October 20, 2009

Yesterday was my birthday, and what a day it was.

The day started promptly at midnight when I got a text message saying that I had a voicemail. The last three times i received this text the voicemail was static and i had no idea who called me so this time i ignored it. I couldn't sleep the entire night. Every time I would wake up I would check the clock and only an hour would have passed. I'm not sure why I was having sleep problems because normally I want to get a good nights sleep the night of the birthday, but this was not the case. When the clock finally hit 8am i got up and spent a little more time than usual getting ready. I wanted to look nice so i wore a dress and did my hair. I also brought a huge piece of my birthday cake (which i purchase myself) for Pocho and Ana. The past week the weather has been hot and in the 80s, today it decided to be fall. I was cold and rainy but i still wore my dress. As i walked to school all the kids i passed would look at the cake and their eyes would get big. haha Not for you!

When I got to school I quickly started the internet because I wanted to check my emails as soon as possible because i had a full day of school. After Pocho came in I gave her the cake and she wished me happy birthday and any teacher she met in the hallway she would point out that it was my special day. First up for the day was my favorite grade, 1st grade. I had to retrieve flashcards from another teacher and when I reentered the classroom the teacher had signaled the kids to starts singing Happy Birthday to me. SOooooo cute. Already a good start to the day. After a hectic class of running around and helping the kids start a new unit of Food is was off to the second 1st grade class. After repeating the same lesson i had a short break to check my emails again. (THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO SENT ME AN ECARD, EMAIL, FB POST, MESSAGE, AND PHONE CALL (you know who you are :D) MUCH LOVE TO ALL). Next i had art with Inma and the 4th graders and then the rest of the time i worked on my Living Things poster, planned out my tutoring sessions for the day, and caught up on my news.

As i said goodbye to Pocho she said she wanted to do something special for my birthday on Thursday so I'm really looking forward to that. I quickly power-walked home for it was starting to rain. I made myself an AMAZING lunch and watched the news and some random tv for a while. Since I had finished planning out my sessions i had some time to kill so i decided to take a siesta. I was out like a log and didn't wake up for another 2 hours. When i woke, it was POURING out. I had to walk to my tutor session, which was one of the farther ones, in a literal MONSOON. I had my raincoat on top of my backpack because i was carrying my laptop and didn't want it to get wet. But it was too bulky to zip close so i had to clip it close with a hair clip (it didn't work). Next my hair was down so i tried to contain it in my hood but it just went all over the place because of the wind. I was also carrying another slice of my cake for the girls i tutor in one hand and an umbrella in the other. I was a hot mess. My pants and shoes were soaked midway through my trek down the street and at multiple times during my walk the rain and wind were coming at me from every angle so i was literally huddled into a ball, spinning around trying to escape the rain. It was quite a sight. It if wasn't my birthday i might have been in a bad mood, but instead i was kind of laughing at myself. The best part was as i struggled to cross the street this car full of kids came up next to me and every kid inside started pointing at me and laughing. Not cool. Again, if it was any other day I would have been tempted to use a hand gesture but i refrained (if you know me you know i would never use a hand gesture).

I arrived a little early and when i finally got to the house the girls had made me a birthday card and a cake with candles. There mom made the girls sing Happy Birthday to me and then i made a wish. (I wished for it to stop raining...it did). We ate the cake and hot chocolate and then started the session. It was so sweet of them to do that for me, i really appreciated it. I ended the session early so that i could check my mail on my own computer but their wifi was not working, so alas i had to wait until today to post my blogs and send out my long emails. The mom insisted that she drive me back to my house and gave me some pieces of the cake to take home as well as some home made dulces. So sweet. Once i got home i changed my outfit and quickly cut another piece of cake for my next session with my neighbor. I got to her house early and was able to use her computer to check my mail one last time for the night. The little girl Marta made me a birthday card and again i shortened the session because i wanted to get to Corrie and Kate's place for dinner. Plus i wasn't in the mood to be all teachery with the girl.

I dropped off my things, grabbed the rest of the cake, and made me way down the hills to Corrie and Kate's. At their place they had blown up some balloons and had an arrangement of sweets on the table for me. They cooked fajitas for dinner (not gonna lie it didn't come close to my Taco Tuesday/Thursday nights at Ivory---holla) but i didn't complain because it was a very nice gesture and one i really appreciated. I later checked my voicemail and kicked myself because Dani had attempted to call me (MY PHONE NEVER RANG errrrrrr) and then left me a message. She timed it so that she called me at exactly midnight. At the time i was like who would call me at midnight, i'm sleeping. haha it didn't even dawn on me until i heard the message. I wanted to call her back but i forgot her cell number and i didnt have the internet to use Skype so i was a little mad about that. After dinner we had dessert and i got to talk with my mom and dad separately for a few minutes. It was nice to hear their voices and speak to them in person. I kept it short so not to run up the long distance bill to badly. Being that it was a Tuesday and it rained all day there were not a lot of people out and most of the bars were already closing so my nightlife choice were minimal. We ended up going to the only bar that had people in it (and a tv with soccer FINALLY). The bartender was very friendly and asked us who we were and what we were doing in Valverde and all that jazz. Then a man walked in and sat next to us. Corrie and I turned to each other and were like, we know this man, who is he??!?!? Ah HA, the waiter from the Hacienda! He recognized us as well and said hello. We chatted about the bus schedule to Sevilla and then about soccer. When i asked him if i could watch the Real Madrid game here he said but of course, but here we have a lot of Barcelona fans and then the Hacienda waiter chimed in, Viva Barca! haha I said no, no, no. He then asked if i like RM because of David Beckham and I said absolutely not, b/c of Sergio Ramos. I think that impressed him that one, i knew a less famous player and two, that my favorite was a Spaniard no less. So after our drink we left and parted ways. The bertender (Vasquez pronouced Basquez) wished me Happy Birthday and said he would see me tomorrow. I now have my local bar hangout. Wahoooo. I will know all of their names shortly.

So yeah that was the bday. Nothing to crazy but i enjoyed it a lot and every email, phone call, voicemail, ect really just made my day. The weekend before i was really bummed about the bday because i didn't think anything special would happen and i didn't have my friends and family to celebrate with, but the messages i got throughout the day really did the trick and made me feel like everyone was here with me in Valverde. So THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE. I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Oh i forgot to describe my birthday cake. This was the holy grail of cakes. On top, creme brulee style carmelized sugar. HEAVENLY. Then a thin spongy cake layer, followed with rich vanilla icing, another thin cake layer, then Nata (chocolate mouse) with vanilla puffs on top. It was amazing and i'm keeping the rest for myself!!!! A picture will accompany this post shortly i promise.