I turned 30 exactly 8 days ago, although according to the Hebrew Calendar, I will turn 30 next February 16th. But let's keep January 20th as my birthday, since it is the day that is printed on my ID and I'm used to it. For some strange reason, my last 4 birthdays have been very different, unique and sui generis:
- My 27th was in the middle of a nationwide strike against our government, lacking beer to drink and gas to move cars; still, my friends from school got me a cake we call brazo gitano out of a surprise, because like my friend Rosa said "a birthday cannot pass unnoticed with no celebration, at least a subtle one".
- My 28th birthday was even more different, having spent a third of the day in Barquisimeto (my hometown) with the people of the office I took my internship at, another third of the day on the road to Caracas, and the remaining third of the day taking my stuff out of my luggage in my new home in Caracas and getting ready for my first job as a professional the next day.
- My 29th birthday was here in Caracas as well, half the day on the phone talking to my relatives and friends I had left behind, half the day printing literally TONS of report cards and making sure all were sorted and collated, and a few minutes eating the birthday cake (I bought it myself) at home with my landowners .. and my ex!.
- And my 30th birthday was different also. As usual in my current job, I spent my day printing report cards and making sure they are collated (I guess that's the way of saying "Happy Birthday!" to me at work) and apart of having a DELICIOUS chocolate cake with my teammates, I joined one division for a TGIF at a café in Las Mercedes, where everybody passing by noticed it was my birthday since they all sung "Happy Birthday" to me using a Karaoke system. Ha! And after that I had dinner with my friends from the synagogue and I listened to the birthday song in Hungarian .. or Yiddish, I can't recall but it sounded weird to my malfunctioning ears. After that, I went to a café with my best friend, and we had a mint tea (me) and he had a lemon frappé while we chatted about life and gossiped a little (he-he).
The strange thing about this birthday, apart from the certain fear of passing the 30-years-old barrier, was that I did not receive any touchable presents -I did receive two cakes, and the cherish of my friends, coworkers and family, which is FAR more important. But still, I wanted to get at least a present :-/ and although belated, I did! The school I work for organizes an used computers raffle twice a year, and this was the first time I was elegible. But in an event the school organized last Fall I won a wireless PDA on an electronic raffle, which many people doubted of its fairness and honesty because it was the ONLY prize. So, it was last Friday the 27th, at the Birthday Breakfast, where we organized it. Since I am part of the Tech Team, was standing behind the laptop that contained the program that used a random seed to choose the winners. And then, one guy pressed the spin button .. and then there was an absolute silence while people stopped munching their pastries and staring at the screen of the laptop. I was intrigued to know who was the first to win, so I stretched out to see the name of the lucky winner .. which was no other than me! I felt awkward, and I could almost listen to people's minds saying "Oh .. that bastard won again!" . And after that, everybody was joking on my luck, since there was also an event last year in which I won an arepa maker having bought just ONE ticket and I had just spoken to my granny over the phone that same day telling her I was going to buy her one. So, people is seriosly thinking of taking me to a casino, asking me to buy lottery tickets, or something like that. What can I do? I'm just one lucky bastard =)
Was it the present I wanted? Well, not really -I wanted an mp3 player, a book, or a casual jacket- but still, it brought the strange and nice sensation of having a surprise to me back again, which is another story! I just hope I don't win a goat or a turkey again, at my age and being in a concreted city like Caracas!
