iz mah birfday, pt. 2

One of the biggest birthday highlights: my parents FedExed me a pound cake for my birthday! It got to me on my birthday, intact and smelling good. It tastes great, too [thanks, Ma!]. I only had one class, and everyone sang happy birthday to me, both the translated Spanish version, and the real Spanish/Dominican version. If I can find the lyrics, I'll post them because they're really sweet. They say something about you being a gift from God.

I had a less-than-great experience at a hairdresser, but I wanted my hair to look nice for the club. I'm starting to find that when people realize you're not a native speaker, they just turn off and stop listening. I'm sitting there trying to explain to this ridiculous woman that I don't want my hair to have a ton of volume and she just sucks her teeth and points to this other girl in the salon that speaks English, and the girl more or less says the same thing I said to them [in Spanish] using slightly different words.

I went home to my host family, and the sisters, Dona Josefina, and 4 other girls shared a chocolate cake and Coke with me. Dona Josefina's family always does biscocho y refresco [cake and soda, usually Coke]. I wanted to go to a club in the Zona Colonial, but we decided it'd be best to stop by Ladies' Night at Vamvu [pronounced Bamboo] House because 1) that's where everyone was and 2) we could get free drinks before heading out. It seemed like half the people from the program plus our friends from the colmado were there. I got a cigar as a present from one of the students. This week, there were other people in Vamvu House, including one very pushy, very small Dominican man. He danced really close and told me he liked morenas and not white girls and that I needed a Dominican boyfriend. Rachel talked the bartender into giving me free drinks for the night so I would stay. It was a great time. And yes, I remember everything that happened.

Word of the day:
borracha-drunk
Yo estaba bien borracha: I was really drunk.