This is what the sign said at the entrance of the party I went to Saturday night. It was Ruth's grandmothers 80th birthday party. Ruth's mom invited me, and told me I better be wearing nice clothes because it's a formal party and if not she would slap me. So needless to say I was wearing khakis and a button down shirt. Jose told me I looked like a Morman. He didn't go because he had to be up early the next morning to help with mass, so it was kind of my first test of being without him at a social event, I couldnt turn to him when I didnt understand for a translation or a slower version of what was said in spanish. I was actually really nervous, I've never been nervous for a birthday party before. It turned out to be a lot of fun. Loud music was being played the whole night, I got a lot better at dancing (at least I think so, not sure what the women who I danced with would say). Merengue is my favorite because it's the easiest, salsa is really hard and reggaeton is hard for me to dance to as well. At midnight a mariachi band showed up, dressed in the full outfit including sombreros. it was great, i had no idea they were coming and all of a sudden they were strolling in singing playing guitars and a trumpet. they sang a succession of happy birthday songs to ruth's grandmother, who at 80 is a really tough looking lady. After they left the cake was cut up, we finally ate the birthday cake around 1230, a late night birthday party and for an 80 year old! There were people of all ages there, all of the family and also friends of individuals in the family, I spent most of the night with 4 of Ruth's coworkers. A little after 1am was the "hora loca", crazy hour. It definitely was crazy. Out of nowhere whistles, lei's, hats, glitter and sparkly stuff to throw, etc. were being handed out. Two men with drums started playing, another guy had a shaker or maraca of somekind, and then literally everyone was dancing. For most of the night it had been maybe 15 or so people dancing at a time, but for this 45 minutes or so everyone was. Lots of loud drumming, whistles blowing, people yelling, it was great. The first thing Jose asked me the next morning was how was the hora loca? i guess it's a big thing at pretty much every party i'll go to here.
I met the bishop this morning. Jose had an interview with him so I tagged along. He's a really nice guy, studied theology in New York and speaks pretty good English. He was very welcoming and said he was excited that I'm here. I'm realizing that Jose is kind of a big deal here, he gets really good grades and everyone is really looking forward to him becoming a priest. I found out the other day that he started college when he was 15, and went to three years of an 8 year med school program before deciding he wants to be a priest.
Rode the bus today, realized a minute too late that the guy didnt give me enough change. well done senor.
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