Once upon a dinner party

So, we've continued with our tradition of hosting ridiculously large dinner parties here in Bogotá. In many respects, this is the most important thing we can do to try to find a job. Networking is the best way to hear about work, so there's added reason for us to make lots of new friends, beyond the fact that we're trying to build a community for ourselves. It makes it a lot easier to cement friendships when we can invite everyone we know over to our apartment almost every week. Besides, who doesn't like delicious free food?

The only problem with this approach is that there isn't really much of a dinner culture in Bogotá. Most people eat a huge lunch and a very light dinner, and most of our friends work late into the night during the week. As a result, we had a "late lunch" party instead of a dinner party on Sunday. I made empanadas for the first time, and they were the most amazing things I've ever eaten. Shockingly, we didn't run out, and I've been able to snack on leftovers that I've kept frozen. We went to a play (awful, but we got a free glass of wine) yesterday with the vet who works below our apartment, and he said that there are lots of types of empanadas in this country, but his favorite is Jerry's empanadas. On the other hand, the challah that I tried to make didn't turn out quite as well. Robin's convinced it failed because I didn't compensate for the altitude, but the extra hours and hours that we let it rise probably didn't help either. In any case, all the goyim loved the challah and said it tasted great.

We're making steady progress on the friend front - gradually meeting new people, meeting their friends, and then inviting them all over for food. Little by little, we're living the dream. After inviting 40 people to the late lunch on Sunday though, it might be time to start being a little more discriminating.