An unconventional Lucia train

Today I, for some reason, woke up more tired than ever before in my life. It was with heavy legs that I dragged myself to breakfast at 07:15. As breakfast continued I slowly became less and less tired, and
by the end I was finally feeling something resembling to normal again.
This was very fortunate, since today was the day we got to visit ”Éscola Secondária Jorge Barbosa”, which is a school here in Mindelo. Yesterday they came to Gunilla to visit us, and today we got to visit them at
their school.

As we entered the gates of the school, the students stood there waiting
for us in the yard, the pink building towering behind them. Beside them
another class stood dancing, doing what I assume was P.E. I have to say
it looked very fun, and they really had moves.

Almost immediately when we arrived, the tour of the school started. We
went in small groups and walked around the whole school. The bathrooms
looked exactly like the ones you see on tv in american high schools,
which I found very interesting for some reason. Actually, the whole
school looked very american, in it’s architecture and look. As far as I
know, at least.

When the tour was done, and various games were played, we were shown to
their cantine, where a whole table with different baked goods was
waiting for us. Talk about fika! I waited excitedly for my turn, and
filled my napkin with different interesting looking things. The most
interesting however, was the grey-ish cake made of corn. At first we
were perplexed, because it didn’t seem to taste very much at all. Soon
enough we were informed that this particular cake is to be eaten
together with butter and a type of jam, and it all made a lot more
sense. Now it was suddenly very yummy.

It was very fun to try new fika for once, instead of the good ol’
cinnamon bun. (Not that I would say no to a cinnamon bun, but it can be
fun with variation.)

After the fika the schedule continued and it was time for some music. We
all sat in a ring and listened to various students dance traditional
dances and sing songs in creole, which is the lauguage that is spoken
here. They were all very talented, and a big contrast to what came next,
our song. With no rehearsal what so ever except for the everlasting
lucia trains we did as kids, we all entered the middle of the circle and
sang ”Tänd ett ljus.” Considering the context we weren’t totally
rubbish, but it wasn’t good, either. I guess we sang the song the way
it’s supposed to be sung, in choir, by kids, for kids. I even got a bit
of a christmas feeling, besides the warm weather and unusual context.

Mathilda BL