another birthday in south africa

two years ago yesterday, i was celebrating my 21st birthday in cape town, surrounded by friends and alcohol at the wonderful madame zingara's. that was an amazing day. i never thought then that i would be back here so soon, celebrating yet another birthday. yesterday i turned 23. the whole day i had this sad feeling in my stomach, not only because i was getting older, but because birthdays don't seem to be as big of a deal anymore. people celebrated with me, baked me cakes, bought me presents, and genuinely acted like they cared (cause they did), but something was still not the same. maybe this is how it is getting older...

i started my day driving back from pietermaritzburg, where i had gone for the weekend to buy a heater. i found a sweet one that runs on paraffin, and by sweet i mean it is probably going to gas me out of my hut. i got to see my best friend who is a peace corps volunteer living outside of pmb, which totally made my weekend. she made me this amazing cake that was delicious. it did, however, look like it had been blown up and stuck back together again. i left pmb in the afternoon, driving back with an australian friend that i met in bergville. she is allowed to drive a car here (imagine that!) we picked up another pcv who lives in bergville and the 3 of us headed north to our mountain town. once we arrived home, we picked up a few more people and went out to a bush camp to have a birthday braai. we were there for hours eating and drinking a bit of beer and wine, and just having fun talking with one another. after the feast, the girls brought out another cake that looked about as good as the first one i had but tasted great. we packed up all of our stuff and headed home around 11pm, the latest i have stayed up in months!

as you can see, i had a really nice day overall. i wasn't alone like i thought i would be. i wasn't in my hut feeling sorry for myself, like i thought i might be. i had new friends around me, showing me that my time here has not been a waste, no matter what i might think from time to time.

it still made me really miss home and my old friends though...