BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS

Friday was to be the day of my birthday celebrations.  We hoped that with three night to recover from the 13 hour time difference I might be able to stay awake long enough to at least say hello to the guests.  As I had been away for a few weeks it was to be a chance to catch up, and to make the most of it and not be over occupied with the cooking we decided to go out.

I like this rather local restaurant which has private dining rooms for hire as well as a main dining room.  So for a party of about 25 people we hired a room there and pre-ordered a menu of shashlik (beef, pork, lamb, chicken and veal), roasted vegetables and some fries.  Typically Kazakh!

On Friday morning I walked over to Ram store to do some shopping.  Unfortunately I had forgotten my transport home (that is my cell phone, key to arranging a taxi) so had to walk back.  It was fine as it is only a 30 minute walk or so.  

However by the time I got home I was feeling really tired, jet lag catching up perhaps, and decided in order to be in good form for the evenings activities I would take a brief siesta.

I woke up about four hours later with a fever, headache and sore throat.  The long and the short of it was that was the end of my birthday celebration.  Sandra went and hosted the party and I went back to sleep.

She tells me a good time was had by all and most of the guests have kindly corroborated this.  The photographs seem to indicate people having fun.

Thank you everyone who attended, and I fully understand those of you who were also ill!

The pictures below are courtesy of Jon Hockenberry, thanks Jon.