Confessions of a Travelling Clutz: My BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

So a couple of weeks ago, I got to celebrate the best day of my calendar year, my birthday. I absolutely love celebrating my birthday, and even though I am away from family and friends at this time, I still feel like a princess because the Germans do birthdays really well.

From the moment I walked into work on my birthday, I was stopped for birthday hugs and wishes every few steps. Then came the birthday crown (a rite of passage if you will for the children in my Akademie, so of course I wanted one too). I wouldn't let myself get too carried away at that point, as the day had to still follow normal protocol. But at 10am, I had my 'Montessori Birthday Circle' (with some minor differences from the kids' circle), but including the individual birthday wishes from every single child. I usually end up wishing that the children receive lots of chocolate for their birthday, so most of my children wished the same for me. But a few broke from the mould. The line is "Alles Gute zum Geburtstag. Ich wünsche dir ...... " But the best was from one of my Australian boys who told me in perfect Denglish, "Liebe Kristie, Happy Geburtstag. I wünsche you a Ferrari!" And all of my birthday wishes were not complete with out a handshake and a massive hug from every child.

Then the entire Kindergarten, all students and teachers came into my classroom to sing to me. There are multiple birthday songs here too, so I requested my favourite "Heute kann es regnet".

I was then given some very generous gifts from my colleagues including a 50 euro shopping voucher for my favourite shopping centre! I felt very loved and spoiled. I then shared cake with my class - a pinàta cake, which I baked myself the night before!

Then, after a busy day, I did get a slight early mark, before going out for a special birthday dinner with my bestie Shauna and her partner Matt. We went for beer and burgers at a little burger bar, hidden away, and yet packed. The burgers and fries were unbelievably good and I cannot wait to go back. I was spoiled once again with gifts from Shauna and Matt, and we had a great time, eating drinking and wearing party hats!

The very next day, I was on holidays from work, so I took myself off to my favourite shopping centre, and together with the voucher from my colleagues and generous spending spree birthday donations from my family, I went SHOPPING! I had the best time, treated myself to a sushi train lunch and bought so many gorgeous new things. I hadn't bought myself clothes in such a long time so it was something I had been really looking forward to.

my shopping haul

That evening, when I finally returned home, I removed all the tags and packed almost all of my new clothing in my suitcase. Because early the next morning, we were off to... Prague! But more of that in the next blog.

The Friday after we got back from our holiday, I had my big birthday party. Because I need no excuse to invite people to my house so I can cook for them!

I spent the day (had a free day off work, yippee) making sushi, arranccini balls, and pizza for my guests. Which everyone said tasted delicious. I surprised everyone by putting apple slices on my pizza, but they all agreed, it really worked!

The rest of the night was a lot of fun, with heaps of dancing, singing, drinking, laughing and even a gorgeous birthday cake cooked for me by my very special Shauna.

At one point in the evening, all the girls decided that the birthday girl needed to be lifted up.... literally. Before I knew it, someone had me by the ankles, another by the arms, another at my waist, and suddenly I was up in the air, with more hands all over my body than I ever expected to experience. I squealed quite a bit, and was then placed down with all the care that 6 drunk girls could manage....

At one point in the evening, Annina disappeared into the bathroom and emerged covered in some of my favourite hairclips which are kept on a wall hanger in the bathroom. She thought it funny to have so many hair clips so she decided to try some on herself!