Belated Birthday Blog.

So as many of you know my 23rd Birthday came and went on October 14th, with not a blog to be found on it. So here is my belated Birthday Blog. When I rose the morning of the 14th the sun was shining through my window as it usually does (they don't believe in thick curtains here) and I was greeted by well wishes from several of my housemates. I had breakfast and got myself together to go and perform my second interview with a Congolese refugee. I had very few expectations for the day as I had decided that I was simply happy being in South Africa and 23, I even went so far as not to make any plans for the evening to see what adventure might find me.

As I headed out the front gate to travel to the Methodist city mission one of the operators of the house where I am staying handed me a bouquet of yellow gerber daisies (one of my two favorite flowers (not that she knew that)) which I carried with me all day. Upon arriving at the mission I discovered that my participant would once again not be arriving to do the interview (this was the second of three times that this happened) but unperturbed I headed over to the cresh and played with the young children until 11. At 11 I headed to the Dr. as my throat continued to ache despite a course of antibiotics which I had taken a week earlier. The Dr. thought it might be allergies, as it turned out it was the bug spray which I was using, but I didn't realize this until this past Saturday which was rather unfortunate.
In any case, glad not to be on another round of antibiotics I headed to the ISS where a surprise was waiting for me, as I had been informed by one of my coworkers who was unsure why I had not yet arrived in the office at noon. When I arrived in the office I discovered that the members of the arms management program had arranged a small surprise Birthday party for me complete with cake and go od company :). This was my first surprise of the day and I have to say it was quite a wonderful one since I hadn't made a point to inform anyone of my Birthday (unlike with my house mates).
After spending my afternoon at the ISS I returned home to discover most of my house mates waiting for me, again with well wishes. When asked what I would like to do with my evening I replied that it would be nice to have a meal out, at which point I was informed that that would not be happening and that we would be having leftovers and celebrating my Birthday on the following weekend. At this point I went and dropped my stuff in my room, slightly annoyed I returned outside at which point, after some gigggling, 4 of my house mates announced that they were going to "the bank". It seemed funny to me that they would need to go to the bank considering we were staying in and eating leftovers but I decided to roll with it. After waiting for a half an hour one of the 4 who were out called one of the other girl's cell phones and announced that they had gone for a drink at a bar close by and that they would not be returning for dinner. At this point I was certain that something was up as I knew Jose, Silvia, Arne and Dhoya well enough to know that they would not be so insensitive. At this point Laura, Mona and Mzi suggested that we head out for food and suggested a nice restaurant called Tribeca. Grinning I agreed and we dragged Alice out of her room and we headed off. Upon our arrival Mona, Laura and Alice hurried ahead while Mzi took a phone call and I waited for him and when I rounded the corner there was a cake lit up by 23 candles in the middle of the table and everyone was there and wished me a Happy Birthday and the evening proceeded from there. What lovely surprises !

As many of you know I often take my Birthday as a time to reflect on things that I would like to do in the upcoming days, weeks, months and years. This year I took the opportunity to reflect on all of the things which make my life as wonderful as it is. I am so grateful to have close friends, a family that loves me, the opportunity to pursue something that I am passionate about, and to be lucky enough to find myself in South Africa, somewhere I have always wanted to visit and continues to exceeds my expectations. So to all of you who are part of my life and make it what it is, thank you. This year is for you!