Differences: At Portuguese parties, kids do not play “pin the tail on the donkey” or the variations of that game that our family has come up with (pin the lips on the girl..., pin the tooth on the t-rex). There are lots of cakes and endless plates of pastries and candy, instead of only one cake. There are not only a few friends, but aunts and uncles and cousins and friends of the parents of birthday kid.
Okay. That said, I will now get to my wandering and wonderings, arriving eventually back at birthdays, or rather, my birthday party.
Wandering: On Friday (which you may have guessed by now is a day we generally spend wandering) between my birthday and birthday party, we walked through the old market at the Cais da Ribeira—lots of fresh fish, one was displayed belly-up with guts spilling out. When my Dad asked the fishmonger why this view, she answered “mais bonito” (more pretty) and flipped the fish over to show us that the top side (its face) was far uglier than any of the guts. It was, in fact, so terribly ugly I doubt that any other fish would so much as think that it was a living, healthy fish! I’ve since seen an uglier sight: a fish being gutted at the Carnide peixaria for my dinner!
That day we headed uphill from the market, but on the Elevador da Bica (not on foot), and eventually walked to the Miradouro de Santa Catarina (an overlook not named after my sister). Looking down at the roofs below, I made an interesting sighting. Of course, there was the normal garbage that you find lying around—boxes, plastic bags, bottles, maybe an old shoe or sock. But if you have to know what I found right away, you can look ahead to “something interesting to end up with.”Wondering: “Just recalling my birthday...” said Sophia with a content, daydreamy look. (I would just start in talking about it, but without this introduction, it would belong to a different category than “wondering”.) “My story,” continued Sophia, the author of this blog, “starts late at night, October 27th. I couldn’t sleep and stayed up past midnight, just wondering...”
The morning of my 11th birthday started with molasses on French toast (because the strawberry syrup we found made its way, by accident, with a little help from Isaac, into the freezer, and it was rock hard. The French toast was yummy, though. I spent the day at home and around the neighborhood (which I like to do, despite all my writing about wandering). That night, we had our first mac-n-cheese (which I’ve REALLY missed eating). We had gingersnaps hot from the oven and a little chocolate pão de ló (cake) that we picked up at Três Cereais (Three Cereals—the place around the corner where we buy hot bread in the mornings). I’d had a couple sneak previews, but then we opened most of my presents—books in English (needed some), a hooded sweater, orange leather gloves, fashion paper dolls, a design-your-own-outfit set, bendaroos, a Mariza CD, the Kimi doll I’ve had my eye on! I had a lot of fun.
Now for an extra category!
My Birthday Party: I had a Halloween party, as I usually do, except that they don’t have Halloween here (except in stores like Toys-R-Us, where we saw plenty of ghoulish costumes, witches, and the spider webs we used to cover our windows). We hung balloons and bats, skeletons and spiders. I invited my guests to dress up. We had a witch, a remarkable nose (which reminded me of Obelix), two princesses, and one small wizard. Among other things, I introduced my friends to a party game which, you will find in “differences,” they do not play here. This is “pin-the-ingredient-in-the-cauldron” (eyeballs, fish bones, frogs, lips, lizards...). We also played “mummify-the-adults-in-toilet-paper,” with Kati as the judge on best mummy and mummifier (I’ve discovered a new talent). Then we had chocolate cake, lemon bars, cookies and snacks, and, last of all, we trick-or-treated (but only down a dark hallway).
Something interesting to end up with: I spotted, on someone’s roof, the latest murder in Lisbon—a large plastic doll missing both of its arms. A mystery...
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