A Birthday Surprise

February 12, 2019

A Birthday Surprise

Tuesday was John’s birthday. John was gone all day to a conference on sustainable agriculture so Janet and I were left to our own devices. Birthdays require presents, a cake, candles, and sometimes…SURPRISE! We worked on all of those elements.

In the morning on Tuesday, I walked to Kijenge and bought 5 small chocolate candy bars, including one made of “bubble chocolate,” whatever that is. John is a chocoholic so that worked.  Janet had a gift bag and I wrapped each bar in a white napkin for more birthday mystery.

Now for the cake….what to do.  Janet was talking to Mama Kundayo about John’s birthday.  Emmanuel, who was translating, mentioned that he could call Maso and ask him to pick one up on his way home.  Janet agreed and said that it must be chocolate.  Maso agreed and brought home the biggest, most beautifullest chocolate cake with a fluffy cream frosting.  It was so big, that we had to keep it in the kitchen’s refrigerator until we could surprise John when he got home.

Weeellll…… the SURPRISE was on us.

Later that evening, while John was eating dinner and telling us about the conference, Ray drove up with his family AND a birthday cake.  SURPRISE! They came to wish John a happy birthday. And it was quite the party.

Here’s the cake.

And here’s also Anita presenting the cake to John. Notice the candles.  We did have some requisite candles.

After we had cut and served the cake, a rather…um, unusual little ritual took place.  With Ray’s urging, Anita fed John a piece of cake.  Then….Ray went around and fed everyone else some cake.  

Then he gave a rather impassioned speech about appreciating his friends and how God will bless us and….well, I’m not sure what all he said but it was impassioned. It was such a heartfelt speech that it was really impressive, and surprising.

When they left, amid hugs and thanks, we gave the rest of the cake to the people working at Kundayo. Then, Janet and I looked at each other and had a quick whispered conversation about the other cake in the fridge.

Tomorrow, we said. Tomorrow.

February 13, 2019

A Birthday Surprise (Again)…and other surprises too

It was the day after John’s birthday but we still had the surprise chocolate cake in the Kundayo fridge. John, again, went to the conference and got home after 5. Janet had fixed him his favorite dinner, spaghetti sauce.  However, she thought it tasted a little “funny” so I tasted it, and, in spite of it being to-ma-toes, which I really don’t like, it tasted like a tin can.  Janet didn’t believe me (because she knows how I hate tomatoes) so she waited for John to get home, whereupon he too said…Nah! I guess it really did taste like the inside of a can. What to do about John’s birthday dinner!

But wait!!!!! Mama Kundayo to the rescue. (Drum roll please.)

Out of the blue, Mama sent over a small pot of chicken with some potatoes that were flavored with the most fragrant and yummy spices. John’s day-after-his birthday dinner was saved!

As an aside, during dinner, Janet relayed the story about the gardener she had seen that morning who was taking a dead chicken into the back of the garden area with a hot bucket of water, presumably to pluck all it’s little feathers off so Mama K could fix some fresh chicken. I missed that one.

When dinner was over, Janet gave me the “high sign” and I went to get the cake from the fridge.  I met Beatrice on my way.  She was just leaving for the day but decided to stick around to help celebrate the surprise party.  I got the cake and took it back to our little front porch area. Janet and John were inside their place cleaning up from dinner so Beatrice and I set up the cake with the candles that were left over from the surprise party the evening before.  Janet came out and lit them.  

Then John came out and SURPRISE! amid strains of the happy birthday song, the 2^nd surprise party began.

This cake was absolutely to-die-for delicious.  Of course, it was chocolate so that helps. Soon, Maso showed up.  He'd heard the singing and came over to wish John a Happy Birthday. After we all savored the deliciousness, we still had ¾ of the cake left so we cut up pieces for everyone still at work.  Janet even put quite a bit in Mama K’s dishes which were ready to be returned to her. Then we put the rest in the fridge.

After the second cleaning up, Mama Kundayo herself showed up to get the latest news on our lives. She was wearing the most gor-geee-mous dress.  She is always dressed in incredible dresses but this one was in my favorite colors.

Mama K sat down for a cup of tea and, with Emmanuel’s help translating, we told her about the surprise parties.

Eventually all of the surprises were accomplished and we closed our doors upon another day at Kundayo.