Anita’s Birthday

 

And I swore that this blog would never be about “me”, but rather about the experiences we are having on our adventures. So with a title like this you may wonder if we will start deviating from what we set out to do – to inform you of our travel/volunteer work.

BUT….these children here at RSO are so cute that this entry is almost a must. And to be fair, Tal suggested this blog entry. So…on Wednesday I turned one year older and as many of my friends predicted, this birthday will be one of the most memorable.

The excitement started on Monday as cute little Mariami (see picture below) came up to me, with a beaming face, saying. “U birthday on Wednesday?” and followed by “me too!!” and then an even bigger smile that reflected her deep joy.

 

On Wednesday she came running up to me first thing in the morning and all the children gathered around us. I look a little funny, but you can’t get much cuter than little Mariami. Also, I was handed two bouquets of paper flowers (see below).

Then another highlight of the day was that the RSO cook Padmini was making Dhosas for breakfast – one of my very favorite Southern Indian specialties.

They are so good, that they deserved a picture. Dhosa is the crepe looking piece, with a potato filling and the coconut chutney on the side.

The rest of the day was filled with teaching four classes, which all turned out pretty great. The children kept pointing out to me that it was my birthday, which was very cute.

For the later afternoon the volunteers and directors had the grandiose idea to head to town to get some ice cream as a treat. Ice cream is hard to come by in India and so we were all very excited. Here we are waiting to leave, spending again time with cute Mariami and her friends.

It’s hard to top a birthday where 100 children with deep brown eyes, fantastic smiles and a heart of gold congratulate you!! I will never forget it.

But of course this birthday would not have been half as special without Tal. He was so good to me all day and surprised me at night with a copy of the Hindu “scripture” called Gita, which I have really been wanting to read. And we had a memorable time up on the roof of our volunteer hostel, under a sky of brilliant stars (cheesy, I know, but very special and beautiful).

And yes it was Tal’s birthday last week also and we had a great day together as well. But he is truer to our blog mission and does not want to have it documented.