Birthday in Vietnam

I’m pretty sure this was my first birthday abroad. Before coming to Vietnam, I wondered what it would be like to celebrate a birthday here - so far from home & my loved ones. I’ve always been a big birthday celebrator. This tradition dates back to the early years at the roller rinks, the bowling alleys, and most popularly, Adventure Land on Long Island. Then there was the Sweet 16 where we closed down the block & had a cover band play. As an adult, my birthday parties have been equally exciting, involving bonfires, body-painting, murder mystery parties, exquisite food, and always stellar company. August 6th, 2009 goes down as an excellent new page in my birthday scrapbook.

In the morning, Supriya, Vijay, and Julie surprised me with a birthday serenade and a beautiful silk skirt that I had been eyeing in a shop the night before. Then before I left for work, Paul & Penguin threw me a party via Skype. There were balloons, a cupcake with candles, presents, and singing. I even made a wish & blew out my cupcake candles from the other side of the world! The day was a full workday, but in the evening on our way back to our hotel, the taxi took a different route and I began to get suspicious. Supriya tried to distract me with talk of marketing channels and pig farmers, but I became keen to the plan. We pulled up to a beautiful restaurant inside the old Citadel in Hue.

White Asian lanterns hung from the trees and a long table was set up outside for us. The entire IDE staff joined us and after much delicious food and beer, the evening got quite silly. Some gentlemen from the IDE staff gave me the nickname of Miss America – or Miss USA – I can’t remember which one. Supriya was Miss Philippines (Supriya is not Pilipino for the record) and Julie was Miss Chicago. When the cake came out, Happy Birthday was sang first in English & then in Vietnamese. It was a warm and joyful night – and I felt like a very lucky gal.

Thanks to my time zone, I got to celebrate my birthday for what felt like 2 days and I enjoyed receiving birthday messages from the day before my birthday to the day after! I am always reflective around the time of my birthday, and this year I felt grateful for so much…mostly for the amazing people in my life. If you’re reading this, you’re probably one of those people. So thank you. My full heart sends hugs and gratitude.