I tried to post this entry yesterday, but I couldn't get online, AND my e-mail has been down all weekend, until just a few short hours ago. So that is my excuse. On with the entry:

Saturday brought another birthday surprise! Three friends came to visit and spend the night with me! Nick had slyly arranged the whole thing without my knowing.

On Saturday I had hoped to do nothing, sit around the house and read. Nick forced me to go out to eat with him and some other friends. I was not happy about this, especially because I had already made him a sandwich for lunch. He just wrapped it up and insisted that we go out. So, we went out, ate, then we went to the grocery store, then we went with a friend to go to the post office. I was getting perturbed by now because the post office takes for ever for a foreigner in China, and we had no business there. I sat and sat and sat and sat and finally whined to Nick that I wanted to go home.

When we got home I was greeted by three friendly faces! By then of course I figured out that the forced eating/shopping excursion was part of a ploy to get me out of the house so the surprise could flow. Here is a picture of my three friends, Jenny, Sheba, and Hanna, in their sexy SARS-proof masks that we are advised to wear around Beijing until the end of the �epidemic�.

We had a lovely time during their visit that included a chili/Indian dinner, a bowling jaunt, and a viewing of one of my favorite films, Best in Show.

This year was seriously �my best birthday ever.�

ckb

thanks to Leticia for the 'Get Fuzzy' e-card, and to Casey for my birthday note.

Monday, Apr. 14, 2003 at 11:53 AM