The school visit:

Today a school in Mindelo was going to visit Gunilla and by the time the clock struck ten all of us were on deck waiting for their arrival.

Let me just say that here in Cape Verde they really live up to their motto “No stress” because they were really late. When they finally came some of us on the boat had a hard time taking the first step to have a conversation, but it was only the first part that was hard and afterwards it got easier. We served them cinnamon buns and the students from the other school told me that it was something very new to them.

We showed them around the boat and when we came to Stora Mässen one of the girls from the other school picked up a guitar and started singing and afterwards her friend joined her. Then one of the Gunilla students started to sing Swedish songs to show them a bit of our culture too. They were all very good at singing and it was so fun sitting there around the table just listening.

Then they went back to their school and we ate lunch on the boat. Not much happened after they went. Me and some friends went to by some cookies for the long trip over the Atlantic. Then soon after it was time to get back to the boat to later go all together to the school.

When we arrived the students and teachers from Cape Verde once again lived up to their motto. When they did arrive they showed us around the school and they had classrooms for every subject. That is very different from our school because we use the same classroom for many subjects. We also got the chance to play some sports with them like handball and volleyball in a circle. They also taught us a new game. It was like frisbee but in teams and when you drop the frisbee you're out. It was very interesting to see how the students in Cape Verde play their games. They also gave us some fika and some Cape Verdean snacks and it was very interesting and good. The last thing we did was to take a group photo, what a day!

Xochitl Mercado

Portwatch