My friend asked me to be his date to a gala this weekend. Unfortunately, I can’t go because I’ll be away on vacation. 

I felt so bad saying no, but he was cool with it.  He told me I would have been the perfect date, and that he will ask someone else, but just know that I was his first choice.

I think it’s the first time I’ve been a guy’s first choice.   Makes me happy and a little sad.  Hopefully I can be his date for his next event.

I’m really frustrated with my friend.  I mentioned in a previous journal entry that her boyfriend shoved her into a closet during a fight.  This was Monday night.  By Tuesday everything is all forgiven, she says they’re going to see what happens -_-  But today really pissed me off.  She posted a picture of his fatass and writes “love this kid”.  Like, don’t you have any self respect? If a man put his hands on me his throat would be slit from ear to ear. I would cut off his dick and make him eat it.  I know we’re not supposed to blame the victim, but seriously? A sorry and some crocodile tears is all it’s takes to get back on your good side after someone put their hands on you?? I’m just really disappointed. 

I know that as a friend, I’m supposed to support her, and I will, I just needed to vent.  I don’t think this is okay.  I don’t want to have to make small talk with him or hang out with him.  I don’t respect men who hurt women. 

I wanted to actually sit down and type this, but time’s running out so I’m just gonna bullet things.

-Cuba was gorgeous.  All the buildings are colonial style, the streets are cobblestone, the land is well taken care of.

-Cuba was also very safe.  I was so afraid of being pickpocketed or abducted or something crazy.  Police are easy to find and are eager to help you.  Murder is extremely rare in Cuba.  When it happens, everyone knows because it rarely happens.  They have some petty crimes, and drugs and prostitution aren’t too much of an issue.

-The locals are beautiful, resilient, friendly people.  They don’t hate Americans either.  Sometimes they would crack jokes and refer to us as their “lovely enemies”.  Most of them have family in the states.  They’re extremely hospitable and helpful- they’ll recommend good places to eat and will give you directions if you’re lost.  The men in Cuba are such a trip.  They’ll tell you on the street that you’re beautiful and then tell you to have a nice day.  Not like in the US where men get all raunchy.  Eating in restaurants in Cuba was such a nice experience.  They don’t rush you, in fact there have been times where they’ve asked if I wanted to stay for some coffee for free.

-You have to tip for everything in Cuba.  If you go to a public restroom, you have to tip the bathroom attendant to get toilet paper and soap.  Or bands will start playing at restaurants when you’re just trying to enjoy your food and then when they’re done performing they will bug you until you give them a tip and buy their CDs.  I must’ve heard the “Chan Chan” 100 times in that one week. 

-Cuba is stuck in the 1950′s.  Old cars, phones with cords, no cellphones, three channels on the TV.  They had an internet cafe in one of the nicer hotels and me and my roommate had to take a horse and buggy ride to get there, ha. 

-Cuba has the best coffee, rum, chocolate and soda.  I’ve never been a coffee drinker, but Cuban coffee is no joke.  Leaves you wired for hours and it tastes delicious with their sugar and some unpasteurized milk.  Their cola is made with sugar cane instead of corn syrup.  Their rum tastes a lot different than the rum I’m used to.  And it was cheap, like 3 bucks a bottle.  The guys on my trip would just buy cases of rum and we would drink so much after dinner and play card games and truth or dare.  Someone got duct taped to a bed one night. 

-I met some really wonderful people. There were 18 people in my group- about 6 mental health counseling students, a couple of professors and a lot of alumni who were taking the course for continuing education credits.  I learned a lot from all of them, and I had a great time bonding with them. There were these three dumpy girls who banded together and thought they were Charles Angels or some shit.  They didn’t like me because I wore dresses and the locals would always compliment me and then they would ask them if they were pregnant lol.  Me and my roommate would ask them if they ever wanted to get lunch and then they would be like “oh we don’t know what we’re doing” and then as soon as we left to freshen they would leave lol.  On the last night I caught one of them pressed up against my hotel room door.  That was awkward for her lol. 

-I met a really fantastic person.  He’s been all over the world- just this year he was in Africa, Costa Rica, and Ecuador. He goes to Japan every Summer and tried teaching me Japanese and how to eat with chop sticks but it completely went over my head.  He was also just the nicest person- so mellow and never had anything bad to say. He would take me to cool places to get postcards and souvenirs because I didn’t want to walk alone.  We have a lot in common, he works as a teacher for emotionally disturbed children so we were swapping stories.  We would get drunk and have these heart to heart talks about traveling and relationships and stuff.  I didn’t have sex with him, even though he was trying to convince me to shower with him because the shower in my room only had scalding hot water.  We didn’t get to exchange numbers because of all the craziness that occurred at the airport.  My passport was taken and he had like a minute to catch his connecting flight so we just had a long hug and left.  He found me on facebook which must’ve been kinda troublesome since I’m unsearchable.  Although I think he’s incredible I think I would rather keep him as a friend.  But I was smitten for a few days. 

That will be my next blog. On wordpress. Just for quick thoughts and such.  So sad it’s ending like this

My friend’s boyfriend is a really nice guy with a bad side. She’s told me sometimes he gets kinda crazy during fights, calling her a bitch and saying he never loved her and throwing tantrums where he ends up on the floor.

she told me today that he shoved her after a silly fight. I assumed they were broken up but she told me that he feels awful about it and is gonna talk to his doctor (he’s said this before). I tried not to show my disappointment so I just said “oh ok”. I feel bad for her, but theres nothing I can do but support her and hope she gets smart fast.

since last sunday I’ve been in Havana, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Baltimore, Long Island, NYC and Jersey City.  So tiring but fun.  Bed is calling me!

So I’m putting the finishing touches on my make up when I get a text from boring dude.  We were supposed to meet in 20 minutes, and he texts me saying he will be at least a half hour late because “the managing partner just showed up”, whatever that means.  He asks if we can push it to four.  I’m on a tight schedule and he knows it so I just write “nope”.  I don’t like it when people waste my time- I could’ve made other plans. That’s another thing I didn’t like about him- because he’s successful he acts like his time is more valuable than mine.  He asks if we can reschedule for monday, I don’t even bother replying..  I really don’t feel obligated to say anything to him anymore.  He’s a big boy- he can take a hint. 

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  I’m still stressed about the passport situation and I worked overtime today so I’m pretty exhausted and I need to blow off some steam. 

I still need to write about my experiences in Cuba.  I met the most awesome people and just had the time of my life.  Maybe after I shower I’ll write another entry. 

Sarah: He’s so horrible. His favorite tv show is Seinfeld!
Dan: And he’s around our age? Run!

Saturday will probably be the last time I see him, I’m really bored and I don’t see us going anywhere.

I wrote everyone from my class an email saying how much fun I had and thanking everyone for a wonderful experience.  One of the ladies from my group wrote me back something so sweet!

“Thank you Jennifer! You are one of the most beautiful person I have ever met. You were the perfect Cuba companion! Always so peaceful! May God bless you and your Mom.Love you to pieces! Will certainly check your face book for pics and memories! Enjoy the rest of your summer too!”

AWWWWWWWWWWW <3