Twilight Zone

The last two days I have been celebrating my 30^th Birthday. It all started in the twilight zone. Geoff and I were awoken by a startling event at 5am in the morning. With no warning, there was a group of strangers standing outside our window serenading at the top of their lungs (joined by all the neighborhood dogs, of course). We had no idea who they were, what they were singing, or why they were there. You can imagine in the haze of waking from a deep sleep, we were quite alarmed. It turns out that it is a tradition here to serenade a birthday recipient in the wee hours of the morning. Our house helper and her family and friends had gathered at 4am, rented a jeepney, and drove for an hour to sneak into our compound and scare the living daylights out of us! Of course, we didn't know what to do and probably broke a hundred rules of hospitality. They were expecting us to get ourselves and Ariel up, invite them in for refreshments, and talk about the glories of the past year. Well, we failed miserably. Later that morning, I somehow found myself baking cookies to send with Helen along with MY apologies for being woken up by strangers at 5am and not inviting them in. Oh well. I appreciate the love.

Later that day, Geoff and Ariel took me to the zoo where we were spit at by monkey, followed by a very fun lesson on the kulintang, and finally a date that evening to a Thai restaurant. My favorite.

All week I have received cards in the mail and emails from home.

Then yesterday, Geoff and Michael worked all afternoon preparing a feast for my birthday party. Mexican lasagna, garlic cheese mashed potatoes, and a harvest salad complete with blue cheese and homemade raspberry vinaigrette. Wow. We converted our living room into a cinema and watched True Lies (hilarious!) projected on the wall reinforced by our studio monitors amazing sound. And finally, we topped it off with homemade Pineapple Cake and Ginger Cream Cheese icing. It has now been decided by the group, that this will be a monthly event J

The pics are of our closest friends, here, enjoying the theater seating. Nationalities include Philippines, Germany, Holland, and the USA. It was a great night.