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Saturday, Nov. 16, 2002 - 5:26 p.m. so, trek on down to tate street to continue the already wonderful night. i pass nyp and see there are quite a few people in there, but i didn't stop to go in, i kept right on past. i even kept going after i saw leo, who in turn saw me and gave me the big smile and wave. (when i see him, i always think of past experiences b/t he and myself that went on for a while, and laugh. thank god that is over.) so i finally get to group therapy. let me explain the layout of this place. it used to be a spanish restaurant called valencia, but it closed down. it's the exact same place, except it's now a bar...a very straight bar! it's right across the street from one of the pool halls in g'boro. when you get to group therapy, the patio is surrounded by this huge black gate which you have to walk through to get in. the patio is twice as big as the inside of this place. so, as i am about to walk through the gate, i notice this sign saying $5.00 admission. wtf? maher told me nothing of this admission charge! and to make matters worse, there is a fight going on not even 2 feet beside me. this place has a bouncer? what the hell am i thinking going in here? these were the thoughts going through my head. mind you, the bouncer was fine as hell. he was the tall black guy, built like PLA-DOW! and he was bald and just plain fine. now, this guy outside on the side walk was very drunk and cussing the bouncer out b/c he had just gotten thrown out. then i sit there and watch the bouncer pound on this guy. now, i am not one for violence, but i couldn't believe this drunk guy was egging him on. he was talking smack to the bouncer...then he did it. he crossed the line. he kept calling him the 'N' word over and over. the funny thing is, the bouncer was pushing him around up until he started calling him 'that word.' when 'that word' started being yelled at him, he stopped, told everyone to back off and was like 'man, you are just trying to egg me on, go home.' that confused me...i thought it would have been the other way around, but whatever. meanwhile, the crowd is surrounding these people...it's like in high school when i fight breaks out, everyone and their mama comes running to see the action... i guess something never change no matter how old you get. anyway, all this happened during a short length of time...i'm talking a few minutes. so i walk up to the door guy & girl and tell them i only have my card and have to pay inside. why did i keep going? don't know, but i got my little wrist band and went to look for maher. the entire time i am walking in here, i am shaking my head saying to myself, i love all my friends and at some point in my life i do things i really don't want to do for all of them. the same goes for maher...but he better be here or i will personally kick his ass myself. i walked in, looked around and saw NO ONE that i recognized. i was fully prepared to go home, but walked outside on the patio and took another look. alright, this is when i lose my temper. not only do i see maher in a big ass bright red coat w/ this brown toboggan with a red stripe in it...but he is RIGHT AT THE FRONT OF THE PATIO WHERE I HAD JUST WALKED BY!!! i have no idea why he didn't notice me considering i was right where the fight happened..but that's maher. well, i being me walked right up to the table he was sitting at and started cussing him out. he gave the usualy reaction, he smiled, got up, hugged me then laughed at me for cussing at him and told me to get a beer. mind you, we're all outside in the freezing cold drinking beer. they had these heating lamps outside, but i wasn't near one. i get my beer and sit down. that's when i noticed the other person at the table. maher always has other friends...but not always cute. well, this guy was FINE!!! he made me forget that bouncer guy. i have no idea what his name was, but...DAMN!!! and guess where he's from. you got it, argentina. oh my god, his eyes, his hair, his lips...HIS ACCENT! it then hit me that when i meet a hot foreign guy, i am all into them until they become americanized, then i lose interest. perfect example, leo. when i was able to carry on a conversation w/ him, it was no longer fun, which is why i never called him back that night we were supposed to go out...i called ron. i mean, talking is not what we were interested in anyway. shut up and let's move on. so, back to cut boy from argentina, he was really nice. i wish i could let everyone hear his accent...no, then you all would want him too. we all sat and drank and talked. then two other girls came up to sit with us. they were in the same class w/ argentina boy. one girl was from spain (don't remember her name) and the other girl was from japan. her name was natsuko. i hit it off perfectly with all of them. we talked and it was just wonderful. they all talked about different things from their country. then came the hilarious part. they said, 'we have lebanon, spain, argentina and japan. what country are you from?' i looked at them and was about to speak when stupid ass maher says, 'she's from kenya.' that sent me off shouting, which i think maher likes hearing. he constantly eggs me on to yelling at him. they ask where in the u.s. i am from. i know one thing, anyone who is not from the u.s. and is in north carolina always knows where one place is...chapel hill. fortunately, when saying where i am from, i always say around that area b/c it's in the same county as where i am from. they were all like, 'yes, we know.' very simple. then it happened. they all looked at me and had all these questions about how to say things correctly. i loved it. maher was no longer knower of all things. i felt pretty smart then, b/c normally i don't. i'm one of the few people that only know one language and that's my own. the only other language i know, latin, is dead. this made me feel better knowing i wasn't going to be cast aside. at one point, argentina boy and spainish girl were having a conversation in spanish. maher was gone and natsuko was with him. i was just staring at them talking. when argentina boy saw me listening to them he asked, 'do you want me to translate for you? you want to know what we're talking about?' that right there made me forget about how much i hated group therapy and the fight that had broken out and how mad i was at maher. these people were the best in the world. i absolutely loved hanging out with them. so they talked in english and tried to teach me some spanish, which i have already forgotten. when maher and natsuko came back w/ more alcohol, i guess that's one thing that universal, they began again in spanish w/ maher in the middle of it. i noticed natsuko kept looking at me and smiling. we had formed a bond b/c we were the only peopel at out table who didn't know spanish. so we just kept giggling. as time went on, i got colder and colder. argentina boy made me move beside him. i finally did and he radiated heat. i was also closer to natsuko. i asked her where in japan she was from. she tried to think of a place i would know, being as most americans don't know the smaller areas of japan. she was kinda talking to herself and i heard yokahama. i said, 'i know yokahama. i have a friend who's from there and my old roommate went to school there b/c his dad was in the navy there.' BOOM! no more quiet little natsuko. we had our bond. we just talked and laughed for the longest time. she said most people don't know where that is. i feel her pain being from a small country town. so we all talk and then i had to pee really bad. natsuko agreed to come w/ me. did i go to group therapy's bathroom? absolutely not! i might be there drinking, but i still have to draw the line somewhere. we walked right down the sidewalk to nyp's bathroom. now, they still had the jazz band in there from the earlier that night and they were good. this is when natsuko told me her dad got her into jazz. yet another thing we have in common. we came back to group therapy and sat continued to drink more. i wasn't even paying attention to the time, only the fun. then the boys went to the bathroom leaving us girls. we got on the subject of wine. spanish girl tells us her father's family makes wine and how wonderful it was. i got used to the phrase 'in my country...' natsuko says she really loves wine. HELLO! we all know i love some wine..red wine, and she agreed it had to be red. about this time, we had already agreed we were going to hang out, so that's a done deal. the boys came back and i had to explain more english, or rather the right way to say things. i thought the most complicated question was having to explain the difference b/t girl, woman, female and lady...when do you use each one. how are you supposed to explain to someone what exact age a girl becomes a woman and how do you really know? the lady part was kinda hard too. all this cultural stuff...it ain't easy, peeps. lots of other things happened that night and we laughed and talked and laughed some more. natsuko even got a little tipsy. thank goodness we were all walking back to where we had to sleep. at the end of the night, or rather morning, i saw it was almost 2:00a.m. and all i could think about was me getting up at 6:30a.m. i paid my tab then gave maher my usual hug. natsuko wanted to make sure i had her information so i could contact her next week. maher was like, 'aren't you having your thanksgiving party?' maher thinks anytime you have more than 2 people together, it's a party. i told him i was contemplating it still. i did want to have it, but i needed everyone's help and i would have to take the next day off work and it was also gonna be a very early birthday thing for kamilah b/c she's now lives d.c. and will be here in g'boro then and still doesn't have that many friends up there. then maher said argentina boy was gonna come with him to this party....well that, of course, changed everything. 'of course, i am having it, maher, why wouldn't i? yeah, definitely bring him with you.' can we say i am going to be killing myself this week trying to get everything together. and for a boy...but a very cute FOREIGN boy!!! this is so last minute. then i realized i didn't have a pen to get natsuko's number. we had a complicated plan. i would call maher, who would call argentina boy, who would get natsuko's info, to give it to maher, to give it to me. maher's exact words were, 'forget this shit. where is my phone?' that's when i hit me that i had my 2-way pager on. i never thing about that thing, i'm such a dork. as much as i pay for it a month, i should never forget it. i could just put all her info in my 2-way, which is what i will do w/ argentina boy once i figure out his name. it took me so long to get her number b/c the boys were acting like 10 year olds. but it was a great night. i even got nyp some more business. i was telling argentina boy nyp's owner was from argentina. you should have seen his eyes light up. spanish girl said how she hated the pizza in america, then i explained where the owner was from and how they make their pizza. argentina boy hadn't even eaten there and he already knew it was good. maher confirmed it. we all agreed we hated chicago deep dish, blah! we're talking thin new york style pizza. when asked had i ever been up there, i said no. which was follwed by the question would i ever go. my answer, 'i ain't lost nothing up there. absolutely not. i'm a southern girl, born and bred, and when when i die i'll be southern dead.' all in all, i learned a lot. yes, even through all the caffiene, food, dorks, fights and alcohol. language is a very usful tool in terms of communicating, but it's not the only tool. you'd be amazed how much more you can learn from a person when you have to find other ways to communicate. i loved it! i felt...alive. but you know what? i don't think i am going back to group therapy anymore. what i forgot to mention before is the entire time i we were sitting there having fun, the crazy drunk guy came back to start more crap w/ other people. i just ignored it. such immaturity. besides, next thursday, me and natsuko have a date at nyp w/ jazz and wine. alright! |
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