Happy Birthday, indeed.

First, thanks for all the lovely birthday wishes! I really appreciate them. My inbox was inundated with e-mails, and I'm getting cards in the mail everyday. It's almost like having my birthday every day for the last two weeks, which is kind of awesome. It was also really nice because I hadn't been in a very good headspace for a few days, and your wishes reminded me that I was, in fact, loved, and that there was a purpose to me doing all of this studying. I'm working (VERY slowly) on responding to all of you, even if it is just to say thank you and hi, so please be patient with me.

The day itself came after a "holiday" weekend where we celebrated Halloween here in Jaipur with a get-together at a flat, costumes, and enough candy to make anyone sick. My actual birthday-day was calm, but what I wanted. At school, the teachers brought in a cake to be eaten at lunch, because a friend of mine refused to stay silent on the issue. Anyway, apparently here in India, you get fed your first piece of cake, and while one of my teachers was kind enough to spoon it in my mouth gently, one of my classmates insisted it be done "right", and I ended up with a faceful of cake. (I'm looking for the pictures, because I hear they're pretty funny.) The package Mom sent me came in later that day (great timing!), containing, among other things, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and like eight pounds of candy. So that was wonderful to open. And because one of my friends had a subscription to the MLB website, I went to his flat to watch the last game of the World Series that night. Picture this: A die-hard Yankees fan, a die-hard Phillies fan, a rather snarky guy, and myself, all gathered around my computer watching the game. Hilarity ensued. So much that there were actually tears coming from my eyes at one point. And then on arriving home, I found that a friend had hijacked my toaster oven to cook me and the folks at our guesthouse delicious chocolate muffins. And then we played cards until like 2:30am. Just wonderful.

While getting up at 8am for class the next day was less than pleasant, most of my afternoon was spent getting ready for my birthday party, which was less a party-party than it was a dinner party, because we cooked a ton of food and spent a leisurely four hours consuming it. The toaster oven mentioned above was an integral part of this plan, and I used it to cook Macaroni and Cheese, which, most of you know, I am addicted to. It worked out wonderfully, and went well with the chicken patties, mashed potatoes, and apple crisp and ice cream that were also served. Another pretty laid back night, but another night that was exactly what I needed. I've been having a lot of those recently, and it's been kind of wonderful.

So I've hatched a few plans in the meantime, all of which involve traveling around India while I have the opportunity to do so. The first involves going to Amritsar with a friend of mine to visit the Golden Temple, among other things. While the details aren't quite sorted out yet, we're hoping to go pretty soon, just for a weekend or so. It'll be nice to get out of Jaipur for a while. I also have decided that I want to spend some/all of my winter break lying on a beach reading a book in Goa, so I'm in the middle of discussions with both my father and my friends as to how exactly that's going to happen. I also haven't seen Delhi or Mumbai, which are necessary to see before I leave; Delhi, at least, is a weekend trip by a fairly short train ride, so that shouldn't be too big of a deal, but Mumbai's a bit further. During spring break, maybe? I'll figure it out, but it's a lot to think about.

And that's pretty much where I am right now. The Hindi, as always, is coming along, slowly slowly, but steady steady. Starting to settle into the Jaipur life, but also looking to break the mold a little bit. Another day in India. (A fact which, while almost incomprehensible, is incredible, wonderful, and sometimes ridiculous, but totally worth it.)