Dia do Namorados

Iºm pretty sure that the only good thing about Valentineºs day that is awesome is getting giant boxes of chocolate that you can eat your sorrows away with. O.K. that was a bit dramatic but still. So anyhoo, I didnºt think that much about valentineºs day this year until I was walking around Mindelo and noticed that there are hearts everywhere so my fears were answered... they do celebrate v-day even here. My co-workers asked me what I was doing for the day and I explained to them that I didnºt have any plans becaue I donºt like the holiday, they assured me that it was also a holiday about friendship (yea right). But all in all it wasnºt a bad valentineºs day, Lindsay and I went to a friends house and had a really good steak (my first one here and it was incredible) and just hung around and than had an early night which was very nice.

At work on friday before v-day the kids at work made valentineºs day cards which was hilarious because the kids were writting these quotes which were just rediculous. First off there was lots of ´´I love you´´s but it wasnºt spelled right, it was more like ´´ E lovi yo´´ almost but not quite. This is one of those English phrases that everyone knows because it is written over lots of stuff, so itºs not shocking for people in the street to confess their love to me or maybe a proposal or two every once in a while.
I will try to post some pictures later in the week of some of the great cards that you all will get a kick out of. Anyway, hope everyone has a good week. We are all getting ready for Carnival which is next week (Fat Tuesday in the U.S.) and is supposed to be really awesome. Lots of people are dressing up but I still havenºt decided if Iºm going to wear a costume or being boring and just wear normal clothes. We shall see, if anyone has any interesting ideaºs send them my way.

Whatºs the Superbowl without the commercials?

Superbowl Sunday in Cape Verde did not involve the typical events such as cooking ridiculous amounts of food and sitting on a comfortable couch (or at least relatively comf. with dorm couches). Instead pizza and shwarmas (mini gyro-kind of, with french fries inside) were ordered and eaten. Not that either of those options was all that bad, but it still isnºt the same as sitting down and stuffing your face with chips and dip (Iºve been thinking about wegmanºs amazing rye dip), pigs in a blanket, buffalo wings(and blue cheese dressing-defiantly not something you find here) and good beer (defiantly not what you find here).
But all in all it was at least exciting to be able to watch the game... that was until the first commercial came on, advertising Superbock, a Portuguese beer. I had heard the night before that because the Superbowl is aired on a satellite that you donºt get the commercials but I was trying to be optimistic. While I think that the average person in America (because letºs face it very few outside of the U.S. watch football) does actually want to watch the game, you always hear about the commercials and the superbock commercials which they aired twice in a row the whole game just didnºt make the cut. The other really funny thing about watchingthe game was that it was all in Portuguese. Iºm not sure if it wouldhave been as amusing in English because they kept saying the same things over and over again such as that was complicated, that was incredible etc. I canonly wonder if the American announcers described the game as that or if there were just a bunch of random Portuguese guys sitting around and translated to their liking because they donºt know anything about American football.
Well, all in all the game was at least relatively exciting, not as exciting of a game as last year but when neither are your favorite team itºs different, hence why the commericals are an important aspect of the game. We were all rooting for the Steelers (at least for a while until I decided to root for the far better looking team (Cardinals)- yes itºs superficial but I am totally ok with it). Well the better looking team did lose and I canºt partake in the ´´omg did you see that commercial when...´´ (although there are few people to actually have that conversation with) but overall at least I can say that I got to watch the Superbowl. Which by the way before the halftime did anyone else get a kick out of the lip singing fake journey band?