Recent Events

Jared and I have been having a great time these last few weeks. I was very fortunate to meet Maria, the wife of the Cape Verde Consulate (soon to be the Ambassador) here in STP. She is one of the nicest people I have ever met! Maria and her husband Jose, had us over to their house not too long ago, and we had a pizza party with Michael Jackson videos playing all night! The Kis family (ADRA's director) were there too, and together, we all discussed our time here on Sao Tome and certain situations. It was very nice to hear all the different angles on topics. Jose spoke of the government, Adam on the people in communities outside of the city, and Jared from a historical perspective. It was a really interesting evening! I am not sure if any of you are familiar with Cape Verdean music, but the island has a fabulous music culture! I definitely suggest researching or You Tubing some of it! Anyway, Jose is an amazing guitar player and he played for us a bit, Maria sang a bit, and we all danced a bit! It was a wonderful night and one that I will never forget!

Last week, a group from the Gabon Embassy (the closest American Embassy for us - it serves as STP's US Embassy) came to STP for a visit and there was a town hall meeting at the Pestana Hotel for all Americans on this island. (Right now, there are about 11 of us, and 3 of them are leaving on Friday.) The meeting was to discuss safety issues and concerns, but STP is totally safe, so we all just chatted instead! Ambassador Eunice Reddick was there too, which was shocking because the email that invited us to the meeting said she would not be coming, but it was awesome meeting her! She ended up sitting right beside me and asked me how Jared got interested in Sao Tome in the first place. So, I told her the story that started it all...

When Jared was at Indiana University (IPFW) for his undergrad, a professor in his African History Pre-colonialism course told a story about a tiny country in Africa called Sao Tome. Apparently, in 1997, this island country decided to get a Navy. So, it ordered a 4-man fishing boat from Michigan, put 4 guys in it with 1 gun and they rode around the island making sure it was safe. Well, Nigeria did not like having another Naval force in the Gulf of Guinea, so one night, Nigeria's Navy stole Sao Tome's fleet (its one boat). Sao Tome is a very poor country, so instead of getting another boat, it choose to just not have a Navy anymore. Jared thought this story was hilarious and could not believe that in this day and age, a story like that could be true, so he started to learn about Sao Tome and eventually choose to go to graduate school for African History, and now we are in Sao Tome.

This is the what I told Ambassador Reddick. She just smiled and said, yes, that is a good story. Then she pointed to a lady across the table from us and told me that she was on the other end of it. The woman across the table (an American visiting from the Gabon Embassy too) was stationed in Nigeria at the time of the incident. Sao Tome filed a complaint, which Nigeria denied, and it was this woman's job to find the stolen boat. (I don't think she ever did, though.) So, not only is the story true, but Jared got to meet someone on the other end of the story and now he has come full circle! Pretty cool, right?!

Besides hanging out with ambassadors and such, we are also hanging out with other friends. Last Saturday, Jared and I went our separate ways and he hiked to Blu Blu waterfall in Madre Deus with Camden, our friend who interns with ARDA. His pictures are beautiful and the two of them had a wonderful time! I, on the other hand, went to the beach at Club Santana with Polly, our friend from Boston, and a group of people from Portugal. My day was totally relaxing and I had a wonderful time! It was nice to get to know some of the Portuguese community on the island, we see them everywhere (because it is so small here!) and it was a nice change of pace to get out of the city for a day!

We'll write more later!

M

Really Good Things

There are good things here, really good things that I will miss when we are gone. Like the stars...they twinkle here. They actually twinkle different colors like blue, red, green and yellow. It is so beautiful!

Also, we are completely relaxed here. Our schedule is our own and we can go to a beach or a pool anytime we want! I mean, when else are we going to be members of a 4 or 5 star hotel and visit it on a regular basis? (Um, never.)

And we are starting to get to know some people here. It is all about connections and networking. If we try to start a friendship on our own, people are non-responsive, but if we meet someone through someone else, then they are very kind, helpful and super nice. So it is just a different way here. We actually know a lot of people on the island and b/c it is so "small town" here, several people know who we are, that we are Americans, where we are working, and so on. Another difference is that people do not go out to bars or restaurants. What they do is buy drinks at a store, take them to a spot and sit and hang out, talk, and such. So to try and hang out with someone is hard b/c they do not make plans or have a schedule, they just do whatever comes up at the moment. (they call it leve-leve)

And, there is no violence here. STP is totally safe and harmless. People may jeer at us, blow kisses, heckle and such, but we are totally safe. No one would hurt us here, and they will not hurt each other, either. That is very comforting! It gets dark here really early and we regularly take a 15-20 minute walk to either Cafe e Compania or Miramar Hotel to check our email. We walk in the dark with our laptop and are totally safe. You could not do that is parts of the US, you know? And even if people are jeering at us, if we stop to talk to them or ask directions, they are very helpful and nice, so its just an act, or more likely they are bored.

In the mornings, we walk to the church where I am picked up with the other ADRA employees and driven to the ADRA compound. The morning walk is one of my favorite parts of the day. Its not too hot yet, people are out and about going to work, school, or just enjoying the day before it gets too hot, and the air is not dusty yet. The way we walk is through the park, where we say hello to the old men who have just finished their morning soccer game (one guy is our neighbor), past the casa de cinema (which does not show movies...), down the Presidential Palace road, which is shaded, has a very decent sidewalk, and has guards that we say Bom Dia! to, then past the Cathedral where people are always washing something in the mossy fountain, we cross Agua Grande, which is a river that flows through the center of town - there are always people hanging out by it, then down Kwarme Nkruma Avenida to the church. This last part is the most crowed with taxis and motorcycles and tiny kids trying to cross the road to get to school. The kids are so cute! They are all in uniforms and they hold hands all the time! It is so cute how affectionate the children are here with each other. You will see 7 or 8 year old boys walking down the street hold hands - but it is totally fine b/c men do it with each other here at times too! People show friendship in a different way and it is so sweet! The church is very close to the market and it is on a busy road that heads out of town and goes to several communities just outside the city proper. So while I stand there and wait for the ADRA van to come, I am passed by so many vehicles - taxi buses that should hold 9 people, squeezed with 14 or 15 instead, and lots of baskets filled with all kinds of food to sell that day - motorcycles with families on them, regular taxis filled with people going to the market to set up shop for the day, fabric, fruit, veggies, and all sorts of other things are in baskets and buckets, crates and bowls. Then, there are tons of people walking on the side walks. Some are carrying things to sell, some have book bags, others have babies tied to their backs...its a dizzying time and I love it!

Safu

Safu is a common food here in Sao Tome. It grows on trees and is sold in the market or by women in the street. Safu is purple on the outside and green on the inside, with a dark brown pit in the center. They are oblong and about an inch to an inch and a half long. To cook safu, you first need to scrape off some of the outer purple skin so that there are stripes on the outside. Then, you put the safu into boiling water, turn off the heat, and let them sit for about 3-5 minutes. They get fat from the water and the green flesh turns mushy. Then, you bite/suck off everything until just the pit is left. The consistency of prepared safu is much like an avocado and it is greasy like one too. People who have their gull-blatter out can only handle a few safu at a time because of this. The taste is hard to describe, but they are a bit bitter and the taste is located on the sides of your tongue. Pictures of safu are at the end of this photo album.

Michelle is 30!

For my 30th birthday weekend, Jared and I decided to leave Sao Tome island and go to a 5 star resort on an island just south of ST. Pestana Equator is the name of the resort on Rolas Island and it is amazing!

On Saturday morning at 7 am, we walked to the Hotel Mirimar close to our house (which is also owned by Pestana Group) and caught the bus to the Rolas dock. The ride to the dock took 2 1/2 hours and was the same route we took to Praia Pescina just the week before. It was a completely different ride in the bus! (Clearly since the first ride took 4 hours and the bus took 2 1/2!!) Anyway, when we got to the dock, we boarded a boat and rode for about 20 minutes to the island, Rolas. It was about 10:45 when we got there and HOT! When we stepped off the boat, there were staff members waiting for us with ice-cold towels to wipe off our faces with! (Ahh!) And they had cocnuts with straws in them for us! Nothing is as refreshing as coconut water! It was such a nice welcoming and it totally set the tone for the whole weekend! We checked it and were escorted to our bungalow, number 501! Yes, I said Bungalow!! How awesome is that?! So neither Jared or I have ever been to a resort before so we had no idea how it worked, but you do not need to carry anything with you. Your room key is all you need and if you buy something extra, you just sign for it! It was so awesome! The first thing we did was go to the pool, which was a HUGE saltwater pool with one area that was an infinity part looking into the sea with Sao Tome and all its mountains in the distance. There were several beached on the island that you could use as well if you preferred the Ocean to the pool.

Lunch was served in the dinning hall on the far northeastern tip of the island - about a 10 minute walk from our bungalow. The meals were buffet style with several options. Fish, chicken and a beef dish were available with rice and fried bananas and then there were several types of salads - my favorite being the cold corn and shrimp one! There were lots of choices of fresh fruit too, cheeses, and rolls too. Oh, and soup. It was all delicious! After lunch, Jared and I hiked to the Equator marker, which marks the exact spot the equator passes through. On our walk, it started to spit a bit of rain, but I thought it was fitting seeing as we were in the "rain forest"! The view from the Equator was amazing! You could see the whole resort as well as Sao Tome and the 7 rocks that the Angolaries supposedly crashed on. On our way back to the resort, we passed a village and bought some cloth and a necklace from an artist. Pretty sure we payed way too much for it, but oh well - I looked at it as a birthday present! When our hike was done, I was totally nasty and went to the pool again! I couldn't get enough of it! After this pool dip, Jared and I went back to the room, freshened up and then went to one of the 3 bars for a drink. There were a few other people at the resort with us - some Americans who were in ST to help with the tax system, some Portuguese people on vacation, 3 couples who looked like they were on honeymoons and a few other families with kids. Overall it was pretty sparse and we loved it! For dinner, we ordered a bottle of wine and hung out for a while there just enjoying ourselves, and then we went for a night swim under the stars! It was a really great day!

The second day (our last), after breakfast, we went our separate ways. Jared went for a hike to try and find a blow hole and I (you guessed it!) went to the beach! I found a few shells and got sand every where and then floated in the pool for a bout an hour while the pool bar played a Michael Jackson CD! It was pretty much the best birthday morning ever! So yes, I just said pool bar. There was a bar in the pool. You could walk to it and sit, or swim to it and sit in the water on stools in the pool. Totally cool, I have to say! Oh, and I got a bunch of tropical flowers from the staff too! How cool is that?!

The rest of our day was spent eating, drinking and swimming until 4:30 when the boat left for Sao Tome. It was really hard to leave. We totally wanted to stay more and do some more hiking, but we are planning a day trip in August to do that. There are pictures posted on facebook and you can see them by clicking here.

Love,

Michelle and Jared