Birthdays!

Birthdays here are not so widely celebrated as they are in the US. If someone asks you your age it is generally okay to ask them in return. There is definitely not the same obsession with looking young. In fact, because of the amount of sun and hard work people do, many of them look much older than their years -- especially young mothers and shoshos (grandmothers)and babus (grandfathers). Anyway, back to the topic at hand.
For children, it seems that they have their friends over for the day and the parents make a nice lunch. For adults, I think it is common that the person who's birthday it is brings a cake to work. Sadly, they don't eat frosting here.
My birthday was a few weeks ago (eek shows how behind I am on this blog) and it was very nice. In the morning, all the Sisters "greet you" and tell you they are praying for you. They have a special placemat they put out that says "happy birthday" and right away in the morning they sing. In the evening, they made for me my favorite dinner (thin pancakes with lentils), and did the aspirants and postulants did a cute skit about the day I was born "in the hospital of Mary." Then, they came in singing with a cake and candles even! They have so many birthday songs, and even the normal "Happy Birthday" is sung in so many languages, French, Kinyarwanden, Kiswahili etc. Then, the person whose birthday it is cuts the cake -- there is also a song for cutting the cake. It was so nice that they remembered and prepared for me so nicely. Definitely made it a special day.