Cape Verde Experience

When we arrived in Praia I was excited yet nervous at the same time. I got kind of worried when I tried to communicate with my new “mother” for the first time and failed. She couldn’t understand me and I couldn’t understand her. We quickly adapted the use of a sort of sign language between us. The difficulties with communication between me and my host family were not as apparent as with other students. I may have not known any Portuguese or Creole, but the majority of the family members knew at least a little bit of English. Since most of them knew at least some English I never really felt forced to learn the language. Looking back at the experience I wish that I would have been forced a little more to learn their language. I think it would have been a more impactful experience had I learned more Portuguese.

I believe my lack of knowledge about their language greatly impacted my overall experience. The first night I spent with my family was actually a fairly scary time for me. I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing, were I was supposed to go, or how I was supposed to get there. I felt vary cut off from everyone and everything. The scariest time came when one of the family members (Jica) took my phone and walked off into someone’s house. I had no idea why she was taking my phone. The reason I was so scared was because that phone was the only way I could communicate with anyone else from the UWM group, and she had just walked off with it into someone’s house without being able to communicate to me the reason for doing so.

To Hell and back

My first impressions upon arriving in Cabo Verde/Inferno were those of sheer excitement. This was exactly the kind of place I was looking for and I couldn’t wait to meet my host family. As odd as it may sound I was thrilled by the lack of infrastructure, the size of my house and the generally poor nature of the area. Since I was looking to have an experience as different as possible from my daily life these aspects were all a dream come true.

Life in Cape Verde to put it bluntly was great and I enjoyed every minute of it. I adapted easily to the slower pace of life. I quickly lost my cell phone that I never checked anyway and did not miss TV or the internet. I will say the pace of life in Inferno was much more to my liking than in Plateau. Praia was much busier and crowded and I preferred Inferno hands down. Plateau was my least favorite place to be in Praia.