Look at those winning feet!
Three weeks ago it was starting to warm up in Lisbon.
One afternoon…one like any other…I was walking around the apartment barefoot.
Coming from the dining room into the kitchen I had to move through a relatively narrow space between our dining table and the wall.
Then occurred the stubbing. Damn that hurt! Stubbing my toe, which I’ve done countless times in my life, is incredibly painful. I’ve never understood how such a repeatable, temporary, short-term pain could be so intense.
Well, after “cursing a Finnish cottage” (Lisbon’s version of ‘cursing a blue streak’) I casually glanced down at my feet, even though, of course, I had just stubbed my toe so…what was there to see?
This image, minus the expensive digital graphics, is what I saw. And it was weird. Why is my toe pointing the wrong direction? Oh God! I just broke my toe!!!
First thing I’ve ever broke! I actually text-messaged every friend whose number I have in Lisbon and ‘announced’ it. I was oddly proud.
Well, 3 weeks later and I can walk easily and feel a little dull pain in the area after I’ve been on my feet for a while.
Never went to the doctor. From what I’ve heard they can’t do much for you anyway. I did tape the toe to a nearby toe for the first week as per a scene near the end of Blade Runner when Harrison Ford breaks a finger.
An Extra Bit on Bunions
Apparently those are bunions on my feet. I didn’t know this for most of my life. This is just how my feet have always looked, as far as I can remember. But most people don’t have that angular big toe action going on. And I guess these “bunions” hurts some people and they have expensive surgery to ‘remove’ them. I can’t even imagine how that’s possible. I don’t think they hurt me, unless I’m always suffering a ‘background bunion pain’ that I’m no longer aware of and just explains why I like to tip the bottle from time to time.
These are snails. SNAILS!
Yes, summertime in Lisbon means beer and snails.
They’re washed, boiled (I think), and put in a tasty sauce.
You grab their little heads with your teeth like you’re eating corn-on-the-cob and then suck the bodies out.
The flavor: very cajun, if I had to compare them to something Americans eat.
Quite yummy, actually, after getting over the fact that they’re SUPER GROSS!
That’s me, over there on the right, dipping some bread into the “snail sauce” left behind.
Yes, I know, the idea grossed me out before..but you can’t argue with FLAVOR!!
Oh, and see our plates? That’s how many we had eaten at the time of the picture.
Last post on this, I swear!
So the supergroup to end all supergroups of the 80’s reunited, came out with a new album called Phoenix, and played Lisbon.
They got pretty close to selling out the Lisbon Coliseum, which, granted is not huge.
But still…hundreds of Portuguese people showing up for Asia…? Pretty wild.
I was asked twice to put away my camera, that from the second row, allowed me to capture some pretty hot illicit video here: Hot Hot Asia Video
See Steve Howe’s fretboard work as he plays “The Clap” and “Roundabout”.
One of the highlights was their rendition of the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star”. Jeff Downes, the keyboardist had co-wrote it, apparently.
I think Steve Howe (bald guitarist on left) noticed the bunch of us in the first and second rows videotaping him so now and again would gesture over his guitar between chords at us. I was perplexed during the concert what exactly he was doing. I didn’t get it. Only after did Sue suggest that he was, in fact, ‘being the MAN’, and alerting security guards to our shinanigans! Leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. He’s still cool (and skeletal! Don’t miss the video!).
NO!! Not that boring old Asia where asians live but the HOT HOT HOT one that made “Heat of the Moment” the ultimate power rocker in 1982!!
And why here in our little Squid blog?
Because they’ve REUNITED and are playing TONIGHT at the Lisbon Coliseum and me and Sue have 2nd ROW SEATS!!!!
ROOOOOOOOOCCCKKK!
Review of concert to come tomorrow!
Only Time Will Tell how awesome this is going to be but I think it will satisfy my Wildest Dreams!
How’s this possible? Well, I was in the good ole U.S. of A for 2.5 weeks and just got back!
I went for business, pleasure, and something strangely in between called “3 day road trip with my Mom and her dog across 7 states”. We traveled for 27 hours, slept two nights in bizarre sheds and broke 12 laws (see map above). Am I lying? Perhaps. Probably.
But you just NEVER WILL KNOW until you click on the following incredible VIDEO ADVENTURE TAGALONG! 8 blindingly fun minutes of watchabilly good times!
If video doesn’t show above in the box please let me know! It’s supposed ta’!
I also saw my brothers, their kids, and more! My brother Mike and his wife just got back from Ethiopia where they adopted a cutie little baby girl named Frances.You can read their adventures in Ethiopia HERE!
There are some little things that you probably have to live amongst another people to notice.
One of the mostly insignificant, but very real, things I’ve noticed about Portuguese people is their patience waiting for others.
Given that I don’t drive a car, this is mostly about that random person who is standing in your way in the sidewalk.
They don’t see you, they’re looking for someone in the distance, fidgeting with keys in their pocket, or something.
Main thing: They’re in your way, they don’t notice you, and you either have to tap them on the shoulder or just say “com licensa” (excuse me, lemme pass, eh?).
So, this situation happens a lot to me, probably because I’m in a biggish city and I walk everywhere. I’m very impatient and immediately start ‘com licensa-ing’ everyone.
But I’ve noticed Portuguese people just roll with it. They stop, stand there for what seems to me an excruciatingly long time of just letting the ‘blockage’ do whatever they’re doing. Amazing patience.
It’s just their way I guess.
How many English dictionaries does the average American own over their lifetimes?
How many have you owned?
The only reason I’m wondering is because Susan and I are trying to learn a new language and we own two, very small, dictionaries.
It struck me that’s it’s a perfectly adequate target to blame for my inability to have become fluent by now.
But, actually, this post isn’t about that. That’s just the mile73-like rhetorical hook so you can’t resist reading on!
It’s about the fact that I was doing my Portuguese homework just now and needed to look up the definition of the word bola.
At first I thought I was looking at the word for cake, but that’s bolo (see that “o” at the end?).
When you’re learning a language I’ve heard it’s very useful to try and guess the meaning of words you don’t recognize before looking them up in the dictionario. I guessed something like “ball” for bola. Well, I’ll just post the full entry for you to enjoy…
I don’t really understand it myself but I keep coming back to cereal.
Perhaps it’s due to the induced state of pondering life’s mysteries right after the day’s first coffee and what’s in front of me: cereal.
Anyhoo, to the real meat of this profound story!
Take a look at this very common cereal here in Portugal: Clusters, almondy goodness.
You may even have it back in the USA. But look at the second image: the back of the box.
See something…er…”off”?
Hey! Where’d that little feller come from?!
Why (oh why) are Portuguese advertising professionals willing to put full-color feral rodents on cereal boxes?!
The obvious reason: Portuguese people LOVE squirrels. Especially for nut-eating inspiration.
Maybe I’m out of touch with American cereal advertising (yeah, right! - NEVER!), but would you EVER see such a thing on American cereal boxes?
Okay, some of those discount markets in the ghettos have some weird ‘off-brand’ stuff like “Fruit Loots”…but a rodent?
