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Introducing Mystery Class #1
Lisbon, Portugal ( 38.717 N, 9.133 W )
Our School--American International
School of Lisbon
Pop into our school! Our school is called A.I.S.L., which stands for American International
School of Lisbon. It's really cool! It has a library, 2 computer labs, 2 soccer fields
and basketball courts, a playground, a parking lot, a cafeteria, and security guards
at the entrance. Outside the cafeteria we have tables so that we can eat inside or
outside the cafeteria. We have about 370 kids in our super school. All with different
nationalities: English, Indian, American, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese,
Brazilian, Dutch, Danish and Russian. Our school is about 2.5 soccer fields long,
and about 1 soccer field wide. Pretty big? PLUS, COMING SOON: A SWIMMING POOL!
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Our 5th Grade Class |
Our Class
In our fifth grade class there are thirty-five kids, twenty are boys and fifteen
are girls. We're the only class in the school that has two teachers, Mrs. Hampton
and Miss Shannon. We also have two classrooms, but we are taught as one class. Since
our school is an international school, there are people from all over the world in
our class. David is from Denmark, Yannick from Holland, Saki from Japan, Ruth from
England, Anish from Indian, Joyce, Ana, and Joao from Portugal, Pam from America,
and there are more!
Climate
Climate in Portugal is variated. Our summer is pretty hot, the temperature is about
86º - 96º F, which is around 30º -35º C. People usually go to
the beach to swim and stay cool. Most of the country's rain falls during winter,
beginning in December and lasting through about March. The summer rainfall decreases
towards the South. It usually never snows here. Wind affects several areas near the
coast with big storms, which cause damage. It rains the least in July. There is an
average of 11 hours a day of sunshine in the summer.
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Geography
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There are about 50 beaches in Portugal. A very popular beach in Portugal is Guincho. Portugal has the largest bridge in Europe that crosses over Rio Tejo. To drive from Portugal's capital (Lisbon) to the border of Spain, it takes about 2 and one-half hours.
A great thing about Portugal is that we are next to the ocean, and also very close
to the mountains. Serra de Estrela is the highest point; here there are several large
mountains that even get some snow! Near our school in Sintra are the Sintra mountains.
Although not huge, they are very pretty and covered with eucalyptus and pine.
Linho, Sintra, and Lisbon, our capital
Our school is located in a very small town called Linho (lin-yo) in Sintra. There
is not much here other than our school, some stables, a grocery, several cafes and
a shop or two. It is pretty quiet. Our school is the largest building in Linho.
Portugal is a very small country, yet our capital is very big and of course very
busy. Our pleasant and historic old city is called Lisbon. From the center of Lisbon,
Bairro Alto (bai-rr-oo al-too), it takes about twenty five minutes to get to our
school in Sintra. The nicest parts of Lisbon are probably the Chiado (she-a-doo),
and the Bairro Alto. They are mostly packed with nice little buildings. All over
the buildings there are beautiful azulejos. These are ceramic tiles that make a design
or picture. The most famous of the Chiado is the Elevador de Santa Justa. This is
a beautiful tall elevator that takes about three minutes to get to the top of the
hill (It is very old and it was built by a student of the man who built the Eiffel
Tower in Paris). In Lisbon there are electric trolleys that run through the city.
These trolleys are called Electricos, they are also very old, but we still use them
for transportation. If you get a chance to convince your teacher to come to Lisbon
for a field trip, do that!
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Port Wine and Cork
Port wine and cork are Portugal's two largest industries. Port wine is Portugal's
most famous wine. They named Port wine after the city where it is made, Porto in
the North. If you go towards the Alentejo plains not far from Lisbon, you will see
thousands of tall, round-topped cork trees where cork comes from. Cork is mostly
used for the top of the wine bottle.
Foods
Seafood and sweets are very popular in Portugal. If you go to a restaurant by the
ocean, you will mostly see people having Bacalhau à Bràs ( Potatoes with
Codfish), Ameijoas (Clams), Caldeirada (Fish, Baked Potatoes, and Tomatoe Sauce),
Lulas (squids), Sardines, and Frango with piri piri sauce (chicken with spicy sauce).
If you go to a Coffee Shop you would see people eating Queijadas (cheese cakes) Cozido
á Portuguesa (Ham and Sausage), Prego (meats in bread). The sweets are Pateilas
de Natas (a sweet custard like cake) and Arroz Doce (Rice, Milk, Sugar, and Cinnamon).
Activities
Some popular activities that Portuguese people like to do are watch bullfights, listen
to Fado (a type of singing) go to the ocean to swim and fish, and attend festivals
and sporting events like futebal (soccer) and tennis matches.
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Come and visit us! |
Ms. Shannon Hussey and the Fifth Graders at A.I.S.L
Copyright 2001 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form
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