Erin's 30th Birthday!

Well turning 30 was even better than I expected! Not only did I have a great day, but the celebrations continued for about a week. I felt very special and really enjoyed having fun and eating some amazing food. These are all the details, probably more than you wanted to know, but I wanted to write it all down so I don’t forget anything.


MONDAY, Jan 11th: My Mom called to say “Happy Birthday” early (she told me she had a job interview or something on my actual birthday); little did I know that she had gotten all my family together for a surprise party. They had dinner and even cake. She had this great plan to talk via the webcam and then turn the camera around to show the full room, but unfortunately it was a bad day for skype. The webcam was not working. So instead they all just started singing happy birthday to me over the phone. Fortunately I did get a 30 second window to see them on the camera. My whole fam got together to celebrate me even though I was thousands of miles away! They are so sweet!


TUESDAY, Jan 12th (my actual birthday): Marty got up and took care of Brennan… allowing me some extra time to sleep-in until 9 am. What a treat! Then Marty cooked a wonderful pancake breakfast. We spent the rest of the morning relaxing at our house. I had a last minute idea to go out for lunch at Papa John’s Pizza. If we had remembered to take the camera then I could show you how it’s a really nice restaurant here (NOTHING like the small delivery places in the U.S.). This particular restaurant was very well designed with some traditional Asian woodworking and contemporary furniture. We were the only people in the whole place for most of our meal. The restaurant also has a big window to the kitchen. Brennan and I watched the cooks meticulously make our pizza and put it in the oven. I have never seen anyone be so careful about putting toppings on a pizza.


After lunch we rode our scooter over to the International Post Office to look for packages. My brother sent some that were “guaranteed” to arrive on my birthday and also there were a few missing Christmas packages from my Mom. Unfortunately, they were not any packages for us. Later we found out that someone tried to deliver them to our house while we were out eating pizza.


That afternoon Brennan stayed with a sitter while Marty and I went to dinner at this amazing Japanese steakhouse. Oh my mouth waters just thinking about it: shrimp, potatoes, and zucchini. We also ordered steak, but a small breakdown in communication and we were served some slices of steak with bones in them.

Of course we had to have dessert!!! We went to this bakery called “Just Hot.” They have some pretty good bread, doughnuts, and pastries. I got a strawberry shortcake. We stopped to pick up a few movies and then headed home. Funny thing though… on the way home we realized that since our date started at 5:30, it was barely 7 pm now. So we made another stop at a local coffee shop for a Caramel Macchiato and ate our dessert. Then we returned home to watch “Star Trek” the movie. (Marty had planned to take me to see Avatar in 3-D at the IMAX, but we learned that tickets are SOLD OUT for eternity.)

THURSDAY: Other moms in our city decided to take me and another birthday mom named Marianne out for dessert and Karaoke for our birthdays! We enjoyed dessert a local café and chatted for a bit. I had the best tiramisu!


Then we headed off to the Karaoke Club inside the movie theater. Karaoke is VERY big here! In the U.S. you go to a Karaoke bar and have to sing in front of a bunch of strangers but here it is much different! You go to a movie theater or a karaoke club and rent a little room for the evening where you sing privately with your friends. Plus, the rooms you rent are very disco-sparkly, and they include 2 microphones and a tambourine!

So it took us a bit of time to really be comfortable singing together, but we eventually belted out some great tunes, including hits from Janet Jackson, Ace of Base, Will Smith, and Madonna. It was a late night of laughs and silliness that ended with a wonderful rendition of Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road!” It was a night that I will never forget!


SATURDAY: Unfortunately after all that fun I got a bit sick. I spent most of Friday and Saturday resting. Marty talked me into getting out of the house for dinner and some time with friends. We walked over to the Greene’s apt and I got the surprise of my life. All the other families here put together a surprise dinner for me. We had steak (which only happens like once a year here) baked potatoes, salad, rolls, cake, and my personal favorite, chocolate-covered strawberries! I think that I ate about 10 of them. They had also decorated the place with streamers and a sign with “30 best things about Erin.” After dinner we hung out and told some funny stories about living in this country.

SUNDAY: We were on our scooter riding out of our parking garage when one of the guards waved us down. Then he pulled out 2 boxes for us! He found out that the delivery people left them with him after they tried to deliver them several times. I got some cool pajama pants too!


MONDAY: I only asked for one thing for my birthday… a bike. Who knew at 30 that I would have a deep longing for something so simple. The truth is that I have felt kinda trapped without any forms of transportation. Although we have a family scooter, I have never driven it because I’m pretty sure I would kill myself by driving into something. I almost broke my leg just moving it across the garage one day. A bike would give me some freedom to go get groceries without having to walk 15 min to the store and a way to exercise with Brennan tagging along in his kiddy seat. Marty waited to take me to the big bike warehouse so I could pick out a bike that I liked. I found the perfect one and I am excited about my new “Ridelife!” I have already gone on a few strolls around town, one that was 45 min. It was nice to finally get a good workout!

That was my birthday week! I am so thankful to everyone who made it special for me! Thanks, y’all are the best!