Milestones- Beth
It’s noon and I’ve been working for hours at my kitchen table. It’s a bright table – I purchased the fabric from a market in São Tomé e Príncipe this past summer and when I sit there, a little bit of my beloved São Tomé is with me, too. I work from home with Waveplace Foundation now, a really remarkable organization that works to bring digital media skills to kids in the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa by incorporating... Read More
Makeup
Faia comes up behind me, close. You can smell the cologne he’s wearing. It’s an athlete’s cologne, a small spritz and it’s like he’s freshly showered. A cologne of physical power and sexual success, or perhaps it’s the way he wears it that pronounces these two qualities. He plays ever-so-lightly with my hair. “You’re beautiful, you know,” he says to me. “Você é muito linda.” In his head it’s... Read More
On Returning
There are three people waiting for me when I get off the plane at the airport in São Tomé e Príncipe: Dany, the driver for Ned (the director of STeP UP, the organization I’m volunteering with); Miguel, the head computer teacher at the São João School; and my now ex-boyfriend, Kilson. Much is the same here in São Tomé– I can feel it as I walk through the airport, the concrete walls with painted advertisements, the musty smell mixed... Read More
A Tourist…by Accident(s) (Part 2 of 2)
Continued from A Tourist…by Accident(s) (September 7, 2010) About two hours later I found myself in a five-star hotel in Lisbon, drinking Super Bock (Portugal’s finest) at the hotel bar with three campaigners that were en route to help with the presidential campaign in São Tomé who took me under their wing. I had felt bad about not scheduling any time in Portugal, my family’s home, between São Tomé trips. Yet suddenly here I... Read More
A Tourist…by Accident(s) (Part 1 of 2)
It’s midnight on the morning of Friday, June 25. I’m in the airport in Lisbon, ready for my 12:15am flight to São Tomé e Príncipe. It took some time (and effort) to get here- I had left on Wednesday afternoon from the comfort of my dad’s cute apartment in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and now it was Friday. I was stressed but had made it out alive. A couple of these properly-filled suitcases and I'm ready to go. Traveling with... Read More
Bridging Worlds
The VIP Grand Hotel Lisbon, courtesy of http://www.splendia.com At the hotel, Kevin sits alone at the dinner table for six. He’s from Scotland and he’s never been to São Tomé before. We don’t know this, though, when we first sit down with him- four of us to fill the table up better. He is quiet, he eats quickly but at the same time he eats slowly and spreads his food around and studies it. He doesn’t look up. The three Portuguese... Read More
Bonus Day
Last year, around spring break time, I was getting ready for a trip to the Keys to visit Grandpa and enjoy a vacation away from Boston’s grey skies. Sun, relaxation, and an inexpensive visit were all necessary, so staying with Grandpa and Annie (his lovely lady friend) made perfect sense for the boy and I. Grandpa and Annie met us at the Key West airport and drove us back to the vacation park where Grandpa has been a snow-bird nearly every... Read More
To Portugal
By Beth It’s about 8:30am and it’s still quite dark. It’s also absolutely freezing. Here I am, laying in bed. I am wearing: Two tank tops, a short-sleeved shirt, a long-sleeved shirt and a sweater; as well as two layers of pants, socks and slippers. And I have…six heavy blankets on top of me.You guessed it (or maybe you didn’t, but I’ll tell you anyway): it’s winter in Portugal, I’m in a very... Read More
Saying Goodbye
By Beth December 17, 2009 On my last full day in São Tomé, the sun is blazing. My boyfriend, Kilson, and I spend the day at the beach, swimming off Ned’s dock, taking pictures, dancing in the street to neighbors’ loud music, sipping beers at a cafe strung with Christmas lights. From Ned’s dock, sopping wet and in our bathing suits, we watch TAAG- Angola’s airline- touch down on the runway close to Ned’s house. Kilson’s... Read More
35,000 Dobras
By Beth “35,000 dobras????” Kilson looks at me in disgust. “Can you believe that?” I’m out getting beers with Kilson and his cousin and they are in absolute shock over the check. The beers at this restaurant in the small oceanside city of Pantufo, in São Tomé, are almost three times the cost of other areas- they ring up for 35,000 dobras each, or a whopping $2.50. I smile, saying nothing. It’s not that things are always... Read More
