My Geburtstag in Germany

(from R.)

First of all, I have to tell you that in Germany it is bad luck to celebrate your birthday before the actual day.  Oops - I had an early birthday party in Columbus before we left!  I have had no bad luck except when my e-reader had a run-in with my sister's foot.
     Today when I woke up I remembered it was my birthday and lay in bed thinking about what I would get.  When I walked into the kitchen, Mommy and Daddy were there and sang Happy Birthday to me (in English), but my brother and sister were still asleep. So we had to wait until they woke up before digging into the delicious pastries that were set out on the table.   I also had some fresh squeezed orange juice that looked like a raw egg in a glass, but it was good.
     After breakfast we were heading out the door when the doorbell rang.  Who could it be?  It was my friends Anabell and Maike, and Anabell had baked me a cake! With 11 candles on top!  And it was still warm!  Maike brought me a box decorated with a chocolate rabbit and inside the box was lip gloss, eye cream, and a ceramic angel. Anabell's mother had driven them to my house because she knew where I lived because on Thursday I took a wrong bus and ended up going to Anabell's house and her mother drove me home with the help of a GPS.
     Next we walked to Am Sande (downtown) and visited the farmer's market. I bought a glass of more freshly squeezed orange juice (squeezed by a fancy machine) for 1.40 Euros, and I got a mini carrot given to me for free by a vendor. Then we wandered around for a LONG time (about an hour) looking for a Creperie, because I specifically wanted to have crepes for lunch and I had seen one on our first full day in Germany, but we didn't remember where it was.  So eventually we found a different restaurant, and it actually had crepes!  They call them Pflannenkuchen.  Mine came with syrup. Yum:)  My brother had crepes with applesauce; he was supposed to dip the crepes in the applesauce but instead he ate all the applesauce first.  So he was willing to share some of his naked crepes with me.
     After lunch we visited the toy shop because I was eager to check if my favorite dragon was still there.  It was, and I had enough birthday money to buy it along with a surprise Littlest Pet Shop animal.  (My pet dragon Lupin is sitting here helping me write this blog.) I felt conspicuous lugging around a dragon in a large box, walking all the way home.  I made it with the help of some french fries, which they call "pommes frites".  You can get garlic sauce or tomato sauce if you want, but instead they just squirted a bunch of ketchup on the top of them for us.
     Back home Mommy got out some funny shaped balloons to blow up.  One of them promptly popped while she was blowing it up.  One was shaped like a banana - it popped when it brushed the brick wall.  When our friends Jens, Antje, and Ada came over, my brother was excited because he had been waiting and waiting and waiting to eat the cakes.  One was the cake from Anabell, the other was from a baeckerei -- it was cherry cake with streusel topping.  Yum :)
     The birthday was fun, and I enjoyed having it on the weekend so I didn't have to rush off to school.  I also liked it when my siser sent me on a treasure hunt with clues around the house.  The reward was some delicious duck marshmallows. Quack :)  Then I sent her on a treasure hunt for a clay duck.
     I felt very special when I received a letter in the mail and about 15 email greetings.  So I think it is good to have a birthday in Germany once in a while.  I recommend it for those who have birthdays on the weekend.