Blegh : (

So Tat gets her revenge. Seriously, I think she planned this, strategically leaving germs behind in places I'd never expect to find them. I never ever get sick!! I was sooo proud of myself for once again avoiding the dreaded C... Dirty, Rotten, Miserable Cold!

You know why I'm sick? Because that is the eternal law of the Universe, since primary school. Give me a school holiday or a trip somewhere and guess who will get the chicken pox? Me. No getting sick during school time for me, but when I get time off!! My students are mostly all done for the school holidays. Tomorrow I get to sleep a little later. Guess who will be up early because it's too dang uncomfortable to sleep with a cold. Bah humbug.

And guess who's done absolutely nothing this weekend? I had grand plans to do the week's lesson plans on Saturday, so that I could relax today. I ended up sleeping 3 hours yesterday afternoon. That was one serious nap! Now it is close to 10pm and I'm stewing over lesson plans. One late night coming up. Now if I had achieved anything else this weekend, that would be fine, but I didn't. I spent most of my time staring at the computer screen waiting for IT to do something.

So, anyone else have a wonderful weekend? Ignore the grouch. My weekend was actually great : ) Seriously! I just had some ginger and cinnamon tea to warm me up. I was freezing. I just couldn't warm up. I'm cosy now and off to bed. Lessons are done. Tomorrow I'll be right as rain.

Technorati Tags: cold,sick

The pleasures of life are free

In the last two days, two different music-related articles have been put under my nose. I think I'll post them both here:

30 Pianos Installed on City's Streets Invite Passers-By to Melt Their British Reserve and Play

from: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/11/world/main5152348.shtml (Thanks Pat!)

(CBS)  This story was written by CBS News producer Amy Guttman.

In London, amidst the roar of red buses and black cabs, a new sound is stopping people in their tracks:

Pianos.

Thirty pianos are scattered across the city for the next three weeks - all part of a project to get people together, for impromptu sing-a-longs.

"What we want people to do is throw their inhibitions to the wind," said organizer Collette Hiller.

For Hiller, finding 30 pianos - donated or bought on Ebay - and moving them around London was surprisingly easy.

The hard part was cutting through all the red tape.

"There's a small tree's worth of planning applications for each piano," she said.

One of the biggest challenges will be keeping the keys dry.

London is famous for its downpours, so it's just a matter of time before this adventure turns into "Singing in the Rain." Fortunately, there's a plastic tarp for each one.

Sturdy locks and neighbourhood "friends" also keep them safe.

"I'm surprised it ain't been vandalized, to be quite honest, already!" said Kailey Whitman.

Even more surprising are the pianos' effect on Londoners, who are not known for talking to strangers.

"People are quite reserved, aren't they? They just sort of go about their business," said Celia Lyons.

The pianos may be changing that.

Talent and skill level are irrelevant: All you need are fingers to pound out "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."


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Perception

This article I got from Global Peace Map. It is one I have read in my inbox a few times before, but bears repeating.



Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:

the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the till and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:

A 3 year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly, as the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced them to move on.

45 minutes:

The musician played. Only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace.

He collected $32.

1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theatre in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ....

How many other things are we missing?

Technorati Tags: pleasure,music,violin,piano

Test chuckles and more

A student had to write a resume. He put his date of birth as '91, which is perfectly correct, but then added (quoted verbatim):

"I teaching English a 20 year and a native in England."

I must add that this is an advanced student *sigh* The part that made me chuckle was having taught English for 20 years, but was born in '91. The things we say under test pressure... ?!

Yesterday, I had a jaw dropping moment in the supermarket. Here, I often see folk helping themselves to supermarket food, usually produce, cookies, crisps and so on. I used to feel rather indignant, but then I got used to it. When I see old folk sampling the fruits and veg, I wish I could buy a whole pack for them. Pensions are terrible here and fruit and veg is expensive. This incident took the cake though. The woman had grabbed herself a loaf of whole wheat bread, a very costly bread here, half the size and almost double the price of normal bread. She also grabbed herself some ham and cheese and had actually made herself a sandwich! She was walking along, apparently stopping to check prices and taking a bite or two every time she stopped.

It seems we have a new student, an elderly chap who called while I was out teaching yesterday. I walked in and found Jurgis talking on the phone... and talking... and talking. I teased him, as I always do, that he kept the poor guy talking for hours. Today, Tat called him back and he talked... and he talked... and he talked. Her ear was beetroot red when she hung up! He is retired and loves travelling and he likes the sound of us and wants to know if we mind that he refers us to the rest of his travel buddies. He sounds sweet. He wants to meet the entire family, but especially Jurgis. Methinks my husband has himself a student ; ) We meet him on Monday.

Today (it's after midnight here) is a Civic holiday in the state of São Paulo.... only São Paulo. I have no clue what it is for. Fun. Oh wait, I keep forgetting. Google is my friend. According to Google, it is to commemorate the Constitutionalist Revolution (Revolução Constitucionalista) of 1932, also called the Paulista War. Anything remotely related to São Paulo is 'Paulista'. Hm... I learnt something tonight.

I noticed today that the world is full of unexpected kindnesses... a post office worker who let Tat pay instead of insisting, as usual, that Jurgis goes in; a pharmacist that goes out of his way to point out that there is a generic available; a daughter who does the dishes; a husband who shared the joke when the pot bungee jumped off the counter top

 

Technorati Tags: holiday,student,teaching,shopping

Kaput

I started this blog a couple of days ago. I promise! Then Jorge came home and wanted to see a map. I was scooting around Google Maps and my pc froze. Ok, I'll admit, I had far too many things open. I lost what I had written. Sad, isn't it? It was only a few lines anyway. My apologies in advance. This is going to be a long and possibly very confusing blog.

             ~ '' ~ '' ~ '' ~

Written on Monday while watching kids write their exam:
Let me tell you about my boys, my 'Monday Monsters', as Jorge dubbed them. For once, they are quiet, each one bent over his test papers. Names have been changed to protect the teacher ; )

Robert isn't here today. He never misses a class. I wonder what kept him away (I later learned that he was home studying for another test). Very confident, the self-proclaimed leader of the class, he sits in his chair grinning, looking from one to the other, the eternal "I did good, right?" He firmly believes he is ready to be an English teacher himself. Sadly, his English is more confidence than knowledge. He barely speaks any at all.

His buddy and reinforcer, Randolf, is sitting gazing at the ceiling or wall or somewhere in between. Thanks to his hay fever, this class will at least come away knowing how to say, "Bless you!" A good looking boy who trades on his charm. He has a way of looking at me and saying, "Sorry teacher" after admonishing the rest to behave that defies me to be annoyed in any way. An onlooker would find it hard to believe that he is usually the cause of the insurrection, "... but he is so quiet!" I think I will probably remember him most for the fact that all the work in his book is a word for word copy of Robert's work. A strange thing, to be sure, as his English is far better than Robert's.

Luke. I sit in silence pondering how to describe my most verbose student. I fact, he is arguably the most verbose person I know. This boy lives his life in exclamation marks. Whatever he says or does, he does with unbridled passion. If asked,"How would you say...?" he will answer the question and launch into a rhetoric on the subject. If the example was about Johnny's trip to the Bahamas, he will spend the next 10 minutes telling us the pros and cons of travelling to the Bahamas, when he last went there and why he plans to go to Hawaii next time. How do you cut such enthusiasm short so that the rest can get a word in edgeways? Heck, I could never get a word in edgeways!

Michael, who reminds me of a mischievous cherub with his round, rosy cheeks, is one of those kids who drives teachers insane. His teacher from school also teaches here. She was the one who told me how unteachable he is because he has a problem, you know. He has dyslexia (whispered in a dramatic tone as though to imply that he has some scandalous disease that only she knows of). The child is incredibly bright and creative. I always look forward to his thoughtful answers. He has the attention span of a flea though and is way ahead of his peers in this class, so I often find him drawing the most fascinating designs in his exercise book. When he wants something, he adopts a cute puppy dog look that most would find hard to resist. I tell him it doesn't work for my dog, so it is unlikely to work for him. This expressive and very misunderstood child will be the one I miss the most.

Ah, my Monday Monsters. This class has been handed from teacher to teacher, each teacher in turn giving up on them. I refused to do that. They were a huge challenge in the beginning, virtually impossible to control in any way, but we made it. I have even suggested that I take them for the next semester too, even though the students usually change teachers.

             ~ '' ~ '' ~ '' ~

Back to the present....
Marking test papers has been a nightmare. To quote my note from earlier in the week:

"The kids did an oral test, which I was under the impression was the first part of the final test. The total points come to 10. Each part of the test is a mark out of something like 0.25. In other words, the child will get something like 0.1 for a question. Add them all up and they come to 8 points. The oral part is a total of 2 points. I was told to list all the points separately and give the children an average out of 10. How on earth can (for example) 1.75 / 2.0 be part of an average with 6.95 / 10? I have to take their half-semester marks, their oral marks, their written test marks, and add them together and divide by 3. When one lot of marks is out of 2.0 and the other two out of 10... it can't be done. The marks out of 2.0 will drag their average down to way below failure. Maths was never my strong point."

I spent hours trying to find a way around the points system. The test papers came with the oral test included and I marked it as such. I was told afterward that the oral test is separate. How to fix that without making a mess of the papers? I eventually set up a meeting with the principal of the school. The score system I used initially was correct according to the school itself. As owner of this particular franchise, she didn't understand their points system, so she created her own system; thus the total confusion. She was trying to merge the two systems. Their system was 2 points for the oral, 8 for the written, totalling to 10. Logical enough. The principal decided that the oral had to be separate, so I had to get an average when one lot of points was 1.7 out of 2 and then 7.2 out of 8. The final score still had to be out of 10. Boggles the mind! Luckily my Maths abilities are unsurpassed. Yeah right!

A side note...  I am sitting in yet another exam room. The question is about pronunciation, in particular the 'i' sound of 'bicycle'. From the student, "Teacher! Speaking 'bicicleta' please?" I said no... I would be giving him the answer then. This, by the way, is an 'advanced' class!! Note the quality of the English. They only have one more short book to do before being released on the world as being 'fluent'.

The other problem I needed to have out with the principal was with my little cherub. The four of them all failed the last tests dismally, which count towards the finals. Michael got 0.35 less than the pass mark. Because he was so close, she told me to push him through if I thought he was good enough. I didn't know those marks were to be taken into account for the finals, or I would have insisted that he rewrite. I let it ride. Big mistake. She has a no-fail policy of her own (the schools here do fail students), her motive being to keep the parents happy. So the other three got to rewrite - with help. I know she helps because the one student who has absolutely no English and usually gives all his answers, both verbally and in tests, in Portuguese got a word perfect high score. If you're going to do something like that, at least keep it realistic! No wonder these kids are in a fairly advanced class with no basic grammar.  Anyhow, in this test, Michael did well. I was very proud of him, knowing that the test with its reams of writing wasn't easy for him. That last test mark was threatening to drag his average close to a fail though.

In our meeting with the principal (Tat was with me), she had an issue with Tat marking one student as 'Regular', the lowest grade, a fail. Tat explained that the student virtually slept through classes and had a no-care attitude... "but we can't put 'Regular'. The parents will be upset!" and she had Tat change it to at least a 'Good'. Tat was seething. With Tat's student, justice and truth were tossed out the window. With mine, fairness went. Michael never had the chance to redo his test the last time, giving him the lowest score in the class in spite of being the best English speaker and the most hard working student. The principal was not interested in him. She can't stand his mother and often spoke of what a problem the family was, so her 'rule' of keeping the parents happy didn't apply here. But... because she just pushed Tat's student through, I pushed the case for Michael and got to mark him on his overall abilities and progress.

In short, I came away disillusioned and feeling a little like a fraud. Honesty is important to me, but honesty is a word used very lightly at this school.

On hindsight, perhaps I should have done this blog in chapters. It's Long!

The photo? The 'kaput'? Kaput is a word I grew up with, usually used for appliances, cars, and such that finally give up the ghost. We also used it when totally exhausted, as in finished. That is how I was feeling this week when I started this blog.

 

Technorati Tags: teaching,work,ethics

No more excuses

"A man who wants something will find a way; a man who doesn't will find an excuse."
Stephan Dolley Jr.

It’s been said that some of the smartest people make lousy entrepreneurs. How can that be? The problem is that some people are so smart they can easily predict all of the problems, roadblocks and hurdles they’ll need to overcome to succeed. They can think of all kinds of reasons why an idea won’t work. This foresight can crush possibilities and dreams. When you want something, do you focus on the positive things, or the barriers? To reach your goals, you have to really want them. More importantly, you have to believe that you can do it. Think more about why you CAN make it happen instead of why you can’t.

from Sparkpeople.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This weekend was spent in a flurry of spring cleaning, making picture frames, and moving furniture around. This morning was our first interview here with our first caller from the ad we put out. I went to bed nervous, knowing the house was ready, but was I? I looked at the 'office' this morning and was satisfied. There was no more we could do to be prepared. I went off to teach. We did the last swapping out of chairs and flicked the dust off the table. You won't believe the amount that collects overnight!

Then we waited...

In fairness to the student, she's Brazilian and it's almost cultural to arrive late and, again, in fairness to her, she apologised for being late. She wants a one month intensive, three times per week. She has no English at all. Tat will have to take this one on. She is delighted, naturally, except.... the student wants classes at 7:30am... not teen 'awake' time! My Portuguese was the subject of much hilarity during the interview *groan* In all, it went well. Now we need a few more like that : ) A large chunk of our students are stopping now for the mid-year holidays. Many of them may not return to class or they will return, but to other teachers.

If ever, then, there was a time to move forward and not make or accept excuses, now is it. This can work. It has to work. We're once again moving into a phase of big change. Once before, I worked for a school, then moved to private teaching. I can do that again. In fact, this time will be even better! Yes... it will.... right?

 

Technorati Tags: thoughts,teaching,excuses,work

The drag, the nose, and the economy

Not my photo ; )

As taken from my notebook... that which I can read, of course, as it was scrawled on the bus...

It's a beautiful day today. Clear blue skies; the only thing marring them being the ever-present grey city haze. The warm winterish sun is delightful, a playful breeze being the only reminder that it isn't high summer... that and the fact that most Brazilians around me are wrapped up like Eskimos. The temperature is a 'chilly' 20°C.

As the bus stop-started along Avenida Paulista, I was engaging in one of my favourite pastimes, people watching. It is a great area for strange sights, especially around Masp and today was no exception. Skipping along, blowing some sort of horn sounding like a sick duck, was a drag 'thing'. I didn't say 'queen' because he was making absolutely no attempt to look female other than in dress. His long, plastic Barbie hair lay glistening in a pinkish-blonde mass over his shoulders. His thin, hairy legs were encased in white stockings, topped by a chunky body in the proverbial 'little black dress', sporting enormous stuffed boobs. When he wasn't blowing his horn or shaking hands with onlookers, including two beaming hobos, he was doing a strange fluttering thing with his top lip. My imagination has failed... I can't describe it. It was really weird to watch.

The film crew, though, seemed more interested in the little guy and the tall guy. The tall guy was an ordinary Brazilian-looking chap, dressed in a black suit. It was the little guy who stole the show though. Picture a cross between a toucan and a vulture, his very large, sharp nose curving out from between tiny black eyes in his pale face. It was definitely the focal point of his face, almost, but not quite, obscuring  his toothy grin and deep, long dimples. A queer-looking fellow, to be sure. Oh, I called him the little guy, right? He was no taller than an average 7 year old boy! And skinny to boot. To add to the contrast with the tall guy, he was dressed in a white dinner jacket.

Aroun the outside of the Masp are some short concrete pillars to prevent cars entering. On a signal, the little guy and the tall guy wove in and out of the pillars, the little guy in the lead pretending to steer and doing the whole 3yr old "Vroom! Vroom" thing. Who knows what TV show this was for. I'm now not sure if I'm glad or disappointed that I don't have a TV. I think I'll stick with 'glad'.

My student was telling me today about how his CFO pays an exorbitant amount for a nanny for his kids, as the nanny needs to be able to speak English (the CFO is German). He laughingly asked why I don't do it. Why not? We then embarked on a lively discussion on the pros and cons of being a nanny. He decided that he couldn't do it. It all started with a discussion on being without an income, as apparently British Airways has asked their staff to work for 1 month without a salary. My student said he'd rather recycle cans, but that I was perfect for the job of nanny, as I could offer English lessons to the family at the same time. He wasn't keen on losing his teacher though. It was an interesting discussion though, as we spoke about what people do in different countries and cultures when forced by the economy to be without work or means to earn a living, as so many are doing now.

I'm off to bed now. I have a really early class tomorrow and my Monday Monsters have an extra class tomorrow afternoon. That should be fun  ; )

 

Technorati Tags: people,masp,nanny,economy

Jinxed

Ugh… click on the image to see the legible version =/

That is the word I taught my student tonight... 'jinxed'.

My day started with Jorge powering on my pc and making coffee. Yes, I know I'm lucky and no, he's not for sale (though good offers will be considered). I went to my pc, only to find it dead as a doornail. I think I'm jinxed. Seems the socket it was using on the strip connector is faulty. Ok, so we sorted that out and powered on only to be told by a morbidly black screen that my slave drive is facing an imminent implosion or something to that effect and that I'd be wise to back up the contents. Huh?! *disconnects slave drive just in case* We powered the pc on again and all went well until I got my first post-format blue screen. Can you see now why I think I'm jinxed?

I had a new student to go to. He's a retired gentleman who travels the world. He wants to go to Turkey for his next trip. He asked for an American teacher and got me. Poor thing. By no stretch of anyone's imagination do I sound like an American. I consider my accent to be pretty neutral, but American it is definitely not. He raved about his previous teacher who has returned home to Delaware for the winter. Seems he spends summers in Brazil and winters in the USA... Brazilian winters, that is. He'll be back here in October. I got home to find that he wants to try a different teacher, as he has trouble with my accent. He also wears a hearing aid and I'm notoriously soft-spoken.

I left the old man to go to my next student. In the process, I learnt something about myself. At night, I lose all sense of direction in the city. I tend to go by landmarks. Landmarks in the city at night change dramatically! Google maps and my own map book told me to take the bus on a certain road. That bus does not go down that road. It took a song and dance to get 'bus info' to give me the correct directions. My cell phone battery died while trying to get directions, so I missed a call from my student saying "not to worry... let's have the class tomorrow instead". I eventually found my way to her. Note to self: those boots are danged uncomfortable. Do not wear them for more than a couple of hours!! I have blisters under the balls of my feet. It was a lot of walking.

In short, I arrived home after 11pm. Tonight, I give myself permission to be disgruntled. Tomorrow is a new, albeit long, day.

Technorati Tags: buses,teaching,computer,work

Third time lucky

This is the third time tonight I'm trying to get to post. Our ISP is playing mind games again. Most pages aren't loading. Shh... don't tell it I'm in!

A couple of weeks ago, I put an ad into our neighbourhood newspaper. I got one call from that ad, only to find later that the ad had no subject, just content and the content was misleading. There was a subject to my e-mail in which I gave the text for the ad. I wasn't terribly surprised, as the person I was communicating with got their banking details radically wrong and had typos all the way through her e-mail response. With trepidation, in case of further errors, I decided to take a full month's worth of ads in the same paper, starting this past weekend. The paper gets delivered to each household in the neighbourhood over the Friday/Saturday period. We saw no paper on either day. Yesterday, I asked around. Apparently no one received their paper. Let's just say I was a little agitated when I arrived home and asked Jorge to call their offices.

They confirmed that the newspaper was out with my ad in it. Apparently, because of last Thursday's public holiday, none of their delivery guys came to work over the weekend, so no one got the newspaper, but the paper was placed in stacks in strategic places. I don't know what their idea of strategic is, because I didn't see a single paper in the village. The big shot (don't know if he's the owner or manager) was very apologetic though and has given me an extra week's worth of advertising. That was nice of him, but he didn't stop there. He drove around to our place personally to give us a copy of the paper. Now that was really nice : )

My student today was talking about immigration. He said he thought he'd apply for the Diversity visa (Green card lottery). I said, "Why not?" and told him it is fairly easy to apply online. I explained the process as I've found it to be the last few years. He got happy and said he'd apply as soon as possible. A little further into the discussion, I mentioned the time period you have in which to immigrate. "What? I have to go to the US??" Uh.... well, isn't that what it is about? Apparently, he just wanted to apply for a Green card, so that he didn't have to apply for tourist visas and could just come and go as he pleased *sigh* He changed his mind when he heard he'd actually have to live there. That makes me wonder now how many other people apply with the same motive.

He then went on to tell me about a friend he has who went to the US illegally. Apparently, his whole family was over there and sent money to him to get in via the 'coyotes'. Coyotes? These are people who take the illegals across the border. He told the story of how his friend was on the boat crossing the river when one of his fellow passengers got sick. He tried to help the guy and the 'coyote' got mad at him. Eventually, the sick man either fell overboard or was tossed, so the rest of them could go on. This story made me sad. The people pay a fortune to get help getting into the country, only to be thrown aside if things get rough. Dispensable. I understand that a sick person would slow them all down, but it doesn't make it any better. Then there's all those who try so very hard to get in legally and get stonewalled at every turn. Did you know that 80% of Brazilians in the US are there illegally?

On computer news... we got my C drive working, but I'm making sure I'm well backed up just in case. We had to format twice, as the first reinstall went badly. Everything is running smoothly now.

I had a lot more to blog about, but you know how it goes... when a blog takes too long to get 'out there', you kinda lose that 'oomph'. I'm off to bully Tat into working out now. G'night all!

Technorati Tags: internet,immigration,work,advertising

Repost from Y! - Feijoada

It's lovely and cool tonight. Tomorrow night I only get home at around 10pm, but I think that Thursday merits a pot of steaming feijoada (my style). I saw a post on 'not so Brazilian' rice and beans by another expat living here and decided to rescue this blog from the clutches of Yahoo. I'm sure I did bring it over to Multiply, but can't find it right now.

Tonight we had a typical Brazilian dish we, as a family, tend to reserve for cooler weather. Seeing as cooler weather isn't happening and Jorge was nagging, we had it anyway.

Feijoada is a dish that originated with the slaves here. The slave owners would give the slaves no good meat, only the offal... the pig's tails, ears, snouts, etc. With this meat, they were given beans... either black beans or sugar beans, as a cheap form of protein. From this comes one of Brazil's most well-known and well-loved dishes, best served with caipirinha.

Here is a recipe for feijoada I found online some time back when I was looking for 'the genuine article'. Few people make it with offal now. I personally wouldn't touch it made with the likes of ears and snouts. The main ingredients are salt beef, Italian sausage (calabresa), bacon and stewing beef... and of course the beans. The dish is meant to take up to 3 days to prepare, but I do it overnight. Its a dish designed to feed the entire extended family. We're only 3 people, so I scale it down drastically and we eat it over 2 to 3 days. Traditionally, Feijoada is served on a Wednesday and Saturday, regardless of the season or the temperature outside. How they can function on a hot day after eating a hot stew at noon is beyond me.

Don't let the very long process put you off if you want to try it. My quick way tastes just as good and I most Brazilians I have met do it the abbreviated way, which I posted below the main recipe.

Feijoada
1lb carne seca
1 smoked beef tongue (1 ¾lb)
1 salted pork rump (1 ¾lb)
1lb salted pork ribs
½lb salted slab bacon
1lb pig's trotters
½lb linguiça
½lb calabresa
2lb dried black or sugar beans
1 medium onion
4 bay leaves
1tblsp oil
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
salt & pepper to taste

Day 1:
In a large stock pot, add the carne seca, tongue, pork rump and ribs. Cover generously with water and stand for 24 hours, changing water once or twice. In another stockpot, add bacon and trotters. Cover with water, stand for 24 hours, changing water once or twice. In a large pot, combine beans and cold water; cover and set aside. Soak for a minimum of 6 hours, preferably overnight.

Day 2:
Take meat and beans out. Wash out the meat pots and add carne seca, tongue, ribs and trotters to one. Put pork rump in a separate pot. Cover meat in both pots and bring to boil - + 5 minutes. Remove meat, drain water and repeat the process 4 times. Boil bacon over high heat for 5 minutes in another pot. Drain and set aside. Prick sausages with a fork and set aside. Boil sausages separately. Reduce heat and simmer calabresa for 5 minutes and linguiça for 10 minutes. Remove sausages and drain water. Brown sausages on both sides. Drain the beans, add onion and bay leaves in a large pot. Cover with water by 8". Bring to boil; simmer covered for 1½ hours. Add bacon and continue cooking, covered, for 1½ hours.
(To test the readiness of the beans, remove one bean. Press with thumb onto a board and rub along. Bean should be smooth and pasty)
In a small skillet, heat oil. Add garlic and cook for 5 minutes. Add garlic mixture, salt and pepper to beans. Add meat and sausage to beans. Bring to boil and simmer, partially covered for 1 - 1½ hours, stirring from time to time. Keep checking the liquid level - add boiling water as needed to keep level at 8". Remove meat from beans and cool. Cover separately and refrigerate.

Day 3:
Remove from fridge. In a large heavy-bottomed pot, add beans and meat and enough cold water to cover by 8". Cove and bring mixture to a simmer over low heat for 1 hour. Cut meat onto serving dishes. Pour a cup or two of bean liquid over meat. Place beans in a large ceramic bowl and serve with rice.

Serves 15

My method? I presoak the sugar beans and salt beef (if I have it) overnight. In South Africa, I simply left the salt beef out. The next evening, I put the beans, stewing meat, calabresa (in SA, I chose Russian sausage as an equivalent. Any spicy sausage will do), and bacon in the pot. Season and cover with water. I use a pressure cooker, but I'm sure a slow cooker will work magic or you cook it for 3 hours. In the pressure cooker, I cook it for about an hour and a half. I then cook up some rice and serve the feijoada over the rice.

With supper filling our bellies, I fully expected to spend the evening relaxing, but Jorge decided he couldn't find his belt. We virtually emptied out the bedroom cupboard with no luck. Turns out, it was on the ironing board, under the hot water bottle, which is put there in the hopes of a night cold enough to warrant it.

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