American Birthday with National Style

Some American friends of ours here had a birthday picnic for their daughter.  She has several national friends whom she invited, along with their mothers and siblings.  

In addition to her national friends, her American friends were invited, too.  

People here rarely celebrate birthdays.  In fact, I've talked to some who don't even know their birthdays.  It was like this in Africa, too, because of lack of birth certificates and such, but here, I think it's just because it's not a big deal.

However, the family did the birthday in the style of the picnics they have here.  The only difference was the abundance of the color pink.

I also think that in America if we are invited to a birthday party, we bring a gift, and that's about it.

But here, the girls brought gifts for their friend, and the mothers brought dishes and dishes of food.

My friend, who was hosting the gig, had a ton of food already, but these ladies contributed with even more deserts, a potato dish, a pasta dish, dolma, and an assortment of pastries.

My one big story about the day has to do with Keira.  It was the first time I'd taken her to the park after being potty-trained.

When she needed to go, we walked to the public bathrooms, but she wasn't having it.

One look at the squatty, and she said, "No, Mommy."   Granted, it was pretty nasty, but nothing like I saw in Africa.  So we walked around where I knew there was a Western toilet.  It was pretty sketchy, too.

This girl has never used shady convenience store restrooms in America.  I guess she's used to Buckee's, etc.  Anyway, my one child born in Africa does not like squatties.  She cries even when she sees a clean one (like at a friend's house).

Anyway, in pure country girl fashion, we went behind the bathrooms, and she was completely fine squatting and going in the grass. 

That's about it for excitement.  

I pushed Keira on the swings for a good 30 minutes and visited with a girl from Ghana who is a nanny over here.  Caleb played soccer with some other boys and had a good time; however, you can't tell it by this picture which I snagged of him while waiting for the prayer to be said to start the feasting.

This is what a young boy must feel like at a teenage girl party. :)