Ringing in my 26th year of life

okay, so it's not my birthday anymore, but since i didn't get to celebrate it with any of you i thought i'd fill you in on what i did. okay, so the night before my birthday was kind of the kickoff so to speak of the GAD dinner/auction the next night (my actual birthday). each year the night before the auction and such is held they have a guy auction with the money going towards the GAD project funds, which all of us volunteer can write grants for and use if accepted. anyway, after the consumption of too much alcohol with all honesty i'm unsure how i ended up bidding on a man. one that is second year volunteer and did not know. i do not remember doing the initial bid and i have a small belief that the auctioneer since knowing me, picked me to help get things started since it was kinda going slow. but like i said, alcohol was involved (so much so that i jumped fully clothed off the high dive into the pool later on in the evening, but that's another story) and it is possible that it looked like i was bidding when in fact i was doing something else stupid. but long story short, me and my friend ended buying a date with Ryan a second year SED volunteer (small business enterprise). the date was set for the next night, my birthday. thus setting the stage for my birthday celebration.

since the conference ended on friday, i was able to spend my entire birthday relaxing at the hotel. this consisted of a buffet breakfast, swimming in the pool and taking a nap. meagan and my date with ryan was set for four that afternoon. part of the bidding/date procedure was that each guy had to tell what the date would consist of before bidding began so that girls would know if they actually wanted to do it. our date consisted of tissue shopping (cloth for us to get clothes made from) and then snacks before the actual GAD dinner and auction later that night. so we went out and bought tissue, ryan ended up going above and beyond with what he bought us, we were originally just going to buy a piece big enough for us to each get a skirt or something made, instead he got us enough to each get a dress made. and let me tell you the material is beautiful. meagan and i got the same type but in different colors her's is a brown and mine an orange. it's kinda southeast asiaish in style and i can't wait to get something made with it. when we finished up we headed out for pre dinner snack, instead of flagging down zemmi's for us to take we stumbled upon this guy that was driving a three wheeled vehicle that kind of looked like a motorcyle but inclosed so that we could all sit down inside. it's hard to discribe, but it was awsome, anyway we got this thing to take us to the restuarant we were snacking at. we all had soup and bread and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for GAD dinner and auction. This event is also known at Peace Corps prom because we all get dressed up and try to look nice and clean for once in our time here. Before the dinner begins everyone has time to check out the items put up for auction (i didn't end up getting anything because i had already spent so much money) the bidding stops when dinner starts. And then after dinner the dancing begins.

And that is how i celebrated the beginning of my 26th year of life. I hope I have as much fun the rest of this year as i did on this day. i have pictures, but they'll have to wait until a later date.

until next time...