At Long Last...

...I am being hit on by hot Dominicanas. I was at a repayment meeting earlier today, and near the end of the meeting, one of the associates inquired with Alejandro, the loan officer I was with, about my relationship status. Alejandro, always eager to put me in awkward situations, quickly told her that I would be happy to be her boyfriend.

She then turned to me and (to paraphrase) said "he said you will be my boyfriend. Let me give you my number." A bit flustered, I replied that I didn't really think that would work out. "Why? Am I ugly?" was her reply.

"No, you're very pretty," I assured her. And she was. Very.

"Are you engaged?" she then asked me.

"No. I'm just leaving the country in two weeks!"

"I can wait!" she happily replied. "Alejandro has my number," indicating I should ask him if I want it.

And so it was. I guess I appreciated the compliment. The female Esperanza interns have to beat away local boys with a stick; generally speaking, no self-respecting Dominicano can hold his head up high to his buddies if he didn't at least try to hit on a rubia (literally means 'blonde', but is applied to pretty much any white woman) when the opportunity arises. But up until this morning, I hadn't noticed any similar interest from Dominican women directed towards gringos like me. In the interest of equity between genders, all I can say is: about damn time.