Report 5: The Birth Celebration of Julio

On the thirtieth of January, 1984, somewhere in Mexico, Julio Cesar Soto was born. Growing up in Mexico City, Julio has stared in Sleeping Beauty on the Mexican equivalent to Broadway, has backpacked through Europe (twice), is a certified Master SCUBA Diver, and is an all around good guy. So to celebrate the life and birth of everyone’s favorite Mexican in Southeast Asia, we had a party. Actually two.

Since he was born on eastern standard time, technically his birthday did not start on Tuesday, but we celebrated it then anyway, but then on Wednesday, since every Wednesday is Ladies’ Night all over town and girls get into clubs for free, we celebrated Wednesday too with the excuse that it was his real birthday for most of the day.

Tuesday Night:

We went to a place called Clarke Quay. It is the touristy place to go out to eat. It is mostly old rich white people walking around spending money all over the place. Needless to say, I do not frequent this land of cheeseburgers, spaghetti, “fish and chips,” and chopstick less restaurants very often, but for Julio, we needed to class it up a bit. So I sucked it up, put on a collared shirt, and went to the most western part of Singapore. While we were there we went on this huge bungee thing that gives you the best view of the bay. They strap three people in and tighten the cables and then you go flying into the air. It was a blast. The restaurant that we ate at was right by the river that flows into the bay. And at night, the lights make the bay an almost magical place. So after a nice meal right there by the water, we were back on campus to rest up for Wednesday.

Wednesday Night:

Wednesday started a little later. If you ever come to Singapore someone is bound to tell you that you must have a Singapore Sling from the Raffles Hotel. The drink costs 21 singapore dollars and in a red fruity drink with rum, served with pineapple and a cherry. So we all went to Raffles and spent the cash in order to say that we did it. The drink was good but nothing special really, the great part were the peanuts. In the bar at the raffles hotel, each lounge table has a small wooden box filled with the best peanuts I have ever tasted. And the best part is that you simply toss the shell onto the floor for some one to clean up later. Just like the Country Road Houses found in the states, only surprisingly classy. Like there are peanut shells all over the floor, but the place is still fancy. And with a live band playing some jamming tunes, the night started out great. Then it was of to a club called the devil’s club. Despite the satanistic name, it was a pleaseant time. We found a nice table in the corner and chit chatted for a while, I talked with Ana Paula, she is from Mexico working as a nanny for a Mexican family here in Singapore. We talked in Spanish for about 40 minutes, I did ok, but it was a solid reminder that Spanish is also a language that I will never learn. After that we were on the dance floor until 4am. There was a live band we danced to for a while and then a DJ. It was lots of fun. However, all in all the night costed about 50 sing dollars, which is enough to get me to Malaysia and back, so there wont be too many more of there sorts of nights.

Also, Julio and I have become good friends and have decided that he will do a little hiking with me next time he comes to the states in exchange for taking me scuba diving once I visit Mexico. So if you play your cards right folks, you just might get the chance to meet him.