Slightly heavier

Thursday, April 28, 2016

And the last day has come. Just like that…time flew... and the clock is so sneaky! This morning I woke up 21 years and one week older and with just one more day to be with the children! How is this possible?!

It is so strange to think that  it´s already time to pack and return to the old routine.

Off course, we could not leave without having a celebration…a celebration to honor all the moments that we have been sharing since January. For that we organized a concert for everyone.

The groups were reunited in the common room of the pre-school. As a guest of honor we invited the most spectacular and popular violinist born in Portugal…Carlota Bolota (me!), a total diva, crazy for applauses!  After listen the two firsts plays of the concert we all danced to the sound of a Portuguese song. The show ends with the “Over the Rainbow”.  Carlota received the best ovation that she could ever have asked. After the concert each child received a cup of fruit salad, prepared by us. The children loved our little show. 

The entire staff from the pre-school were so welcoming since the beginning...to show them our appreciation we cooked two Portuguese deserts (Salame de chocolate and Baba de Camelo). They allowed us to have a wonderful experience in here as a students and we will never forget it. 

Today we finally finished our sardine! The children will hear from me in Lisbon. I will let them know how we did in the competition and give some news about my returning.

I was spoiled the entire day with lovely presents and beautiful drawings made by the children.  I offered to the group a flower. Now they will have to look after it. Taking care of the plant is a way of taking care of us. 

The parting make us realize how precious it was  the time we spent together.

I will leave, but a part of me will stay in Swedish lands, among of those beautiful humans being. They crossed in my way. Now they are part of me and hopefully I am part of them.

On Monday, I will return to Portugal slightly heavier…because of all the delicious things that I have been eating…because of the amount of presents that I´ll bring in my baggage…because now I´m carrying more 22 little people in my heart...and how restless they are…how noisy… but I like them in that way. I like them a lot!

Thank you!

Meeting abroad

Friday, April 22, 2016

Our Portuguese teachers went to Sweden to visit our new student´s life. It is a way of strengthening connections between both universities and teachers from Portugal and Sweden. On Friday they went to our practice local and spent the morning with us in the company of the children. They could observe a bit more about our work in here and find out how have been the ERASMUS experience for us.

It was really good having their company during the whole day. They arrived Monday but, since we were in London, we just met them on Friday.

After the practice we decided go for a walk around the forest, next to our apartment.

The weather was lovely. The sky opened for us!

During the walk we found a very nice black cat with gorgeous green eyes. I called him Napoleão. The cat stayed with us the entire time. I could not find better company for a walk into the woods.

We also had the pleasure to meet a graceful and peaceful deer. We were quiet and in silence while that marvelous creature was passing next to us. Nature has created beautiful creatures! We are so lucky to observe it so close to us. It does not happens all the time.

To celebrate their visit we had dinner in a delicious pizzeria in the center of Borås.

I miss Portugal, my family and friends…I miss the light and the flavors of Lisbon. I miss the ocean, the river, my bike, walking around the city…but if I could stay in here just for a bit longer…just a bit…I would do it.

The most beautiful sardine of Lissabon

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

In the begging of the summer, Sweden celebrates the arrival of the warm season. My country has  also a very important summer party.

Portugal receives the month of June  with a big and colorful fest in the honor of three portuguese saints. This celebration it calls Santos Populares (Popular Saints).

On this party the loving couples offers to each other an extremely aromatic plant with romantic prose and poems written in a card. In one of the nights a big parade comes down along the city´s streets. People dance, talk and eat grilled sardines.

Sardine is one of the strongest symbols from Lisbon. A few months before the celebration, the Lisbon City Hall launches a competition for the best sardine of Lisbon. Anyone interested can create a fantastic sardine and sign up for the competition. The 5 winning sardines get famous around the whole city and appeared in the party advertising.

I showed some pictures to the group about the celebration and talked about the competition. Then I asked, “What if we try to create our own sardine and sign up to the contest?” Everyone of them seemed to be very excited about it, “Jaaaaa!” ("Yeeeeesss!”)

"Good! Because I brought a huge sardine for us to paint! I think if we work all together we’ll create the most beautiful sardine of them all!”

“Ja, vi kommer att vinna!” (“Yes, we will win!”) said one of the children.

The sardine was made outdoors of the pre-school. When the whole group went to the playground I placed the sardine on the floor and prepared the colors, papers, paintbrushes and glitters to start the creative work. They could paint with different kinds of brushes and colors. Some of the children used the hands to spread the ink into the sardine. They also used colorful paper to decorate the fish. Two of the children ornamented the eyes (giving two eyes to the sardine was an option of the group).

At the end of the activity, the big sardine was no longer a long piece of white paper. Now it is ready to participate in the contest and to be famous around the whole Lisbon. The children were really proud about their work. During the afternoon they had been talking about the contest and how good it would be if we wan.

Now we’ll have to take a picture of our masterpiece and send it to the jury. Who would say that the most beautiful sardine of Lisbon it was made in Sweden?

A Portuguese pyjama party?!

Friday, April 1, 2016

Yes…you read it right. I gave a Portuguese pyjama party for the children. And we had a lot of fun!

I wanted to celebrate the amazing time that I have been spending with the group. We went to space, had a boat trip, we visited Lisbon, baked a cake…all of those moments deserved it a celebration.

When I had this idea, the oldest girls asked to the educator if it was possible to have a pyjama party! So…we join the two themes in one big party.

The room was decorated with balloons, little flags from Portugal and Sweden and another party´s ornamentations. Like in every other party we had invitations, posters, music, games, dances and…of course…a delicious cake baked by everyone (we made the cake the day before).  The children could wear the glasses created by them and everyone brought their own pyjama...even I did!

A Sponge Cake made by 24 hands

Thursday, March 31, 2016

In the North of Portugal there is a famous cake very appreciated for all my family. 

Pão-de-ló de Alfeizerão (Sponge Cake from Alfeizerão), it is simple to bake and very easy to eat. 

Bake with children can be so fun! And it is also a moment rich in different kinds of learnings.

The children participated in the whole process. 

First we counted the eggs in Swedish, English and also in Portuguese. They broke the eggs, measured the flour and sugar and worked with the mixer. Along the recipe the group smelled and touched in the ingredients, feeling different essences, textures and consistencies.

As a reward about the hard work each child deserved to dip the finger in the delicious dough and taste it. They were looking forward to that part of the challenge...we all know what is it feel like.  

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

4 eggs

8 egg yolks

300g of sugar

150g of flour

Pre heat the oven at 180ºC!

Beat the eggs and egg yolks together with sugar until it becomes a soft dough.

Slowly add the floor and mix everything together until the mixture is even.

Grease the bake tin with butter so the dough doesn’t stick

Bake at 180ºC until the outside of the cake is baked

When the outside is baked, remove from oven and let it cool.

The center of the cake should be raw!

I think you know what it is supposed to do next…enjoy it!

This journey has been really important for me. I will never forget the wonderful moments I have lived during this time. I will remember each child, each face...before I leave I will give to each one of them the recipe of the cake that we all baked together to prolong the magic time that we have lived next to each others. Thank you children!