My Christmas...An International Feast

Wandering around, alone as usual as is my way during the day, I ran into Mike and John from Cafe No Se....predictably they whisked me off to the Cafe chastising me for not having been by in a while. I explained I was letting my liver heal. We had not been together but a few minutes and Mike asked if I had somewhere to be on Christmas Eve....nope...then you must join us for dinner. I enthusiastically accepted.

Once at the Cafe John introduced me to many folks and then arrived Nora (Mike´s girl) and her mother Barbara...both from Germany and both beautiful souls. Barbara had just finished a 50 hour journey from Germany to join her daughter for the holidays. And so we commenced on another night of drinking and talking and Carlos showed up and Steve was there and Justin played guitar in the corner and confessed it was his birthday and it was mescal shots and a grand toast and finally I practiced some self discipline and grabbed a cab home knowing the next night would be a marathon. I was right.

Being fairly new to Gt when Mike said come at 8pm I thought 8:30 would be fashionably late...I was very wrong. In Gt time I was geeky early and Nora hadn´t even had a chance to shower yet! But soon enough the gang trickled in...Carlos and his new girl from Taiwan that he had just met...and Genesis an expat from Ca (see pic below of Genesis, Barbara & Nora)...and Martha another expat and Jason the singer from Seattle who teaches in Honduras....and John and then Steve came streaking through the house with his nutty French expat pal, Benito....shirts off and tattoos...they giggled and ran back to No Se to tend bar.

Barbara and Nora had spent the day creating an amazing gourmet feast (see pic of master chef Barbara). We had celery soup and salad and turkey and duck and rabbit and two kinds of potatoes and zucchini casserole...and bread and cheese and wine and my god we all stuffed ourselves! It was a stunning meal in a stunning place. Mike and Nora´s apartment is gorgeous, open air with tall ceilings with chunky exposed beams and wood molding and course walls and eclectic decor. The table was set with candles and decorations and fruit and wine....and suddenly Mike looked across the table and said he needed my help. He said his family had a tradition that to start the holiday dinner someone would chuck a roll across the table....well, sweet Mike picked me and chucked the roll he did...I caught it of course and he said he knew I would have good hands.

After stuffing ourselves with incredible food the night eased into the slow long comfortable decent into a torpid evening of conversation and disclosure punctuated by burst of laughter and singing...and of course...lots of drinking. I heard about Barbara's younger men and her time in Paris and the gay clubs in Berlin and how the gays are so great there....and Nora shared about her crazy rock&roll marriage in Denmark and then to Antigua and sleeping with Mike a year and a half later...woops. And we heard Mikes stories about smuggling their new brand of mescal into Gt from Mexico (they have since become legal but their brand bears an appropriate moniker...Illegal Mescal is the brand! One story involved a guy dressed up as a priest and his friend had put porn in his bag which the border guys found....confused they just zipped up the bag and sent the "padre" on his way.

I lasted until 3:30am and felt more welcome there then I ever could have imagined would happen thousands of miles from home...a stranger just weeks in this town. These folks are amazing and I am so blessed to have the privilege of their company and generosity. Cafe No Se and the boys have become a touchstone for this quirky broody butch dyke from Ca.