Hispanic Social

I had the distinct pleasure of attending the Hispanic Professional Social mix and mingle event at Cantina (formerly known as LOLA, formerly one of my favorite places to go for Bellinis and dancing, but they didn't seem to care. They decided to switch it up into a taqueria, whatever that means!). About 2 years ago, a friend of mine at the time advised me of their monthly socials and we had planned to attend a couple of them, but things always got in the way. I signed up for their newsletter so I could be informed of their monthly hangouts and since then, circumstances always deterred my attendance at any of their gatherings.

But on Thursday evening, after ditching my Thursday workout I decided to try to make an attendance. The venue was about a mile from home so the trip to the event would not have hurt. So why not?

There's something about being one of 6 black people in an event that is catered to Hispanics that can be a little hard to take. Even though we are allpart of the "minority race" being one of about 6, (yes, I counted, 4 ladies and 2 gentlemen) even makes it more daunting. Almost like your race is extinct. To top it off they were all speaking Spanish which is not one of my strong suits. French, yes, I understand a little, but Spanish not one bit. And they all had this look like, "WTF are you doing here because you know you're not Hispanic." But it shouldn't matter. Isn't that what the freedom in the country theme is all about.

Anyway, back to the event. As soon as I walked in I knew I was in trouble. There was no host to greet me, no smiling face to meet mine. Nothing. So I found my way to a table to take my jacket off and I instantly bumped into the sole black lady in there, she was the first to arrive. She, of course, knew how to speak Spanish but was not instantly at ease because (i) everyone seemed to be ensconced in conversation with people that they may already know probably from past events, and (ii) she was black. So we struck up conversation and ended up talking the entire evening. As the evening passed there were a few members who stopped by to chat with us but I had already lost interest in the evening so I was not that much fun to talk to at all.

I know I say wait out the first hour and things would ease up, the crowd will lighten up and you will eventually end up having some measure of fun. This event was no exception to that rule. Except the snag is there has to be genuine interest in (i) having fun and (ii) the people that you aim to have fun with, are they charming, interesting, stimulating, etc. If they are not even after the first glance, then I loose interest. Which happened in this case.

So will I attend any of their events again. No, probably not. Will I advise anyone to attend one of their events? Probably, if you are Hispanic or attend with a friend. Don't go solo. I rarely say bring a friend but for them yes, just so you have someone to talk to while the rest of the crowd speaks Spanish!