A Week in the Life: Monday, April 23rd

 

10am – I wake up and have some coffee with Mi-Mi.  We talk about how awful we feel and whether or not we need more sleep before heading back to the festivities.  We decide we’ll just deal and get ready to leave.  On our way up the hill, we grab a car to save some energy but as soon as we’re inside, we see that the teachers are walking down the hill.  They’re going on a passeio to visit a water source and some strawberry fields right behind Mi-Mi’s house.  We hop out and follow them right back to where we just came from.

 sumfana

 all the cooks making delicious food!

 catxupa - DELICIOUS!!

The rest of the afternoon consists of talking, attempting not to fall asleep, and eating A LOT: rice, corn, tomatoes, beets, really delicious pulled pork, sumfana (sort of like a mix between meatloaf and blood sausage but made with goat innards - surprisingly delicious!), fried fish, boiled veggies, catxupa (Cape Verde’s national dish – a sort of bean/corn soup), xerém  (ground corn mush – sort of like a mix between grits, mashed potatoes, and just plain cooked corn), fruit salad, homemade ice cream, pudding, kus-kus (a cornbread-like dish that is pretty dry and has much less flavor, but for some reason I’ve grown to really love), and best of all spit (deliciously seasoned pork “kabobs”).

 

3pm – We start the cultural part of the day with a tocatina, some poetry readings, and joke-telling (which I actually understood!)  This goes on for a few hours with everyone showing off their talents.  At the end they also convince me to sing, so I go up there and sing “Sodade” by Cesaria Evora, which is probably the most well-known morna ever written and has a particularly strong connection with São Nicolau.  Before I sing, I thank them all on behalf of Peace Corps for opening their hearts and sharing their culture with us.  People really seemed to love it.  Everyone was on their feet and clapping and singing along and one guy came up and gave me a flower in the middle of the song.  As I was finishing, they brought out the cake.  We sang “parabens” to ourselves.

6pm – The cake has been cut and I’m ready to go home.  Fortunately, so is everyone else, so we pile 37 teachers into a small bus (probably made for about 25 people) and head back to Tarrafal.

7pm – I arrive home, check in on Alexandra who’d left early because she was feeling sick, make myself a cup of tea and some hot water for a bucket bath and begin my night of recuperation (i.e. listening to music and watching TV until I fall asleep).

The best part is, normally Monday is my busiest teaching day.  I have all my turmas (5) back-to-back.  Lucky for me our holiday fell on a Monday!

All in all, a pretty fantastic week, I’d have to say :)

A Week in the Life: Sunday, April 22nd

10:30am – I wake up and run to the loja at the Shell station to pick up some eggs for breakfast.  I pick up a bag of bolaxas too because I’m starving and want something to snack on while I make breakfast.

11am – I teach Txilite how to make French toast, and we come up with quite a breakfast spread made of what’s left in my refrigerator.  I enjoy some café de terra from Santo Antão.  Txilite assures me that their cafe in Canto de Fajã is much sabe-er and promises to bring me some next time he comes to visit since it’s in-season now.  I spend the rest of the day practicing English and Portuguese with Txilite, listening to music, napping, and just recuperating before heading to the big teacher activity tonight.  This Monday is Dia de Professores, so we don’t have class and the Ministry of Education organizes a huge party for all the teachers.  Tonight will be dinner and a dance, and tomorrow will be breakfast, a tour, lunch, cultural activities, and a grill.

5:30pm – Alexandra and I head down to the town center to wait for the bus to take us to Fajã.  We’re running half an hour late, but there are only 2 or 3 other teachers there anyway.  We talk to a German sport fisherman who’s looking for an internet café.  He asks us how long we have to stay in São Nicolau, and as always I’m surprised when outsiders suggest that living here is a chore or difficulty.  Clearly they can’t see all the wonders this little island beholds!

7pm – Everyone is finally ready and the bus leaves for Fajã.  We put all our things in the sleeping rooms and go to check out the rest of the place.  The women are cooking over open flames outside and the men are already drinking grogue.  They’ve set up one classroom for eating, one as a bar, and another as the sala de bodje (dance floor).  The music is already blaring and the food smells delicious.

8pm – We eat dinner, hang out, and talk to all the teachers.  After a few hours, it becomes clear that the bodje (dance) is far from getting started, so we walk down to Mi-Mi’s house to make margaritas and rest for a little bit.

12:15am – We head back to the school to find that people are in the sala de bodje, but no one is really dancing.  We decide it’s too late for the bodje not to be starting and we start dancing.  Before you know it, everyone is inside and the party has begun!  I spend the next 4 hours dancing rebeka, mazurka, zouk, and then just your typical discoteca music.  It’s so fun to see all the professors relaxed and having a good time.  I also get to meet a lot of Vila and Fajã professors that I didn’t know yet.

4:15am – We decide we’re exhausted and too sick to stay out any later.  We debate staying and sleeping in the women’s sleeping quarters, but rumor has it people dump water on you as soon as you fall asleep! It’s like a middle school slumber party.  Not to mention a lot of the teachers brought their kids, who are already sleeping there but will likely not stay still and quiet all night.  We get a ride down to Mi-Mi’s and crash in her and Averie’s beds.