First Birthday Abroad!

Well I turned 34 today. My sister says I moved out of my early thirties and into my mid thirties. I dont think I am 34, really I am 34 teen. I still feel like a teenager in so many ways. I kinda dress like one, I sometimes talk like one, I still listen to teen music and I even have a pimple or two every now and then. So I am going with 34 teen. I woke up this morning to my family singing “Happy Ba Day to you, Happy Ba Day to you, Happy Ba Day my dear friend, Happy Ba Day to you. How oad ah you now, How oad ah you now, Happy Ba day my dear friend, how oad ah you now?” Every afternoon on the local TV station, they play this song with little kids singing it in English. Kyndal just loves it and it and sings it just like they do. Anyway, they brought me coffee and presents. They got me a reusable underwater camera. This was Braden’s idea as he and I are the ones that snorkel the most. We went to the main island for breakfast and the waiter at the restaurant (a very good friend named J) bought our breakfast. It was so kind. I had a really hard time accepting this gift, as I know how little he makes. After breakfast and more exploring of the city, I met a friend for coffee and had a great conversation about appreciating people. We talked about being kind and loving people. It was a great conversation.Last night we went to the home of some new friends. They are from America and are so kind. It was nice to sit and talk with like-minded people – and be able to understand every word! They had somebody bring Starbucks coffee on their last visit, so we had some awesome coffee. Angie surprised me with a cake she had bought at a restaurant on the main island, and we shared it with our friends. (The cake is a story in itself. Not having an oven, baking a cake was out. So Angie and the kids ventured to the main island on their own the day before my birthday to do some shopping. Angie knew of a restaurant where they sell cakes by the piece or whole. Typical of our experiences here, when she arrived at the restaurant, she found they had one delicious looking chocolate cake, with one piece missing from it! She told them she wanted it anyway. They did their best to hide the missing piece with frosting, and the cake was outstanding!) During our conversation, our friends told us of a store on the main island where you can buy some “hard to find” items, and also a bakery. We went by today and found a lot of stuff. We didn’t buy much because it is very expensive. The first box of Raisin Bran I have seen here and it was $8. Since we dont like the milk, we dont buy cereal. We left the Raisin Bran behind. Angie, however, bought some beef and we fired up the grill. J now helps us in the evenings, so he joins us for dinner every night. We fed him a very American meal tonight, with beef kabobs and mashed potatoes. The break from rice was nice. Unfortunately, the kids got in trouble this afternoon and were not allowed to go with us to use my new underwater camera. This worked out nicely for Angie as she got to use Braden’s snorkel. The kids cried and stood on the balcony and watched us swim. Yeah, it was kind of cruel, but they had it comin’.Overall, it was a great day with lots of e-cards, emails and several text messages from my local friends. I have enjoyed the birthday abroad so much that I have decided that next time we come back to the USA, we are going to leave on the evening of my birthday…. this way it can be my birthday all day here and the whole way home. It will be like a 48 hour birthday. Wait, will that make me older? My brother-in-law pointed out that since I was born in the USA in the afternoon on the 8th that technically I couldn’t celebrate my birthday until the 9th. So I guess I will just celebrate again tomorrow.