lucky 7´s

July 7, 2007 «07/07/07»

It was one year ago today that I first stepped foot on Cape Verdean soil. Bright eyed and idealistic, I stepped off the plane and faced the remarkably small structure that is the international airport in Praia, the capital of Cape Verde. In a frenzy, we loaded the bags from our group and the group that had arrived the previous day onto a fleet of luggage carts and wheeled our way through the threshold that separates international no-man’s-land and terra de Cabo Verde. The overwhelmingly blue tiles were my first greeting as I scanned the crowd, not for a familiar face, but for anyone to come rescue me from the small sea of unfamiliar sights and sounds. Our ears perked up as we heard the words “Peace Corps” and, like a herd of crazed lemmings, we pushed our fleet in the direction of the sound. We stood by the sidewalk awaiting the arrival of a giant truck to carry away everyone’s two precious bags of clothing, hygiene products, personal affects and whatever else we foolishly thought we would need to survive two years in Africa. Smelling of fresh meat, we were surrounded by a flock of friendly looking hustlers offering to help take the luggage off our hands, literally. A small car of Peace Corps representatives arrived to greet us and save us from the luggage hungry vultures. They explained that the plane was delayed (typical of TACV) and no one was informed (typical of Peace Corps) so the truck would be late (typical of Cape Verde). Thanks to sleep deprivation and multiple changeovers, I have no idea how long we stood on that sidewalk, but as soon as the truck arrived, the baggage was loaded in a fury and we were swept off to the hostel Madre Teresa to begin training, arguably the longest 9 weeks of my life.

In this manner I began the last year of my life. This year, I opt to celebrate New Year´s not on January 1st, but on July 8th. The events of the past year have helped me grow and change in ways that I never thought possible, and I intend to use this new knowledge to make this next year an even better experience.