Birthday Love

Ro's birthday today - 28 on the 28th.  It's a special birthday that only happens once in your life!  Ro's mom and sis have gone on a lil trip to see his dad on 'the ship' (he works on a ship).  So it was just the two of us.  But having the house to ourselves for the first time in - Jesus... like, I'm talking 7 months here... we haven't had a house to ourselves for the whole day in 7 months.  We were pretty happy to spend the day at home.

On your birthday you are allowed to have a servent.  Seeing as I definitely indulge in my birthday servant allowance, I am happy to be Ro's birthday servant too.  This means all of the obvious things.  No cooking, cleaning, washing, chores of any kind, work of any kind, moving of any kind (if you so choose). 

So, I woke up early to cook some breakfast - pancakes and eggs - and to bake a cake.  Only problem was, when we went to use our maple syrup (care of familia Canadense), it had mold in it!! BOOOO :.....(  Then, the cake I was baking turned out really flat and not cake-like at all. I swear it was more like a brownie than a cake.  So the morning was off to a rough start (for me at least).  I always set myself up with high expectations which isn't a great thing because any element that is off sort of ruins the whole experience for me.

So anyway, yadda yadda yadda,  Brazil game 4 started.  Made some more food.  Drank some beer.  Won the game! 
Now Ro is at work which is always sad on your birthday.  I'm just hoping that since everyone probably got trashed during the game, they won't be able to make it out to a restaurant of any kind and Ro will be able to come home to me! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE!

A very very important day for Brazilians

The first game of the World Cup!  Let me tell you a little of my first experience in a true soccer country.  

The days that Brazil plays in the World Cup are actually like pseudo holidays.  Everything closes during game time, at least 1 hour prior to.  We're talking banks, grocery stores, businesses... Everyone gets to leave work at lunch time for afternoon games and come in late during morning games.

But because everyone was rushing to the busses and the metro it made for a lot of traffic and because Brazilians have no clue difficulties driving on a normal day, this understandably caused a catastrophe on the roads.  

Let me be a little less harsh on the Brazilian driving thing.  Just understand this: the rules of the road are optional in Brazil and with so many people pushing and shoving, everyone gets very impatient. 

So where was I?  Oh yeah, it was complete and utter mayhem.  

Lately I have started paying more money to take the 'metro' bus (its a faster subway/bus) which normally takes half the time to get to Flamengo (where I teach.)  This means my usual 3 hour bus ride has been taking only 1.5 hours.  Today however took the usual 3 hours AND I had to stand the whole time.

It was literally standstill traffic for more than half of the way so I was a little late getting home for the start of things.  I was actually still on the road at 3:30 when the game started when all of a sudden the road became almost completely deserted!  Like, nobody on the street whatsoever minus a few busses, and some people who were waiting for a bus to pick them up to take them to the game.  It was so weird.

So, as I was walking home, I could hear EVERYONE'S TV's turned to the game.  Sounds of the game were coming from all directions!  Clearly it was the only thing anyone in Brazil was doing today between 3:30 and 5:10 pm. 

When Brazil scored their first goal, the whole neighborhood went wild!  Even normally calm, cool, collected Ro went out and shook the netting that surrounds our balcony, yelling like a lunatic. Haha, it was pretty mental patient/just got a life sentence-y looking to me.  Pretty funny stuff.

So yeah, today was a very very important day for Brazilians.

P.S. HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DEAR FRIEND ANNA BANANA.  xx

World Cup Mania

I have a question.  I am I the only one?  Do I represent a population of one?  Someone, anyone, if you're out there and you're on my side, please let me know.

Am I the ONLY ONE who doesn't give a CRAP about the World Cup????

I think based on your silence, I am.

Let's face the fact that Canada doesn't have a team and isn't really a big soccer country as it is.  This certainly would explain my lack of interest in a World Event of Soccer.
With baseball and hockey (and lacrosse and curling, har har) stealing the limelight, the only space left for soccer is with those 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation citizens who, as soon as world cup comes on, CEASE being Canadian and completely envelop themselves in their heritage identities.  Anyway, my point is, I'm Canadian through and through.  Never had a soccer team, not even by blood.  So now what do I do when I'm in what is arguably the soccer capital of the world and the World Cup is on?

What I do miss about World Cup in Toronto is seeing all of the cultural power come out from the dark.  Toronto is already an incredibly strong multicultural city.  There is most definitely a neighborhood to represent EVERYONE in Toronto.  The best thing to see during the World Cup (or any international event) is the masses of people coming out to cheer for their team.  You have a game of Italy vs. Brazil?  You can bet your ass that the bar will be packed half and half with fans from each side.  Greece won?  How do you know?  Because the Greeks have rallied in their cars and are driving up and down the streets honking horns and waving flags everywhere.  It's f'ing awesome.  

Here, it's all about Brazil.  Brazilian pride is searing right now in the streets.  Flags are flying everywhere.  Paraphernalia litters every corner of every grocery store, sidewalk, building top, restaurant.  Everybody is cashing in on World Cup-mania.  And me?  What am I most happy about?  I'm happy that Outback has a deal on wings and also that they are extending their happy hour time from 2 to 8 hours.  Bring on the World Cup!

Now, don't get me wrong because I completely understand the sense of pride that comes with competing in world events!  It's not like that!  Hello Olympics?  Was I glued to the TV every night in February (when they played 1 measly hour of the Olympics at midnight for my hungry eyes to see).  YES.  If Canada had a team playing in the World Cup, I would certainly be right up there, baring my Canadian Flag clad chest for all to see.

But, they're not.  And so here I am, confused and irritated that my students are canceling their classes because there's a game on.  Confused, but not really.  What can I do but just shrug and join the ranks?