Birthday Party

Yesterday morning, when Jose Ricardo was taking me to school, Mabel texted me and told me there was a birthday party that night, did I want to go?  I responded, "Will we be out til 5am?"  She answered in English, "No, no, no, we have to work tomorrow, remember?"  It's hard to tell when humor translates and when we think the other person took us seriously.  Regardless, she said it would be a few drinks and we could leave, or if we wanted to eat, we could eat, too.  The party was supposed to start at 9:30.  At 9, we left the house to drop Cosette off at her grandfather's.  Since he lives close to the school, it's always easy for him to help in a crunch.  From there, we arrived at the restaurant at 9:30 on the dot!

Mabel called Marisol, the girl whose birthday it was, and asked her where she was.  There was a shower of some sort in the restaurant and it was reserved until 10.  Great.  Don't worry about me; I'm not tired OR starving!  She and I went to the bar where she enjoyed some sort of tequila beverage with Squirt and I had a lemonade.  I must've been thirsty because my lemonade was gone in a matter of minutes!  

Mabel and I chatted; we were continuing a conversation from earlier in the day about the differences in cost of living in the States versus here.  Yuri had chatted with Mabel over the weekend explaining that to get to their English lessons, she and Samhir take 8 buses.  That's right.  And each bus costs over a dollar.  So free English lessons (for 2.5 hours, so I think it's worth it) are not so free!  She also went to Kroger and said she spent $5 on two apples and $6 on a melon.  If these fruits were gold plated, I have yet to figure out.  Anyway, Mabel and I continued talking about the differences (how a dinner out here costs 10 bucks including everything, and at home ten bucks might get you the salad before tax and tip) and something came up about Megan.  And I was describing her since she'll be coming to visit next year.  There are no words for Megan, and luckily she already knows this!  But I told her that megan was short, one of her defining characteristics.

Then she started laughing because she said she thought I was so tall.  In the pictures I had sent her, she thought I looked very tall.  When I arrived in the airport, she and Ana Luisa didn't think it was me because I was too short!  And she said that's why the full length mirror in my room is hung so high; she thought I was tall and wanted me to be able to see my face in the mirror.  We laughed quite a bit about that one.  She had a tall friend hang the mirror.

I really enjoyed talking to her at the restaurant and also at home because sometimes I feel like she's sick of me already.  Truth be told, she's just a lot like me.  At times, we don't mind silence.  We give impressions we don't mean to because of facial expressions.  I was glad to spend so much quality time enjoying ourselves instead of wondering if things were awkward.

Around 10:15, the party began, we sat, I met everyone, and I ordered my sushi roll.  I got one with fried shrimp in the middle and raw salmon on the outside.  It was delicious; it was also obvious that I hadn't eaten since lunch at 2 since I finished all ten pieces in about 5 minutes.  Yum!

Mabel and I got the bill, paid and left.  As we were leaving, Marisol and others asked us if we wanted to go to a Pueblo this weekend.  I don't know the name, but it's a small town with waterfalls and such.  We'll leave Saturday and come back Sunday.  My dinner?  Two lemonades and sushi, including tip?  $10.