Birthdays

Thank you all for all of the birthday wishes yesterday! It was a very relaxing, fun birthday.

I didn't get back from Heidelberg until pretty late, as you know, so I took the opportunity to sleep in, which was absolutely fantastic. Then I just sort of spent the day hanging out in my room and relaxing until it was time to go meet Pingkalai at the MPI. She had emailed me earlier in the day to let me know that everyone else was in Cologne for the weekend, but if I wanted to we could still get together to have dinner or something.

So, at the appointed time, I went to the lab and was extremely surprised to find Simon walking in too. He shook my hand and wished me a happy birthday. Pingkalai came out of her office and did the same. Apparently it is traditional, even among friends, to shake someone's hand when you wish them a happy birthday. I thought it was a bit awkward because it seemed so formal, but I'm sure that is only because I'm not used to it.

Anyway, Pingkalai started fussing a bit because "It is hard to have a surprise birthday party when everyone is late!" I was delighted. She had baked me a cake and everything. (It was delicious cake, too, by the way. It had a chocolate cream filling!) Guvanch came in and handed me a small package with a little snow globe in it. The snow globe had a little teddy bear wearing a sailor suit and holding an anchor. Guvanch said "He's a world traveler, just like you!" I thought it was adorable.

At first, it was me, Pingkalai, Simon, Guvanch, and Bjorn, but Bjorn left after the cake to go to a concert and said that he would meet up with us again later. David came in a bit later. We all sat around drinking coffee and eating cake for a while, and then we decided that we were going to go for a walk out in the woods. Afterwards we were going to go bowling.

The walk was awesome. It was so pretty, although it was quite muddy because it had been raining here all weekend. Still, we had a great time. Guvanch was teasing me about my accent, which was really funny. Simon and David spent the whole time talking about phones, because Simon wants to get a new cell phone and he really likes the one that David has. It was just so much fun.

After our walk, Simon went home to spend some time with his wife, and we all went to Burger King for dinner, and then to the bowling alley. Bjorn met us there. It was so much fun! I haven't been bowling in years (and frankly, I was terrible at it). I did finally discover that it was quite a bit easier if I used my left hand instead of my right. I know, that seems like a funny thing to have to figure out when I'm left handed, but using my right hand was honestly more comfortable. Anyway, I got the first strike of the evening!

Poor Bjorn was having a hard time because he and David had done a Triathalon the day before and he had apparently pulled a muscle or something. Anyway, it was a lot of fun. Guvanch won, and I came in third.

So, all in all, it was a great birthday. Now I need to go to work, because I am quite late! Love you all!