I'M FINALLY 21!!!

...And in here, where there no such thing as a "legal drinking age," it means nothing. Oh well, I already turned 19 in Ontario. And who needs to get intoxicated to have a crazy, out of the ordinary and exciting day in Viet Nam? Not me. It happens every day!

So celebrating my day of birth (March 2) farther away from where it happened than ever before was extra special, and what made it extra extra special is that my mom and Aunt Kate were here as part of the festivities! What a wonderful gift. Here is a photo tour of the big day...

When I walked downstairs in the morning, the party was waiting for me! Actually, my host-family had already left for work and school, so Mama, Kate and I had a nice private kick-off to the day.

We had lunch at the MCC office, complete with delicious food (that's nothing new there), fancy flowers, a new birthday shirt (being modeled), singing and cake. Above is pictured almost all the MCC Viet Nam staff, minus two people.

Then off to Just Massage, a massage clinic that employs visually imparted young people where I teach English to new therapists twice a week. But this time I was not working! Here's me with my friend Dung, one of the older therapist who helps me with teaching and who had just given me a fabulous massage!

Kate and Anne chilling at after-massage coffee break. Vietnamese coffee is basically a good choice after of before anything... expect maybe not before sleeping!

Upon returning home... "Are you ready to be SUPRISE?" I prepared myself and...

...was not disapointed! My little sister Bong (complete with "hair just like mine") was lying in wait, along with ballons and a host of stuffed animal friends there to "enjoy the party."

The excitement continued with a big dinner at a restaurant down the street attended by my real family, my host-family, a bunch of their friends and a bunch of my friends.

After that, the real and host families and I went to the Indian neighbours' house for a tea party... but I forgot to take pictures. Oh well.

The final, and possibly best, part of the day was opening the big stack of cards from folks at home, which my mom brought along. Seriously, along with the visitors in person, I could not have asked for a better birthday present this year. My never ending gratitude to those of you who contibuted the kind words of encouragement and wisdom (and the chocolate, not pictured). As the clock neared midnight, my last birthday act was to tape all the cards on the wall above the head of my bed, where they continue to shine their blessings on me every night.
(In case you were wondering, the poster was there before [I love it too] and the handson lad keeping watch over my bed is my host-brother, who is presently studying in Australia.)