valentine's day.

First thing to learn about Valentine's Day here: this actually exists.

Filipinos do their Valentine's Day celebrations balls to the wall.  In New Zealand I've gone halfway through the day itself without realising its significance, but here the festivities start more than a week beforehand, with restaurants offering 'pre-Valentine's Day dinners'.  Everyone greets each other here with 'Happy Valentine's Day!' (though a little more all up in your face and gleeful, though.  More like, 'HAPPYVALENTINESDAY!').  The streets are literally crowded with street vendors hawking Valentine's Day paraphernalia and every.single.shop is festooned with streamers, hearts and cupids. 

So somewhere in my list of Top 3 Awkward Experiences Since Being Here has been spending a few hours on Valentine's Day night in the company of a male acquaintance while he waited for his girlfriend to get off work, and trying to find appropriate places to spend the time together. 

Hang out in the hotel? ("You mean, you spent time in a hotel with another girl on Valentine's Day before coming to meet me?")

Hang out at university? ("You mean, you strolled around the dark, deserted campus at night with another girl, alone, on Valentine's Day?")

Hang out in a bar or a cafe? ("What, were you on a date with some other girl on Valentine's Day?")

I settled for the most brightly lit, unromantic venue I could think of - Dunkin Donuts  - before walking inside to see red heart balloons, pink silhouettes of Cupid and (best/worst of all) Can You Feel The Love Tonight blaring out over their sound-system.