Adventures Near and Far: Monday: Day 2 of a Week in My Life

Ok, so here goes Day 2 of what I’m usually up to here in Cape Verde- Happy Monday!

6:30am- wake up to the usual donkey alarm clock who lives behind my house and some howling wind, quickly get ready for school, mix up some kamoka (kind of like a corn flavored power shake) for breakfast and head out on the walk to school. The Bruma Seka ( giant clouds of sand from the Sahara desert, for those of you who haven’t read yesterday’s post) is in full force and I can’t help feeling like someone is constantly pointing a giant hair dryer at me as I walk through the hot, hot wind to school. It is a strange feeling to be walking through wind so forceful, but yet so hot.

7:30am-1pm- Teaching time! Today, I teach all but one of my 7^th and 8^th grade turmas (classes). Today’s subjects include: Prepositions of Time, practicing telling time in English, quantifiers, clothing vocabulary, and some of my favorite life lessons such as “If you don’t listen, you won’t learn anything” or “You know I can hear you when I’m writing on the board.” During the break between first and second period, I hear shouts of “CHUVA JA BEN” (rain just came), and poke my head outside. Sure enough, huge raindrops are plopping onto the parched earth and an atmosphere of excitement engulfs the entire school. Although the real rains won’t come until June or July, today’s short-lived showers were a stark contrast to the nearly 6 months of complete dryness which has scorched the life out of nearly all the vegetation on my side of the island and brought new meaning to my definition of dry. As many people are now without a constant water source on the island, the excitement over the rain is overwhelming, and of course boils into the classroom. I take my students’ bubbling energy as an opportunity to review weather vocabulary and I can’t help by smile when a level one student properly uses the new vocabulary AND the correct form of the verb to be “Teacher, it is rainy today.” SUCCESS!

1pm- I leave school and walk, in the now baking mid-day sun, to my house. On the way, my community is very concerned about me not having my SUNbrella (a little term I accidently said once ,but have continued to use, for my umbrella I use to keep the sun off). When I get back to my house, I stop by my neighbor’s house across the street to chat, visit my very cute baby friend, and see what the neighborhood has been up to. Turns out to be an excellent decision because, not only do I have a great time playing with the baby, but my neighbor is making kamoka today, and I have been waiting to see how it’s done.

2-5pm Preparing corn to make Kamoka with my neighbor. We start with large dried corn kernels already taken off of the cob. Next, we build a fire and begin heating a big, cauldron-like metal pot over the small fire. The pot rests on three rocks above the flames and as it heats, I help gather more fire wood and hold the baby while his mother expertly adjusts her fire to the correct temperature. We pour the waiting corn into the pot and let it sit for a few moments. As the kernels begin to roast, we stir them with a large wooden stick to keep the kernels from burning and to make sure each kernel is roasted on all sides. I fazi sonu (make sleep) for the baby and lay him in his bed as my neighbor (who happens to be one of my closest Cape Verdean friends) stands over the fire, amid the heat and smoke on an already hot day, stirring and stirring. We switch on and off mixing the corn over the hot fire and the air begins to smell of roasted corn, like pop-corn, but with a richer, smokier scent. I am not sure how much time passes as we are having a great time joking, gossiping, and discussing the differences between life in America and in Cape Verde, but eventually, the corn begins to take on a rich caramel color, and as a few kernels reach a dark, dark brown, we are done. Now the kernels will be ground into a fine powder. Although this process used to be done with a giant mortar and pestle (and many corn products, coffee, and even flour are still done this way), today the final grinding of our kamoka will be done with a machine. We carry our roasted corn up the steep hill to the man who grinds corn for our community and wait. What emerges is a corn powder, almost a dust, much finer than most flour. This powder is then mixed with water, milk, or coffee to create a rich fomi (hunger) fighting drink, which I have come to love. Check out the photos at the bottom of the post to see the whole kamoka process!

5pm- Go back across the street with a jar of fresh kamoka and mix it up with some sugar and cinnamon for a quick, satisfying afternoon snack. The I check on my arm rash/ fungus….seems to be getting better….or at least not any worse which is a good sign, more cream from the med kit it is!

5:30- 7 – I grade the homework my 8^th graders handed in today, and am pleased to see that most of them seem to understand how to use should, need, have to, and must in a sentence and can demonstrate the difference between obligation and necessity in English….SUCCESS!

7pm- Heat up dinner….left overs supplemented with some fish my neighbor gave me in return for letting her store her fish in my freezer. I always tell her she doesn’t have to give me anything and I am happy to let her use my refrigerator, but she insists on cooking me a bit of whatever she has, a kind and greatly appreciated gesture since I know she does not have a lot.

8pm- Two young women who dropped out of school, but are now attending a continuation school in the island’s capital, come by for some help with their English homework.

9-11- lesson planning for my biggest school day tomorrow (7:30am-6pm)

11 pm- Brush my teeth and apply cream to the hopefully- going –to- be- gone- in- a -few -days arm rash/ fungus. As I turn around, I find a giant preying mantise on my bedroom door and put it outside so it could roam free and not jump on my face during the night. Then, I tuck in my mosquito net and go to sleep.

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Szasha