My Birthday

First of all, to all who sent birthday wishes, THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

            I had a wonderful 21^st birthday!  When I walked into the kitchen for breakfast yesterday, I was greeted by Ricardo, who usually doesn’t come to the house for breakfast but was there for my birthday, Fortunata, and Norma who all gave me big birthday hugs.  Mariska gave me a card at breakfast and we had the Peruvian birthday treat of buttery hot chocolate.  We also had lemon sponge cake along with a big slice of bread.  During breakfast, Fortunata and Ricardo told me how much my Spanish has improved and Fortunata gave me a round of applause.  This was probably the best birthday present they could have given me!  I was also able to carry on a conversation with them about what I will be doing with my family this coming week when they come to visit (two more days!! I’m so excited!).

            After breakfast, I went to the bakery down the street to pick up the cake that I had ordered.  On Saturday, I had gone to the bakery and ordered the cake completely in Spanish - I was so proud of myself.  However, my order receipt had somehow ended up at the bottom of the pile and they did not actually make my cake.  So, when I walked in at 8 a.m. and asked for my cake, the woman looked at me like I was crazy and asked when I had placed the order.  I told her Saturday and, with a panicked look, she searched through the piles of receipts until she found my order.  Then, without a word, she quickly left the bakery.  I stood there for a couple minutes wondering what her quick exit could mean, but luckily she returned and told me that I would just have to wait half an hour for the cake.  Although I was supposed to be at my school by 8:30, I decided that it would be fine to be a little late given how late Vanessa (my teacher) sometimes is and because I had already told her that I would be bringing a cake to share with the class, so I couldn‘t show up without one.

            While I waited the half hour, I bought a passion fruit and ate it as I took a nice walk around Pisac.  It was nice to see the market being set up and people going off to work and school.  At 8:30, I went back to the bakery for my cake.  Of course, it was not ready.  I sat down at one of the tables and waited for the next 40 minutes for the cake.  I actually had a really good time people watching.  People from so many different backgrounds came into the bakery - women dressed in traditional Quechua clothes ordering bread, a three year old boy by himself who came in to buy a dozen rolls, tourists, a dad who bought his son a cup of jello and a cookie, along with many others.  Finally at 9:10, my cake was ready!  The woman wrote “Feliz cumpleanos Abby” on it and then I took the cake and went to the taxi.

            When I got to school, I was swarmed by my 18 children all giving me birthday hugs and shouting “Feliz cumpleanos.”  One girl gave me a present (a picture frame) and Vanessa gave me a card that she had written a nice note on and had all the kids sign.  The kids were very excited about my birthday and that there would be cake.  To Vanessa and my surprise, several children had brought in food for the party.  On Monday, Vanessa told the children that my birthday was the next day and that we might have a party, but did not ask them to bring anything in.  One kid brought in a garbage bag full of popcorn, another brought soda, and someone else brought animal crackers and chips.  I thought that it would just be a normal day at school with an added bonus of my class singing me happy birthday and then I would serve them cake.  I was wrong!  After the kids had lunch at 11:00, we moved all of the tables around the walls of the room and brought in more chairs.  Then all of the kids and teachers from the other two classrooms came into my classroom to join in the party.  First, each class danced for me.  This consisted of a video of traditional dances and music being played on the TV, while the kids stared at the TV and copied the dance steps.  It was adorable.  Then we passed around chips and popcorn and all of the kids danced together.  Then they sang me “Happy Birthday,” first in English (which they all knew) and then in Spanish.  Then I blew out my birthday candle and it is tradition for the birthday person to take a bite out of the cake before it is cut, so I did to the cheering of the children as the principal pushed my face further into the cake!  After, a few kids stood up and told me to have a good day and then Vanessa gave me a nice speech, in English, about how glad she was to have me in the class and to have a wonderful birthday.  It was so nice.

            I was glad that I bought a big cake.  I thought that it would be for just 20 people, but we ended up being able to serve 45 people.  The party lasted the rest of the day and at 1:00 it was time to go home.  It was so fun and unexpected to have this celebration.

            Lunch was normal except, like at breakfast, Fortunata’s pre-meal prayer centered around me having a nice birthday.  It was very nice to hear.

            On Tuesdays there is always a care workshop where all of the volunteers in kindergartens gather to talk about our experiences over the past week.  Because of my birthday, Yessika brought in a cake to share and I was sung to by her and the volunteers.  Then, for dinner, Fortunata had bought another cake for me and I was sung to again by Fortunata, Mariska, Norma, and Ronald.  We didn’t have anything for dinner but cake and tea.  Then, after dinner and after talking to my family for a few minutes, the other four volunteers living in Pisac came over to our house and we hung out a played cards and ate more cake.

            It was a great day full of lots of celebrating and even more cake!  I cannot believe how old I am and I could not have asked for a better birthday here in Peru.