Rafael Buelna strikes again!

The men and the carne asada: Anabel's husband, Ulises (3rd), Hernán (custodian)

Hernán (custodian)

Ramón (PE) and Lety (4th)

Geno (HEY-no) and her baby

Sandra (computers) and Mabel

Anabel (1st) singing with Ashley her (very large) 2-year old daughter and Lety (4th)

Before I left school (early) on Friday, Sandra had said that most everyone's afternoon schools would be dismissing early, too.  Her thought was we should aim for a 3:00 pm start time.  I put that in the back of my mind, but with prompt Mabel, I decided to stick with the original plan of 4 or 5.

I woke up from my nap and showered.  As I was getting out of the shower, Mabel was rolling in on two wheels ready to jet to the party.  I knew I didn't want to be early (or on time), but Mabel was pacing and smoking and ready to get going.  I got ready and headed out.  I wore my new shoes (post to follow at some point) and off we went, back to Anabel's house.

We got there and the only other guest was Genoveva (special ed out on maternity leave) with her new baby.  She was checking out the karaoke machine (I told you it's a requirement).  I was pumped to see her.  We caught up for a bit and then the three of us sat down to peanuts and mandarin oranges (the typical posada hors d'oeuvre).  Anabel took over the microphone, not to let it go for about an hour.

Others came and by the end of the night we had over 20 people there.  The food was unbelievable.  I can't remember the name of it, but Ramón (PE) made a delicious shrimp dish.  I was full of peanuts and oranges, so I only had a serving of that instead of chowing down.  There was also carne asada, but I had to pass.  There's no way a tortilla filled with stuff would've fit inside me!

Karaoke got out of control.  Since we were also celebrating Anabel's birthday, and since it was at her house (and sense she's a bit of an attention hog), she claimed the mic almost the whole night.  My favorite was YMCA (Jy-M-C-A).  I was losing it.

I don't know what got into me, but I was conned into singing.  I sang some Madonna (Vogue and Like a Virgin) as well as some Daddy Yankee (a rapper in Spanish-can't remember where he's from) with Mabel.  Unfortunately, even though I was prepared with music and two line dances (tush push and boot scoot), there was no place to play my music.  I doubt Anabel would've given me enough spotlight to teach more than 4 steps of a dance anyway.

The night was fun.  I'm glad I went, and again it felt great to be "my" party.

Below, you'll see a short video of the karaoke.  Lety, Geno, and Anabel singing, Sandra back-up dancing.  You'll also note the inherent tone deafness found in most Mexicans I have met.