Cristi's birthday

It was Cristi's birthday yesterday. The poor guy had to work in the afternoon but the evening was his.

We all met downtown at a local bar (Spirit, for the locals) and out of twenty or so guests, I only knew three people. I ended up talking for almost an hour to a friend of Cristi's I know by association. We spoke in Romanian the entire time! Of course, I needed some help with some words, but I was pretty proud of myself!

And for yet another tradition I hope Canada does not adopt:
Because it was Cristi's birthday and he invited everyone, he picked up the tab for the drinks. I could not believe it! Apparently, they do the same in Denmark too. I personally like the Canadian system better: when it's your birthday, everyone takes *you* out!

Afterwards, we went to the Sound for kareoke. Of course, "kareoke" at the Sound means three kareoke songs (invariably Backstreet Boys, Shania Twain and Celine Dion) between a half-hour of salsa music.

I keep seeing the same people around at the clubs. I've met a lot of people through Cristi and most were in his salsa dancing class. Therefore, they all know the same steps to all the same songs.

Sometimes I think my life here is like a bad teenage "coming of age" romantic dramady. Sure, it has the romance, the jerk, the good friends, the misunderstandings...

...but it also has the big dance number right in the middle.

It's completely normal here for people to break out into synchronised dance steps.

Seriously.

Some salsa song came on and everyone ran up to the dance floor and started this big dance. I wanted to join in but of course they had a smoke machine so I couldn't see anyone's feet.

One of the guys is a fantastic dancer (he might be a teacher) and he and a few guys tried to add in some new steps, which turned into a friendly dance competition.

I would love to see that at home, at one of the idiotic clubs in my hometown (the ones who play misogynistic rap and generic house). I'm imagining it now: a bunch of (American) football jocks suddenly break into Latin dance in unison.

Then some other song came on and the steps were simple enough for me to follow. So there I was, dancing to some Latin song with twenty other people.

Last time I danced in unison was the Ketchup Song...or maybe the Macarena.

It's cool though...a nice community. But I keep seeing these people everywhere! They know me, I know them, and it's comforting to see familiar faces.