Little Victories and Birthdays

Today, we had a little victory in receiving two of our plates back with some pizza and fruit on them. It's kind of like a little game. We bake up a storm and then deliver the goodies as an excuse to meet our neighbors cause we're too nervous to just ring their doorbell! We hope that they invite us in and get to chat and get to know them and just a bonus, then we wait in anticipation for the plates to be returned...and they always are, usually with Turkish goodies, in turn. One victory came only after a small defeat. We delivered some home made brownies to our neighbors only to very quickly have the door shut, while we I was still gathering what I was going to say next together in my mind! That's the trouble with this language difference. Normally, i can hold my own with some words...but I have to be quick on my toes here, or have my pre-made dialogue ready! But, never fear. Because they returned the plate very promptly the same day (today)--one day is almost unbelievable (we're going on one month with our landlady) and eased my feelings. I'm hoping we'll get to visit with them soon. In the meantime, they know we're here and that we're friendly and well...learning to cook!
More little victories...I got mail today for the first time at my new apartment!!!! (Can you tell by all the exclamation points that this is a wonderful thing in my life?) Thank you Bridge and Alicia! Two cards in one day! It was fabulous. I'm telling you, it's the small things in life. My momma always says, 'expect nothing and appreciate EVERYTHING' and, I do. So the mail, thank you girls! And thank you ALL who called and e-mailed and even sent gifts through messengers. I had a really great birthday. We had dinner at Katie and Craig's house last night and the Vonage phone was ringing off the hook and I felt like a celebrity! It was really fun and I loved getting to hear from some familiar voices that I love on my birthday! I had a great day. We definitely did lunch at the BK. The Burger King, that is. There are only so many choices on a girl's birthday here to splurge. But I had a home-cooked meal for dinner and a great cake and a lot of fun.
I know you're wondering about the above picture. 'Do tell,' you're thinking. Don't you worry...I'll share. That little gem is now sitting on my table in my living room. Just a little birthday treat that I got from a friend. Yes, i know. I am collecting quite an assortment of cultural gifts...that's well, all I'll say about that. My favorite gift; however, was a little bag that I got to open that held little folded pieces of paper that I had to read out loud at the party. Everybody had written notes about me--mostly encouraging things and a few just down right funny. You can only imagine that these folks have got some stories on me by now! It was really sweet and the encouragement did a girl good. My cup runneth over, my Turkish cup, that is.