Save Water. Drink Beer. Cheers!

For You, Schwetty!

I am dedicating this entry to Eric Schuette simply because tonight (October 29^th) was one of my first night’s to go out and drink at multiple establishments and take in the nightlife.

You all know that I have worked in the bar business for some time. When I go to other places, and Schuette can vouch for this, I pay attention to how they function (staff, prices, environment, service, etc). It’s something that anyone in the industry pays attention to. So, this entry is pretty much about just that… the things I’ve noticed at the bars… if you don’t want to continue reading, I will understand. The service industry is a part of who I am and I feel like writing about it, so this is that result… J

We went to a 5 places tonight. First of all, I want it to be known that no one waits tables here. Maybe it’s because we are the ‘outsiders’ right now, but so far, we have had to go to the bar to order our food every time. We wait 20 minutes and eventually just figure they aren’t coming, so we go to the bar and place our order. And forget about getting checked on. There’s no such thing. If you want something else, get off your ass and go ask for it (ketchup, another beer, etc). I guess that’s why there isn’t much tipping, haha! I still feel REALLY bad if I don’t tip. Anyway, tonight, I was able to check out their hamburgers. REAL hamburgers. The menu said 100% beef. Anyone who knows me decently well knows I need my meat WELL DONE. These things were still grazing grass and enjoying life, blood flowing fully through their lively bodies. I try really hard not to be picky because I am very well aware of the fact that I am in another country. This in their way of doing things; not mine. I ate around the outside of the burger, but could not bring myself to finish it. Next time, I’ll have to specify. Here is also where I tried Duff beer. HaHa! This whole entry is fitting for Eric Schuette… I was drinking Simpson’s beer! I am not even going to lie; I didn’t know it was a real beer, haha! I thought it was just a TV show beer, but obviously not. It was literally advertised on one of their chalkboards “Duff (Simpson’s).” HaHa! It wasn’t bad. I could definitely drink a few and enjoy them all. J
We left there and went to one of my personal favorite places, Christian’s. He has been out of town on vacation for a week and a half, so we haven’t been there for awhile. We stopped in for a couple drinks where we seemed to attract the toothless and elderly. It was interesting. Tapa’s here are fantastic! And when he brings us food or drink or whatever, I say, “Gracias!” He replies, “You’re welcome, honey.” (In English) I always try to tip here, even though it isn’t common. Christian is the owner of this establishment and he is the only person I have ever seen work there. I take that back. On busy nights, I have seen a younger kid helping him out, but most of the time, it is only him. No staff means no payroll expenses, I suppose. There is a woman in the kitchen, but I’m pretty sure it’s his wife. He’s the one cleaning off tables and delivering drinks and tapas, etc. It’s the same at many of the places here. The person behind the bar is the owner.

Next, we went to Pub Genesis. This place is a small little place that is packed full on the busy nights. I’ve heard horrible stories about the owner, but I have never seen anything, personally, that makes me think anything negative of him. We met up with some friends here and had a drink. It’s a little pricier than the other places.

After Genesis, we went to Pub Guli (sounds like Gilly). I am still trying to define more precisely the differences between a café, pub, cafeteria, bar, discoteca, etc. Guli had a pretty decent crowd in it. It was long and narrow, similar to the Rail, but a bit smaller. The music was primarily Spanish, of course, but they also played some American Top 40 stuff. I noticed, haha, that many of the customer’s were ‘singing’ when English songs came on. For instance, Rihanna… a song came on that they were dancing to and mouthing the words to, like any bar in the states, but I really don’t think they know a single word they were saying! They can’t speak a lick of English, but can sing the music to many English songs. It makes me laugh. I bet they have zero idea of what they are saying. I mean, I sing sometimes to Selena or Pitbull and at many points, I have NO idea what I am saying, but I still sing my heart out! I totally know what they’re feeling! HaHa! I typically just walk up to the bar and order “una cerveza,” and they hand me whatever beer they have. If I want draft beer, I specify a size and they typically know that I want a draw. Guli’s only had Carlsburg bottles. I usually am pretty picky about beer, but I’m keeping an open mind about everything here. I’ve heard of Carlsburg, but never tried it. It was really good! Then, I ordered a rum and coke for 5 euros. Man, Schuette, you’d be pissed about the over pouring!! HaHa! These drinks are primarily alcohol and they hand you a bottle of soda to go with it. It is STOUT (but delish!)! I went to give him a tip and he actually said, “No, No.” I made him take it, haha! As far as I could tell, though, he just threw it in the drawer. I don’t think they keep it, so maybe I’ll keep that in mind for next time.

After Gully, we went to Azahara (pronounced Thara). The place reminded me of the size and potential of the Sip-N-Spin, but the crowd of Chuck’s (when it was busy). I kid you not, there were 15 year olds in there drinking. I felt like Grandma compared to everyone there. In order to get a drink, you have to go to this guy at the door and buy a ticket first. You have to tell him what you want and he’ll give you a ticket that is worth whatever that drink is. Strange. The bartenders only deal with tickets, not money, haha! I spent a lot of my time people watching. I really do a lot of that here. You could tell who the 15 year olds were simply by their obnoxious behavior in getting drinks and then just acting like idiots. I really felt out of place, haha, kind of like when the children were dancing on the bar at La Feria. J This club (discoteca) could be really bad ass. It had four different rooms. One room was really dark with some seats around the outside, but a very open space in the middle for dancing. You kept walking into the next room and it is where all the children were dancing (and drinking). Go down a flight of steps to be on the level of the dance floor. There were 3 or 4 small cages spread out (not big cages) on the dance floor with the DJ sitting in his own booth high above the dance floor. Primarily Spanish techno music was the playlist. The next room you walked into was their game room. There were a couple pool tables and foosball tables and this one game that I had zero idea of what it was about. It was a table game that had stirrups on both sides of it. It was weird looking. You walk up a ramp or stairs to go into the bar area, the fourth room. There were also a few couches and velvet chairs around the room with the bathrooms centered between all four rooms. I didn’t take pictures, sorry.

Some notes I thought of as I was people watching…

They serve glass ALL the time. On more than a few occasions, I watched as drunk children dropped them and they shattered all over the floor. No bouncers work here. In fact, I don’t remember seeing anyone clean up a couple of them. There is a reason we switch to plastic back home!! HaHa! And people just walk outside with their drinks, so I noticed empty glasses up and down the streets or shattered glass if someone had dropped it.

Also… they go on the ’honor system’ here. I can go to the bar, order my drink, go sit down with friends, walk outside to chat, come back in, maybe order another drink, and do the same routine over. There are no ’tabs’ kept, I just simply walk to the bar and tell the bartender what I ordered and he charges me accordingly. No one knows my name or where I live (that is working). I could easily walk out and on to the next bar if I chose. It is like this everywhere so far. Even when we eat, we just walk to the bar, tell them what we ate and/or drank and pay and are on our way. It’s crazy to me!! Could you imagine doing that, Schuette? Hell no!! I am sure it is different in the bigger cities, but here… all honor system. Better not drink too much and forget what you had so they don’t take advantage of you!! I have heard that a couple bars here in town may take advantage of outsiders (if we get too drunk and sloppy or something). This is another place where tapas come in handy… Keep track of your tapas and you can keep track of how many drinks you had! HaHa!

Children, as in little kids, go out with their parents until all hours of the night, it seems. When we were at Christian’s, it was probably 1:30 a.m. and we saw 3 or 4 of our students, some with their parents, others were just playing soccer in the street. They sit at the table and dine with them until the wee hours of the morning…. Long past when the children of the states should be tucked into bed!

Another interesting note… they stay open until the last person/people decide to leave! Could you imagine letting your customers decide when you closed? I mean, sure, there are laws and all that in Kansas, but if there was more freedom, can you imagine the hours you’d keep? Um… no thanks! I sure wouldn’t have worked for you, boss! HaHa! I guess it’s like that every night, too. Off nights, weekends, whatever… if you wanna stay in and keep drinking, they allow it. People in Hays go out at 12:30 or 1:00 and just go hard for 45 minutes, drinking as much as they can. It kind of works better here because people go out and drink slowly, but all night long. It’s not like fitting in 20 rounds of shots by 2:00 a.m. It’s just SO different! HaHa! I will keep you posted and let you know when I can hang until 7 or 8 the next morning. I made it to 5:30 this morning, so that’s a start! HaHa! I’m too old for this shit!

A common statement that I have heard is that if there isn’t trash on the floor, it’s probably not a good place to go. The messier the floor is, the better the place is. This kind of goes back to the trash thing. They throw everything on the floor. EVERYTHING. Sometimes, the tapa includes sunflower seeds and people just spit or throw the shells on the floor. How annoying!! HaHa! I’d be so angry! I watched a couple of older gentlemen eating shrimp and just throwing the tails on the floor. Nevermind that they have perfectly good plates sitting on the counter that they could put them on. Even when we come in to sit at a table, they bring out a paper tablecloth to sit on your table (on top of a real tablecloth or plastic table in many cases) and serve you your food and drinks and what have you. If you spill anything or have crumbs or whatever, they just pick up the paper cloth at the end of your stay and throw it away. Many times, they just wipe everything onto the floor to make room for the next people that come in. I can just picture working at the bar, sitting around, and letting everyone come to me for everything (not so different from reality in that sense for some people). And when they’re done, just wipe it all onto the floor. I’m sure that’d go over well! It’s all tile floors, but still… come to think of it, I’m not sure that I’ve seen carpet here anywhere. Nope. Not once. Not in a house or in a bar or whatever.

I think that’s all I can think of for the time being. I’m sure more will be included in future entries, but for now, I wanted to be sure and cover that aspect of things for Schuette. It’s cheaper to drink booze here than it is to buy a soda or water. Pretty much leaves you one option… Save Water, Drink Beer. HaHa! J I miss you, boss! I hope that the bars are doing good and thriving! Thank you, Eric Schuette, for letting me work for you and then for supporting my decision to get to this point in my life. J I hope you can come over and visit and experience some of this shit firsthand!