Boliche (Bowling)

Last night Kelly was at a pool party with her new employer. She has a new job which seemed really good, but has been a little challenging this first week. While she was out with her co-workers, my friend/student Enrique and I went to the mall to go bowling. I know this sounds so American, right? Well the bus ride there wasn't very American, these little buses are really bumpy and crowded. But we got there in one piece and we desided to get dinner at the food court first. During the walk around the mall I noticed how much I felt like I was back in the states, especially since Enrique's English is very good and I didn't have to struggle to communicate. But of course, it was Halloween and there wasn't a pumpkin or a witch to be seen. So I knew that I wasn't home. In the middle of the mall there is a beautiful area with fountains. Enrique explained that in July they cover it over for ice skating... yes, we all know that winter here is in July, but still...shouldn't ice skating be at Christmas time??
On the McDonalds placemats at dinner there were funny little pictures and expressions of things that people love to do. I love walking my dog, I love napping in the afternoon, I love laying at the beach, I love smelling new books....I was trying to translate these from Portuguese and Enrique was helping...smelling books? That can't be right? That is listed as someone's favorite past time. "What? You don't like smelling new books?" He asked me. "Well..no, I mean, I like how they smell, but I just can't imagine smelling books being my favorite thing to do." After dinner we headed to the bowling alley. In true Brasilian tradition it was gorgeous, well lit, beautiful murals, hard wood floors everywhere...but it didn't work...about every other ball we had to call the guy over to fix it because it didn't re-set. I used to bowl quite a bit in Pittsburgh, but it has been a while. I didn't bowl my best score, let's just put it that way. After bowling we decided to walk around a little more, then we past a book store. We decided that this would be a good oppertunity to smell the books. They weren't too bad. Then we got ice cream and headed home. It was the most American evening since I have been here.