Since I've been here, my inner shy person and made a reappearance, but, as always, I would rather have a few minutes of awkwardly introducing myself than spend any amount of time lonely/awkwardly hanging out by myself (in this case, I think that would mean watching spanish dubbed movies in my hotel room for two months - unappealing).
I suppressed the social anxiety and dove into the crowd of Dutch. Within minutes if acquiring my Victoria (local beer) a Dutch woman who who turned out to be the owner of the bar had painted my cheeks with a face paint crayon in the design of the flag of holland.
My neighbor proudly explained to me what a skilled diver Robben is, and, in typical American style, I explained why I thought Tim Howard is the best keeper in this World Cup (although the guy said the Costa Rican goalie unarguably had saved more goals in total). Psh. But did he save 16 in one game?
By the end of the game, I made a friend, and we spent Saturday night exploring the night life. Have I mentioned yet that I'm turning 30 while I'm here. We went to a hostel where some other Dutch people were staying and collected a group for going out. I would guess that the average world traveler these days, based on this hostel, is no older than 25. Subtext- I felt old. Just going to say it once. From now on let's call it feeling wise.
One of our new Dutch friends blissfully continued his 12 hour buzz in celebration of World Cup success while being that awesome drunk guy who has happily befriended everyone in a 100 yard radius within 10 minutes. Meanwhile, a kindred spirit and I drank about a gallon of water (weather than alcohol) while dancing in what I can only assume was a sauna fueled by body heat and human sweat. This kindred spirit is an American who shared my desire for personal space on the dance floor - it's always nice when you're not the only person who finds it weird that it's socially acceptable to dance all over near strangers.
When we could no longer take the heat, we wandered back to the hostel (Bigfoot hostel). On the way, we picked up some street meat and gallo pinto. It's just rice mixed with beans, but it seems to be the breakfast, lunch, and dinner of champions here. Bigfoot was playing some sweet jams that took me back to high school and everyone else back to infancy (new music!). J/k everyone knew the songs and politely agreed with me when I yelled something about flashbacks to high school.
Around 1am I resisted the urge to dance all night and some of my new friends were nice enough to walk me back to my hotel. Don't worry. It wasn't hard to wake up for mass. They ring bells before mass and shoot off fireworks after mass. Yup. Fireworks. After every mass. It's broad daylight so it's the equivalent of gunfire in beauty and sound. I'm pretty sure there was a 6:30 mass. Definitely an 8am mass. And I made it to the 10am. Really I got to the cathedral at 8:30 because the hotel people told me mass was at 9, but that just meant I got to eat breakfast and write this before the 10 am. Here's breakfast: nacatamales and coffee :).
Otherwise known as breakfast tomales as far as I can tell. I love traveling. If being a doctor doesn't work out, I'm just going to move here and teach surf lessons. Right after I learn to surf.
My neighbor proudly explained to me what a skilled diver Robben is, and, in typical American style, I explained why I thought Tim Howard is the best keeper in this World Cup (although the guy said the Costa Rican goalie unarguably had saved more goals in total). Psh. But did he save 16 in one game?
By the end of the game, I made a friend, and we spent Saturday night exploring the night life. Have I mentioned yet that I'm turning 30 while I'm here. We went to a hostel where some other Dutch people were staying and collected a group for going out. I would guess that the average world traveler these days, based on this hostel, is no older than 25. Subtext- I felt old. Just going to say it once. From now on let's call it feeling wise.
One of our new Dutch friends blissfully continued his 12 hour buzz in celebration of World Cup success while being that awesome drunk guy who has happily befriended everyone in a 100 yard radius within 10 minutes. Meanwhile, a kindred spirit and I drank about a gallon of water (weather than alcohol) while dancing in what I can only assume was a sauna fueled by body heat and human sweat. This kindred spirit is an American who shared my desire for personal space on the dance floor - it's always nice when you're not the only person who finds it weird that it's socially acceptable to dance all over near strangers.
When we could no longer take the heat, we wandered back to the hostel (Bigfoot hostel). On the way, we picked up some street meat and gallo pinto. It's just rice mixed with beans, but it seems to be the breakfast, lunch, and dinner of champions here. Bigfoot was playing some sweet jams that took me back to high school and everyone else back to infancy (new music!). J/k everyone knew the songs and politely agreed with me when I yelled something about flashbacks to high school.
Around 1am I resisted the urge to dance all night and some of my new friends were nice enough to walk me back to my hotel. Don't worry. It wasn't hard to wake up for mass. They ring bells before mass and shoot off fireworks after mass. Yup. Fireworks. After every mass. It's broad daylight so it's the equivalent of gunfire in beauty and sound. I'm pretty sure there was a 6:30 mass. Definitely an 8am mass. And I made it to the 10am. Really I got to the cathedral at 8:30 because the hotel people told me mass was at 9, but that just meant I got to eat breakfast and write this before the 10 am. Here's breakfast: nacatamales and coffee :).
Otherwise known as breakfast tomales as far as I can tell. I love traveling. If being a doctor doesn't work out, I'm just going to move here and teach surf lessons. Right after I learn to surf.
No comments:
Post a Comment