Tag Archives: Community

Flag Day BBQ

Eric and I made a TON of Brunswick Stew, Eastern NC style BBQ, and cornbread for la Día de la Bandera (Flag Day).  We spent a good part of Separation Day (Tuesday) cooking 6 pounds of ground beef and pork together with two whole rotisserie chickens for the stew, plus 5 big pieces of pork and three batches of cornbread.  We ended up feeding 18 people, most of which ate ALL day long, just as we had hoped they would.  At least four people told me they were taking breaks from their diets for the day because they just couldn’t pass up food this good.  I love it!  Check out the quantity of food we had…and this doesn’t include the additional huge pot of stew we left in the fridge:

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We were glad to see so many smiling faces and shocked that we went through so much food!

 

Later that night – and I know this will surprise you all – we had a roda.  Jorge and Jessie had an epic battle.  They each took each other to the floor once, then went again…and ended up calling it a draw.  It was incredible.  Both of them are great capoeiristas.  Marcus (the American who joined me for Fashion Week last week) even joined in as one of the few non-CDO folks in the crowd and held his own pretty well considering he’s never trained.  He’s in good shape, had plenty of energy, and knew a little of what to expect, all pluses.  He’s a lot of fun, and capoeira is always better when you’re smiling while you’re playing.

I also played with Lourdes, who is a huge challenge for me because of her high energy and aggressive style.  She’s also just plain incredibly skilled.  That’s one thing I love about capoeira – it’s new and different every time!  There’s always a new challenge.

All in all, it was a great day with some dear friends.

Around 9:45 pm we left for the airport, leaving behind the remaining guests to guard the leftovers while we picked up Eric’s parents from the airport.  We’re excited to have them here!  Today we’re off to Casco Viejo (the old city) and then Eric will show them the Canal while I go to capoeira over at the Canal Administration building.  Tomorrow we’re heading to El Valle de Antón, a mountain town that I’ve mentioned before where it’s about 10 degrees cooler.  We’ve rented what looks to be a beautiful house with a pool for a good price and we’re looking forward to a relaxing weekend.

Íntimo dinner y Life Warriors Graduation

Why the egg picture?  I took it last week and I like it.  That’s all.

On Friday night, Eric and I treated ourselves to a wonderful dinner at a place called Íntimo Restaurante (Intimate).  Eric had heard about it though a New York Times article and decided we needed to try it out.  Good call.  It was 11 courses of amazingness.  Our favorites were black beans with local cheese and buttermilk topped with tiny pieces of watermelon and some sort of flavor that we had never tasted before, a spinach leaf with coconut rice and a banana slice topped with some kind of brown amazingness sauce, and then Eric loved the rabbit and lamb.  The idea of eating tiny cute animals bothers me when I think about it too much, so he gladly ate my portions.

We happened to end up at the Chef’s Table, which really meant the bar.  Sneaky trick, huh?  The place is tiny, so it looks like they put all couples at the bar.  This also placed us next to a couple celebrating their 33rd wedding anniversary by having the 11 courses paired with 11 (heavy handedly poured) drinks.  They were already quite talkative by the time we arrived…for better or worse.  Steve and Karen (not the Whitings, our dear friends who read scripture at our wedding), we learned, had lived in seven different countries and had most recently escaped from Indiana.  Steve alerted Eric to the presence of a liquor store that sells bourbon and offered to take him out there, so Eric may have found a friend.

The next day, Eric went on a tour of an Embera village on the other side of the country while I went to a graduation ceremony for a girls’ empowerment group that a friend of mine has been leading.  Eric joined our friend and neighbor Stella, her family from Sweden, and our neighbors from Colombia.  He enjoyed the tour and said he even danced with one of the women from the village!  I was glad to hear it.  Apparently this is a town of 48 people.  They have their own school (pictured below).  Giving these tours is their main source of income.  Very interesting.

Meanwhile, I went to Casco Viejo (the old city) to support my friend Jessie and the girls she has been working with for the past several months.  Jessie formed a group called Las Guerreras de la Vida, or Life Warriors.  Every Saturday morning, these 10-12 year old girls meet with Jessie to do an hour of capoeira and/or self-defense.  They then spend an hour discussing life goals, working on their self-esteem, etc.  I went to the class a few months ago to take photos, and it was really cool to see how much the girls had progressed since then.

The girls first shared with us some of their goals and how they planned to achieve them.  I managed to keep my mouth shut when many of them said they wanted to be lawyers.  🙂  They then practiced some of their self-defense moves (shouting “No!”  It was awesome!).  Lastly, there was a roda, and many folks from my capoeira group (CDO) participated.  I love it when CDO joins up with the kids’ groups.  It’s so cool to see how much they are capable of…kids are so flipping bend-y!  The backbends that these girls can do blow my mind.  They just fold in half.

Jessie gave out certificates and prizes, then we had cake.  Overall, it was a great time.  The parents were proud and taking photos, our group was happy and very proud of Jessie’s work, and Jessie’s mom was able to be there, with tears in her eyes the whole time.  Just a really beautiful event.

Several folks from CDO came to support Jessie and the girls.
Jessie and Lourdes
Jessie, her mom Tonette, Lourdes, and Cari
Jessie’s Mom, Cari (Lourdes’s daughter), and Lucero
Mahalia and Lucero taught Jessie’s mom a few of our moves for our Afro-Brazilian dance
Look at that kick!
The cake said “Congratulations Warriors!”
Proud Mama being introduced
Auri and her daughter Vicky
Irmão (Omar) and Árabe (Antonio)

Afterwards a couple of friends (including Auri and her daughter Vicky from one of the photos above) came over and we played Pictionary next to the pool.  Vicky is working on her English, so she made a deal with Eric that she would speak English if he would speak Spanish.  It worked out pretty well!  Moisés, who you may remember from past posts as a former CDO guy and a dear friend who we don’t see nearly enough, paid us a visit too.  All in all a very nice night.

Yesterday was very relaxing.  I capped it off with a short run and a nice talk with one of the guys who works on his fútbol juggling skills in the same place where I train capoeira.  Actually, it’s more than juggling…there’s a huge acrobatic element to it.  These guys add handstands and handsprings and all kinds of things in.  They definitely have some of the requisite skills down for capoeira.  It was cool to talk to him about his journey from playing soccer on a team to getting injured to finding this group of guys and discovering his love for this new activity, particularly after knowing him by sight for several months but never talking.

Exciting activity coming up this week…stay tuned!!!

Aside

Not-at-all-humble brag…on Eric

Eric made a brilliant return to frisbee practice last night after missing out for a few weeks due to visitors and work trips.  As he was leaving the field at the end of practice, the coach yelled out to him (in Spanish) “Great practice, Eric!” and the whole team clapped for him!  WOOHOO!  So proud!

In other news, Addie did a really good job sleeping under the table today.