The Adventures of Nic

Tequila, Salsa, Steam Rooms & Ex-pats

What a weekend. It started in a blaze of warm glory - a Mexican party to celebrate Cinco de Mayo (note the party was held in England and thrown by an American... hmmm. Some days my life is one big international mix-up). I wore a summery party dress and there were cocktails and tequila shots and laughter. I didn't get to bed until 4am...

...and of course there was a 9am phone call from Australia the next day!

Since I was awake I decided to go to the beach. Southport, in fact. But English-Southport is very different to Gold Coast-Southport. Sure, there are the tourist shops and ice creams and a carnival atmosphere. Kids and families and a pier. Kilometres and kilometres of sand. There's just one thing missing.

The water.

Seriously, I had to hike for HALF AN HOUR from when I crawled down onto the sand to when I reached the edge of the ocean. It was muddy and treacherous ... I came back a different route and was faced with a (backwards) sign saying, 'Danger! Do not proceed beyond this point!' Whoops. I have some great photos, though, and when it takes that long to get to the water there's not exactly anyone around to hear you singing at the top of your lungs.

Later that night I went salsa dancing with some girlfriends. I was amazed when the cutest guy on the dance floor asked me to dance. I forget, sometimes, that I'm a hot blonde (based on hair + figure). ;) No, seriously. (And coming from a girl who was always the 'smart one', it's still a little disconcerting when I get that kind of attention. I mean, attention from a special boy is fine. Attention from random men? No thank you!)

In any case, I had much more fun dancing with the girls because then you can just be yourself. No pressure, no expecations, just the salsa rhythm!!! And it was more girlfriends I spent the latter half of Sunday at the gym with (after church).

Now, the idea of Sunday afternoon in a gym isn't most people's idea of fun. But we gossiped on the exercise bikes, had swimming races, hung out in the jacuzzi and steam room, where EeMin decided it would be funny to spray all of us with water. And then had sliding races along the seats. (And I just realised that we inadvertantly acted out a male fantasy. I promise, guys, girls don't usually sit in steam rooms and hose each other! Honest!)

We impulsively went back to my flat, watched movies, and drank pina colodas (which I made... I'm getting quite good at mixing cocktails!) And that's when I realised it. In our group (only 1 guy, as usual), not one of us was British. We were from around the world: Malaysia, Brunei, Germany, Australia. So it seems I've done exactly what I never intended to do: I hang out with the ex-pats.

I finally understand it. :)

posted by Nic @ 3:26 AM