The day I turned 26

I love birthdays, most especially my own. So I was very excited to hear that a training had been scheduled the week of my birthday, which meant that although I had to be in a training on my birthday, I would be surrounded by other volunteers in a fancy hotel (paid for by Peace Corps) with a buffet and a spa. That is definitely my idea of a great birthday. And it lived up to my excitement!
As the clock struck midnight on September 16, most of the G15 IOD PCVs (that's a lot of letters to describe my group: the people in the program and same year group I'm in) were in one room - hanging out and watching VH1 (the best thing on TV, tbh. They were rocking the 00's jams.). One of my favorite birthday traditions is celebrating my birthmoment (12:08 am, I'm really lucky it wasn't at like 6 am). The other volunteers complied and sang Happy Birthday to me right then and it made me very happy.

During the training, I got a shout out and M&Ms from the staff, and birthday wishes and songs from many people. Plus, luck was even on our side, and my table even won both the trivia games. The party continued all night. Two people love me and gave me Oreos. I quickly proceeded to eat them with milk from the restaurant, which came in a goblet. In the evening, the hotel had live music. It was two of the hotel employees playing guitars and singing covers of Georgian, Russian, and English songs. They were really great, and I think we were the biggest and rowdiest crowd they'd ever had. They were great. Scott had them play a song just for me. By the end of the night we were all dancing and got them to play a couple encore songs.
Even at home people were working to make my birthday special. My family did acts of service all day "in my honor". It was so sweet. Their updates all day were such a lovely gift of the heart.
The best kickoff to my 26th year I could have asked for. Thanks for everyone who helped make it special!