Not sick anymore. Not 100%, but close. Woke in the middle of the night with fever and chills, which either meant whatever I had was breaking or that I had malaria. bad thoughts at 3:00 am.
Went to the office today. Intense doesn't even begin to describe it. There's so much gay in that place, I don't really know what to do. The day ended with this party at the drop in center where people had to write their "new year's dreams" for the organization, for MSM (men who have sex with men), transgender persons, and themselves. I sat in the back through the rest of the event, which was basically a two hour dance off of 6 men (3 in drag, 3 not). I basically kept to myself, although at one point some guy hit on me, first by talking and then by showing me a shirtless picture of himself he'd taken with his phone. I think my response to the picture was, "I don't know." I sort of wish that moment could be included in the gay version of Lost in Translation. Then, I got called to the front to award the prize for the best new year's dream (so not expecting that). It quickly turned into a larger dance party with a lot of Bollywood posing/voguing. It was apparently novel to dance with me so I had to oblige even though I was feeling rather out of my element. Someone with long hair kept waving their tongue and spinning around me. I'll have to reenact in person. But once Shakira comes on, it's pretty universal and all bets are off.
There's also lots of really great work going on, and I think I'm actually going to be able to stick to my original plan for what I'll be doing here, which is nice. They're totally on board with it and encouraging about it before I even brought it up. I now have a bit of a mandate from others to deal with some other stuff before they get here next week, but I should be able to do that on the side. There was a woman from the states there today, which was sort of nice. She's originally from MD/DC and interned there in 2001. So we had a good chat and she was helpful to explain some stuff. Back there tomorrow at noon for preliminary meetings about this needs assessment. Should be very interesting.
I also took the train there and back today. I went in the middle of the day, which wasn't so bad, but coming back, even around 9:00pm was pretty intense. All I had in my head was that song, "you can do it, put your back into it!" and just shoved my way in with the bet of them.
I was also warned by a roommate that eating indian food will make me gain weight because it's so carb heavy. Seriously, Atkins has ruined everything.
Went to the office today. Intense doesn't even begin to describe it. There's so much gay in that place, I don't really know what to do. The day ended with this party at the drop in center where people had to write their "new year's dreams" for the organization, for MSM (men who have sex with men), transgender persons, and themselves. I sat in the back through the rest of the event, which was basically a two hour dance off of 6 men (3 in drag, 3 not). I basically kept to myself, although at one point some guy hit on me, first by talking and then by showing me a shirtless picture of himself he'd taken with his phone. I think my response to the picture was, "I don't know." I sort of wish that moment could be included in the gay version of Lost in Translation. Then, I got called to the front to award the prize for the best new year's dream (so not expecting that). It quickly turned into a larger dance party with a lot of Bollywood posing/voguing. It was apparently novel to dance with me so I had to oblige even though I was feeling rather out of my element. Someone with long hair kept waving their tongue and spinning around me. I'll have to reenact in person. But once Shakira comes on, it's pretty universal and all bets are off.
There's also lots of really great work going on, and I think I'm actually going to be able to stick to my original plan for what I'll be doing here, which is nice. They're totally on board with it and encouraging about it before I even brought it up. I now have a bit of a mandate from others to deal with some other stuff before they get here next week, but I should be able to do that on the side. There was a woman from the states there today, which was sort of nice. She's originally from MD/DC and interned there in 2001. So we had a good chat and she was helpful to explain some stuff. Back there tomorrow at noon for preliminary meetings about this needs assessment. Should be very interesting.
I also took the train there and back today. I went in the middle of the day, which wasn't so bad, but coming back, even around 9:00pm was pretty intense. All I had in my head was that song, "you can do it, put your back into it!" and just shoved my way in with the bet of them.
I was also warned by a roommate that eating indian food will make me gain weight because it's so carb heavy. Seriously, Atkins has ruined everything.
thank god you pointed this out to me. "I don't know" make me let out this weird wheeze of a laugh that definitely scared a few colleagues. from now on, when in doubt, i'm just going to say i don't know. love it. other thoughts: does stomach virus=skinny? have you tried maneater on the train yet? can you get the girls at the clinic to tell you where the best earrings are? love you. ketty
That was the response I was hoping for/expecting. It was so surreal. Especially because there would be like 3 minutes of silence before he said something else, gems such as, "what do you like in sex?", "i don't like the females" and endearingly, "the gays in your country have freedoms, yes?"
i can't remember what maneater on the train was, but if you mean listening to it and singing along loudly so everyone thinks i'm crazy and moves back, i may try that soon.