Wine Tasting Birthday & Exhausting Week

Monday September 26th, 2011
11:26am

Firstly, I must thank everyone that made my birthday (over a week ago) super super special!! The cards, emails, facebook messages, gifts, and surprise shindig made me feel amazingly loved. I can’t express the gratitude to all of you for making my 25 years on this beautiful planet so fantastic. Cheers to a quarter of a century of knowing me or 5 days; either way, you make my life better! Thank you.

Now for the details: For all intents and purposes, my birthday celebrations started Friday night. There was supposed to be a highly revered DJ Cleo show at a unique performance venue, House on Fire. At the last minute, he cancelled and was replaced by two local DJs. We went anyway and joined the very large representation of Peace Corps Volunteers. Dancing to the very techno sounds of “house music” is sometimes challenging for us westerners, but we had a blast nonetheless. Some friends and I were even photographed and made appearances in both Monday’s and Tuesday’s newspapers. Under a picture of some of my PC friends dancing they wrote, “Fun lovers doing a popular Duran dance style”! I can tell you none of them had spent more than 48 hours in Durban in their life. Good reporting Swaziland Times.

Saturday’s Teen Club went well in Mbabane. Our “Stress” lesson plan has been well accepted by the youth. They especially like the session were they discuss physical stress relievers and get up and dance. These kids school me in sweet dance moves. :-P The other two sections of the lesson plan cover relaxation coping methods (ie breathing, tension/relaxation exercises, and guided imagery) and a game which looks at what helps and what does not help with stress (ie talking to a friend vs ignoring stressor or taking drugs).

I went to church on Sunday morning. I figured if there was anything I needed to do on my actual birthday, it was to go thank God for my life. Although I was told there was an 8am mass in English, I arrived to find out that it was a special day for the church and all services were going to be combined at 9am. It was a very long mass with the multiple translations and special music, but it was still a great way to start my birthday. I got home in the early afternoon and planned on having a relaxing day with the roomies. Unbeknownst to me, other plans were brewing. Under the pretext of work and gift giving my friends lured me downstairs into Kramessa’s place (apartment in our complex that houses PCV friends Kris, Cameron, and Vanessa :-P). When we returned to my apartment, I was greeted with a boisterous, “SURPRISE” from many of my closest Swaziland friends, decorations, and a table spread with wines, cheeses, and veggies of every type! They had planned a wine tasting party where we tasted an assortment of different types and vintages as Laura read about them out of a Wine Lover’s Guidebook! It was so much fun! They even made me a yummy pasta dinner and a cake in the shape of a popcorn kernel!! Hahaha. Do they know me or what?! :-) It was a perfect birthday.

Everyday since then has been an absolute whirlwind!! My 7:30a-4:30p days at Baylor turned into 7-dusk (~5:40pm) with working lunch breaks! This is Kim’s (my predecessor) last week, so I was trying to extract every bit of information from her that was humanly possible and didn’t verge on torture. On Tuesday the 5 volunteers from the UK that make up my Teen Club team arrived. Orientating them, getting my work done, giving a presentation with my Country Director and Brandon at an international High School for Peace Day (Wednesday), and attempting to learn more from Kim kept me hopping. Multiple nights I came home so mentally exhausted that I couldn’t decide between food, sleep, and a hot shower/bath.

Thus, this has my first opportunity to write a blog entry on my blissfully wonderful day off. I apologize for not responding to emails or facebook messages, and will certainly be more prompt with responses after my team is adequately trained and flying solo. Thank you again for all of your support, love, and happy birthday wishes!

Sorry - Photos to come