Feliz Cumpleaños

Welp today is my 25th birthday and I feel on top of the world. For the first time in my quarter of a century existence, I am celebrating my day of birth outside of the United States AND without my biological family. Luckily, I have established a Peruvian family in my temporary home and couldn't be happier to celebrate this joyous occasion with people who care about me. My  celebrations began last night during my night shift in the bar with my customers buying me birthday shots. After a group of 4 Irish and 2 Scottish sang happy birthday to their friend whose birthday was yesterday, they reused their #2 candle (they lost the #1 which would have made 21 for their friend) on a muffin and sang to me in the bar at midnight! I didn't feel up for going to the disco as I knew i'd be going out tonight and tomorrow so I stayed behind in the bar with David from England, Sean from Australia and his girlfriend Joss, also from England and played pool. My official birthday party is tomorrow with all of my friends because on Thursdays we go to my favorite disco. My day began when I woke up at 11am slightly hungover from the birthday shots and immediately began rehydrating so as to not spend my special day with a headache. Today is the Summer solstice down here in the southern hemisphere and I have been looking forward to having a warm birthday since the day I bought my place ticket! I grabbed a cup of coffee from the kitchen, sat in the sun to paint my toenails hot pink, and attempted a Skype chat with the woman who gave me life. Unfortunately my internet connection wasn't very consistent and we weren't able to have a successful and smooth chat. After I gave myself a pedicure I went to lay down for a quick power nap before my special lunch! Tamir, the owner of The Point Hostels planned to take me, Rob (my bar manager) and David, our Director of Marketing out to lunch to celebrate several occasions; the success of our Halloween party, the success of our VIP party (both of which brought in a lot of business courtesy of the bar tenders), my birthday, Channukah (Tamir is an MOT), and David's departure from the company. The boys let me choose since it was my birthday so I picked sushi! Lunch was amazingly delicious and I made sure to repeatedly thank Tamir for his generosity. We got back to the hostel at 4pm; just in time for Rob to open the bar and for me to take another nap! I caught some shut eye for nearly 2.5 hours which i desperately needed after getting very inconsistent sleep the last 3 nights, especially with the landscaping going on outside of my window at 7am this morning (I went to bed at 3:30am..). I'll be celebrating in the bar tonight followed by an official party in my honor tomorrow. I am so fortunate to be with such wonderful people who care about me. I couldn't ask for a nicer group of people to work with and with whom I can surround myself. Thanks everyone =)