Birthday

I’ve had a very low-key, but extremely nice, birthday with many greetings from the people I love. My husband is a doll and has made sure this day has been special for me from the moment we woke up this morning.

I had a few nice surprises today at work. One of my friends, a professor in the nursing department, gave me a beautiful porcelain set of Turkish coffee cups. My students, who saw them later, assured me they were very expensive, so I feel undeservedly spoiled.

A large group of my students came to my office this afternoon with a birthday cake. They were very sweet, and we ate together. Somehow, conversation turned to religion (not by my doing), and my students urged me to convert to Islam. One student even told me, in all seriousness, that he was worried about my salvation. I thanked them all and told them not to worry because my husband does enough of that for everyone. When they left, one girl lingered. “I have a gift for you,” she said, “but I don’t want you to misunderstand.” What was the gift? A Koran in English. My students are very sweet, and I am not offended in anyway. However, they don’t seem to understand that I am as deeply committed to Christianity as they are to Islam.

E and I went out to dinner tonight (I ate way too much) and then came home for cake. Gosh, I am totally looking like a frazzled married woman that I always made fun of.

I insisted that E also got to blow out candles since he has never celebrated a birthday in his life.

Friday is a holiday (Children’s Day), so E bought us two tickets (bus) to Trabzon for the weekend. I am very excited to have a little holiday away with him and to see the village where he was born. I feel very fortunate to have such a sweet and loving husband who wants my birthday to be special for me. I am not looking forward to the bus ride tomorrow afternoon, but it will be worth it. Stay tuned for many thrilling adventures and photos (I hope).