Many Happy Returns of the Day

"Many happy returns of the day" is what everyone tells you when it's your birthday in India. The custom is to shake the birthday person's hand and give them this well-wish or something similar to it; it's their way of saying 'happy birthday'. My birthday in India was (just like my Thanksgiving here) unique and unforgettable. I started the day by watching the sunrise while walking/jogging the track with Anne, Diana, Sharmilla, Venilla, and Poongodi. How can a birthday go wrong when you start the day off watching a beautiful sunrise?? From there we went home and un-did everything we had exercised off by eating a big breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bananas that Anne and Diana were amazing enough to cook for me. Let me take a moment and sing the praises of these two lovely ladies. They went above and beyond to make sure that my birthday was awesome. When I woke up to go running I was greeted by a giant happy birthday sign on one wall, and notes of all the things they love about me on the other wall. They also stayed up late the night before making me a FABULOUS headband. They are seriously both so awesome and I can't thank them enough for making my birthday so special. :)

The wonderful birthday breakfast

Wall of "Love" notes that Anne and Diana made 

With my birthday sign in my birthday outfit before heading off to teach.

When I got to school, I was greeted with 200 children singing happy birthday to me during their morning assembly.  After assembly, literally every child that passed me stopped and shook my hands and wished me 'many happy returns'. Kids and teachers were walking to into my classroom to shake my hand and wish me happy birthday. Somehow (even though she didn't know it was my birthday) Kala had flowers ready to go and made another girl take a clip out of her hair so that she could clip the flowers in my hair. After my first class, I met up with Venilla and she gave me one of the most thoughtful presents. Everyone here knows I don't have my ears pierced and they all think I'm crazy. So to make sure that I looked good on my birthday, Venilla went out and got me a pair of very nice clip-on earrings! It was such an amazing gift because of 1) how thoughtful it was and 2) the fact that she doesn't have much yet she was willing to spend her time and money on a present for me. 

With beautiful Venilla

One of my favorite parts of the day was when I was walking back to school to drop off some books and I heard my name being called from the school (the kids were at recess). I turned and little Rosemary was calling to me and beckoning me over. I went to her and I got bombarded by tons of kids and handshakes and love notes. Nothing makes you feel more loved than kids--they are not embarrassed or ashamed to show their love and excitement. The rest of the school day I was continually met with handshakes and well-wishes and love from nearly all the staff and children. Another great moment was when I walked in to teach 6th standard and they had drawn a big picture on the chalkboard that said, "well-wishes on this birthday." Almost every kid in that class had also stayed in during recess to make cards too--it was great. Later that night when I was teaching prayer I got sang to again by all the kids...and this time I was there to hear and see it. The kids at Rising Star are just the cutest most loving kids around.

This picture is like Where's Waldo...can you find me??

The kids singing Happy Birthday during prayer

After prayer I had dinner with Pam, Lyndsey, Anne, Diana, and Celina. Padmini (the cook at Rising Star) made Idlly, one of my favorite dishes, as well as french fries and chapati (another of my favorites). Pam was also amazing and made a cake for me, so I even had a birthday cake in India! After dinner I went back over to the kids and they were STILL making cards for me! I got so many cute notes all day long it was astounding. 

Reading some of my notes to the girls before bedtime

Still working on cards at the end of the day

Such sweet, sweet kids!!

All of my wonderful birthday notes and cards

A random sampling of all the love

They were all so precious

Overall, my Indian birthday was amazing--marked with birthday notes, handshakes, "many happy returns", and my favorite of all........

tons of birthday kisses :)

Vanakkam