This time last month I was hiding in my house trying to forget that I actually am a Peace Corps Volunteer. I was continually thinking to myself that I should be doing more, right? Am I really this incompetent? It had seemed that everyone around me was doing great things; teaching, hosting environmental camps, working for kindergartens, and many other incredibly successful projects. So the less I did, the more I came to hate myself. Thoughts of wasting taxpayer money and pointless days ran rampant throughout my mind. Peace Corps brings out the best; I know this to be true without a doubt. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t one of the best or smartest in the room, but here it’s sometimes painstakingly obvious, yet still hard to admit that I am not. It’s true though, I am surrounded by 52 of the most intelligent, dedicated, and resourceful people I have ever met. Their projects and jobs are immaculate and I often find myself jealous, which I realize is a huge character flaw. There are things that I could be doing; teaching English, helping at kindergartens and so on, but these all sound so boring. I am not the guy who can go into any situation and make a job up. I am sorry if I let Peace Corps down, but I in no way ever misrepresented what I am good at and what I would be willing to do. I am just no good at teaching HIV/AIDS to youth groups, or hosting soccer camps, that’s not me. However, there is one thing that I am really good at, and that my friends is science. 
I had meeting with our new Country Director (CD), Valerie, about my lack of job and everything else that I have been complaining about on this blog for the past 9 months or so. She was disappointed to hear all of this and we talked about what could be done to change this. I mentioned the two environmental organizations on the island, Natura2000 and Turtle Foundation, and she got to work getting in contact with these two and trying to find me a placement with one, to get my working in my field. She sent out some emails and forwarded me the responses. They were nice emails that spoke highly of me, but as my CD said, “the responses were lukewarm at best”. I wasn’t as disappointed as I thought I should have been, I am almost immune to disappointment.
During my first few months in country and during PST another volunteer told me something that I found vaguely ignorant and I slightly judged him for his comment. He told me “some of your best contacts and projects will develop at the bar scene”. I regret judging him so harshly for this, because he was right. It seems that I always have a beer in my hand when the most influential moments happen. They start small; it’s a wave, or a head nod, like I am part of a giant club that only exists when you are together at a bar. We are all guarding each other’s secrets. Danny and I are sitting at a bar on the pier called Tmanche, just having an evening beer when I see Elena and her husband Patrik, the administration for Natura2000. Elena gives me the head nod and sits down at a table in front of us to have dinner and a few beers. After they eat dinner Elena approaches me and says, “I received an email from some lady saying she was your boss and that she wanted to have a more permanent relationship”, I tell her “I would enjoy working for Natura200 and volunteering my services wherever they need me”. She seems unimpressed but open to the idea and invites me to come in on Monday around 9 or 10. I am excited, but do my best to seem normal, a rather hard feat for me most times.
Monday comes. I am up at 6 a.m., about an hour before my alarm is to wake me. I prepare for my first day at the office. I don’t want to seem too anxious so I wait until 9:50 to leave my house. I arrive at the offices dressed a little too formal, but its ok, this is my first impression after all. I meet the crew; Carolina (Car-o-lean-a), she is a trainer for the environmental classes being held by Natura2000, Pedrin is a Spanish guy in his 40s, quiet but his presence is loud. Patrik is Elena’s husband and is the self-appointed logistical manager. Elena is the director of Natura2000, very smart, cute, and dedicated to the conservation of sea turtles. Juilieta is a large man, he is funny but his presence demands respect. Samir is a Cape Verdean guy working on his masters out of Portugal, he is smart but young, I want to teach him everything I know, and a few guys from Ireland working on whale research. Elena doesn’t wait a moment; she wants to know what my ideas are and what my plans are. I tell her about my population study that I am working on and ask for some help with methodology. We exchange data and ideas and she puts me in contact with a society I didn’t know existed, Sociedade Caboverdiana de Zoologia, which I am proud to announce am the newest member. She opened a magical science door. These people live underground because I have never seen them around town before, but here they all are, in one room, and now only an email away. There is so much intelligence here that I again begin to feel inferior, until they start asking me lizard questions!
Then I start rolling with whatever this new job is. They ask me to accompany them on whale research and turtle research and they want to be a part of my lizard study. Pedrin and I went to the small island off the coast of Sal Rei and where we found some really interesting things that have persuaded me to entirely shift my study focus. I have never felt so part of an organization that is doing work that I believe in. The science is solid and I learn that there is even a Cape Verdean science journal that is quite good. I have every intention to publish here, and Pedrin and Elena are excited about my ideas. This is what I was looking for. I have arrived at the moment that has run through my mind for so long. On my birthday I received presents and kisses. I have become part of a science family that I so desperately needed. I can breathe easier now, especially now that the Saharan sand has stopped blowing so viciously.
