Up all night

Well it's 4:18am on a Saturday night, and usually I'd be out for the night (am hours), but since I had a really late night last night and can't handle two in a row, and my neighbor is having a house party that includes a loud band, I thought what a perfect time to blog about the late night schedule here in BA.

I keep my going out to a minimum during the week, but when it comes to dinner, don't expect a restaurant to get going til at least 9-10pm. Later on weekend nights- 10 to 12am. Once you've sat down to eat, you can expect the meal to least anywhere from 2-3 hours as well. They do not rush you out of a restaurant when you eat and generally the service is slow... so it's better to just sit back and enjoy it. Really enjoy it! Americans definitely eat on the run, and that is not the mentality here at all. People really enjoy a good meal and take their time with it. Since conversation is so big here anyways, you can expect a nice long time after the meal to sit and talk as well.

The weekend night schedule here is nearly killing me. I'm 33 years old... this is not as easy as it used to be. So most lounge/bars don't get going til after midnight and most clubs don't even open the doors til 2am. I've had to get used to going out from 12am- 5am or later if it's a really good night, watching the sun rise as you go to bed, and then of course sleeping in all day to recover. Since I have Lola, there are times where it really HURTS to get up and take her out to the park. I just want to open the door to the terrace and say, just go out there. But then my guilty conscience takes over and I think, poor girl doesn't want to be couped up all day in the apartment, she needs to get out and walk and socialize with other dogs. Luckily, Lola has a bladder of steel and can manage to hold it up to 18 hours sometimes. So she'll occassionally let me sleep in til noon, I'll take her out - this is a min of a 30 min deal-- and then come back and crash out again. The terrible thing is when you sleep away a really nice day! If you know me well, you know I need a LOT of sleep. I do well with a good 8 hours during the week, but then I usually sleep about 10- 12 hours a night on the weekend. The crazy going out schedule here really limits me to either Fri night out or Sat night out. I can't manage both.

Chau for now...