Birthdays

For as long as I can remember, I always celebrated my birthday. Growing up, I had parties either at our house in Donghol or a pool party at my grandparent's house inviting kids I don't even know. When I was about 5 or 6, I had the "make-your-own sundae", which around that time, was huge because we just discovered the magic of Hershey's chocolate sauce and sprinkles. I even remember having an Easter egg hunt at one of my parties because my birthday fell on the week after Holy week. My parents, bless their hearts, went along with my ideas because my birthday was in the summer and all my siblings and cousins were home. It was another excuse for all of us to get together, talk and eat Nang Doring's food.

When I got older, I grew tired of big parties and just wanted things I could not buy on my own. When I was fifteen, I got a guitar. When I turned 17, my dad bought me my first stereo with a cd changer and 2 cassette decks. It was my pride and joy.

In the last couple of years, I started to celebrate it again only now, my guest list has shrunked to include only my first cousins and of course Ivi and Monica, my remaining Ormoc friends. We would usually just eat pancit, lechon and cake then sing karaoke until our throats hurt. It became a yearly thing then one year, my sisters' tried to spice it up a bit by throwing me a surpise party. My loving father spoiled the surprise over breakfast a few days before by asking me if I wanted a party and when I said no, he told my sister, "See, I told you, she doesn't want a party!". My sister couldn't believe what he did and didn't speak to him for the rest of the day. I was so touched by the idea of the "surprise party", I didn't get upset it didn't push through. So that year, we ended up eating pancit, and lechon and cake, and singing karaoke until our throats hurt.

The point is, as much as I try to deny it, I love my birthday and I always try to celebrate it in any way I can. Being homesick as ever, I decided to go all out this year and went to London with my flatmates and Mandy and saw two musicals - The Last Five Years and The Lion King. Both were fantastic! I know you're thinking, "Wow, really Ida? Two musicals? Can you afford that?". Yeah-uh! Because for the rest of the weekend, we just toured London on foot, went to free parks, watched street performers and had the best time. And on the train back to Edinburgh, we stopped at a charming little town called Berwick-upon-Tweed, walked around some more and I saw the ocean! I couldn't swim in it though so it broke my heart a little. Needless to say, this birthday ranks high with the ice-cream-sundae party and the Easter egg hunt. The only thing that was missing was my family and friends from back home. Add that and it would have been perfect.