My day started out at the women's hospital (standard for a Tuesday) and while I wasn't planning on it wasn't long before all of the women were singing me happy birthday (in English!) and one woman even gave me a gift! A little box that she had made out of woven candy wrappers!! I was so incredibly touched by their genuine care and love that they gave; here they were, living in a hospital in bad conditions, they'd only known me for a few weeks and I could not talk to most as I don't speak Russian - and they wanted to make sure I had a great birthday. That morning in itself is something I won't ever forget.
At lunchtime the cooks at the homebase prepared a delicious lunch (probably my favorite since I've been here) chicken with broccoli! They must've known it was my birthday :) And then out of nowhere, they came and sang me happy birthday (along with the rest of the volunteers) and presented me with a delicious, traditional Russian apple cake. It was SO good! My afternoon placement was at School #45, painting another classroom but since my entire group was working in one room, we were able to hook up an ipod to speakers and to the soundtrack from Glee :)
For my birthday night me and some of my girlfriends (Jen, Bayleigh, Jenny, Lindsey, Mandie and Bri) went out to dinner at a bar/restaurant that was recommended to us and Sveta, one of the translators, was even nice enough to call the restaurant to make reservations for me! We were able to get a few tables outside and it was SUCH a nice evening! The heat has broken here a little bit (at least for the time being) and we were able to get to the restaurant and sit outside without being the least bit uncomfortable. The restaurant - Dudki Bar - was SOOO GOOD! While it had some more "Russian-y" dishes, missing home we all opted for more American-y food .... fajitas, sushi (me) and quesadillas... ok so maybe not technically American food but definitely NOT Russian food! Another surprise, as we were finishing dinner 3 of the translators - Sveta, Asya and Lena - came to the bar and brought me FLOWERS! Apparently it's a tradition in Russia to give girls flowers on their birthday and they were sweet enough to bring me a bouquet! One of the cadets and the major also stopped by the restaurant to have a birthday drink with me and after that we left to meet up with some of the other volunteers who were also out on the town. When we found the other 3 cadets they had another nice surprise - they had gotten me a flower too!!
Overall it was a great night - I really enjoyed not only spending time with the other volunteers but also especially with the translators. I really didn't expect to become good friends with any Russian people while I was here and now I've been spending every weekend in Yaroslavl (and St. Petersburg) with them! They're all incredibly nice and fun to hang out with but at the same time it's very interesting to talk to them and really understand Russian life and culture... to see how it's different and alot of times - how it's the same as American life and culture.
I had prepared myself for the possibility that I might get a little sad... and maybe even a little homesick on my birthday. While I definitely missed my family and friends (thank you for the phone calls and birthday wishes!) I have to say that I did have a really wonderful birthday in Russia. It was a day that I won't forget for a long, long time and I am so grateful to my new American and Russian friends for making it so memorable.
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