Birthday Celebrations

To reassure anyone who was afraid that being in a foreign country would somehow stifle my celebrations, be reassured that I had a very good birthday. To be honest, most of the day didn't really feel like a birthday. I've spent the past month obsessing about traveling, so it kind of snuck up on me. I had to go to class in the morning, then to an internship interview which I failed because I didn't live close enough to the building.

Once I got home, though, life was pretty good. I did have to do homework, but I talked to my parents in MT for a few minutes before dinner. Iftar was a fantastic barbeque - three kinds of meat kebabs and grilled tomatoes and onions. Afterward, I went to a very cool lounge with some friends. One somehow managed to procure a mango and chocolate ice cream cake. I am determined to find it again while I'm here. We smoked hookah, ate Ramadan crescent cakes, and played charades until late.

I was thinking that spending a year traveling was a sufficient gift for any birthday, but in addition to the cake, I also got a snickers bar and a beautiful blue scarf from Syria. So yeah, I had a pretty good day.