My Birthday: The Party

First, preparing and not knowing the theme was pretty weird. I has kind of worried all week because the different little things Juila made me do to help prepare for it- painting a picture of a fence, wrapping gifts for our guests (they were cheap lame things with riddles on them so they had to guess what was inside). . .The other preparations only had to do with food, which had me much more excited than worried. Basically, the food was almost all of my favorite meals I have had since coming to Russia, made Grandma Ginger style (my Grandmother in the 'States likes to make enough food for two times the people she will be serving). Juila literally could have fed 30 people with all the food she made. All of my guests came, except for one, as she was out of town. I do hope everything is ok, and am not mad at her.
I learned from one of my friends that it is an insult to wait and open gifts- you should open it all excited like a small child and freak out over it the moment you get it. Pretty much the opposite of what my whole childhood trained me to do! So, once all of my guests arrived (my liaison came, my counselor was supposed to come too but she was sick), Julia gathered everyone in the living room, where we had put a table with plates, nice glasses, and SILVER utensils. I couldn't believe that we were getting out the nice china and all of that when we were setting up, but that just made me realize how loved I am here! Anyways, once all the guests were here I found out that the theme of my birthday was actually saying goodbye to childhood. Which is a really good theme! Although it is the very theme of the party that I have been struggling with lately- I mean, facing the fact that my childhood is gone, over.

So the things we did (other than talk) were all things that we do as children or children-themed. We played twister, tried to spit pacifiers into a bowl of water, were characters/words in a story and had to run around a chair every time our thing was said, and played a word game as well as the present thing. Between all of these were about an hour increment, in which we were either expected to stuff our faces, talk, or both. It would have been better if I could have taken part. Everyone else seemed to get more comfortable with each other as time went on. I mean, my friends from school seemed to be uncomfortable with the friends from Rotary because they are in the class ahead and don't ever interact.
I must say I was a little bit of a boring host, as I couldn't really follow the conversation wherever it went and if they tried to include me it would go horrible wrong because I couldn't understand them really. And, of course, Vlad's mom (Marina, my counselor) was in the kitchen with my родители (parents). They would all come into the living room for the game or activity.
Okay, so from the beginning. Lena came first, bringing a scarf that is really cute but hard to describe.She was pretty eager to see my room and my house.Then Lola, Liza, and Veronika arrived. Liza's gift was my jewelry box, but I thought it was from all of them! I couldn't believe that I got more gifs from them, although I expected some small ones because Lola asked me on Facebook what I wanted. Lola got me a cookbook and a perfume. I really like both! The cookbook is interesting because it has recipes from all over the world, and not just any recipes: recipes with stories behind them! So interesting! Of course I can't understand much of what I read just yet, but I will get there. And this means that I can't lose my Russian- at least for cooking- because I will definitely want to cook from this. It has recipes that different famous people from all over the world from all different eras liked. The title actually says something like that. The fragrance of the perfume is good too- not overwhelming but still good. 
Veronika got me a crocodile skin-textured wallet. It is also purple! She asked me on Saturday if I liked purple, which tells me that the people around me pay much more attention to me than I realize! This makes me feel both loved and paranoid. I love it, so I probably won't use it that much until I return to the states and not hurt it like I will my wallet I brought. The wallet I brought is always at the bottom of my school bag, crushed by everything. And this new one is precious to me, so I will try to take care of it! Then, about ten minutes later, came in Marina, Vlad, and the twins. Marina and Vlad gifted a Krasnoyarsk teacup and plate, which I like and is very pretty. The twins gave me a Russia sports bag, which I LOVE and will probably use a ton when I get back to the states and even here because I don't have a backpack.
Then we got started. We were in the living room for about 15 minutes, talking, sitting awkwardly. Then Julia came in and gave a little introduction thing, telling the theme and all that jazz. The first thing we did was have my guests write on the fence I painted. Like little kids often write on walls or fences, they wrote on the fence I made that was hung on the wall. Like a yearbook kind of thing. Then we did more sitting and awkwardness, and then another game. This one was my favorite, although it was kind of weird. Two people were pitted against each other on opposite sides of the carpet and bowl of water on the floor. They would take turns spitting a pacifier from their mouth and trying to get it into the bowl. I was happy I was the first person to go and didn't have to go to play offs. 
Then, after another break, the food came. I kept trying to help carry stuff out but I kept getting told to sit. So most of the food time I felt like I was being unhelpful and inhospitable by my friends helping my parents serve the food. But I think it is a cultural thing. 
There were a couple of different kinds of salads, a fruit plate, baquet pieces with a cheese-garlic-mayo paste with tomato on top, meat and cucumber, haladiets, mashed potatoes, meat patties sautéed in mushrooms and cream. . .ah, too much! I literally gained four pounds from food weight! 
And for dessert- oh dessert! The dessert was later with the tea, right before everyone (like an hour and a half before and up until the last thing) left. We had tea with two different cakes, one brought out half an hour before the other so we ate a piece of cake from the first and only a few people from the second. Both were chocolate, but one had more chocolate than the other. I was glad the more-chocolate one was first. There were also little gummy bears (not like the ones you know, much larger and resembling dots) and chocolate candies. 
And the drinks! We didn't have water, but there was this soda that tasted like a different version of Inca Cola (a soda in South America and Mexican Markets), and then a Lemonade-like soda that also tasted like a variation of this drink. And, of course, compote (apricot and plum).
After eating we then did the game with the story. Everyone was a different part of the story, and when Julia, the story-teller, said a word, the person assigned the word had to run around the chair. Zhenya had a really common phrase, and often just rand around the chair three or four times even though Julia had only gotten through the first couple of times (but she would say it four times). It was a story about people trying to pull a radish out of the ground, and they can't so they get other animals/people to help them, and in the end when a mouse joins them they finally get it. Then we did a race where we were split into two teams and had to sandwich balloons between us.
After a break, we all put bows in each other's hair and put pacifiers in our mouths and took a picture. After this we played the second to last game with the phrases. I stood with by a chair with papers face down on it, and different guests would go to a second chair with papers face down on it with words on them. They would say "I want to give you a . . .___," using the word on the paper to fill in the blank. I would respond with whatever phrase I picked up. A couple times I got the correct phrase that matched their word, and other times I got the complete wrong one. 
Then we had the dessert and tea. After this we talked for like two hours about different things. Well, they did- I was just proud of myself when I could pick out different words or phrases. I could tell when they were talking about school and when they were talking about other things. 
Then Veronika had to leave, so I asked Julia about the present game. She had completely forgot about it, so Veronika stayed and played it with us. The presents were hanging on a string from a wire that Marina and I were holding. One person would be blindfolded and would have to go with scissors and try to find it. Unfortunately, Marina and I got bored fairly quickly and moved the wire around a lot, making it kind of difficult for people to get a present. Then they all kind of left at the same time, except for Lena. She stayed and helped us clean up, taking all the dishes in and whatnot. This really impressed me. She is a good friend, and very kind, so I can't wait to get to know her better.
Now, for a short bit on my host mom. I cannot express how much I love my host mom. I mean, she isn't my mom-mom, but the lengths she has gone to be kind to me has definitely earned her a very very special place in my heart. She pays more attention than I realize, and is extremely smart. She is pretty much fluent in English even though she hasn't studied it since college. She invests in the stock market well. She cooks food almost every day even after she has been at work all day. She is patient and understanding. She can stop herself from hovering, even though she really wants to. Have I already said that she is a sweetheart?
And she is a poet. On my birthday she said "I think today your soul will be for everyone to see." Really, I think this means "You're happy and we can all see it!" but on a more philosophical level. The other thing she said was everyone is doing all these special things for me so that they can earn a special part in my heart forever, and will never be forgotten by me. 


Apologies for my blog being approx. 2 weeks behind my actual life. It takes time to edit and getting around to blogging.