Even though nothing particularly out of the ordinary happened, I must say that I've had a great birthday. I got to talk to my parents on Skype right at midnight so that they could tell me Happy Birthday, and my mom told me my story (which she does for all of us every year on our birthdays). It was a nice start to my birthday. Then Esther and I had breakfast together yesterday morning before Esther went to her office, and then she picked me up at around 12 to go to the Altes Brauhaus for lunch. That was the first time I've had a baked potato since I left the States, and it was delicious. Esther also gave me a gift card to the cosmetic store here in Königsdorf, where they not only sell cosmetic goods but also do facials and that sort of thing. Then I picked up Zaynep and Pauline at Maria's and we all went home to walk Amelie and play in the garden.

Yesterday was also the first day of my new language course. It's a little disappointing because I was hoping to take the C1 course so that I could prepare for the big C1 language test in September, which I was told I would need to pass before I would be allowed to enroll at the university. But, just my luck, they cancelled the C1 class and now I have to take the B2 instead, which doesn't really help as far as the test goes. Plus, when I mentioned that my goal was to take the C1 test in September, the instructor basically told me that there was almost no possibility that I would pass it. It could be worse, though. At least Frederic is in the class with me, so I already know somebody there and have someone I can hang out with.

After class was when the birthday celebration really started. Frederic and I called Geu and then went to meet up with him for a beer. When we met him at the train stop, he suggested that we went to his apartment instead to just relax and start up the grill and have our own little mini party. So we bought some drinks at Rewe on the way and then spent the rest of the night hanging out in Geu's apartment. He actually had a raclette grill, which was awesome. I think we ended up leaving his apartment at around 3 in the morning or so. I had to take a taxi home because I didn't feel like waiting for the train; I was too tired and that would've taken too long. Like I said, it wasn't necessarily anything spectacular but it was still a lot of fun. To top off the evening, there was a beautiful flower bouquet waiting for me just outside my bedroom door when I got home. My mom had managed to find a florist in the area and ordered these flowers for me, along with a little teddy bear and a huge bar of chocolate. At first we thought that one of the kids had stolen the bear, because I didn't see it with the bouquet, but then this morning I realized that it was because the bear is only about 2 inches tall and was in amongst the flowers. Oops. They really are gorgeous, though.

The birthday celebration continued today, too. I spent most of the day baking (or doing tasks like shopping in preparation for baking) for the little party we had this afternoon. I baked apple-hazelnut muffins, chocolate Eierlikör muffins (Eierlikör is a liqueur made of eggs, sugar and brandy) and a strawberry tart. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. At 4 in the afternoon is when the guests started showing up. Britta came with Jette and Malte, Güner was there with Zaynep and Elif, Jörg brought David and Fabio, and Nina came over from next door after she got home from work. We all sat outside on the patio drinking coffee/tea and eating all the stuff that I had baked. I, of course, got to play with the kids and the baby, which always makes it a good day. I also got gifts from everyone who came. Güner gave me a bouquet of roses and jasmine, Britta gave me a beautiful necklace that happened to match what I was wearing, so I put it on immediately, Nina and Jan gave me a keychain of the Kölner Dom, and Jörg and Barbra gave me lotion with a little lawn gnome charm (freaking cute!) and some nail polish. Later on the evening Jörg and Olaf fired up the grill for dinner. Needless to say, dinner was fantastic. Then I sat in the yard playing with the 6 kids (Güner had already gone home with the girls). All of the parents had been sitting at the table talking and watching as I played with the kids and Amelie. At one point Esther said that, if the plan to stay here as a student should fall through, they know exactly what I could do; I could offer a daycare service where I instruct the children in English, so that they all have a background in the language before they ever even go to school. That would actually be the perfect job for me, if we could make that happen. Now we have a new mission...