My Birthday

My birthday was Wednesday, and it was wonderful! Even though I was sick, it was absolutely incredible. Ryan woke up early in the morning and made me breakfast in bed! I woke up when he climbed out of bed, but I went right back to sleep. I'm never great about getting up in the morning, and this has only gotten worse since I've been sick. I'm tired all the time.

But Ryan managed to make me pancakes, freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, my favorite tea, and bacon, all without waking me up! He's so amazing... I loved it! Breakfast is always my favorite meal of the day, and it was an incredible surprise and a great meal. It was a wonderful way to start out the day. The best part of the breakfast? There was a candle in my pancakes and Ryan sang 'Happy Birthday' to me while I ate!

He had a break from classes later so I met up with him and a few other students. I didn't participate much in the conversation- since I can't hear well right now, it's really hard to understand groups of people, because I have to be turned toward a person to hear them correctly when they're talking. But it was amazing to sit out in the sunshine with a group of people, holding Ryan's hand. It has been hard to be social due to the dizziness caused by my ears.

After lunch I met up with Grace and Jen at Ritual's, which is a lot like Starbucks. We just sat and talked and had fun girl-time. I loved it and had an absolutely amazing cheesecake. Very unhealthy, but very delicious. And it was my birthday, and I'm pretty sure that you don't need to worry about eating healthy on your birthday. Your birthday and Christmas are two days that calories and fat don't count.

I had an appointment, and then I got a bit of shopping done. Since I've been feeling sick I haven't really been shopping and we were running badly low on several things. Can you see that I was trying to pretend I wasn't sick? I may have overdone it a bit...

Dinner was incredible. I have a friend, a fellow spouse named Lindsey, who works up at Comfortel de Champ, a bar/restaurant/ hotel that's way up on the hill overlooking the campus so it has an incredible view. On Wednesdays the bar is technically not open to the public, and is supposed to be reserved for hotel guests, but Lindsey told us to come on up anyways. We we so glad we did! We had the same thing to eat- cheeseburgers and fries! They were so incredible good- United States quality for sure! It is hard to find a REALLY good cheeseburger down here, but these definitely qualified.

The sunset... was indescripable. It was absolutely beautiful, and it was a wonderful way to end my birthday. I've included a slide show of the sunset. It was so perfect! Of course, I way overdid it and after we got home I felt pretty tired and just plain yucky... but it was a great birthday! I got to talk to so many people from back home and I got several birthday cards and a blender from Ryan's family. And, I'll be able to have another 'mini birthday' since the Dominican mail system is being typical and I haven't recieved the package from my family yet, although it was sent out three weeks ago! Ryan has a package coming in for me two, and that should be here any day now too.

And I also had a surprise party! On Thursday I felt absolutely terrible but I rested all day to go to game night. I was tired of being stuck inside and I wanted to see my friends. They threw a little birthday party for me, complete with cake and candles and hats! It was great and there were a lot of very yummy snacks. I loved it, it really made my day. I've made so many great friends since I have been here, and I already know that I will miss them when it's time to leave. These are the people Ryan and I will exchange Christmas cards with for many, many years.