b day

Nope, that is no type-o, yesterday was my birthday! So what wild n' crazy, rootin' tootin' adventure hath ensued on such an occasion? Well, to be quite frank, none really. I went to work as usual, but was pleasantly surprised with a delectible cake with whip cream frosting topped with fruit (fig, cherries, bananas, etc.) and a blouse type shirt from my co-workers. Quite nice. All of my family and friends of course were sending emails, SMS's, well wishes, cards, calling, and so on and so forth so that warm fuzzies were a plenty. My good friend Masha gave one of the best presents (second only to music) one could give, which was food, Lokum (turkish delight) to be exact. mmm. I also got a necklace from Emin, who I heard spent two hours picking it out!

After work, I met Lee and got a quick bite of some pideli köfte (silver dollar sized hamburger patties on flat bread smothered with tomato sauce, melted butter, and Turkish yogurt which tastes uncannily like sour cream. Oh, don't forget the tomato and pepper slice for decoration, and because you have to get those vitamins!) Then we, Masha, Emin, and Urmi went to see Land of the Dead. My choice, of course. Who doesn't like a zombie flick? When we were there, I saw a poster for Sin City as well, which I don't know much about, but a lot of people seem to want to see it so that makes me curious.

So that was it. All in all a pretty good day. I'm going to save the hard core celebrating for this weekend. What's that? "What's this weekend," you ask? Why, Top of the Mountain reception tour by Aiesec Bursa! Two days with fun options like a city tour, Turkish bath, paintball, and bbq. Esteban, who just had his birthday on the 3rd of August, and I will be using it as our own personal birthday party. Aside from that, I'm really looking forward to it simply because it's the first time I've been camping since I've been in Turkey!!! I really started getting itchy once summer and nice weather rolled around, and I've been patiently awaiting this tour for the opportunity to get out there all summer long. I hope the past two days are no indication of the weather this weekend-though nice and cool compared to normal weather at this time of year, it's been ominously overcast. I'm wondering if it's just waiting for us to get out there before the monsoon hits. That's okay by me, though, all the more fun for mud slides!