Shock Value

Have you ever experienced an event that someone else thought was totally going to freak you out/shock you, but didn't at all? It kind of stinks for the person who is all excited to show you something out and you just kind of look and go, "Uh yeah. Cool dude."

Some obvious examples might be when someone tells you a joke that you already know. Or when someone shows you something when you have already seen a cooler version, such as how to get an extra life in Mario Bros 3 by flying up in the clouds, and then you turn around and jump on those ducks that reasemble their bones like 150 times and end up with 100 extra lives. There are just moments in life when you people try to amaze you, but you have just been there before. I had one of these moments big time last week, but the stage that the event was set on seemed super interesting to me.

Being gay in Ecuador would absolutely suck. I think Ally wrote an entry on her blog a couple months ago about a student who came out to her understanding that Ally, a foreigner, was the only person in the whole country who he felt comfortable coming out to. In a Catholic Country where even birth control is scorned, being homosexual just doesn't sit well with a lot of people. I don't think that there are any parents in Ecuador who would pat Jimmy on the head and tell them that whatever he decides is the right decision. Jimmy would probably get knocked upside the head and told to go to a brothel to get his head straight.

Quito has taken some steps to change this situation. There are actual GLBT clubs in Quito where people can go to meet GLBT people. Nonetheless I have met homosexual people in Quito who are openly gay, but refuse to tell even their close friends when they are actually dating someone. Just the way the culture works down here. Thus I found it interesting when two friends (both gay men) of my program invited all of their white gringo friends to a theatrical show that would feature-oh my god-a performance by a man dressed like a woman.

When they asked us it was almost as if they thought we would all completely jump out of our seats and start having our heads spin around on our shoulders like the exorcist. Not being the type of person to turn down an invitation to a new experience, and also not wanting to upset the friends of our program, of course we all said yes.

The car ride was hilarious. We might as well have been going to the bat cave. I was suprised that someone didn't blind fold me so that I wouldn't be able to mentally record where we were headed. After we turned off the main street we suddenly started turning every which direction until we found an unmarked parking space. We then walked into a building, unmarked, and up these crotchety wooden stairs.

Once we entered, however, was a completely different story. The theater was like something out of an art deco MTV episode of cribs. A ridiculously cool looking building with cool statues, hard wood chairs and tables with a real beatnik feel. Very cool. There wasn't a soul in the theater when we got there, but once we sat down people started appearing out of the woodwork. Reminded me of the come to me jungle friends apartment scene in Ace Ventura. We might have gotten to the show unfashionably early or something, but it still struck me as weird.

NOTE: There are some words in Spanish that are exactly the same in English, but they are spoken in this weird funny accent. "Show" is one of those words. Everyone in Ecuador always says, "Quieres ir al show (sounds like seeoh)?" or "Quieres ir al Shopping? (sounds like seeohping)" when they invite you to a show or to hit the mall. Very strange. The only fun one is "full time" when you are working long hours in ecuador you can say, "He estado trabajando full time (fool teyem).

Anyway the show opened with a magician who was one of those magicians who has no talent, but does have a suitcase with awesome gadgets and tricks. Kind of lame except for one trick in which he was smoking a cigarette, threw it on the ground, and then pulled another lit cigarette out of thin air-10 times. Right on.

After the magician, came the man dressed like a woman-and this is where the point of my story hit home. When the man dressed like a woman came out on stage, the Ecaudorians we were with rifled their heads to look at my face. How is this guy going to react? Will he flip out? Will his head explode? Will he have a heart attack? Will earth reverse its spin direction?

Wait.....Kane looks normal.....

Why is he not freaking out? What planet did this kid come from? He looks normal, like this is not the most shocking thing that he has ever seen in his whole life. How could this be true?

Gents I have news for you. I grew up in San Francisco. I felt not only like that guy who already knows the joke as soon as someone starts to tell it, but the guy who hears someone tell a joke, and knows the better version. I wanted to grab these two guys and plunk them in the middle of the Castro or in some of the all school meetings I witnessed at my high school. What would they think? Do you think their heads would explode? The fact that I wasn't fazed by the man dressed like a woman completely floored the two guys that I was hanging out with. In their effort to shock me, they ended up having the tables be completely turned. Ecuadorian GLBT people in Quito feel that they have a strong sense of community, but this community includes escapes to the batcave and not being able to talk to your friends about your love interests.

Shocking.