Luis's Birthday!

I think this is the first time I've ever posted two days in a row, but today was eventful enough to merit its own post. Carmen spent the afternoon making Luis a "card". I hesitate to say card because it was really just a cut up piece of paper covered with tape and stickers. She then went around the house collecting gifts for Luis. She was generous enough to give him her used slinky (that was originally Luis's), a movie the family had in the cabinet, and a first communion book (which I also think was originally Luis's).

The first time we really got to talk with Luis was around 7:30 when he came into our room to chat. He told us he doesn't really like his birthday which made me really sad. Throughout the night he got tons and tons of calls wishing him a feliz cumple. For dinner we had all of his favorite foods which made for a very random meal. Fried eggs, green peppers, ham, french fries and bread. It made for a pretty delicious meal. Pilar and Luis (the dad) both did not seem very excited about Luis's birthday either. The dad cooked dinner and was happy to see Luis enjoyed it, but at 9 the Sevilla futbol game came on and he ran off to the living room to watch it with a friend. Maria got out the cake and I was disappointed to see that Pilar didn't end up making the cake she had talked about for so long. Instead we had one from a bakery that was still quite tasty. In what reminded me of a typical Barber family birthday, Pilar couldn't find any candles. She managed to find numbered candles but only had a 1, 2 and 0. Maria tried to do a makeshift candle arrangement, but Luis said he didn't mind not having candles. We then sang "cumpleanos feliz" to Luis (not feliz cumpleanos by the way--Americans have their Spanish impressions wrong when it comes to singing happy birthday). Luis the dad didn't come in from the tv room to sing happy birthday and once Luis got a piece of birthday cake he ran off to go watch the game too. It was an anticlimactic birthday celebration to say the least, but I think that's just the norm here. 

Luis's birthday cake!

So I know my mom is going to be mad at me, but I still haven't been able to get a picture of Pilar without it being super awkward. I should have taken advantage of tonight, but I completely spaced. This is the best shot I got, but it's better than nothing!

The absolute BEST part of the night was watching Luis open his present from us. He could not believe we had found skittles! We were so lucky to have found this store. It was called American Sweets and has only been open for a week! It is tiny and currently only has about 20 things including peanut butter, pancake mix, milanos cookies, hershey's kisses, dr. pepper, pop tarts, baskin robbins, and skittles! It was quite a find! And they're getting in a new shipment of new inventory this week. We decided to get him 13 packs for his 13th birthday. He counted them out and screamed with excitement. He later told us in English "I love you!". It was definitely one of the greatest birthday presents I've ever given! His reaction to Carmen's presents were equally hilarious and he seemed to like Maria's gift of ping pong balls. 

Luis opening Carmen's "gifts"

Initial reaction to seeing the skittles

Counting out his skittles

We later asked Maria whether or not her parents were giving Luis a gift. She told us the food from today was her Dad's gift and that her mom was going to make him a suit for Semana Santa. The culture here is just very different from America I think. Our siblings are definitely spoiled with toys as it is. I don't want to give the impression that they are abused or something. From what I can see, I think birthdays just aren't a big deal. But it still made me very happy to see Luis so excited at our present.

To close this post I'll put up some random pictures of Maria and Carmen being cute!