Futebol

Couldn't live in Europe and not take in a soccer, uh, I mean, Football game at least once.
So when a friend invited me along I jumped at the chance!

The Sporting Football Club dates back to like 1906, so they have a long, proud history here.

So how was it? Well, it is much more exciting in person than on TV.  Sporting was a much better team than their opponent, Portimonense.  Their passes were crisp and accurate.  Still, it was a very close game.


Up 2-1 with about 10 minutes left and Sporting gets hit with a red card, which means they play 10 men, instead of 11.

A few minutes later and they are given a second red card, so now it is 9 on 11.

The home crowd was clearly not pleased-- they are quite passionate about the game here.  They even had the riot police standing by.

Well, fortunately Sporting held on for the victory!  It was a fun game.

Colombo Mall

We checked out Portugal's largest mall: the Colombo Mall in Lisbon.

It's 3 levels and over 400 shops.

It's so big, it even has an indoor roller coaster and even a bowling alley...

The girls went for something more tame -- a carousel.

Spring Break

It is Spring Break this week, so we decided to see some local things:

We happened upon this cool park,

Which had ice cream for the girls,














And ice coffee for the parents (it is not at all common to find iced coffee here),

Feliz Pascoa!

That is, Happy Passover (Easter)!

We have been enjoying a couple of Portuguese Easter traditions.

Easter Bread

If you are familiar with Portuguese Sweet Bread, this is almost the same (it is not quite as sweet).  The Cross on top has an obvious meaning.  Inside, is the "sursprise":

There is an egg inside.  The egg being a symbol of New Life.  As I understand it, the egg is cooked along with the bread in the oven (it still has its shell). 






Chocolates

Despite the big yawn, the girls were really excited about Easter Morning.  Of course, we focused on the true meaning of Easter-- we watched a Veggietales Easter video (the new one), which was really well done and very clearly speaks of why we celebrate Easter.


They do love their chocolate here.  Although you can get the chocolate bunnies, more popular seems to be Chocolate Eggs.

Unfortunately, Mika had a bad cold, so we had to cancel on the Sunrise Service. 


She also had to wait on her chocolate egg!



She was feeling well enough to sing along with Dan, though:

Lisbon Zoo

Emi and Mika's Kindergarten class went to the Lisbon Zoo.  Debe's 1st and 2nd grade class tagged along, so they were able to go together.

They had some "hands on" exhibits:

I have to say, this looks a lot nicer than the zoos in Japan, which are much smaller with lots of cement.

Emi's favorite animal?  The "Dragon"; Komodo Dragon, that is:

 

The girls all had a lot of fun!

Father's Day in Portugal

Last Saturday was Father's Day here.  Emi surprised me with a special breakfast.

As it was a Saturday, and some lovely warm Spring weather we went out to enjoy it.

Emi and Mika both made cards and Giraffe Pen Holders. 

Thank you girls, but I'm still expecting something on the American Father's Day in June!

Mika's Song

Mika seems to have a double dose of the "Shy gene"; she normally will not speak to people if she can help it.  She is getting better in person, but still will not speak on the phone (or Skype).  Therefore, people do not believe us when we inform them that she is actually quite loud at home!

Here is a small sample: