency), so my days have followed suit.

Maybe this will illustrate what I mean about the pace of life: A few days ago, shortly after I arrived on the small island of Fogo, I left my pousada to walk around town. Though I didn’t have a concrete plan, I thought I might wander around and look into the few stores and markets that dotted the streets, check out the ferry schedules, and maybe sit down on the town wall by the ocean and read. But on my way out the door, the pousada’s old (and slightly senile) owner [first picture above] grabbed my arm and sat me down and told me to relax. I told him I was totally relaxed and was going to do nothing all day, but that I couldn’t stay because I wanted to do the things mentioned above. He, and the other old men sitting on the stoop, all started laughing.

The point is, I have had to redefine what it means to be relaxed. Sitting outside in a bar in a chair, not drinking anything and not talking, letting the flies crawl over your head without swatting them – this is still an activity, it is called “having a sit.”

In any case, my typical day: I wake up at a normal hour, read in bed, then eat the standard breakfast. If it is a Watson day, the post-breakfast hours will contain an interview or meeting of some sort (you can read more about the Watson side of things here); otherwise, I will find an errand or two to run around town, or walk off aimlessly to explore the outer parts of the city. From noon until 3pm, everything in Cape Verde shuts down. Here I usually read/write/eat/sleep/laze my way back to the hotel. In the afternoons, I often visit one of the towns outside of the capital. It takes 3 hours to get from one tip of Santiago to the other (see map), and there are many and diverse towns in between. The following pictures are from, in order, São Domingos (the new school), Cidade Velha (the fort overlooking the town), Assomado (outskirts of the city), and Praia (Fazenda, a densely populated area) – all on the island of Santiago.

                 

Once I get to the town, I will wander around until I find the school, and then chat with a few teachers and the director. Sometimes I will stay for dinner, but usually I make my way back to Praia where I finish off the day with more eating & drinking, maybe a soccer game on tv, maybe a movie, maybe another walk, or maybe just having a sit. All of these activities can be done alone or in groups. Also, I’ve been seeing a surprising amount of the Peace Corps, but I will be writing more about them later.

And that is, more or less, my typical day, once you subtract all the newsworthy events. The newsworthy events deserve their own entries, but as with any journal I’ve ever kept, I’ve fallen way behind, and I am not too optimistic about catching up. There is, after all, so much else to distract me.