24 is a big deal, that's why we celebrated for a week. Ok, to be honest, I usually celebrate that much no matter which year it is. So as Jon turned 24 I tried to turn out my usual birthday festivities in full force.
Admittedly, much of the pre-birthday celebrating was due to the fact that we received several overseas packages, which, as we are discovering, are hard to predict an exact arrival time. About a week ago Jon received the first one, new electric clippers from Jon's mom, since Jon's old ones became unable to handle the high voltage here, despite our best attempts at voltage conversion. Next was a package from my mom, with all the festivities of birthday and Valentine's Day and everyday goodness rolled into one big box. There was the Rosetta Stone in Arabic for Jon, a book on human rights defenders for me, lots and lots of chocolaty goodness, and the makings for magificent Mexican food. 
Not necessarily due to the birthday itself, but merely coincedentally, we also went out that week with some of my friends to a place called "Betty's Tea Room", a very posh parlour in typically British style where we had fancily served tea and the tiniest but tastiest cheesecake. Next came the much needed gift from Jon's grandparents, a night out at the Hilton in York's City Center. We happily packed a bag and enjoyed a night out, including a progressive dinner at one of the best gourmet pizza places followed by dessert (chocolate and banana crepe) and coffee at Cafe Rouge. 
The next day we became tourists in our own town for a short while, visiting Clifford's Tower (all that is left of York Castle), as well as the Castle Museum. The museum is huge, divided into two wings, one wing spanning several decades in a couple of centuries, and the other wing devoted entirely to the sixties. Impressive and curious to have an entire wing for the sixties, but not that curious as we didn't make it there, yet. The wing we did go to, however, was quite unique. Not your typical museum, it had several rooms showing the quintacintial British parlour in the 1850, or the kitchen from the 1780s, etc. They also had an entire section devoted to cleanliness, showing for example the progression of the vacuum cleaner throughout the decades. Finally, they had two recreated life size streets from the 19th century which you could walk down the cobblestone pathways and into the shops and see what it would have been like. Quite facinating. We came home to find another package awaiting us, Jon's new phone, a global one which will allow him to simply change out SIM cards whenever we move.
Saturday, his actual birthday, was supposed to be some birthday socializing with church friends, however due to a cold Jon had developed we ended up sleeping in till 12:30 and having a relaxing day in at home, spending some quality time with C.S. Lewis and Prince Caspian, but naturally included some chocolate cake and cookie dough ice cream in honor of the day. Today was nearly the finale of birthdayness, as we went out to an ice cream parlour with some of Jon's school friends. I say nearly, because we are still awaiting one last package from Jon's mom, scheduled to arrive over a week ago ... priority mail is not what it used to be let's just say that.
Lots of good eating has taken place, that is for sure, as well as some general frivolity and festivity. A few more days and then we're off to Newcastle to see Hadrian's Wall for our Valentine's Day weekend! Also, for those of you wondering where we are on the apartment front, we have given up on our apartment being fixed anytime in a future where we are still young, and we are tired of living in a room in someone's house, so we began the search for a new apartment! We looked at one on Friday which was fantastic, and are looking at another on Monday, which is actually two doors down from our old apartment and would make moving much simpler. Fingers crossed...In any case, at the end of this week we will be somewhere permanent for the first time in about eight weeks. Hallelujah!
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