Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Bbbbbirthday Extravaganza!


So this year was possibly the best bday of my very few years of life. (Sorry wonderful friends and Mom, who have thrown me fabulous parties in the past. This year beat those parties out of the park.) I thought I should quickly capture the birthday events through blogging, and I will add pictures later when I can steal them from other people’s facebook and picasa accounts.

Calendario de eventos

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011: My English students in Mineral del Chico sang to me “las mañanitas” and we cut some delicious pastel. They each said a birthday wish to me, like “I hope you have many more birthdays and keep teaching us English.”

Thursday, October 6th, 2011: My adult English class threw a little party for me. They made American cold salads: potatoe salad, pasta salad, and tuna salad and what they call “pastel imposibile,” which is piña colada cake on the bottom and flan on top. A-mazing. They brought me beautiful flowers and little gifts, and we just hung out because I didn’t really feel like teaching English.

Friday, October 7th, 2011 – my actual birthday: I woke up to clean house and paint my toe nails, said hello to my host family for my bday hugs, and headed to the bus station with camping gear on back. After a somewhat long day of waiting for public transportation, tardy volunteers, and a ride from a friend we finally made it Rancho Santa Elena. We set up camp and began to mentally prepare ourselves for the next day’s events. And I turned 25!

Saturday, October 8th, 2011: http://q50ultras.com/contenidos.php?lng=_ing&idc=93 The q50 Ultra Marathon in our beautiful state of Hidalgo at Rancho Santa Elena. I ran the first half of the 80k, and my friend Sarah ran the 2nd half. The first half included about 4000 meters of uphill trails and Sarah ran the last 40k in the pouring rain. Needless to say, it was a challenging and awesome race. The best part is that we won! I didn’t find out until a few days later, because we just left after the race, but we won for the 1st place women’s team. That night we headed back to Lindsay and my communities to get ready for Sunday’s fiesta.

Sunday, October 9th, 2011: Party Day! My host family decorated their house of course with globos galore, put the tunes on, and heated up the pozole. We ate and ate and ate all day and then danced and sang all night. My host brother, Alvaro, insisted it was my quince años, so I had to be crowned and dance with each gentleman at the party, including my host dad, Angel. It was amazing food and cake, a few beers and wine, wonderful company, and altogether a great birthday celebration.

A total of 40 kilometers, 3 birthday cakes, 4 bottles of wine, 1 bottle of tequila, 2 birthday dinners, and 7 PC friends to share it with! I feel super loved and grateful and happy to be alive. Here’s to year #2 in Mexico! Thank you to everyone who came out and/or sent bday wishes.