Pizza Party!

Yesterday was PCV Kenny's birthday and he, PCV Michelle and I all got together to celebrate with pizza from scratch and cake from a box. (Cake from a box is one of those things that I never really appreciated until I moved to West Africa. It tastes like America.) It's really nice to have other Americans around for birthdays, since birthdays aren't really a thing in Guinea. Many people here don't know their exact birth date, and people who do know the date don't generally attach any particular significance to it. Celebrating a birthday is so individualistic, I suppose that in many ways it's a very American thing to do. 

In any case, it was only the three of us because all the other volunteers are stuck in village for the time being - Guinea's long-delayed legislative elections are scheduled to happen next week, and so we're all on "standfast." (Basically, that means that no one's allowed to leave their site without direct permission from Peace Corps, so that they know where we all are and can stay in communication with everyone. When I was in Senegal during their elections it was the same deal, lots of text messages and no one was allowed to leave site unless they had some sort of emergency.) 

So, it was a small party but we had a good time. The pizza turned out really well, the cake was delicious, and the power was on, which was a real treat. We're really lucky to have sitemates - being on standfast really isn't so bad when you have PCV neighbors to hang out with and cakes to bake. 

Happy Birthday to Marielle, Arielle, Switzerland and Me!

The birthday box that I'd stowed in my suitcase.
I forgotten about some of this stuff, so opening it
turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

Happy birthday, indeed. I started this morning with coffee, and Birthday Cake Oreos, and a nice long yoga session, followed by scrambled eggs, the BBC World Service, and delightful text messages. (The filling in Birthday Cake Oreos smells and tastes exactly like Funfetti frosting, which is the sort of thing that I avoided in America but find absolutely delightful here.)  

(The thoughtful computers at Starbucks & the Red Cross also sent their regards.)

When the internet came on I was greeted with an opening salvo of birthday well-wishes, and also Radio Lab just added a new episode about Blood, so obviously the day is off to a pretty fantastic start.

Breakfast of (Birthday) Champions. Thanks, Heather! 

A few minutes ago there was a little commotion and one of the guards called out “Hey, les poulets! Les poulets!” and then came in to help me shoo a couple rogue chickens out of my bathroom. We got them out, but not before they both pooped on my floor.

Anyway. I have a few mundane office-type things to do here and then I’m going to head to the market to pick up vegetables and stuff for dinner. A few PCVs (and PCRVs) and I are going to get together to cook, bake a cake, and talk English.

UPDATE:
Dinner was excellent. I made salad and green beans and garlic bread, Stacey cooked up some fancy soup, Kenny contributed a box of Kankan's finest wine, Keila provided moral support, and Sarah made a delicious lemon cake (With frosting!! From America!!) that is sadly not pictured because my camera is falling apart and stopped taking pictures. Many thanks all around, it turned out to be a really nice birthday.

Peace Corps neighbors are the best neighbors.