Birthdays and 4th of July...

This is a picture of me and some of my "little brothers" Eduardo, Diego, and Henri. They are brothers and are living at CISNA. I adore them.

Well, another year older and another year wiser is the saying right? I'm not sure if the another year wiser part applies, but I think I'm accepting another year older. ;) July 2nd was my 28th birthday. I can't believe I'm 28. No complaints, it's just kinda crazy to think about. I have a LOVELY birthday though. I wish I could've shared it with all of my loved ones too. It started on Sunday night when I got a call from the US that I couldn't hear anyone talking on the other end...SO, I did what anyone would do, I called my family so they could sing Happy Birthday to me :D It was so much fun to talk with them and hear what's going on at home. It's hard because I miss everyone of course, but it was good to talk to everyone too. I was told that my 2 year old niece, who helped out with the singing, asked "where's the cake?" afterwards. We'll just have to make some when I come home so she doesn't feel like she was cheated out of any birthday cake this year ;)
The next morning was an early to rise morning. We had an English class in Habitat Comfien that I had told it was my birthday and that I was going to bring special treats for it...but you know how weekends happen...Before you know it, it's Sunday and you haven't done any of the shopping you should've done on Friday or Saturday. SO, in order to get to the class by 9, we have to leave our house by 7:30...which means normally about 45 minutes to get up, to convince myself that the water in the shower really isn't THAT cold and then to get ready by finding time and space at the kitchen sink (yes, we still haven't gotten the sink in the bathroom fixed...it's an ongoing project that I'm working on...oh, add a broken pila to the list of things the plumber can work on by the way) and balancing a mirror on my lap in a dimly lit bedroom while I try to put on makeup. I wonder what I actually look like when I get out into the light of day...hmm, maybe that's a question that is better left unanswered. Well, I needed at least 15 minutes to get the treats that I was going to bring (for about half a second I had thought about actually MAKING cookies or something like that...and then I laughed at myself for being so silly because to BUY cookies it is MUCH MUCH less expensive and less of a hassel than to cook cookies...so I decided to try to keep my sanity in-tact and just buy them) and then my sweet roommate, Laurel, asked me if I would be willing to get up a little earlier so she could take me down to Biggest (a fast food resturant) so she could buy me some pancakes and sausages. Who am I to fight against pancakes? Even though it meant an hour LESS of sleep. SO, I know, it's crazy, but Rachel Perkins, who LOVES her sleep, opted for an hour less of sleep for pancakes! They were GREAT pancakes by the way.
SO, I woke up and got ready for the day, and while I was getting ready, another roommate, Kirtley was so cute and decorated things for me for my birthday. I had confetti all in front of my door (which i have yet to sweep up :S It's now kinda confetti around certain areas of the house...) Balloons with happy birthday written on it, magnet letters on the fridge saying Happy Birthday Rachel, a poster on the wall with Happy Birthday on it, even bananas with Happy Birthday Rachel scratched into the peels. Talk about Birthday wishes!!!
Down to Biggest and then off to the store to buy cookies and candy. When I was on the bus, I got a phone call from the US again...again, I couldn't hear what was going on on the other end, but this time it wasn't because of the connection, but because of the reggatone BLASTING on the bus. I told who-ever it was that I couldn't hear them, and could they please call back. Off the bus, to the store, then back on another bus and another phone call...this time I could hear the person on the other end a little better...but still not good enough to warrent the cost of a phone call from the US. Again, I asked if they could call back, but at least this time, I knew who I was asking to call back (sorry Nathan). To get to Habitat Comfien you need to walk up a hill for about 15 minutes and part way through that walk, I got a third call (thanks for the persistence!!) and got to enjoy a Happy Birthday duet! It was so much fun. I then got to have a conversation about Birthdays and traditions, all the while having people from the community where we teach classes coming up to me and wishing me Happy Birthday and congratulations. Most of them I knew, but there were a fair share of people that I didn't know. Gotta love small communities eh? Classes went well and we had a lot of fun. Laurel was teaching that day and she taught the kids how to sing Happy Birthday in English. It was so cute to hear them sing "appi birday to joo" They had brought soda and a piñata and a special hat for me. I was the only one that got to hit the piñata...they kept telling me "hit it again, it's not broken yet, hit it again" I was laughing and had my eyes closed and they kept moving the piñata and the kids kept laughing and screaming when I would hit it hard...or almost hit it hard...it was really fun. We got to play freeze tag during recess (it was my game of choice and we had tried "missionary tag" the week before and that didn't go over too well) and had cookies and candy afterwards. I had a whole bunch of the students come up and give me bracelets and earrings and necklaces and notes and chips and penguinos (they're basically those Hostess Cupcake things...and divine!) I got to do a little business during lunch, but came back for the afternoon class of the same. I got birthday wishes and notes and presents...I had ANOTHER piñata (how spoiled am I?) and more cookies and soda and candy (I'm glad we had a real lunch that day with the amount of junk food I ate it might've made me a little sick ;). It was such a fun day. Everyone was so generous and so excited to share the day with me. It was really fun to be able to celebrate with them. There's no better way to spend a birthday than with people that seem to be just as excited as you to celebrate it! It was FUN!
We went to English class after that and we had more candy...a birthday cake from a Sister in our ward and read Reader's Digest stories about miracles. It was really fun. Lots of birthday wishes...lots of hugs...I love how affectionate the people are here!
After English class I got to spend some time with friends, chatting and going to the internet cafe. It was really fun because I got some cards and emails from people I hadn't heard from for a while. I also got a GREAT card from my mom with a little French Poodle talking about making cakes..she said it was in honor of the French cafe. :D
After going to the internet cafe I went back to the house for dinner and was chatting away and not noticing a few of my housemates were watching where I was going pretty intently. I eventually made my way to my room and found, much to my surprise, flowers on my bed with a note implying they had come a LONG way just for my birthday. It seems that SOMEONE had made a deal with some of my housemates to arrange it so I would receive BEAUTIFUL gerbera daisies for my birthday. It was something TOTALLY unexpected and something that I was COMPLETELY ecstatic about. Some would describe it as "giddily jumping up and down while exclaiming 'I got flowers...he sent me flowers' " or something along those lines. Everyone agreed they were beautiful, but even more than that, that the thought and effort and idea was INCREDIBLE! I loved them and they sat on the table so I got to see them every day as I came and went from the house. I found out later that the flowers had created an interesting situation. One person had been given the charge of buying the flowers but wasn't sure where to go...so another of my housemates helped with finding the flowers and then the first person forgot something where we had our English classes. He turned the flowers over to the second person who was standing at the bus stop watching for me to come down the street. When she saw me and a bus hadn't come yet, she just jumped onto the next bus that was going CLOSE to home and dragged everyone else on with her. Unknowingly, I was then invovled in a race to see who would get home first. I made it easy on her though when I went straight to the internet cafe. They just sat on the edges of their seats waiting for me to come home so they could see my reaction. It was fun to find out that part of the story a few days later.
After dinner we went to the French Cafe in the Multiplaza. Those of you that have been here to El Salvador with me KNOW about the French Cafe and what a treat that is. I mean, imagine the most rich and delicious desserts besides mom's home cooking and that's the French Cafe. It's really yummy. And everyone from the team went too! It was fun to have everyone there. I got this crepe with chocolate, bananas, strawberries AND ice cream on top of it.
YAY for BIRTHDAYS! I had so much fun! Thank you EVERYONE that participated in making it such a WONDERFUL DAY!!!!
Well, the cafe is closing and since it's a few weeks after my birthday already, I should post this and I'll write about the 4th one day soon. Let's just say the 4th is exciting when you add fireworks into the mix!!!