Campo Aposento Alto: Noche Especial
When I asked what I needed to bring to camp I was told to bring dress clothes for the "Noche Especial". I wasn't sure what the "Noche Especial" was, but from what I could put together it was a dinner where everyone dressed up. The event was scheduled for the second to last night at camp and I was already beginning to hear rumors we would have to invite a date. Perfect.
The night before "Noche Especial" all the guys were gathered up and given the details on the "Noche Especial". It was rowdy. The leader stood on a chair and yelled so everyone could hear. He could only speak in brief quiet moments when the yelling and whistling subsided and everyone could hear.
All of the sudden the crowd ran to the edge of meeting area. Everyone began to yell and whistle even louder. I looked to see what had happened. Two girls had taken their walk a little too close to the meeting - what were they thinking? This was clearly a males only meeting. I quickly joined in because... why not? We only reconvened after they had retreated a sufficient distance.
The leader began to explain that everyone was required to bring a date to the "Noche Especial". Great, in addition to barely knowing anyone to ask, I couldn't even remember the names of the people I had met. He continued to explain: anyone who wasn't married or engaged was fair game, any previous invitations that had been extended to attend were void starting now. I'm not exactly sure why he made a point of saying this, but he did. This is another reason this was going to be difficult for me, I wouldn't want to make the mistake of accidentally asking someone already dating someone. While technically within the rules, it would kind of be a jerk-move. I didn't want to be that guy.
The leader wasn't done explaining, apparently there were 25 more girls than guys so to assure that every girl was invited 25 of us (of ~80 guys) would have to bring two girls. There was a lot more yelling (read cheering) and whistling. To decide how many girls each guy would take we each drew a paper out of a hat with a "1" or a "2" on it. As if this wasn't already going to be challenging and potentially awkward enough, you will never guess what number I drew.
"2"
Have you ever juggled two dates at the same time before? Have you ever done it in another language? Just perfect.
I had a plan, just walking up and asking random girls that was a last resort. I didn't know anyone, but my friends did. All they had to do was tell me which girls didn't have dates and I would ask them. It didn't take long, that night they told me that one of the girls that I met the day before had yet to be invited. So off I went.
At this point I will answer a few questions that you probably have:
Did you forget her name since meeting her the day before?
- Yah, fortunately I was reminded of it right before seeing her. Phew!
Did you mess up the Spanish on the invitation?
- Yep, very embarrassing. In my defense the cordial invitation I had been recommended to use wasn't within my normal vocabulary.
Did she turn you down?
- No way! ...I don't think they were allowed to.
It was dinner time so after talking for a while we decided to get in line for food. My friends started talking to the girl in front of us and about two sentences in asked if she had a date, she didn't. It was obviously my queue, so I promptly invited her as well. I don't think it was made clear to the girls, as it was to the guys, that some of the guys were obligated to take two dates. If it had been my choice I wouldn't have asked a second date, in front of the first. I was put on the spot though, what could I do? Suffice to say that the first girl vanished very quickly after I began to talk to the second. Maybe it wasn't weird and it was just all in my head, but it definitely felt weird.
The following night everyone got dressed up and got in line with their dates to have their pictures taken and enter the dance. NOT A DANCE. I accidentally said "dance" once and the person with me thought it was important I knew that this, wasn't that. Which is lucky, I've been the only white guy at a Colombian dance before, and believe me I was way out of my league.
While at the dinner we played a traditional holiday game where you weren't allowed to say the word "si". Which is harder than you think considering that in spanish "si" not only means "yes" but also "if". We decided that whoever lost and said "si" the most number of times had to buy ice-cream for the others. I wasn't actually doing too bad in the game, but at some point I gave up. Putting more limitations on my Spanish wasn't exactly speeding up the conversation, so I settled for better conversation at the minor cost of an ice-cream.
The night overall was actually a lot of fun (and not nearly as dramatic as I made it sound haha). Both of the girls were very nice and patient enough to listen to my Spanish and explain all of the things I didn't understand.
The leader began to explain that everyone was required to bring a date to the "Noche Especial". Great, in addition to barely knowing anyone to ask, I couldn't even remember the names of the people I had met. He continued to explain: anyone who wasn't married or engaged was fair game, any previous invitations that had been extended to attend were void starting now. I'm not exactly sure why he made a point of saying this, but he did. This is another reason this was going to be difficult for me, I wouldn't want to make the mistake of accidentally asking someone already dating someone. While technically within the rules, it would kind of be a jerk-move. I didn't want to be that guy.
The leader wasn't done explaining, apparently there were 25 more girls than guys so to assure that every girl was invited 25 of us (of ~80 guys) would have to bring two girls. There was a lot more yelling (read cheering) and whistling. To decide how many girls each guy would take we each drew a paper out of a hat with a "1" or a "2" on it. As if this wasn't already going to be challenging and potentially awkward enough, you will never guess what number I drew.
"2"
Have you ever juggled two dates at the same time before? Have you ever done it in another language? Just perfect.
I had a plan, just walking up and asking random girls that was a last resort. I didn't know anyone, but my friends did. All they had to do was tell me which girls didn't have dates and I would ask them. It didn't take long, that night they told me that one of the girls that I met the day before had yet to be invited. So off I went.
At this point I will answer a few questions that you probably have:
Did you forget her name since meeting her the day before?
- Yah, fortunately I was reminded of it right before seeing her. Phew!
Did you mess up the Spanish on the invitation?
- Yep, very embarrassing. In my defense the cordial invitation I had been recommended to use wasn't within my normal vocabulary.
Did she turn you down?
- No way! ...I don't think they were allowed to.
It was dinner time so after talking for a while we decided to get in line for food. My friends started talking to the girl in front of us and about two sentences in asked if she had a date, she didn't. It was obviously my queue, so I promptly invited her as well. I don't think it was made clear to the girls, as it was to the guys, that some of the guys were obligated to take two dates. If it had been my choice I wouldn't have asked a second date, in front of the first. I was put on the spot though, what could I do? Suffice to say that the first girl vanished very quickly after I began to talk to the second. Maybe it wasn't weird and it was just all in my head, but it definitely felt weird.
The following night everyone got dressed up and got in line with their dates to have their pictures taken and enter the dance. NOT A DANCE. I accidentally said "dance" once and the person with me thought it was important I knew that this, wasn't that. Which is lucky, I've been the only white guy at a Colombian dance before, and believe me I was way out of my league.
While at the dinner we played a traditional holiday game where you weren't allowed to say the word "si". Which is harder than you think considering that in spanish "si" not only means "yes" but also "if". We decided that whoever lost and said "si" the most number of times had to buy ice-cream for the others. I wasn't actually doing too bad in the game, but at some point I gave up. Putting more limitations on my Spanish wasn't exactly speeding up the conversation, so I settled for better conversation at the minor cost of an ice-cream.
The night overall was actually a lot of fun (and not nearly as dramatic as I made it sound haha). Both of the girls were very nice and patient enough to listen to my Spanish and explain all of the things I didn't understand.
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