Birthday party

Today, it was Gerie’s birthday. I had never seen anyone work so hard on their birthday. She baked a huge cake, put delicate icing all over it, and cooked all afternoon for all the guests that she had invited. I was the first one home, because my day had ended early. It was the last day of our cervical cancer screening training session. We had just taken the final exam, talked a little about our action plan to starting cervical cancer screening clinics back home, and had our closing ceremony. It was a big deal, with the director of MildMay hospital, where the training had taken place, officiating the ceremony. We even had a celebratory cake!

When I got home, I found another big cake waiting. What a good start to the evening! Gerie was busy in the kitchen with 2 of her friends from cake school. I took the opportunity to look around my in luggage for her presents – a body spray, a mini bottle of hand sanitizer, and a matching set of shampoo, conditioner, and body lotion. I found the items, and hid them in my backpack.

Soon, the boys arrived – Gerie’s brothers Simon and Paul, and her cousin, Cliff. Shortly thereafter, Nellie, her boyfriend also showed up, with Olive following on his heels. Now the party was ready to start! One of Gerie’s friends from cake school had to leave, but we promised to save her a piece of cake. Dinner was served, and it was absolutely delicious! We had rice, tomatoes, avocados and grilled pork! Pork! What a treat! I love pork! We all dug in. There was absolute silence for a few minutes while we all devoured our food.

After we had all finished dinner, it was time for cake! We lit one huge candle in the middle of the cake, and I turned off the light. This apparently was not part of Ugandan birthday customs, because everyone was surprised when the lights went off, but they got used to the idea quickly enough. The whole room was lit by the flames of the sole candle burning fiercely to fight off the darkness. We sang happy birthday in both Chinese (me) and English (everyone else). We then had to repeat the song, as Simon wanted to record it on his phone. Finally, Gerie made a wish and blew out the candle. Time for presents!!

She opened Cliff’s present first. It was a bag of gummy candy and a very chic coffee cup, with a black exterior and lime green interior, with a stirring spoon standing in a hole specially cut-out to hold it in the handle of the cup. When I had first heard that Cliff had bought Gerie a cup, I had reprimanded him. I mean, what a lousy idea for a present! But when we finally saw the cup, it was actually very nice and classy. I took back my belittling words directed at Cliff’s present, which made him very happy. Then, everyone wanted a round of drinks, so while Gerie was distracted with pouring drinks for everyone, I took the wrapping paper from Cliff’s cup, and wrapped my presents in it. When Gerie finally settled down to continue unwrapping her gifts, I handed her my hurriedly wrapped present.

“So, as it turns out, I went to the same gift-wrapper as Cliff.” Gerie laughed so hard she almost fell over. “I didn’t even see you steal the wrapper and wrap the present,” She exclaimed. “I’m sneaky like that.” She opened my present and started screaming in delight. She immediately sprayed herself all over with the body spray, and applied the lotion to her hands. I was super happy that she liked the presents.

Then, it was time to open Olive’s present. I already knew what it was, based on what she had told me in terms of her options for gifts, and the shape and weight of the box. Gerie opened the present to find a Star Times decoder, which is basically the equivalent of a cable box. This was an amazing gift, because we had been struggling so much with getting good signal on our TV, and our antenna was basically on its last leg of life. Gerie had been talking about getting a new antenna to watch her favorite soap opera, Tusker Project Fame, and other programs. Gerie started screaming when she saw the present. She was so unbelievably happy. We were all excited as well. The boys set to work setting up the decoder and hooking it up to her television set. And we all got distracted going through the amazing variety of channels that the new decoder offered up.

Amidst all the commotion, Gerie had already opened Nellie’s present. It was a gorgeous pair of dangly earrings and a make-up set. Gerie loved it too, but it was sort of an anticlimax after Olive’s gift, which overshadowed all the rest. So we spent the rest of the night chatting, fooling around, drinking Sherry (Simon’s present) and watching television. It was a great evening and an awesome birthday party. All of Gerie’s amazing preparation efforts had totally paid off!