My 6th Birthday

Happy 6th Birthday Stephanie! Okay. I'm a little older than 6. (*cough* 30 next year *cough*). But this year was my 6th birthday overseas!

I really like my birthday. No...change that. I LOVE my birthday. Maybe it's pride and I should reject it, but there is something about the specialness of having a day about me that I love. I love hanging out with my good friends, eating cake, talking about random stuff and eating cake.

Celebrating overseas is always a mix of happiness and sadness though. I enjoy being in new places, and celebrating with new friends, but I do tend to miss my family more on this day.

I woke up on my birthday morning not knowing how to feel. Here in Zambia, birthdays are either a big deal or not a big deal at all. I knew my housemates (all Zambians) knew when my birthday was, but they hadn't mentioned it recently and I didn't know if they had remembered. And if they had remembered, I had no idea what that would mean. Would there be cake, "Happy Birthday" singing? Or just an acknowledgement of the fact it was my birthday? I spent the first half an hour of being awake reading birthday messages from the other side of the world where my birthday was almost over. I nearly cried then. I missed my family, but felt the love coming across the seas.

I got up and ate breakfast. I didn't see my housemates. I went back to my room to get dressed for work and I heard our front gate open. I looked out the window and saw my three housemates disappearing through the narrow gap. "Well", I thought. "That answers that." Not only did they not remember it was my birthday and greet me this morning, they were late for work and rushed off without ANY morning greeting.

I sighed, brushing it off as being in a very different culture and set off to work. Lucky me gets to sit in meetings all day on my birthday...

Our leader announced during the meeting that it was my birthday and everyone sang happy birthday which made me feel a bit better.

The night before I had baked cupcakes. Okay, it was probably a silly thing to do, but I wanted cake on my birthday even if I had to bake it.

I brought the cupcakes with me to the meetings and at tea break time I invited one of my friends to eat some with me. At least I would have some sort of cake and celebration on my birthday. As we ate I told her about my morning and how I was a little sad because it felt like people had forgotten my birthday. She sympathized and I was glad that we could share that little moment. Maybe not my most fun birthday, but better than last year*.

The meeting ended at lunch time and I thought that maybe I could find a friend to have a milkshake at the Fig Tree Cafe with me. But as the meeting ended...everyone disappeared. They were there one moment. Gone the next. I justified it in my mind. They are busy people. They have things to do. But I was sad. And I ate lunch alone reading other birthday messages, trying not to think about the fact that I hadn't received any from any of my teacher or Zambian friends.

I looked ahead to dinner. I had been invited to have dinner at my friends Ruth and Issac. I wasn't sure if they would make a big deal of it being my birthday, but I knew I enjoyed any time with them. It would be a bright spark in my day.

My colleagues wished me happy birthday in the meeting after lunch. They sang and gave me some nice presents and then one brought out a cake! I was happier. Maybe not the day I had expected, but nice moments.

I had to meet one of the guys from the finance office before I left for dinner. He was late, and then said he wanted to buy me a cake for my birthday! I was touched. We lined up in the supermarket queue waiting to buy the cake and it took so long. I didn't mind the chatting with him, but I was so late for dinner. I had told them I would be there at 5:30pm, and it was almost 6:30!

As I hopped in my car, I called Isaac and said I was 5 minutes away. Sorry. He said it was no problem.

I arrived and after a hug from Ruth, Charity and little Faith, my spirits lifted a bit. I sat down and we chatted for about 5 minutes. Suddenly, Ruth said, "Can we show you something in the other room?"

They told me to close my eyes and then they led me slowly out of the house and into the building next door. I stumbled as I entered the next building. They told me to open my eyes. I did.

SUPRISE!

Wow. I was speechless. Sitting around the edges of the room were 20 or so of my friends. Colleagues, teachers, other expat friends. And my housemates!

*Maybe this was the cause of my sadness. Last birthday was not a happy memory and I felt like I wanted to redeem the day. So far it wasn't turning our so well...