So Marta, the now 8 year old girl who I tutor twice a week and lives across the street (Toni's daughter), had a birthday party today. The day before I received a hand delivered invitation to her birthday party at 5pm at my favorite restaurant La Hacienda del Zapatero. Sadly my favorite waiter was not on duty. I wasn't sure what to expect because I thought it might be odd being the only person over 10 there, but I was not alone. Corrie and Christen also received invitations so I ended up not being alone. When I arrived there were kids and adults running around everywhere.
On this grand table Toni had three cakes displayed and a plate of sandwiches and drinks. It was very Toni-esk: controlled and organized. I started taking pictures of the cakes on the table and Toni informed me that her camera was broken so I became the official photographer of the party. Que Chullo! (Awesome). It was my duty to capture the singing of feliz cumpleanos, the opening of presents, the whacking of the piñata, and the family portrait. It kept me very busy but I loved every moment of it. It was great seeing all of the kids from school at the party. I thought that there would only be kids from the third grade and therefore I wouldn't know that many of them by name because i don't work with that grade but to be great surprise there were kids from all grades. I colored pictures of Hannah Montana and Tinker Bell with some of my 1st graders and 4th graders. I had more fun coloring with the kids than sitting with my English speaking friends. I don't know what it is but I connect better with children than people my own age haha.
Naturally I sampled every cake on the table. In the end there were FIVE cakes to choose from. One was very lemony, another was more coffee tasting, and my favorite was a sponge cake with layers of chocolate frosting. All of them were good. Unlike American birthday's, Marta opened a present the instant she received it. She didn't wait until after the party or at a specific time when everyone would gather around and watch her open them. I thought that was interesting. I guess when your a kid you don't realize that adults hang around as well and chat while the kids run wild. Consequently there was a giant table were all the parents socialized, away from the noise and chaos. I think that was my very first birthday party as a adult. It's a very different perspective when your not the birthday girl or a kid for that matter. Despite the constant screaming and continuous chaos i thoroughly enjoyed the party. I was honored to be invited and thankful that I attended.
I stayed for a good two hours. I think I did a decent job of capturing all the important moments and few in between. An album dedicated to the event will be posted shortly. Now I'm off to dinner with Corrie, Christen, Kate, and Kate's mother in order to celebrate Kate's mothers birthday. Corrie told me that she asked if Kate was going to do anything for her mom and naturally Kate said no. It's her mom's 60th Birthday! That's kind of a big deal... It doesn't surprise me though, Kate has no forethought. Corrie was outraged so she insisted that we all go out to dinner to do SOMETHING to honor it. Entones, I'm off to El Parque for a nice dinner at 10pm. Typical dinner time here. Adios!
Very interesting! I hope you get invited to more parties - and then you can also see how typical this was (sample size n>1). Your experience as being part of the community, i.e. being invited to the party, knowing the 1st and 4th graders you are coloring with, etc, is VERY SPECIAL! Enjoy!
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