Dear 20s,

If you are anything like the last few days, you are going to be freakin’ great.

Love, Stephanie

So if I allow myself to go two weeks between blog posts, that puts today’s blog post straight on my birthday. Yeah! I get to gloat! Right, like I ever gloat. I had expected in December on having another “woe-is-me” birthday, wherein no one knows or really cares that it’s my birthday and there are a few half-hearted well wishes.

Well. They do say that you should keep your expectations low so that they’re easy to surpass. It’s amazing how great of a day it’s been so far — and it’s only 1:30pm! It’s as if all the happiness that you’re supposed to get for your birthday every year, the happiness I haven’t felt about my birthday in years, has fallen on me now. That, and it helps that I’ve found myself some courage here in Berlin. Have I ever mentioned how much I love this place? I am no longer the awkward, shy girl who can hardly talk to others. I call people. I make plans. I was out almost all weekend! And all weekend I didn’t go to bed before 2am. (Saturday night/Sunday morning — now there’s a story.) I learned to salsa and tonight I’m going to a jazz club to see live music and celebrate my birthday with friends.

Can you believe it? I had to go to Europe to learn to make friends.

I am so glad to be here. I am so glad that today is turning out great. Last week I thought I was the only one who would care that it’s my birthday and that I would be the only one buying myself presents of any kind, since it costs too much for my parents to send things. Ha! Today I got the surprise of my life when during class, just after break, we have a special announcement and one of my classmates hands me a gift. What!! And it’s a German dictionary for people who are learning the language, Deutschwörterbuch als Fremdsprache. Much better than a German-English dictionary because it is like a real dictionary but the definitions are written simply enough for foreign speakers to understand. This is exactly the kind of dictionary I need and I may have said last week that I was thinking of buying one. And now I have it. I am so grateful. I also got a book from the teacher, or rather from Goethe Institute (where I’m taking classes right now). Fiction, in German. Hurray for books! Smile on face = not coming off.

And as I said, I am going to a club this evening with friends. A friend and I baked cake and cookies yesterday to entice people to come join us, plus because I’m very used to baking myself cake for my birthday. I think I’m going to go buy some new clothes for the evening soon. My clothing selection is pretty poor, but I live next to a mall so it’s all good.

Now — some knitting. I saw turtlegirl76′s Leyburn Socks last week and got the sock knitting urge after a 3-4 week break. (I definitely don’t leave the socks alone very long do I?) Of course, I hadn’t brought any sock yarn. So I went to a yarn store, the closest one to my apartment, to see if they had any variegated sock yarn.

Not so.

I had hoped this yarn would be variegated, but I guess I didn’t pay enough attention to how long the repeats of color are. Ah well. At 10.95 Euro this was the most expensive sock yarn in the shop. !!! 100g balls of Opal or Regia for only 4-6 Euro. Pretty cool. I can’t wait to check out LaLaine. I think they might have a better selection of sock yarn, and they’re close to a friend of mine’s apartment, so I could go there sometime before visiting her. Very exciting. Still, this was going to be my “birthday present” to myself. I like it. Sometime I’ll probably get a little more yarn, as the knitting urge is starting to come back little by little. Since my parents can’t send anything because it’s so expensive they’re sending money so I can buy some birthday presents, w007. Not that I need anything more. I am having a great day even without shopping therapy.

I am even getting lots of e-mails and Facebook messages with birthday wishes. What a fantastic day. :)