The Birthday

Wow, what a day! I am going to have to begin by saying that I definitely had a fabulous birthday yesterday! It all started on Tuesday night when I got done with work an hour and a half early, at 8:30. Wiki (my manager and friend), bought me a birthday drink--a glass of champagne--to have after work. I had also served a couple of older ladies earlier that day, one of which was celebrating her 80th birthday! They left me the last of their bottle of wine which ended up being about one drink. Then Wiki bought me one more "for the road." I got home and made some dinner. It was Rob's (English guy that's been here longer than anyone, about 9 months) birthday so I gave him some food to sober him up a bit! Beate asked if I wanted to stay up until midnight and I was like, I don't care. We don't have to. But she said yes, I have plans! So at midnight she made me go to the kitchen where she had a couple of brownies with candles lit and glasses of champagne poured! Woohoo! Dennis (my other roommate) presented me with a bag of 4 different kinds of TimTams!!! I can't believe I haven't brought these up yet, but these are the most fabulous chocolate cookies "biscuits" (the NZ term) that I've ever had!

It was the first night in our new room, aka. the first night I got to spend in the big bed! It's a double and it's also a dream compared with the twin I've been sleeping on for the last 3 months. I was supposed to meet up with Wiki in the morning and we were going to see "Atonement" and then have lunch. Well, she called to say that she read the listing wrong and the movie was showing a couple of towns away, so we decided to meet later just for lunch and whatever else. I got to open my cards and the present from my parents and then I was able to take my time getting ready and hang out and listen to my newly stocked up iPod! I have missed my music sooooooo much...

So I finally met up with Wiki at about 12:30 and by the time we got into the city, it was after 1. She bought me a fabulous gold and green beaded necklace that I just can't wait to wear! We had lunch in this posh area of town called "The Chancery." The restaurant we went to was "Mecca." It was a combination of Turkish, Indian and Mediterranean food and so we shared some Hapuka (a white fish) skewers and a plate of dips and antipasto type stuff. We each had a fabulous glass of wine as well. The service totally sucked so we decided to try a different place for dessert. I think the place is called "Vivace" or something like that, and it's totally cute! They have tons of wine to taste and we knew the waitress because she comes up to our restaurant all the time! I had ice cream and sorbet and she brought it out with a candle!

We finally headed back to Ponsonby and I got to talk on Skype for awhile to my parents. Then I went back to the hostel and hung out until Beate finished work at 7. We went and grabbed a quick dinner down the street and I had some fabulous fried rice. We came back and I dropped me stuff off in the room and went to the kitchen to find everyone ready to toast with champagne! We all hung out and some fabulous champagne, some of the best Pinot Noir I've ever had (Vince left it), and then a bottle of wine Mom and Dad sent me. Taka made me a dessert pizza and a regular pizza too!

We (Beate, Me, Daniella and Dennis) decided that we would go check out K' Road for something different. Well, there was hardly anyone out and we finally ended up at a Japanese restaurant/bar. We each had a drink and I ordered us some edamame! None of them had ever had it, and the people that were sitting next to us hadn't either! For those of you that don't know, edamame is steamed soybeans that are absolutely wonderful. We didn't stay to long because the sake got to us and we were all tired, so we headed back. Daniella heated up some food and Amy (Rob's girlfriend who's also English) brought me a piece of chocolate cake since it was my birthday! Wow! I definitely didn't go hungry yesterday...

All in all I had a wonderful time and didn't even wake up with a headache today! I'm sooo thankful for all the wonderful people I've met here in NZ too, because without them it would have just been another day.

-Lisa