"Sorpresa!"

Sunday night Hannah and I decided to attempt to throw Pedro a surprise birthday party! It was a good idea in theory, but like always, we tend to discount the fact that we are living in a foreign country with a language and cultural curve. So...we invited and explained to people it was a surprise and thought we had done our job...

Well when Pedro showed up with 3 of the surprise guests that he was not supposed to know were coming, we had to throw our hands up and let it be....don't worry, the people in attendance still wanted to hide and yell "sorpresa!", even if he knew they were in the other room.

Regardless it was a fun night, but one thing really touched me above the rest. It was after Hannah and I had served dinner, and after the noodle disaster that you can ask about in detail later, and it happened when 13 of us were sitting around a table together. We were all sitting around and they were telling chistes (jokes). Hannah and I were sitting there and laughing at these guys standing up and being so animated and attempting to give their best recap of a story. But it hit me after Pedro's prayer of blessing on the food, in which he thanked God for his "family", that these people have become my family in the last month. Each one of them has started to mean something in my life, and each day I look forward to the conversations or laughs I will have with them. We had a variety of personalities around the table, but looking at all of them made me realize just how important family is, whether you are countries away from home or not. It really was such a beautiful moment to share with them, and one I will always remember. Not to mention the night kept getting exciting as Pedro's Selva Negra cake got smashed into his face and we all went and saw Kung Fu Panda. (Skadoosh!) Every moment is a memory here, and as we are approaching the 5th week of our 8 1/2 weeks here, I am reminded that every moment is precious.

Blessings to you all!

Peace.Love.Bombom chocolate.