My Birthday

Last Friday I turned 31 and really enjoyed the day.  One of the things I liked most was that all day I had the opportunity to hang out with people that I really enjoy and wasn't the center of attention the entire time. 

In the morning, I had the traditional Birthday tea with office staff.  I made a pinneapple dump cake.  It wasn't nearly as yummy as the peach cobbler I was planning, but since there were no canned peaches to be found in Taraz (and only pinneaple) I had to be a little creative.  Everyone seemed to like it. 

At lunch, the entire office staff went to Ken's house to celebrate Thanksgiving (I made sure everyone knew this had nothing to do with my birthday).  We had a great time enjoying each others company and just having fun together as we ate.  We continued a tradition that my family had started in the States and our team here had continued, of writing what we were each thankful for on a tablecloth.  We pull this tablecloth out each year.  It was fun to look back at past years as well as share with each other what we were thankful for from this last year. 

 

milking my spoons "injury"

In the evening some friends came over to play games.  We even enjoyed a VERY lively game of spoons, which included Jason and Ken diving to get the last spoon, me being hit (yes, hit on my birthday) in order to convince me to let go of the spoon in Jason's hand, and me being used as a human shield for the spoons.  It was a very nice day, made special because I spent it with friends.  On Sunday, I had my Kazakh family over for dinner to celebrate.  It was nice to have them over and spend time with just them.