Siempre me quedará… - Bebe

15/04/08

So, today is my second day back home. DC was awesome…almost surreal. I still pinch myself now and then to make sure it wasn’t a dream. So many things, I’ll try to recap as many as I can….here we go.

We left Friday at noon. It was exhilarating being in the airport knowing that it was me the one going away. The flight was decent. We arrived at Miami, and had to wait for a couple of hours. When we finally get on the plane they tell us that we must wait for the crew to arrive…and after almost an hour they say that the plane wasn’t safe enough to fly so we had to catch another plane, that was on the exact opposite part of the airport…again, how much do I hate Miami International!! I had to run dragging that titanic-like heavy carry-on. We arrived at DC at 11.30. It was cold outside, not as much as we were expecting, but I loved it.

So we get on a SuperShuttle (a shared van) with two other guys that seemed Americans. And we talk like parrots, and laugh out loud, and scream at each other stupid jokes…and we kept saying “what must these guys be thinking of us?”…”thank god they cant understand us..” in spanish. It was all cool, until Aida made a comment about the obelisco macho africano. And then Jimena said “thank god they cant understand us” and the guy next to her says “ I can understand” and the guy behind him says “ me too”…Aida turned tomato red and I was almost asphyxiated from laughing so hard…seriously!

We arrived at the hotel, we check in...and he had to chip in US$100, cause we didn’t have all the money to pay considering the hotel’s taxes. We go to our room exhausted, and at some point during the night, approximately at 2 am a beep starts to come out of the room. Jimena and I each grabbed a phone but at the same time that we looked at each other puzzled a soft voice comes out of the speakers and says “ this is a fire emergency, please exit the building”. It was mayhem after that. We had to wake Aida up, Denisse got out of the shower on a towel and a shower cap screaming “are you fucking kidding me ??!!” It was soooo funny. At the end it was just a false alarm, so we went back to our room and laughed the whole thing up. Aida was so hyper she couldn’t sleep so I had to hear her plead…not entirely ‘cause I felt asleep half way.

On Saturday we went for a tour of Georgetown, we studied and we pleaded a little. On Sunday it was the inauguration. I got to see my friends Milan and Theo, and also met new people like the Costa Rican, and the Coaches from DePaul U. (Chicago) Ed and Assif; I also met the guys from Hungary, Anna and another dude whose name I can’t remember but that was very nice.

On the team presentation, Denisse and Aida were both dressed in yellow tops (Aida had a yellow trench coat and Denisse had a yellow pullover over a stripped shirt), so after that everyone remembered the Dominican team!! Las amarillas… Hey, if I’d known that before I would have planned something better, but im sooo doing the same next year!! (uhm…next year…perhaps…maybe….next year…we’ll see…).After that we got our memorials and went to study.

We went against Uruguay, Amity Law School (India), Leiden University and Italy. The Italians were like our pets after that round. We hanged out with them 24/7 after that. On Wednesday we had dinner with the Italians at a Mexican restaurant and headed for the announcement party held at “Avenue”, a club in New York Ave. It had two floors and two different dance floors. The music was good (considering it was DC). The bad thing is I didn’t see Milan nor Theo then, but I did danced a lot with the Italians and with Assif. We didn’t make it to the top 24 but I kept enjoying my party any way.

On Thursday we went to Arlington Cementery and shoping. I spent a loot of money, but it was ok. That night was the Go National. I was dressed as a tourist with my camera, my Santo Domingo t-shirt and my jeans. I danced a loot that day too. I handed out bolones , and got to meet a lot of new people like the Taiwanese team.

On Friday we went out to the museums. I saw the Lincoln Memorial and the Holocaust Museum. We had lunch with Claudia and Mena at Pentagon Mall and then I went to Georgetown to get my new camera, a birthday present from my mom. That night we went dancing to a place called Sexto Senso, a very nice club in Dupont Circle. I met Santiago and Daniel, two of Claudia’s friends who work as consultants for the OAS. Santiago works in economy with the World Bank or something, and Daniel is a Human Rights consultant, ex-CEJA champion…how cool? They were both adorable, so nice and funny, I couldn’t have asked for better tour guides. At the club we met with the Costa Rican team and I danced the best salsa ever! I had a blast that nigh, the only bad thing was Jime lost her wallet and they had to go back to the hotel to report the credit cards.

When we got back to the hotel I met with Assif on the lobby. That night is one I will remember for a long time. My god we was gorgeous…there are words that wont mean the same after that night. What happened is something I’ll keep to myself, just for now. It calls for a special post of its own.

That Saturday morning I went jogging. I took Rose Park right at the entrance of Georgetown and ran its trails until it ended and then back again to Georgetown…twice. When I got back to the hotel I went to say god morning to Assif. Couldn’t help myself. He was still sleeping, with his hair all messed up and his lovely pajama bottom….god im a dork!! I went back to my room and got ready to go out with the girls. Aida and I went to Georgetown and we got back just in time for the finals. And who was there? No one but the same guy that told me the day before they were leaving before the finals… It was one of the most boring finals I’ve seen. Nobody really liked it. So I went to my room and washed my hair, got ready and went to have dinner with Theo at Jimmy Rockets. I had such a blast with him, since he was soo hungry he wanted onion rings and hot chocolate!! He ordered a huge burguer and at the end he ate it all and half of mine. We talked about our lifes and how we would all four of us (his girlfriend Padija, him Milan and I ) take a trip to Greece once I was at Europe doing my masters. After dinner I went back, changed into my lovely (but not so picture-friendly) dress and my sassy-looking, but oh-so-uncomfortable shoes, better known as fuck me pumps. I must say I looked dashing, took my new camera and headed for a good time. I enjoyed myself a lot at the party. Didn’t get to see Milan nor Theo (him I ran into after the party. He was wasted with one of the costa Rican, so I gave him his present and Milan’s , hugged him and kissed him goodbye, not without promising that we would keep up things the way they’ve been so far..we are good friends anyway and that we would write and send pics more often.). I ran into Assif a cpuple of times (unintentionally) but nothing really happened…I don’t know if he was embarrassed, ignoring me or just that we didn’t had any luck…but I wasn’t going to sit down and think about it. I danced with my boys (Santiago, Daniel y el Chunco….que baila merengue mas bueno!!!!) After the party we headed for the room of the guys from UCL. I sat there with Serouch (lovely boy, a true gentleman…really, breathtakingly amazing) We talked a little about a lot. Took some pictures. Received a very nasty and improper comment from a very drunk guy from the Costa Rican Team…but then I talked to Johnny B. and everything was fine again (Gourgeous, tall, smart and a true gentleman…wao, I must go to UK, no doubt…). Took some more pictures and headed for my room. Luckily for me the girls were going to the party right at that moment, so I had the chance to play my Damien Rice music and do my luggage at my own way without people in the middle. I did also called Assif’s room…can’t help it..hasta mis debilidades son mas fuertes que yo…but he wasn’t there (luckily?) so I left a message and concentrated back to the task at hand: how to get all that extra weight into the same piece of luggage. By the time the girls got back I had everything picked up. We went to bed (at 6 am thank you) and got up again at 7. Showered, got dressed and headed to the lobby to get our team packages and do the check out. Jimena got into he top 100 oralist (No. 77), we had very good scores on the rounds. We won 3 of four, and the one we lost was mainly because of the memorial. We took a cab and headed for the airport.

The check in line at Reagan was awful. Long and tourtous. When we finally got to the plane I got window, but I was soo sleepy I could even hold my head up. I wasn’t able to sleep wither so go figure. When we got to Miami I bought a Starbucks (the first and only), It was a White Chocolate Mocha…delicious if it wasn’t for the fact that I spilled half of it when I was taking my coat off. Aida’s flight had a problem so she was stucked in Miami until 8…ours was at 4. I left her all the money I had left ( US$21 to be exact) in case of emergency. We took the plane back home and arrived safe and sound. Our luggage took forever to come out, which made me every nervous. But when we finally had everything each one headed home….home…im back home…. When I arrived Manuel was waiting for me with a chocolate cake. I gave him his present, which he adored, just like I thought he would. Indiana came too, Joey, Noe and Anthony. Johnny was at the movies, so he took a rain check.

On Monday I went back to the office to sit for the first time on my new place with my new position. It was nice to be back, but I also miss DC a lot..specially the people..some more than others. On Tuesday I started to get more into the routine..but I still google to find a decent picture and curse my browser for blocking Facebook (yeap, my principles went down the drain… I have facebook now… god have merci…). I talked to Lilly and got my new number for my mobile. Now I have 100 minutes a month I can spend however I want to ….tempting…

So many things still linger in my head…but I decided not to overthink anything. Just hang on until this weekend and figure it out from there…one day at a time.

PD: I don’t regret it, I would do it again..is the things I didn’t do that torment me now….porque despues de ti, todo me sabe a mar……