I don’t know. Do they have bacon in Africa?
They should. They have Boer’s. 
Perhaps you could try listening to your date, rather than going on and on about yourself, and how your experiences are so much more important than his. You don’t need to talk about everything that’s happened at the earliest opportunity, because most of it is uninteresting.
Actually, this advice could apply to your participation on this board as well, but I won’t hold my breath.
nm
I like your theory:
Date (real situation): My birthday is blah blah blah. Last year I had this big party at a nighclub! What about you? What’d you do for your last birthday?
Me: Uh, I walked around outside with a friend?
Date: What the hell does that mean? What did you really do?
Me: Nothing too big, just hanging out in the city.
Date: Dude, I’m asking you what you did for your last birthday. Why are you being so cagey?
Me: Okay what happened is that. I was with a friend trying to lay low while a crowd of a few thousand young people flooded the central square of downtown Chongqing wearing plastic devil horns and beating each other with huge inflatable baseball bats.
Date: WTF? What does that even mean?
Me: That’s apparently how they celebrate Christmas in China.
Date: Wait, what? What were you doing in China?
Me: I lived there a while.
Date: How long?
Me: Two years with Peace Corps. I just got back a couple months ago.
Date: Uh wow, that must be kind of intense. Uh, I didn’t know they had Peace Corps in China! Don’t they usually do that in some mud hut in Africa or something?
Me: Nice weather out? Do you like Italian food? Uhhh…
God no not that. We have too many presidential candidates running around as it is.
Are you retarded? How about…
Date: I went to a big ass party for my birthday last year. What about your last birthday?
You: I was in China celebrating new year with a friend. We mainly just walked around in costumes beating drums.
Date: Cool. What were you doing in China?
You: I was living and working there for a while.
I guaran-fucking-tee you he’ll either ask how long and doing what, or just drop it and move on to something else without all of that awkwardness. Why *would *you give that dodgy ass answer?
This. If he’s interested, he’ll ask. If not, don’t keep bringing it up. If him not being interested in every minor detail is a deal-breaker for you, he’s probably had a lucky escape.
Minus the drum part. I inserted that myself somehow. Switch in instead “hitting each other with inflatable bats.” And exchange “new year” with “Christmas.” Thanks.
Word. Good grief.
“I walked around outside with a friend” Hahaaaaa!!! That’s awesome!
No, don’t you understand, us guys haven’t experienced the things Sven has, it just confuses us to hear about other countries!!!
Jesus fucking christ, no wonder the guy was awkward, that exchange is just dripping with condescension.
I am confused about if this is supposed to be a for-real conversation that you had. Did you really give this answer in response to that question?
That’s absolutely absurd. How about actually answering the question succinctly and pleasantly, let your date ask follow up questions. It’s a conversation. It’s like you’re expecting someone to be so amazed or confused by your experience that you wouldn’t dare answer the questions straight. Give people some credit, FFS.
Date (real situation): My birthday is blah blah blah. Last year I had this big party at a nighclub! What about you? What’d you do for your last birthday?
You: It was pretty cool- I got to spend it with a friend during Chinese New Year.
Date: Cool! What were you doing there?
You: Peace Corps for X years.
etc.
I have a no fail plan for getting out of awkward questions like that.
Date: So what did you do for your birthday last year?
Me: These are not the droids you’re looking for.
Date: Oh forget it. You’re not the droid I’m looking for.
Me: <floors gas pedal of land speeder>
You should try that next time.
I’m getting the sense that you get off on making things difficult for your dates…
Thanks guys. That would have been extremely helpful advice back in 2010, when I asked this board for suggestions on the topic.
I’m confused, if I asked someone what they did for their birthday and they said “Nothing too big, just hanging out in the city.” That would be a perfectly acceptable answer. I wouldn’t keep drilling them for info like they were hiding something. Why do I get the feeling there’s more to this story? If the person went on to say “Dude, I’m asking you what you did for your last birthday. Why are you being so cagey?” I can only assume that you either said it in such a way that you were clearly trying to get them to ask you more questions or you were obviously lying in a “No, really, I’m super modest, I don’t like talking about myself…but really I do” way.
I may have mentioned this before but when I was nearly done with my undergraduate degree, I seriously considered the Peace Corps. The 25th anniversary of the PC had recently happened and they had just made a huge effort to contact as many former volunteers as possible, many of whom agreed to be contacted by prospective volunteers.
I talked to a good many of them. The ones whose experience was well behind them had a pretty good perspective about it. It was different for many of the ones who had only been out for less than three years or so. It was more often the men than the women but the whine was a familiar one. “No one could possibly understand my experience. How can I possibly date a civilian after spending the last two years in Micronesia living on tarot root? I know nothing of popular culture and can’t make myself understood.” It was fucking tiresome and one of the reasons, albeit a very minor one, why I didn’t join.
As I recall, that was the exact advice you were given.