There are moments in life when I am just completely overwhelmed. Today has certainly been one of those days. I am blown away by God's goodness and the love of the people around me. As alluded to in the title, today was my 22nd birthday. Away from home and all of my normal routines and traditions, I can't say as I was expecting nearly the response that I got. Sure, I figured people would probably sing to me at some point and wish me a happy birthday. But my friends went to such lengths to make me feel special today, and it certainly worked!
To begin the day, I had a card from my grandparents, which I got a few days ago and had been saving to open. It was a really nice piece of home on my birthday. As is becoming tradition, I got sung to when I walked into Physical Settings, just before our lovely exam on the Shephelah and Negev. What better way to celebrate a birthday (please note the sarcasm)! I spent a pretty normal morning going to class and doing a bit or work afterwards. Shortly before lunch I got coersed into going out with some of the guys who had been planing a trip to local spot. Despite the rain/hail trying to dampen my spirits, I had a great time! I was certainly glad I got talked into it. We made it back with one minute to spare before my afternoon class.
After class I found a quite spot on campus to spend some time with God and then get some school work done for 2 or 3 hours. An hour or so before dinner I went and played a round of bananagrams (think speed scrabble for any of you that know it) with my friend Emily. Then we just hung out talking and for a bit. About 20 minutes before dinner, one of my friends, Dan, came in to ask Emily a question, saw me, greeted us both in Arabic (we're all three in class together) and then conveniently couldn't remember what he had come int to ask her. Right before dinner, another guy, B.B., came in with the interesting excuse that he'd sprained his ankle and needed tape. Emily took off with him to go "show him where it was." Things were starting to get fishy, but of course, I played along.
About 2 minutes later, on my way to the dining room, I ran into B.B. again. This time he was just coming out of the dining room. Seeing me about to enter, he fell down in front of the door with a mock moan about his ankle. He then proceeded to tell me that "he was born when he was very young" and all about his limited brown hair that always stood up and had to be wet down by his mother. By the time he was done I was nearly dying laughing. Finally he was able to stand up again (translation: finally I was allowed into the dining room). When I came in I got sung to again, and they had made and hung up a bit happy birthday poster, which a bunch of my friends signed.
After dinner I sat around talking with a couple friends for quite awhile. It was really nice just to sit and hang out and have some great conversation. In the middle, I got interrupted yet again by Seth and Emily, two of the grad students, who had made me a birthday slushy, complete with a candle to be blown out.
As the last great event of my birthday, I was taken out to the Israeli version of a Waffle House. It was such a great time. First of all, they have wonderful waffles with all sorts of very interesting things on them. It was definitely the best "birthday cake" I've ever had! Second, it was so much fun just to go out and have fun and do crazy stuff with friends. They told the people it was my birthday, and the cooks put sparklers on my waffles. Sparklers! I've never seen that one in the States before. It was also one of the most fun places I have ever been. They were playing music, and the cooks would just start dancing behind the counter. It was crazy, but so much fun.
Now I'm back and about to head to bed. But I've had such a crazy good day. Along with all the things that have happened, I also got lots of birthday wishes and emails and facebook notes. My friends also took it upon themselves to hang lots of random and really funny little posters about birthdays around campus. It was pretty awesome, and I kept coming across them in places I totally was not looking for them. So yeah, all I can say is this was an amazing day, and I feel so loved and so special. Thanks to everyone who participated and who made it so great!
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