Monday, July 24, 2006
Went to a Brazilian co-worker’s son’s birthday party over the weekend. Didn’t really want to but I had turned him down several times before so felt guilty doing it again.
It was an interesting experience to say the least. These Brazilians, or perhaps South Americans in general, are quite the ‘fun loving’ people. I had anticipated this from the start so decided to show up early and only stay for a bit. The problem is that the definition of fun usually tends to include some alcohol – or in their case, an entire fridge with three different kinds. Not to mention the hot weather ensured that I was the most dressed up person by a mile and all I had on were a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
I had a valid excuse to leave anyways because the plan was to head to the anti-war rally and the candle light vigil with a brief stopover with friends at the city game between Edmonton and Calgary.
On a side not, we managed to bring a 16-year old Calgary player close to tears with constant heckling and trash talking every time he touched the ball. In our defense, he asked for it by staring down one of the Edmonton batsman in order to intimidate him. If you talk the talk, better be able to walk the walk.
The rally was
a bit disappointing in its turnout. I doubt even half the city’s Lebanese community had bothered to show up. With Canada’s stance tilting more towards Israel every passing day, large-scale rallies do have a way of sending strong messages (especially to minority governments).
It was an interesting experience to say the least. These Brazilians, or perhaps South Americans in general, are quite the ‘fun loving’ people. I had anticipated this from the start so decided to show up early and only stay for a bit. The problem is that the definition of fun usually tends to include some alcohol – or in their case, an entire fridge with three different kinds. Not to mention the hot weather ensured that I was the most dressed up person by a mile and all I had on were a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
I had a valid excuse to leave anyways because the plan was to head to the anti-war rally and the candle light vigil with a brief stopover with friends at the city game between Edmonton and Calgary.
On a side not, we managed to bring a 16-year old Calgary player close to tears with constant heckling and trash talking every time he touched the ball. In our defense, he asked for it by staring down one of the Edmonton batsman in order to intimidate him. If you talk the talk, better be able to walk the walk.
The rally was
a bit disappointing in its turnout. I doubt even half the city’s Lebanese community had bothered to show up. With Canada’s stance tilting more towards Israel every passing day, large-scale rallies do have a way of sending strong messages (especially to minority governments).
Faraz Ahmed 10:40 a.m.