Happy, happy, happy

(Dinner on the beach at Franco's.)

(Dave, Angie and Dave's mustache.)

(Freya and the birthday girl.)

(Wayne's Special. Delightful.)

(Isla and Wes from Canada.)

It was hard for me to believe it was my birthday last week, since I had never experienced a November 6 that was 85 degrees with 95% humidity. But, I was decided to believe it when I heard I might get cake.

And did I ever! Our friend Isla made me the most delicious German chocolate cake, my all-time favorite. The next day, a group of us went to River Number 2 and enjoyed a day of beach lounging and river floating. For dinner we went to Franco’s, a restaurant on the beach owned by an Italian-Sierra Leonean couple. It was a quite a fancy place before it was ransacked during the war, and you can see remnants like street lamps and dark wood railings. I had the Wayne’s Special, a cheesy pasta dish with fresh lobster that was a dream for this cheese-loving girl. (We have gotten used to Laughing Cow, the processed “cheese” triangles that are everywhere around here, but…it still sucks.)

David’s birthday was this past weekend, and he wanted to keep it low key since we had just gotten back from a week upcountry. We watched a movie at a friend’s house and ate pizza, sushi, brownies and champagne. Didn’t think you could sushi around here, did you? Well, Freetown is full of surprises. Actually, the roll we ordered was called “Gary’s Spicy Roll,” which is awesome because my twin’s name is Gary. Coincidence?!

On my birthday, I told pretty much everyone I talked to that it was my special day- my neighbors, the storekeeper down the road, our guards, the boys selling us things on the beach (birthday prices!). People were very kind about it: “Eh! I wish you many, many more!” David, on the other hand, didn’t want anybody knowing about his. That didn’t stop me from bringing it up, of course. I told our guard Michael that it was David’s birthday but he didn’t like people making a big deal about it. When Michael saw David he took his hand, looked him in the eye and said, “Happy, happy, happy.”