Saturday, October 23, 2010

I love him

To make up for the bad lunch I made yesterday, I made a really delicious and easy-to-make shrimp curry yesterday. I will be posting recipes soon.


Then I went to my friend Catia's house in Cova da Moura. Here is the view from her window:


The only downside is that it's in one of Lisbon's worst and most feared neighborhoods, rumored to be full of drugs and violence, where the police won't enter. Why would a 25-year-old girl live there by herself? Because she thinks it's sad that it has this reputation when in fact 99% of the Cape Verdean population that lives there is good, honest and extremely hospitable. Because she thinks it's sad there is no presence of the Church there. And of course because it's always been her dream to live among the poor. So she just lives there, not connected to any organization or trying to do any project, just carrying on with her daily life and trying to be friends with her neighbors. Plus she teaches catechism at the closest church.

I really admire her and love telling people I have a friend that lives with the poor in the worst neighborhood in Lisbon. I love hearing different reactions like, "I wouldn't go in there if they paid me" or "that's really impressive". Mainly they just ask "but...why?" several times. I think it's her way of being christian. Which is always dangerous and adventurous.

Catia and Roberto
My favorite thing about going to her house is seeing the neighborhood kids that just randomly ring her doorbell and hang out at her house. This time I met Beatriz:


She is five and very beautiful. She likes going to Catia's house because "she has lots of things to color". Even at the age of five, she has a very complicated love life. There is one boy that likes her and calls her girlfriend but she doesn't like him. She loves another one. ("eu amo a ele"/I love him) A boy called her fat and she said it made her feel sad. What did she do? Of course call him fat back. When Catia asked if he was in fact fat, she said no. What a silly question.

Boys. I feel you girl.

Watch a Cape Verdean singer named Lura here.

No comments:

Post a Comment