Gordinho

Vem gordinho (you come chubby), announced Helena this morning. In Africa, one thing as certain as night meets day, is that if you put on weight, you will be informed of it. About half a dozen people in the last week have remarked on the several kilos gained in the last year and a half, some of them even accompanying it with gestures demonstrating fatter cheeks and a general bulking up of the frame (as if you were imitating a gym bunny - only without the muscle mass). Somehow, I don’t receive it offensively, as we would tend to in the UK. It’s factual, after all.

I’m back with the familiar dilemma of whether or not to employ someone to help clean the apartment. In my absence the previous helper Ana has been repurposed as childcare for the landlady after she let standards slip and then admitted to Helena that cleaning really wasn’t her bag. Helena is now suggesting I use a lady called Dominga who needs the work, and she brought her over for an introduction. Dominga is also now aware that she’s seeing a gordinho version of me.

I resumed my Portuguese lessons with Ilidio, and I’ve missed these. He reckons my capabilities haven’t decreased badly despite the absence, so that was reassuring. We will aim for at least two lessons per week. On seeing me struggle to understand the internet technician who dropped by to fiddle with the connection, Ilidio resolved to speed up the way he talks, realising that I’m used to his slow, clear style of delivery. I reckon my Portuguese has a slow, enunciating style that ensures I get the grammar and pronunciation right, but which must be grandiose and irritating to listen to, given that I boom without realising at the best of times.

I made an approximately once per year resolution to cook fresh food, but realised when trying to reconnect the oven that various plugs in this apartment have disintegrated into floppy strands of metal. However much I wanted to fry chicken, I couldn’t risk burning down the block. Luckily I had some drop dead gorgeous big and creamy avocados as a fall back plan, which I piled onto crackers.

The block is pictured, unpretentious and chilled, and I missed this place. I’m top left.