Birthday Celebration

I'm writing to you with a very stuffy nose and fuzzy feeling head. I got an extra special birthday present this year, a cold! I actually took a sick day today, which was quite the trial. We have a very limited list of substitutes and there seems to be an epidemic of sickness going around. We had four teachers absent on Thursday and four today. I finally worked out plan with some other teachers to cover all of my classes. Two of our teachers have dysentery, so I am very thankful for the head cold!

I had a very good day yesterday, minus the being sick part. I started celebrating on Tuesday when I went to the American base to watch our kids play volleyball. I can't shop at the commissary, but I can eat in the canteen, and boy did I eat. I had a bacon cheeseburger with fries, a bit of a pepperoni pizza (real pork!), a lemonade Snapple, and Gold Medal Baskin Robbins ice cream. It was awesome! The games were enjoyable too, even though we didn't win.

Wednesday we ate at the Lundy's. Jen made her awesome beer-battered fish and chips and spice cake. Thursday morning I my roommates made me muffins and somehow got flowers for me. I had several phone calls from America and a good day at school, though we did have a never ending faculty meeting. I went to dinner with 7 friends at a local restaurant called Arjantin. They have the best iskender, which is shaved lamb served over bread soaked with this tomato sauce. It's so yummy! Since it's still Ramazan we had to rush through dinner because the table was reserved for people who were breaking their fast at 7 pm. Since I was sick, I didn't really mind.

We've postponed my birthday party till Monday. It was supposed to happen tonight, but I'm just too tired. So our Mexican fiesta will happen Monday, and this way my birthday just keeps going on for days! I posted pictures on photobucket from Beth, Stacey and my birthdays. http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/CDeLong/Turkey/Birthday/