28th Birthday
Somehow my 28th birthday came and went—I’ve been so busy with work lately that I hardly had time to think about it and anticipate it. But I did have a very nice birthday with Tim. He had already given me a human osteology book last night after midnight, and had told me that he had something else to give me today. Sure enough, he gave me a lovely bird feeder, which I’m going to fill over the next couple of days and hang outside. He also asked me if the Tooth Fairy had brought me anything. Confused, I told him that unless he’d knocked out one of my teeth overnight I saw no reason why the Tooth Fairy would pay me a visit. So he wandered off and came back holding the Lego Star Wars game—it turns out that he had slipped it under my pillow when he gave me a hug this morning. He was grumbling that the one time that I didn’t arrange my pillows after I got out of bed was the day that he put a surprise under there.
I had also received a package from Silvi, Silvina and my brother, which contained several nice gifts, including a dream catcher that Silvi made herself. She had also made a card in which she wrote me a birthday poem! And later in the day I received a package from Tim’s brother and his family with a book and movie that I wanted. My mother had left a card for me several months ago when she left Phoenix and Tim’s mom sent a card as well. I have received birthday wishes in email form throughout the day and also yesterday—I feel so loved!
I convinced Tim to go to the movies and watch Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. I was expecting it to be funny, but it was far funnier than I had imagined. By the end I hurt from laughing so much and so hard. The whole movie is so incredibly politically incorrect that it is refreshing, and Borat’s blunders are all the more hilarious because he never has a clue that what he’s doing is not culturally acceptable. And I agree with the reviewer from the Globe about which is the funniest scene in the movie. It simply cannot (and probably should not) be described.
Afterwards we wandered over toward Ahwatukee for dinner. We had made a reservation at The Melting Pot, which is a fondue restaurant. I had heard from someone at work that it’s a great dining experience, and Tim had heard the same from a friend. We were not disappointed—in fact, we had an excellent dinner. The food was great and our server was friendly and provided us with very good service. We went for the full 4 course meal, starting out with a cheese fondue. We choose the traditional one with Gruyere and Emmentaler cheese, though there were several interesting options. My favorite things to dip into the cheese were the pieces of green apple. They then brought us salads (as if we weren’t going to have enough food throughout the meal!) and after that came the main course, which involved a variety of meats as well as some vegetables and a few ravioli that we cooked in what they call a Mojo style bouillon. Finally came the dessert fondue, which was a delicious mix of dark and white chocolate swirled in the shape of a yin yang. Between all the food and a nice bottle of wine, by the end we were full. We really enjoyed the whole experience and will be back at some point because we just don’t see ourselves preparing a fondue meal at home.
And now we’re back home. We’ve been playing Lego Star Wars, though unfortunately we can’t find our second controller, so we’ve been taking turns playing. The people who came up with that game definitely had a sense of humor!
Today isn’t just my birthday—it’s also Joe Czarnik’s birthday. He was my math teacher in high school and I’m glad I had him during the last 3 years that he taught before retiring. I didn’t just learn algebra, geometry and function analysis from him. He really taught us how to think and reason through problems so that we really understood what we were doing. He wanted to make sure that if we ever forgot a formula we could derive it on our own. We also learned lessons unrelated to math, but which a lot of us still remember. Many of us who had him over the decades he taught at our school still correspond with him and ask him for advice. At 84, he’s incredibly active and very sharp, and has the same sense of humor as always. He’s been retired now for a bit over 11 years, but that has simply given him more free time to do all the things he’s interested in doing, including playing tennis weekly (with younger opponents of course!) Mr. Czarnik—“Grandpa Joe” as he’s affectionately known—is a wonderful person and I’m lucky to have been his student. I got to visit him while I was in Buenos Aires in March—while my time in Buenos Aires was hectic with all the visits I needed to make, this was one that I didn’t want to miss out on. Happy birthday, Mr. Czarnik! (Or should I say King Tut? He has always joked that he is Tutankhamen’s reincarnation.)
Off to bed I go. I’ve had a wonderful birthday, but tomorrow is a new day and I must get up early for work!
I had also received a package from Silvi, Silvina and my brother, which contained several nice gifts, including a dream catcher that Silvi made herself. She had also made a card in which she wrote me a birthday poem! And later in the day I received a package from Tim’s brother and his family with a book and movie that I wanted. My mother had left a card for me several months ago when she left Phoenix and Tim’s mom sent a card as well. I have received birthday wishes in email form throughout the day and also yesterday—I feel so loved!
I convinced Tim to go to the movies and watch Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. I was expecting it to be funny, but it was far funnier than I had imagined. By the end I hurt from laughing so much and so hard. The whole movie is so incredibly politically incorrect that it is refreshing, and Borat’s blunders are all the more hilarious because he never has a clue that what he’s doing is not culturally acceptable. And I agree with the reviewer from the Globe about which is the funniest scene in the movie. It simply cannot (and probably should not) be described.
Afterwards we wandered over toward Ahwatukee for dinner. We had made a reservation at The Melting Pot, which is a fondue restaurant. I had heard from someone at work that it’s a great dining experience, and Tim had heard the same from a friend. We were not disappointed—in fact, we had an excellent dinner. The food was great and our server was friendly and provided us with very good service. We went for the full 4 course meal, starting out with a cheese fondue. We choose the traditional one with Gruyere and Emmentaler cheese, though there were several interesting options. My favorite things to dip into the cheese were the pieces of green apple. They then brought us salads (as if we weren’t going to have enough food throughout the meal!) and after that came the main course, which involved a variety of meats as well as some vegetables and a few ravioli that we cooked in what they call a Mojo style bouillon. Finally came the dessert fondue, which was a delicious mix of dark and white chocolate swirled in the shape of a yin yang. Between all the food and a nice bottle of wine, by the end we were full. We really enjoyed the whole experience and will be back at some point because we just don’t see ourselves preparing a fondue meal at home.
And now we’re back home. We’ve been playing Lego Star Wars, though unfortunately we can’t find our second controller, so we’ve been taking turns playing. The people who came up with that game definitely had a sense of humor!
Today isn’t just my birthday—it’s also Joe Czarnik’s birthday. He was my math teacher in high school and I’m glad I had him during the last 3 years that he taught before retiring. I didn’t just learn algebra, geometry and function analysis from him. He really taught us how to think and reason through problems so that we really understood what we were doing. He wanted to make sure that if we ever forgot a formula we could derive it on our own. We also learned lessons unrelated to math, but which a lot of us still remember. Many of us who had him over the decades he taught at our school still correspond with him and ask him for advice. At 84, he’s incredibly active and very sharp, and has the same sense of humor as always. He’s been retired now for a bit over 11 years, but that has simply given him more free time to do all the things he’s interested in doing, including playing tennis weekly (with younger opponents of course!) Mr. Czarnik—“Grandpa Joe” as he’s affectionately known—is a wonderful person and I’m lucky to have been his student. I got to visit him while I was in Buenos Aires in March—while my time in Buenos Aires was hectic with all the visits I needed to make, this was one that I didn’t want to miss out on. Happy birthday, Mr. Czarnik! (Or should I say King Tut? He has always joked that he is Tutankhamen’s reincarnation.)
Off to bed I go. I’ve had a wonderful birthday, but tomorrow is a new day and I must get up early for work!
posted by Ana at 22:35
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