So on Friday I went to school and everything was totally normal...until my professor asked me to stay after school to help one of the administrators with something. Now, I have to be honest, I was not thrilled about this unexpected plan. As much as I love to help, it was Friday (the only day I don't have four hours of homework), I had just taken a brutal exam, and I just wanted to go home. However, I stayed and helped the administrator do some research and then I helped the teachers film a skit for their English classes.
After filming, I saw my friend Philip walking to get a taxi and I seized this opportunity to get away. We live near each other so we split the taxi. On the way, Philip said, "Hey, have you seen the mall? Let's go to the mall!" Naturally, I agreed...but this was kind of weird. Philip and I had never hung out alone before and I was surprised by how enthusiastic he was about going to a mall. We got to the mall and he said, "Oh man, I need to go to the ATM." So, we walked from the mall to the ATM and back to the mall again. We shopped around a bit in the market and in the natural course of conversation I convinced him that he absolutely needed to try the watermelon in Morocco. It is far superior to watermelon in the States. To my surprise, he immediately took my suggestion and we walked to an outdoor market where he bought a huge watermelon. After holding this watermelon in the 100 degree heat, he began to sweat profusely, so I convinced him that it was time to go home. I helped him carry his groceries up to his apartment since his hands were full with the watermelon. We got to his room and he said, "This used to be Johnson's bed, but he left after week 4. Now Chris sleeps here. He hangs out here all the time. You can hang out here right now." At this point, I'm getting seriously freaked out. No, I do not want to hang out in your spare bed, it's 5:30pm and I want to go home! (I was, of course, more polite...)
So I get home and I find my roommate and my host sister chatting casually. I tell them about my bizarre day, adding that I think Philip is seriously so lonely. My roommate distracts me by searching for dresses online and convinces me that I should take a nap in the room.
About an hour before Iftar, I wake up and my roommate says, "Hey I'm bored let's play dress up!" This isn't really out of the realm of normality for her personality. So I comply and put on the outfit she picks out for me. Next she says I should do my makeup and my response was, word-for-word, "If you think I'm going to put on makeup after sweating all day, you're guessing." She got her way, however, because my 18-year-old host sister came in and insisted on doing my makeup. I can't really deny her, she gets so excited about doing makeup.
Finally, I'm beautiful and dying to eat, so we go out to Iftar. At this point, everybody in my class jumps up and yells SURPRISE!
They had all been in the apartment all day long. My professor, the administrator, and Philip were all desperately trying to distract me and keep me from coming home. Apparently I have been talking about southern food for a while, so they made me fried chicken, mac and cheese, and mashed potatoes. They even made my favorite type of birthday cake (chocolate devil's food cake with white buttercream frosting). Philip brought the watermelon that I had forced him to buy. I was so incredibly overwhelmed. It was a pot luck, so everybody contributed and they had worked so hard to keep it a surprise! I was utterly floored. These people I had met a mere five weeks ago had put in so much effort to make it a special day for me.
We watched Top Gun and everybody stayed until about 2am chatting (we had a lot of laughs over Philip's weird improvised attempts to get me to stay).
It was by far one of the best birthdays I've ever had!
Happy Birthday Alison!!! May all your birthday dreams come true :-) With love from the entire Haskin Horde.
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