My 24th birthday was unlike any birthday I’ve had to date. I had told a few friends, counterparts, and neighbors to come by to hang out, have a bite to eat, and a share a few drinks. I should have known better than to expect a ‘small get together’ and rather expect a full blown party at the hotel-type place where I live.
I started the day off right with an early Skype session with some family back home and spent the rest of the day doing some business advising in the morning and teaching an entrepreneurship class to my favorite school during the afternoon (by the way, all teachers have favorite classes and students). After a successful and enjoyable workday, I went back home to chat with my sort-of-host-family about the party later that night.
 |
| Giddy all night :D |
The owner of the hotel (a Miss Chilo) and the two girls who work here full time had already bought a TON of food to cook for the big party I didn’t know was going to happen. I had already ordered a few pizzas from the tasty pizza place up the street to surprise some guests (pizza is pretty much a delicacy here due to it being so expensive compared to a nice dish of gallo pinto and fried cheese).
Then came the hand-made Flor de Cana piñata (Nicaraguan rum), stereo and speakers, freshly baked cake with my name icing-ed on it, and, lastly, arrived all the guests with presents! I haven’t received presents for any holiday since my laser tag party in 5th grade, so I was ecstatic (and slightly guilty, feeling bad for collecting these presents).
 |
| My buddy Alvaro and me |
Counterparts (co-teachers) and their families, my English class students, neighbors, the guys I work with in the business consulting office, the ex-pat couple from the delicious Cornerhouse restaurant around the corner, and of course my PC sitemate Noelle all came to celebrate with me!
Throughout the party, the food from the kitchen literally never stopped coming out. After the first chicken and rice dish and pizza, I was more than full, but little did I know that there would still be three more rounds of food to be served and cake and ice cream. After some mingling, we got down to business with the piñata. What an experience.
 |
| Legit killing it on the pinata/dance floor |
Music is played, loudly, and the batter is given half a broom handle and gets blindfolded. Someone yanks the piñata up or down with the sole intention to make the pathetic, blindfolded, and desperate batter look as much like a fool as possible. The audience participates yelling “Arriba (up),” “Abajo (down),” or “Baile (dance).” If the crowd yells to dance, you then must perform a quick solo dance and then get back to work. Seeing my (somewhat) little 7 year old neighbor dance during his turn will be in my PC memory bank forever. Almost everyone had the chance to give that tough piñata a proper beating and show off their smooth dance moves, but the piñata had its last stand when a grandma/neighbor (I think?) stepped up, did a little dance, took one clean swing and caused legit mayhem to ensue. The kids AND adults (especially the grandma tossing people out of her way) absolutely lost their minds when the candy exploded. You would have thought their lives depended on collecting this candy. Again, hilarious.
 |
| Kid's got moves |
 |
| My wonderful sitemate joining in! |
 |
| My English students |
 |
| Delicious Cornerhouse owner, Gary, getting his turn. His dancing was an instant classic. |
 |
| Age is irrelevant in the sport of Pinata. She had the final blow and then proceeded to elbow little kids out of her way on her candy hunt. Watch yourself around this woman. |
 |
| Loving those dulces |
 |
| Gettin' my freak on... |
But the party doesn’t stop there. Next came the dancing. I worked up quite a sweat using the little (only) real Latin dance moves I’ve been able to master and clearly a couple of spins for some flare on the dance floor. Everyone else enjoyed themselves dancing as well and soon it was time for the cake and birthday wishes. The Nicas sang their version of ‘Happy Birthday” which was nothing like ours and seemed to go on forever. Luckily for me, those awkward minutes when people are singing happy birthday to you and you don’t know what to do with yourself were caught on film, so maybe I’ll try posting that sometime soon.
 |
| "Felicidades Zac" birthday cake |
Then, we all ate the tasty birthday cake my neighbor had baked for me with a big tub of ice cream that one of my English students brought. We danced for sometime longer and then the party trickled down to me and the family. All in all, easily one of the best birthday parties I’ve ever had and far and away the most memorable. Looking forward to seeing how the 24th year of my life goes! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment