Geburtstag

the memories of my homeland are starting fade, so I can't exactly remember what a birthday is like in America, but for Germans, it's a big deal. No other event makes so many people so excited about something completely unrelated to them.

Learning that it's someone's birthday must be one of the very few occasions where Germans are allowed to smile unsolicited. When one of these blonds learns it's your birthday (regardless of how well they know you, or whether they know you at all), their whole face lights up, they wish you a happy birthday, and then counter-intuitively go in for the formal handshake. Even with the buzz kill ending, it's really exciting to have people so happy that you were born on this specific day.

And the fun just keeps on rolling on your Geburtstag: at the end of the day, my coworkers brought me a huge bouquet of flowers and a cookbook - so that I wouldn't go hungry in Germany (I've clearly fooled them into thinking that I can actually understand German...). German Verständnis aside, it was a sweet gift. Made even sweeter by the jealous looks stare down everyone gave me on the subway as I struted around with my giant bouquet of flowers. "Why does she get flowers?" Because I'm an awesome Amerikaner. Eat it Deutschland (slash thank you).