My birthday was brilliant! It was one of the best ones I've ever had!
I didn't get up too early, because I knew it was going to be a long day. I was actually woken up at around 9 a.m. by Maya who called to wish me a happy "Gregorian" birthday; my Jewish birthday was in December. She was very sweet to call during her break, she set my mood for the day! The only thing I wished was that she'd been here, though. Maya, I miss you girl!
My bro made Texas sheet cake for me which was eaten at lunch. I had more cake than lunch, or so my brother-in-law said. I got some cool gifts from them. The best one was a little square book called "Jewish Budapest". It's one of a series. These little books show photos of Budapest centered on different topics: the Danube, churches, photos taken of the same places 100 years apart. I collect these books, but I never knew there was one about Jewish Budapest!
Dad and Miriam, the stepmother, called after lunch, then Chaim and Serach. It's always nice talking to both of them. The great surprise came when Devraa called me from Hong Kong! We never got along and we always did the pleasantries over e-mail. That reduces the risk of a row by about a billion per cent. She and I had a nice little chit-chat. She said that practically the whole family shunned her except Hevel and Chaim when she broke the news of becoming a Netzari Jew. Not that I approve, but she is an adult, doesn't need my permission to believe in some 1st century rabbi being the messiah. What's more, it is not my place to judge her. After all, my other sister believes the Lubavitcher Rebbe was the messiah. I think 3/4 of my sisters are weird. Serach is pretty sane, though.
I met several Szarvas friends at the open-air ice rink in City Park. The rink is probably the largest open-air artificial ice rink in the region, possibly in Europe. I got the tickets for my friends and me from Kevin and Hevel, too. We agreed to meet at 5, though Ottó said he might be late. In spite of that everyone was there around ten to 5. It was Melinda's first time skating. She did well, and I hope she didn't get too many bruises to lose interest in the ice.
We skated tillaround 7 p.m. then we went over to Salamon, a glatt kosher restaurant for dinner. Hevel and Kevin met us there. We had basically the best dinner ever! They are very good with being Hungarian kosher: just enough Hungarianness to make it different from what you can eat in Tzfat. Of course we started the meal with some lovely kosher pear and plum pálinka (liquor, sometimes translated as schnaps or brandy) that put me in a highly elevated mood. Then we ate and talked and acted like a noisy Jewish family around the Shabbat table, minus the singing.
Dinner was really good, but too much. To work it off, my friends and I walked up to the Castle District and then came back down on foot. Finally I caught a cab and got home around 3 a.m.