May 2011

Tam and Jenny’s BBQ. Well the BBQ went great. Eight hours later we stumbled home via the pub. We didn’t arrive home until after 10 p.m. so it wasn’t the most responsible thing we’ve done as parents, especially as Holly and Joe were to start their new school the following day. It was, however, Cape Verdean Mother’s Day, so all children party for the day and night, so I was in good company.

School for Holly & Joseph. Week 1 - the children are having lots of fun at school. It’s their first taste of school routine and playground life since the end of November, so they’re enjoying their new girl/boy life. We chose the school as it teaches in Portuguese and we figured it’s an amazing opportunity in life, so long it wasn’t us doing the hard graft of turning up to lessons in a language we totally don’t understand. They are picking it up, but again there’s lots of pointing and gestures going on there. I wasn’t too keen on Joseph’s hitting-his-willy-with-his-drink-bottle one, but he assured me all the boys were doing it. My worry was that Joe instigated it all, and we look like a bunch of chavs.

Don Pedro.  We spoke the developer of our complex today – a Don Pietro. He is part of the Italian big boy society out here, and Tony revelled in his status as amigo to the local Don Corleone figure.  Then went off to the supermarket for some potatoes, and realised how small a fish we are in this pond.

Schmoozing with the stars - Mid-May an apartment complex was launched with a long weekend of party, for the well-connected. All sorts of dignitaries turned up- the President of Cape Verde, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Diversity, the Salters. We had gone kiting on the sand-dunes which are located about five minutes around the bay from the hotel, and heard the party music blasting. We asked the Security Guard if it was open to the public. He said,”yes.”  A few hours later and several beers happier we were sitting at a beach party DJed by Sophie. Needless to say we got caught by the manager of the hotel (who inconveniently is a neighbour in our own apartment complex). Free lunch central, thank you.

For anybody interested, we have a great email photo of the kids with Diversity we can forwaard to you. (Although that would be a bit weird!)

Turtle-nesting. The following weekend, we were invited to clean up the main sea turtle-nesting beach, as it gets a lot of fishermen’s rubbish swept in from the sea – I blame the dirty Brazilians! A few hours of hard work and the children learned about conservation. There are also poachers on the island who try to kill the turtles for their paws, so Joe and Danny played with their “boomerangs”, until we explained they were old turtle bones from decapitated victims. There’s a team of ex-pats who ranger the beach from poachers at night-times during nesting season in a couple of weeks. We’re hoping to get involved in that. The downside of the whole day was that I got a driftwood mega-splinter in my leg, which had to be cut out with a razor-blade at the clinic. If you ask Tony, he will say it was only a centimetre long, but I’m claiming matchstick-sized!

School update. The kids have now completed three weeks at school. Holly has come on magnificently and has got settled with her class mates. Joe has already acquired the reputation of “crazy boy”, which he himself feels an appropriate evaluation.  Both are learning Portuguese and Creole – a kind of lazy-man’s Portuguese. In Spanish, generally add “o” or “a” to the end of the word, as you know. In Creole, you just don’t say the end of the word at all. All “no stress” as the islanders say.

10 year anniversary. How times flies... We "bought" wristbands for the local 5 star hotel and indulged in an evening of all-inclusive food and drink.

Daniel's birthday. As with everything concerned with child number three, it was very low-key and dare I say it ...cheap. We went to the beach, ate lots of cake and ice-cream. The party was a pool party with some local English children, and generally playing in the sunshine. I had gone to playschool with a lovely hangover the day after the anniversary indulgence and painted the faces of 25 three-year olds, in two hours. So that was his party-bag treat for his school friends. He had a great birthday.  

Face painting. I have finally got myself a little income-earner, although I've only done freebies so far! I painted face at a kid’s party last Sunday, and am going to set up a little stall on the prom! I have learned that orange colour on Cape Verdeans, with their lovely olive, doesn’t show. And the one I was dreading - dark black African faces come out really well!

Fidel Castro. We are looking into a few business ideas and our contact  in town is none other than Fidel Castro. I went to Espargos by myself and ambled from council building to council building searching for this man, sure that someone was giggling behind me. He does exist and is a very nice man.

That is May 2011. It has been full of hard work (for the children) and fun (for the family). We’ve had lots of experiences of a lifetime.