Yesterday was my birthday and I had a pretty interesting day. I went to language in the morning and then a friend and I crossed the river to go shopping. The trip was a long, we got pulled over by a policeman who was just standing in the middle of the road, we sat for a little while before our driver just paid him to leave us alone (aka. a bribe), then, for some reason, they closed the bridge. It’s not uncommon for the bridges to be closed or to be one way at certain times of the day. However, this wasn’t one of those times of day, the soldiers that ‘protect’ the bridge just thought that there was more traffic going one way than the other, so they made the bridge one way. So we just sat in the Amjad with the doors open dripping sweat, everyone else was out of their cars and visiting, but, seeing as how Americans are supposed to be keeping a ‘low profile’, we thought it might be best to stay in. Once we got to the other side of the river, the driver asked 'Do you want to go right or left?' I said 'right' and he said 'that's no good, this way is too fast. We will go this way because it is too fast'...not better, not faster, but TOO fast! So we went the long way, but we made it. The shopping was a little disappointing because we had high expectations for the souq that we were going to and then we didn't find anything, but we had fun just spending time together and the trip back was pretty uneventful.
Then in the evening, some friends had a little get-together for me. Everyone came together and we had cake and ice cream and spent some time visiting. We had two very delicious cakes, compliments of my mom and the package that she sent last month in which she included real cake mixes AND icing!!! Here's me blowing out the candles (obviously) but this one was requested especially by the Brown family.
Then I got to open presents and I think the best one was the surprise envelope from home filled with notes from all of ya'll. I had absolutely no idea that was coming and it was such a blessing. As a sidenote, I got a present that was only chocolate and cheese...it sounds stupid but in a place where, IF you can get cheese it's ridiculously expensive, it was a very thoughtful gift!
We stayed and visited for a little while longer and then I came home to read my letters. I got through about half of them before the power went out…just another friendly reminder that, yes, this is still the Sandbox! But it was a wonderful day, especially topped off by all of your special messages that meant so much. So thanks to all of you who helped to really make my birthday a special day. I know that, from the pictures, it looks like I was the only person at this party, but for multiple reasons I can't exactly post pictures with other people in them, so you'll just have to believe me that there were others involved!
