Sworn In

Our nine week training has ended, and on Saturday we were officially sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers. There was a nice ceremony that some Cape Verdean officials along with our host families and training staff attended. The press was also at the event, and I gave a television interview. It was very exciting later to see my face on the evening news- especially since most families are very enthusiastic about watching "tele-journal." My host mom yells at everyone in the house to be quiet when it´s coming on, and then family and neighbors react to the news with shouts of enthusiasm or disgust.

After the ceremony, we left our homestay family’s place, and we are now being housed at a hotel until we begin our journey to our new community. First we’ll take a plane to Sao Vicent and then a boat to Santo Antao. Once on that island, we’ll be taking vans or taxis or donkeys to get ourselves and all of our bags to our house. We still have no idea of our housing situation but have repeatedly heard our town referred to as “up there.” We’re excited to arrive on Friday.

Our host mom wanted our last day at her place to be special, so she planned an activity that we’ve been talking about for weeks… killing a chicken. Scott was the assassin and the murder weapon was a butter knife. Both of us felt a little sad about killing the bird, but our 4-year old brother comforted us by saying that it was an annoying rooster that he didn’t like anyway. We cooked it up in a stew with potatoes, manioc, and little dumpling-like dough balls.

Later that evening another host mom in our community held a going away party with dinner and traditional singing/dancing. Let me just say that this style of dance is no hokey-pokey. Batuk is unique to Cape Verde and is said to be a dance that the women did to cheer up men as the families were being sold in to slavery here. Women sing and pound drums in their laps while a couple of dancers skillfully shake their butts. The evening was the public debut of my batuk skills. Luckily, I’ve had the chance to practice many times over the last couple of months. My instructors have mostly been little girls under age 10 who are experts. I like to think that I put on a pretty good show, but I’m certain there was room for improvement. I have two years to hone my skills.