Where Am I

La…… what does it mean? In Kriolu, this translates as; there. This story takes place in “downtown” Sal Rei, better known as the praca. I meet with Ivon, at the Ministério da Ambiente, she is the director of the environmental arm of the Capeverdean government here on Boa Vista. I talk with her a little about my background, and her background. After our conversation, she tells me that I am supposed to have a desk here and a computer, but they didn’t know I was coming? Yeah I can’t figure that one out either. She tells me that it would be best for me to meet with the two NGO environmental groups here on the island, and she exits to make a few phone calls while I awkwardly sit with two other guys in the office and timidly try to have a conversation. Ivon returns and tells me that I need to return at “tresi hora”, I repeat; “tres hora?” and she confirms. I leave the office feeling slightly accomplished that I had those conversations in Kriolu. I return at 2:45 because I did not want to be late for my first meeting! Ivon looks at the clock, then me, then the clock, and finally me. She says, “I said tresi houra”. I say “I know, I didn’t want to be late”. She proceeds to pull out a piece of paper and write the number 13, she was trying to tell me that my meeting was at 1p.m., not 3p.m. So, Ivon and I are both a little frustrated with the other one and she tells me to go and meet with Christian, who is in charge of Turtle Foundation. I ask where the building is and she says “la”, and points in a general direction, I laugh a little and ask her what color is the building and she tells me the building is green and has two stories and is near a bar. So I tell her that I will be fine and that I can most likely find the building. She looks at me and I can tell she has no confidence in my ability to find it. I begin walking to “la”, and as I get near where I think the TF is I begin asking people on the street where this building is and most of them look at me and say, I’m not sure but I think its “la”. So, I walk to “la”, for a long time. Until, I hear oh TF is “li”, which translates as; here!!!! I am overjoyed, the building must be very close for that word to be used, the man points at a two story green building that has no obvious markings on it. I go to the building and knock on the door, no answer. I knock again… no answer. I am so frustrated at this point and I am just sure Christian thinks I am completely incompetent, I can’t even find a building. So I go home defeated, tell my roommate about my fun experience with the word “la”, and we both have a good laugh, because he knows exactly what I am talking about.

The next morning I wake up, have my coffee, the instant junk. I can’t seem to find a percolator of any kind here. After breakfast and coffee, I begin my journey again, this time I armed with the knowledge from a friend of mine who works at the library in Sal Rei. He gives me wonderfully easy directions, and I find the building in a matter of minutes this time. Christian opens the door and I introduce myself as a Peace Corps Volunteer and tell him my ecology background and my herpetology background. He seems fairly excited about this, a good start, and then comes my apology for missing our meeting the day before. I tell him that I am so sorry, that I had misunderstood the time, and it won’t happen again, he looks at me with uncertainty, and says “I knew nothing about a meeting, and I was definitely not at the office yesterday at 1”! I just want to laugh, but I keep my composure and finish out our meeting on a strong note. I set up a date to help out with the turtle work “li”, and will begin “la” very soon.

To: The Directionally Challenged

From: Linguistically Challenged