More Birthday Fun

So I was born on Earth Day, as well as Easter, and Victor was born on Book Day in Spain. There has been a big book fair all week because of that. I called Victor Tuesday night at midnight for his birthday and then went to bed.

Wednesday morning I woke up and went to work. Fernando ended up cancelling class on me so I used the internet and printed off some birthday invitations. Also everyone kept coming over to tell me Happy Birthday, and the teachers in the English Department gave me a present with three perfumes. They don't actually smell very good, but it was really sweet of them. Then I had an hour of class with teachers and then an hour with kids. Then I went home and ate lunch and watched Fama. As of Monday I had stoppped taking the dizzy medicine and I felt pretty well. But since I had taken almost all last week off from running it was really difficult to get back in the swing of things. So I reluctantly went running and practiced guitar and then went to have dinner with Nacho and Alicia. On the way I talked to Victor again for his birthday. I had again eaten a salad for lunch because I usually have a yummy dinner with Nacho and Alicia. Our dinner was yummy, but light, so I was still hungry. It was ham and cheese and bread. We ate dinner and chatted but didn't actually have class. Then I came home, did some things for school and the party and went to bed.

Thursday I went to work, talked with Michelle about last minute party details and life, as she had a cancelled class when I had a break. Work was fine, the normal except for my last hour of class got cancelled so I got to leave and hour early. I did some shopping on the way home, made lunch, watched Fama, and went to guitar. Guitar went well and when I got home I helped Pepa with the internet a bit. She has started to learn how to work a computer. The first time I helped her I thought it was the cutest thing in the world. She didn't even know how to move the mouse or turn it on and off. That got old really fast. Now, each time I go over there there are a lot of questions and me trying to explain why and how her email gets to her box, and not mine, etc etc etc... So all in all, I didn't get what I wanted to get done because I was helping her and went to see Antonio, my guitar teacher's chorus practice. He has been inviting me all year and I have never gone, so I thought I would finally do it, even though I had a lot of other things to do. So I went to that and then came home, ate dinner and went to bed.

Friday morning I woke up and went to work. I spent the first hour translating and talking with the French aide who was distracting me. Then I tried to use the internet but it was broken. So I just waited for class to start and kept translating a bit. Then class, all normal and I went home, stopping by a few stores on the way. I ate a quick lunch and drank a coke because I was tired and knew I had a long day ahead of me. I watched a little bit of Fama and then went to have class with Pablo. Right at the end of Fama I had him turn on the tv and pretended to talk about it in English, unfortunately, his mom came in shortly thereafter and caught us, so I felt stupid. But I stayed a little extra, and his mom didn't seem to care so then I went home and started shopping. As usual I had left everything for the last minute for the party, some because of circumstances and others because of tiredness, but I had a lot to do. I went to at least 4 or 5 stores, buying coke, sprite, orange fanta, mixed nuts, olives, plates, cups, bowls, candles, etc etc etc. So then I stopped by Pepa's to ask her to make ice and she made the mojo picón, a spicy dip. I was really hungry and she had made potato salad for dinner, and while I was there Raul came home. I thought we were going to eat dinner then, but we didn't so I went to my house. There I snacked and then thought of going down to use the computer to download pictures, and maybe then we would have dinner. So I waited a bit, and got drugged into helping Pepa more and finally we ate dinner. I know I'm bad. Then I came back upstairs and baked a cake, baked cookies, washed dishes, moved furniture, cleaned and moved it back. I was supposed to talk to Jose that night about the final details for the suprise but he was no where to be found. I finally went to bed around 1, exhausted. I didn't go running Thursday or Friday.

Saturday morning I woke up early and went running. Then I spent the morning, cleaning, helping Pepa, who was making the empanada and tortilla, and watching the kids and taking the trash and this and that and showering and hair and trying to get in touch with Jose. Victor was a little late that day and I finally talked to Jose around 2 o'clock and we concocted a half-baked plan for the suprise. Then Victor got there and we all ate lunch. Then he came over to my house and I gave him his birthday presents, a sweatshirt and season 1 of LOST. He really liked it and then fell asleep. He had been in Valencia all week and in a meeting all morning. So the plan was going perfectly. All I had to do was keep Victor in at home, his or mine untill 7:30 or 8, Jose would come and get him and then I could get ready and Michelle and Jenna could come over to help set up. Well for some unknown reason, when Victor woke up, for the first time this year, he felt like leaving the house! I don't know why, and as much as I tried to stall, or dissuade him I couldn't. So we went for a walk, and I was freaking out wondering how Jose was going to contact him, since Victor had left his cell phone at home. Then I saw Michelle and Jenna, all dressed up, loaded with supplies for the party. I was hoping Victor woudln't see them, but of course we did. We chatted for a bit and they said they were going to get a tapa. It is impossible for me to lie. Then I convinced Victor that he should get a haircut in the Corte Inglés, and as we were about to go in, Jose called me. He talked to Victor and told him to call him as soon as he got out of the haircut. So while he was doing that, I called Michelle and Jose, and gave them the scoop. Thankfully, it wasn't too difficult to get Victor to go back home to see what Jose wanted, I also said I wanted to change shoes if we were going to continue walking. Then at Jose's, he invited us to hang out and I politely declined, saying they needed guy time, and that I could call Michelle and Jenna who were close by getting a tapa. Instead I went down and started moving furniture and setting stuff up. Then Michelle and Jenna got there and started helping. I was going to jump in the shower but then Pepa and the 2 kids came over to see the decorations, which hadn't been set up yet. They were there for a while, and I finally told them that I had to get in the shower, as it was already 8:30 and that's when I told people to start coming over. So I started getting ready and a bit later the first guests came. I was having the girls help me with my outfit and finished getting dressed and did my make up. Slowly the people started coming, the last ones came around 9:30 and we had a pretty good group. All of my friends were there and a lot of Victor's friends. Not all of them could come, but a lot of important ones did, and it was a great group. Then at a quarter to 10 I gave Jose a toque and he told Victor that I sent him a message that they should go down to my house. Everyone was quiet and in the living room with the lights off, I answered the door and Victor said, "Why are you dressed like that?" I said I was going to go out with Michelle and Jenna, he said ok and Jose started to go towards the living room. He went in, then I did, and then I turned on the lights and Victor came around the corner, peeked in and went in and eveyone yelled, "SUPRISE!!!" or actually "SORPRESA!!" His mouth fell open and his eyes got big and round and he didn't say anything. After a while he said something like, "Forget all you guys!" and turned and walked away, he was so shocked and almost crying (almost for Victor, who never cries, so not that close for normal people). Then he came and said hello to everyone and he loved it. It was the perfect suprise and we had a ton of food and people and balloons and it was great. It was a perfect suprise party, I unfortunately forgot to get a picture or video of the suprise, but oh well. We were there for a while untill the group windeled down to a few of Victor's friends, and Michelle, Jenna, Brand and Samar. We didn't really know where or what we wanted to do afterwards and Victor's freinds went to hang out in their homemade music studio, but we didn't and couldn't decide. Untill we decided that we would go there too. It was a small group and kept getting smaller throughout the night. We were just there, hanging out and listening to and playing music. All of Victor's friends there either play the guitar, the cajón, or sing flamenco. It was cool, one of those experiences that not all study abroad kids are privy to. We were there till about 4 and came home, ate leftovers and went to bed.

Sunday morning, Victor came over to help me clean which we did till a little after 2 when lunch was ready. Then even though I wasn't hungry since it felt like I had just eaten, I ate a huge plate of paella, which was a delicious mistake. Then in typical Spanish style, we watched tv and I fell asleep for over an hour. My dad called and I had a 1 minute conversation with him between dreams. Then Jenna called and her, Brad and Samar were going to come over after their hippy coffee time. Victor went for a run and I kept cleaning up a bit, waiting for them to get there. They finally did and we chatted and munched on leftovers, which for me was another mistake. Then Victor came over and we all hung out for a while. Everyone loves my appartment and its views and Jenna wants to live here next year. Then after everyone left, Victor and I went to Nacho and Alicia's for a bit and played with their new Wii Fit. We were there till after 10 and then Victor took me home and went back to Malaga. I tallked with my mom, dad and sister, watched the second to last Fama and finished cleaning. Then around 1 I went to bed. It had been a perfect weekend and a great birthday week.