Fiesta! Fiesta!

My party was a success - lots of food, booze, games and my new friends came!

Fiesta day was very busy for me. It is not easy throwing a party in Spain. I first sent an invitation through e-vite and no one responded except the Americans, Sara and Andrew, and Juan. I really wanted to bring evite to the Spanish world, but I don't think they really got it. During the day, I went to three different grocery stores just to get exactly what I needed. I'm so anal and there is never just one store here that has everything I want. Not having a car makes it difficult too - another reason why I had to do so many trips to the store. Dragging all that beer uphill was not fun! By the way, beer is not sold by cases, but by individual cans. Although it was cheap (I stuck with the local Mahou), it's still strange concept to me to buy them by cans, just like how I can never get over the fact that you buy milk and soda in the same manner.

Because I had a ton of beer (by a ton I mean 24 - everyone preferred hard liquor...yuck!) and very little fridge, I also had to go to the Chino store to find a cooler, preferably made of styrofoam. I knew this would be quite a challenge since they're not really into disposable stuff here. Finally, I settled for a mini trash can with a sealed cover to use as a cooler. Through all this, I still managed to clean the house and visit Juan at the Feria del Libro (it felt like I was at the Taste of Chicago, except they were selling books, not greasy fatty food). I think that was the most productive day I've ever had.

An hour before the 9PM party, I started cooking. There were lots of food, maybe more than I needed (I'm so my mother's daughter!). My food theme was a mix of Spanish tapas and American apps. So I had some croquetas, an array of meat and cheese - jamon, chorizo, salchichas - with bread, and Sara's boyfriend made tortilla Española (my fave!). For the American part, I made taco salad and chicken nuggets with honey mustard on the side. For dessert, I got TWO cakes! One was from Andrew and another from the roomies, whose surprise I ruined when I caught them buying it at the store. God, I love cakes!

After eating and chatting, I decided to introduce the world of drinking games to the Spaniards...and to Andrew and Sara, who apparently didn't know how to play Fuck the Dealer (What????). The game didn't go as well as I had hoped. Let's just say these guys are not familiar with the idea of chugging. . They insisted on taking individual drinks instead of continuously chugging and counting the number of gulps. I looked like such an alcoholic chugging away beer and getting excited when I had to drink ten. In the end, we only played one round and no one got fucked. Although some enjoyed it and were amused bye the whole "drinking game" concept, they all seem to prefer drinking at their own pace and not getting completely wasted. Que pena!!! We all switched to playing Catchphrase, which was another disaster at first. How many Spaniards would know Bill Moyers or Dennis Miller??!! Eventually, people ignored the rules and it became very fun, and people gradually got drunker.

Around 1:30, we finally moved on to a discoteca. My new friend, Fatou, suggested Pacha. I believe it's a chain because there's one in Ibiza and even one in NYC. It's very popular and big and attracts many pijos (the trendy, rich or pretend rich, young people). I like to compare them to a Chicago chach but with more style, class and definitely more hot. Now if they could only rid of that cocky attitude, they'd be perfect. Pacha was awesome! So many hot men and one of the floors had semi hip hop music. For once, I didn't have to put up with stupid house music. It wasn't the greatest music but it was good enough for booty dancing. It's been awhile since I heard Cris Cros or Montell Jordan's This Is How We Do It. Loved it!!!

By the time we arrived home, it was already 7 AM and the sun was already rising. My feet were tired and gross (5 hours in heels sucks!). And in true late night/drunken/birthday fashion, Iñaki and I stuffed our face with some leftover tortilla (god, they were good!). The sun was completely out by the time I actually went to bed.

My first birthday celebration in Spain was awesome and I loved every minute of it. I'm so ready to celebrate more of them here!

Below are some pics. Please ignore my nastiness. I didn't put on my party dress until right before we went out...then my camera got retarded on me! Boo!!

Fiesta de Cumpleaños