Patinémos!

Yesterday I probably shouldn't have gone to choir, especially because most of what we sang was songs I had never heard and for which I did not have the music (or practically anyone else, for that matter, though all the old-timers knew it by heart). Then, I tried to sing a song I did kinda know, but failed when all the experienced altos ran off somewhere and I was next to someone who had never heard the song, and was therefore rather off in singing it. I need to get better and not listening to the people around me, but I'm still learning the songs :(

I even had bad omens that told me not to be there, which are now really cool in my opinion. I felt someone hit me fairly hard on my shoulder while I was waiting for the choir teacher (also my choir professor) to show up, and I look up to see no one, and look down to see a black bird eyeing me quizzically. It seemed intelligent enough for me to want to say, 'dude, YOU ran into ME, I was just sitting here on the bench reading' before he hopped away. I was still trying to figure out what that was all about when I felt something hit my hand. A black beetle clung on for dear life as I tried to shake it off, before realizing it was just a beetle. But it holding on that tightly made me want it to go away more, and eventually I won. Weirdness o_0;

Today was wonderful :) I am so lucky to know Karen, I love all the time I get to spend with her. We went for a cafecito (I got a mocha for the first time since being here, yum!) and to chat, but later ended up going skating as well. Her sister called to invite us, so we went back to her house. Her mom gave us tres leches, which is now my favorite cake besides extreme chocolate truffley-ness and raspberries due to it's moistness, which apparently includes rum as well as the three types of milk. Then her sister's boyfriend picked us up (us being Karen, her sister, her sister's son) and off we went to patinar :)

The rink reminded me of a tiny Golden Skate (80's music and disco ball!), just with less food, and I attempted roller skates, and not roller blades, for the second time in my life. This is because there was someone selling entrance tickets as a fundraiser for a church, but the tickets weren't available for in-line skates. I figured, why not, roller skates were pretty awesome last time I tried them. Things went fairly smoothly, especially with Karen catching me several times, and I managed to only fall once I was already stopped (and right into Alfredo's, the boyfriend's, lap! whoops). The crazy people cutting around me and bumping into me was really the hardest part, so I'd like to think I'd be fairly decent with a more empty rink. Apparently, people go on Saturdays to meet people to date, and they have partner skates every night to give boys the opportunity to partner up with girls. Karen was my partner, so I never did find out which guys were looking to skate with a lonesome single girl, but I was super curious to know who was there for what purpose. Imagine, people going somewhere other than a bar to meet people, I love it!

Speaking of meeting people, I love having the tourist edge to start up conversations. People ask me questions, and when I answer in my special brand of Spanish, it usually starts the 'oh, you're not a tica' conversation. It makes me feel social, and I always learn interesting things. I should adopt my southern accent from time to time in California and see what happens. Unfortunately, I think it's just the culture here to be friendly, so I don't know that my magic social skills, even as a pretend foreigner, would transfer over.