Super Bowl, Africa-style!

One of our traditions back in the States was to host a Super Bowl party every year.  Especially since the game was actually held in our home state this year (yeah, NJ!), we felt a desire to continue this tradition.  We had a great turnout of 26 people and although the game itself was fairly painful, the party was fun.  As with everything in Africa, things were a bit different this year....

Last year:  We walked over to our TV at 6:00 p.m. and turned on the switch to watch the Super Bowl.
This year:  The kickoff was at 2:30 a.m. our time so we avoided the internet all day and started downloading the broadcast at about 1:00 p.m. for our 6:00 p.m. party.  The original plan was to use HOPAC's high speed internet...however, it was not working.  Our home internet speed here is so bad that it was estimating 17 hours to complete the job.  After a lot of stress and trying several different things, we arranged to get the broadcast that a friend DVR'd...but when Tim went to pick it up from their house, their guard wouldn't let him in! He finally walked through our door with the DVR with only 16 minutes till the party was supposed to start.  So much drama, even before the coin toss!

Last year:  We watched all the commercials as part of the broadcast.
This year:  There weren't any commercials; Tim separately downloaded the top 10 ads for us to watch. Sorry, Madison Ave, we didn't see all your $4 million gems (of course, I hardly think that missionaries in Africa are their target audience).

Our make-shift "big screen TV" - we turned our armoire around and projected the game from the computer on to the back.

Last year:  We served up chili.
This year:  We also served up chili, but the African version.  This involves cooking beans and making tomato sauce from scratch.  It's delicious, but it takes a long time.  I miss canned beans and Ragu (although I'm sure this is healthier for us).  We also had lots of contributions from our guests, including brand-name Pringles, hot dogs, pizza, popcorn, cookies and chocolate ice cream.  Drinks of choice included filtered water, sodas in glass bottles (some familiar in the U.S.: Coke and Sprite; others not: Stoney Tangawizi, Novida, Pineapple Fanta.) There was even some Cherry Coke brought to the party – a rare novelty item I haven't seen since the U.S!  And I also used a precious package of Kool-Aid mix shipped from America.

Last year:  Activities at the party included watching the game and talking.
This year:   There were about 30 ticks killed during the party.  We've been having an infestation for a couple of weeks but thought we had it under control.  Then our dog, Moshi, tore through the house about 3 times when guests arrived and ...voila - an interactive party game was created.  Which guest can find and kill the most ticks?  How many ticks crawled up each person's leg during the game?  Good times.

Last year:  After guests left, we loaded up the dishwasher and went to bed.
This year:  I had to borrow bowls from two friends and hand wash them in between the chili and ice cream courses.  Then we had a huge pile of washing up to do afterwards!  I miss my dishwasher so much.  It certainly makes entertaining just that much more overwhelming here.

A different experience, to be sure, but a fun one nonetheless.  Next year, I'd like to see the Giants...and a closer game!