Happy Birthday to Me!! :)

What a great way to spend my birthday, experiencing it in another country and another culture. I obviously missed being with everyone back home but it was definitely a neat experience and a birthday I will never forget! Everywhere I went throughout the day, people made me feel even more special. The UWW girls here with me were so awesome especially!!

The celebration actually started the night before my birthday. Our 19-year-old host brother had a bunch of his friends over and they all sang a birthday song to me in Spanish along with the guitar. I have no idea what they were singing but it was nice of them! haha Then they were teaching us how to dance; I look ridiculous compared to them but it was super fun!

Yesterday morning Aimee woke me by singing to me and she had a card she made sitting right by my bed. Plus I had a card that my whole family sent for me in my suitcase; what a great way to start the day!! A lot of the little girls gave me birthday hugs at the school I teach at and all of the national and international teachers made me a birthday card. I also got to Skype with Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa at school between teaching so it was great to see them!

The meal that my host family made me for my birthday!

Then when Aimee and I got back to our house for lunch our host mom had made a big meal especially for my birthday. We had super yummy lasagna and garlic bread, Coca Cola and a glass of wine to drink, and then a chocolate cake that our host dad picked up for me on the way home from work. They put a candle in it and our host mom sang 'Happy Birthday' to me in Spanish. It was a delicious meal and very nice of them to celebrate for me!

Mine and Ashley's birthday sundaes!

Us girls have a favorite ice cream place along our walk to class in the afternoon that we stop at on a regular basis; we have actually stopped there everyday this week since it's my birthday week! Yesterday Ashley treated her and I to sundeas instead of just cones though since it was my birthday! They were super yummy!! :)

Then during our culture class some of the directors and such at CEDEI came in carrying a birthday cake and singing to me. It was so sweet! Sugar overload but I was definitely not complaining because it was so thoughtful of everyone. For the last part of our class we went with our professor to a hippy market and it was so awesome. There was so much jewelry there for so cheap; we will definitely be going there again soon because there was so much more that I could have gotten!

The cake I got from the people at CEDEI

I was able to Skype with Mom, Dad, Abby, and Taylor after class so that was great! They lit a candle and sang 'Happy Birthday' to me with all 4 verses! My birthday definitely wouldn't have been complete without them singing to me.

The UWW girls (including Hayden of course) and our professor went out for a birthday dinner after class. Pizza was definitely the food of choice for my birthday meal. Man was it good to have some greasy American food! It wasn't quite as good as pizza in the states because the cheese is different here, but it definitely satisfied the tastebuds! Hayden was my buddy all night, he must have understood that it was my birthday so I deserved special treatment ;) 

Our group very full from pizza! Yummy!

Finally, pizza!!

Thanks, also, for all the great birthday wishes from the states. It was such a special day and I have lots of memories from my 23rd birthday that I will never forget!

Birthday hug from the girls at school!