Geburtstag

The day following Einheit just happened to be my birthday! With the rush of things since Walter’s birth I hadn’t given my birthday much thought. Fortunately I have a very loving husband who worked extra hard to ensure that I still celebrated it.

In the morning, after Walter had his breakfast and was somewhat settled, David treated me to a fantastic breakfast of sausage, rye bread, and cheese:

He then watched Walter for a bit so that I could have a shower. This was a huge treat as I was in desperate need of a shower after all the travel and trying to squeeze them in with Walter underfoot is very difficult. When I came out of the bathroom I discovered that my little man had a card for me:

After those celebrations it was time to head out for the day’s work – the mission was to set up a phone number and an internet connection. These are things were are rarely easy at the best of times, and negotiating short-term needs in a foreign language is simply an added stress. I wasn’t thrilled about having to do this on my birthday but in the end it was a great present to myself. We were able to go with the same phone company we used in England, so I at least knew how to use their product. As for internet, we’re still trying to figure out how to get on the cheaper tariff but we at least managed to get an internet stick and activate it. I hadn’t been able to speak with my family for nearly two weeks so it was a real treat to be able to talk to them on my birthday. And, as a reward for all of our success, David took me for some bubble tea.

I love bubble tea, and it seems to be very trendy in Berlin – even McDonalds sells it. It’s something I’ve never seen in Cambridge, so aside from a trip to Vancouver last September I hadn’t had any in three years or so. Being able to have a taro bubble tea with tapioca pearls was thus a great treat. After this refreshment we set out in search of lunch, and ended up dining in at the same kebab place we’d picked up dinner from on our first night. This time I had the döner im bröte and it was delicious, loaded with salad and lots of chilli sauce. Dave & I split some pommes mit mayo and I also had a wonderfully tart & fizzy lemonade. It was the perfect birthday lunch.

For the final leg of my birthday celebrations, David told me to pick whatever I wanted from the grocery store and he would cook it for me. I knew exactly what I wanted – a meal like the ones we get back home at Little Bavaria. The grocery store sells fresh egg spätzel, which was the starting point. At the butcher’s counter we found chicken schnitzels and fresh sauerkraut. With instruction from me on what to do with all the things we bought David was able to make me a lovely birthday dinner of reminiscent of Little B’s weiner schnitzel option. It was such a treat. And, after Walter was in bed, we were able to break out the birthday cake which this year was a grocery store purchase consisting of a small bundt cake that had been entirely dipped in chocolate (I’m telling you these Germans have a thing about encasing food items in chocolate).

Dinner and David's first attempt at cooking German food -- a success!

David insisted I get some extra chocolate as a birthday treat

It was a very different birthday to those I have usually celebrated, but it was perfect. I had fun seeing where I have aged over the past 7 years:

22: Victoria

23: Edmonton

24: Edmonton

25: Toronto

26: Port Alberni

27: Cambridge

28: Port Alberni

29: Berlin

That’s a fair bit of a travel! It was also really neat to see Walter at 2 month’s old and know that 29 years ago I was around his age (although I suppose 2 months is a big difference in baby time). 

I wasn't the only one who enjoyed the day :)