best birthday ever! (yet)

my birthday is almost over- two hours to go - and it was a wonderful one. my fellow teachers, who i only met two weeks ago, made me feel very special- two of them, a couple we're getting to know well, baked me a cake! totally unexpected. i got some birthday cards from my students, and well wishes from all of them. my aunt tried calling me repeatedly from america (we were out celebrating but i loved knowing she cared so much). i was awakened at 6 am by taher's family's enthusiastic "happy birthday"'s. and best of all, taher made my day really fun and gave me all the adventure and attention i could ask for. right now he is making us some chocolate milk as we end our day...

we set out today for the palace of the emerald buddha, but found it closed when we got there- so instead we visited the pak khlong flower market, where i saw about a million orchids casually lying about in piles and looking gorgeous. literally, baskets and baskets of them. these orchids, hot pink and orange and yellow and even aqua blue, are so expensive in america- here i got a big bunch of them for 10 bhat (25 cents). it was unadulterated happiness, walking around with my big bunch of orchids in one hand, taher's hand in my other, exploring bangkok... when we got too hot we rested in the shade of a random Wat (temple)- we left when a bunch of buddhist monks came filing out of the temple and giving us glances. we had a leisurely two-hour dinner, at the end of which we emerged into a full-on monsoon episode. what to do? we got a little wet :P we ducked into a random market, did a little window shopping, and then got on the skytrain and came home. it was just such a good day. a long day, a tiring day, but the kind of day that i couldn't have designed better.

as always on my birthday, i felt the love today. thank you to my family and friends for remembering and reaching out!