Suspense makes the heart grow fonder.

So I know you all have been waiting on pins and needles for the latest installment of my adventures abroad. They haven't been quite that adventurous (well okay, maybe a little), but it has been a bit busy. Last Tuesday was of course my birthday, which was a whole lot of fun, and one I will remember for the rest of my life.
The day started out of course rather normally, and I was quickly assimilated to the stand German birthday greeting. Alles gute zum Geburtstag which is "all, or everything good on your birthday. I think this is a typical Bayrish, because I think I remember learning it differently, however, I don't remember what it was. Most of my professors were very nice and greeted me this way, and then later, since my host dad left for work before I did, he greeted me with a hearty handshake and the same phrase. School was normal, other than that my Literature class sang Happy Birthday in German, which is just Zum Geburtstag viel Gluck sung repeatedly, I think.
When I got home, I helped my host mom make the lasagna and the apple strudel that we would be having for my birthday meal. Since there were ten people coming in addition to my family and myself, we had a lot to make!! Renate is a really good cook, and I think that her mother ran some sort of catering service or something, which is where she learned to cook. We did have a bit of problems separating the layers after boiling them. Lasagna isn't really the easiest thing to cook. We also made a veggie lasagna because one of the guys on the trip is Muslim, but actually, I forgot he can eat ground beef, just not pork. Whoops. I think there are a couple of picky eaters anyway though, so it was okay. I had some of the veggie lasagna as well and it was wonderful!! Fabian and Werner even helped make the lasagna, although Fabian more so that Werner. I believe Werner is terrified of the kitchen. He tried to separate the lasagna layers though. It was quite a bit of fun though, and a good way to spend time with the family and get to know them. My family should cook together!! Well, my dad and I made eggrolls before right before I left, and that was fun!
Then we made the apple strudel. The dough, or teig had already been made my Renate, so we just needed to cut up the apples from the apple trees outside, and then roll out the dough. We mixed the apples with chopped almonds mandeln, rum, sugar zucker, and raisins rosinen. I don't normally like raisins, but it was good! But then, I normally don't like mushrooms "Pilz, not to be confused with Pils, the type of beer", but I have started to like them here!! They're yum! Renate showed me how to roll out the dough, but the first time didn't work so well, so she showed me that I needed to roll out and the put pressure on the rolling pin. The second time worked well! We laid the dough on a kitchen towel, sprinkled the apple mixture, and then used the towel to roll up the dough and then put it on a pan. Fabian helped a bit with this as well.
After that, I went to go get ready for everyone to come, which involved showering, and getting gussied up. Luckily it doesn't take me too long. After I got ready I went back downstairs to wait on my guests, and saw the crates of beer that had been bought for the party. There were three crates of beer with about 16 bottles each.. Hell, Dunkle, and Hell-Weisse..a lot of beer! Everyone got here, although one of the girls some problems getting here, and even Orlando, one the directors came. His girlfriend Leonie, one of the other directors, wanted to come, but couldn't because she was working on her thesis, and the other one, Andi, was sick. One of the highlights of the night was when I discovered the huge beer mug that the family has with a picture of the present pope with his hands outstretched over the city of Regensburg. I need to take a picture of it. Talk about a pimp cup..
We all had a lot of fun, and it was loud and boisterous (but not too much so) and I think everyone really had a good time. My host family gave me a black scarf, some red gloves (to match my new red coat), and a head massager thing. My friends Bo and Allison gave me a french manicure kit, which I've been having fun with, and Leonie and Orlando gave me this cute little beer mug with a picture of Regensburg on it. Little, as in the size of a shot glass, so its really funny! It was my birthday, so I had a bit more to drink than normal, I think four beers, and by the end of the night I was pretty happy. Renate and I talked for quite some time as we cleaned up after everyone had left. The best part was when we were loading the dishwasher Geshirspull machinae, and there wasn't enough room. I couldn't think of what else to say, so I ended up saying something like, the dish washer doesn't have enough seating places, sitzplatz. She knew what I meant though, and we had a good laugh over it.
But it still isn't as funny as her saying, "I become a soda!" instead of "I receive a soda" at a restaurant once in the States. The verb for to receive in German is bekommen...so it makes sense.
I didn't take a lot of pictures this time, I was too busy having fun. The day after, we went to München, for our week excursion, but I'll have to write about that later.