On my Birthday eve, two of my friends took me out. We went to a pub and had dinner. The entire evening was filled with laughs! I don't think we ever stopped laughing! They were so gracious to spend the evening with me and they even waited until midnight to celebrate the start of my birthday with me! They took me to a gelateria but they also had croissants. So we got a conchiglia (shell shaped croissant) filled with chocolate. At midnight, the guy put a candle in the conchiglia and my friends sang me Happy Birthday, as well as the other patrons in the shop.
I came home and decorated my apartment with my numbers and balloons. Usually, my mom puts my numbers and balloons around the house but since she isn't here I had to do it. Oh well, this way when I woke up the house was already decorated.
I woke up and got ready for work. I put on my "birthday dress" and checked Facebook for any messages. One of my students posted a Happy Birthday youtube link on my page. I played it and smiled. It was a catchy up beat version of "Happy Birthday to you" set to the background of Happy Feet. It seemed perfect for me! I had the song playing all morning! I loved it!
I went to work and had my lessons. After my lessons, I went to Ipolita's house for lunch. Her mom had prepared pasta with tomatoes, Neapolitan broccoli, which I have grown to love!, and scallopine. It was all very delicious! For dessert, we had biscotti (cookies), the almond paste kind that are my favorite!!! When her seven year old daughter came home from school, I found out that she had told her teacher that it was my birthday! The other daughter was teasing her but I felt honored that she felt it was an important thing to tell her class! It reminded me of when I was a child in 1st grade, the same age actually as the daughter, when I told the class it was my father's birthday. So we made a card for him as a class and I gave it to him that evening at his party!
After lunch, we went back to the school. I had a couple of lessons in the evening. During the last lesson, Ipolita threw me a party! We brought our two classes together and had a trivia quiz. There were snacks, pizza and then the cake. It was great! Thank you Ipolita!!!
After the party at school, I came home. Shortly afterwards, a couple of my friends came. They brought pizza and panini! Then a few more friends came with decorations, wine and the cake! Later, even more friends came! There were a total of 11 of us. I had a great time and we laughed all night long! I cut the cake 10 minutes before midnight. It was a great way to end my birthday by blowing out candles and eating cake among friends. I felt honored that all my new friends came to my party. I didn't do anything expect hold it at my house. They brought all the food and decorations. I felt honored that they stayed as late as they did too since many of them had to get up early for work. They also bought me a beautiful purse and one friend even went home to get me a digital decoder so I could watch television, hence why I am distracted while writing this post. I am sure I wanted to write more than I have but Sex and the City is on and even though it is in Italian I continue to stop writing and watch the TV!
Overall, I had a wonderful day! Hundreds of people wished me a Happy Birthday and I had 2 parties just for me!!! I want to thank everyone for such a wonderful day!!!! My first birthday in Italy was wonderful and I feel truly honored for everything everyone did for me!!!
