Will you be my Valentine?

Because it's the still the summer holidays during Valentine's Day at home, I never thought that it was such a big deal. Or, as bigger deal as it is here. People have been selling roses on the main thoroughfare, Locust Walk, for nearly a week. If you want you can give your valentine a singing telegram in the middle of class by members of the singing Glee Club. God knows what else that club does. In the daily paper there are 'shoutouts', little messages for your loved ones or crushes - most of them quite crude and vulgar. Even my weekly magazine First Call is goes Valentine crazy. For someone who doesn't believe in the holiday created by Hallmark (and proudly supported by the flower and chocolate industries) I faced quite a shock these past couple days. Where were you living if you didn't know it was Valentine's day? Heart-shaped paper buttons were stuck on top of the elevator buttons in the lifts in my apartment building - "Will you be my Valentine, Mr #1102?" Even the Hillel dining hall was decked out in red, pink and white balloons, streamers and ice sculptures... Yes, ice sculptures! But I was explained that holidays such as these are decorated by the cooking and waiting staff - they like to have fun. And so they should.

But what did I do this Valentine's Day? Aside from class, I went to my first basketball game: Penn vs. Princeton. It was hyped up to be one of the best games of the season. As Maija and I walked into the stadium, we were welcomed by Penn's marching (but they were standing in the bleachers) band, complete with drums, brass and even triangles! Accompanying them were the Penn cheerleaders, who weren't so bad. But most interesting and fun to watch were the Penn fans throughout the game. Dressed in navy blue and red (Penn's colours) they were yelling and shouting "Defence" and "Aiiiiiiiirballl, you suck!" and throwing streamers into the air. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera but I will show you photos of the next game. There was even a mascot - of a Quaker. That's what we are here at Penn, Quakers.... how quaint. All I know about Quakers are the cereal.

But even more exciting than that, it snowed on Sunday/Saturday night! It snowed and snowed and snowed and the snow was so lovely and powdery and fluffy and made the world all pretty. Okay, now I'll stop sounding so silly and show you some pictures of this lovely snow show. (And this time I was prepared for the cold - complete with coat, beanie, scarf and gloves... and long johns of course!)
But, never quite comprehending that snow means FREEZING, siilly Sarah went outside with wet hair (sorry Zaida! I know, I know! I've learnt my lesson!). By the time I got to Amanda's house for a cosy lunch, I hadn't thought much about the cold. Besides, I was rugged up well and warm. I was even wearing a beanie (which don't particularly agree with the shape of my head). But as I was waiting for her to answer the door, I touched my hair... and it was frozen! I had frozen hair! You can see a little bit of it in this photo above. I was petrified it was going to break off (of which there was a pretty good chance of doing so!) and I started to panic. Broken hair! BROKEN HAIR! What on earth was a girl going to do! How was I to know my hair was going to freeze! Nobody told me that snow meant freezing temps outside too....


The rest of the photos are taken right outside my building. I also want to show you how high the snowfall is. And the snowman! And the red things are pieces of public art that are dearly referred to by Penn students as the 'Dueling Tampons'.
And below is the gorgeous view from my bedroom window. And me in front of it. How lovely.














Oh, I forgot to mention... I recieved a Valentine gift.... from my roommate Rebecca! She is so sweet! She gave Nadeige, Jess and I all boxes of Godiva chocolates and a gorgeous card. She is so cute! We're all going out tomorrow night for her birthday dinner (it was postponed from last week) and then again on Friday night for a roommate dinner. I am so blessed with these girls! So much fun! And we're all so different as well. Wow.

Oh, and I played some basketball last night again... It was much more enjoyable. Because I'm in a mixed team, the rules are that there has to be at least three girls and two guys to make up who's on the court. Well, only Kim and I showed up from the girl side... and for half of the game we had to play four on the court. Then Janelle showed up and so we had three girls... which didn't make a difference to us women, since we all had to stay and play the whole game anyway. Only the guys had a break. But we didn't need it. Until...

We had gotten a rebound and Randy (one of our better players. By the half time mark, each rebound he got he kept shooting it at the other team's backboard for fun... later he was told off for 'unsportsmanship'. But both teams were laughing) had already taken it up halfway the court when we heard shouting behind us. One of the girl opponents had pushed Kim and shouted, "Stop pushing me, b****!" Kim, who ordinarily is a calm and quiet person, started to go nuts, and a brawl broke out between the two girls. The opponent had the sense to shut up before anything else happened, but Kim kept cursing and yelling at her. Kim was kicked out of the gym and threatened to be kicked out of the league. I hope that doesn't happen, because I really like her and we live in the same building. While her behaviour was inappropriate at the time, I really hope she's still included in the league. So that was an interesting twist to the evening. Then our team was back to two girls. But we won anyway. And we were happy. The End.

No, not the end! I forgot to tell you. My article of "Australia - Cultural Wastleland" was published in First Call this week! That was pretty cool. It was edited a little for the American readers, and a picture was added... by the same girl who told me that Australia is a cultural wasteland! Ha ha! You can check out First Call at www.firstcallmagazine.com Have fun, and go quakers! Ha.