first birthday

the one sad thing about birthdays being spent in a foreign country is that you don't have your family to share it with. i thought i was looking at spending my birthday all by myself. it wasn't actually a bad idea. i've been in sydney for five weeks already and spent most of my spare time alone. but when my barrier reef teammates knew about my birthday, they were determined not to let that happen.

martina sent me a message on sametime on thursday, saying that i should come to the office the next day for a barrier reef meeting. since i had something that i can do in the office anyway, i agreed. when friday came, martina asked me to join them for morning tea... they bought krispy kreme donuts for that. then, siobhan led everyone to sing "happy birthday" for me. i was both happy and embarrassed! :) the happiness turned into utter contentment after we ate the krispy kremes they bought. yum! then peter gave me a box of cadbury chocolates and a card from the whole group. so with the krispy kremes and the chocolates, the weight i was trying so hard not to gain was... well, staring at me in the face! i was really touched, though. :)

throughout the day, the girls (martina, jannet, siobhan and antoniette) were asking me what i plan to do for my birthday. i didn't have any plans then.. all i was sure of is that i won't be spending it inside my hotel room! antoniette suggested that i go to featherdale zoo, located somewhere in blacktown. then siobhan left her phone numbers at my desk and told me to call her if ever i wanted to do something on my birthday. jannet also did the same. though i was touched by their gestures, i knew i wouldn't have called them on my own. i was too shy to bother them to accompany me -- whether it was my birthday or not. i shouldn't even have thought about it because that night, jannet called me and told me about her plans for my birthday. :)

a few hours ago, jannet and her husband picked me up the hotel and we went to parramatta to have dinner at a mexican restaurant. angelica and her husband soon followed. it was really great having friends to share your birthday with. i know i am not close to angelica and jannet and i have only met their husbands then... but their effort in making my day special made it memorable indeed. i think i was too caught up in the moment, i forgot to take our pictures! after dinner, we drove to merrylands to watch master and commander. the film itself was not that spectacular... it was actually not as great as what i expected it to be after hearing about the good reviews. but i sure didn't mind, knowing that the movie was part of my birthday celebration. :)

my first birthday in australia was a good birthday, all in all. i sure would've preferred to have spent it back home but then again, this is as good as it gets. :)