joining the 27 club
today, i turned 27. at a certain point, birthdays feel as though they are counting down to something (like inevitable demise) rather than counting up to some intangible goal.
that morbidity aside, i had an amazing birthday weekend here in buenos aires. yesterday, it was 26 degrees and clear skies. we walked around parque centenario and ate budines in the park (i had a budin de chocolate y maracuya, and joaquin had a budin de banana). we wrote in my journal to memorialize the day, and saw our first jacaranda of spring.
at night, we went to tony wu, a new & trendy chinese restaurant with prices higher than the quality. still, the atmosphere was hip and intimate, and the silken tofu we shared as a starter was perfect. they had very few vegan options for joaquin, which tainted the experience a bit. my dan dan noodles were good albeit overly salted (why is food so salty here?).
i woke up in the middle of the night to thunderstorms, but when i got out of bed at half past ten this morning, the sky had cleared up. joaquin was gone when i crept out of the bedroom, and he came back several minutes later with an assortment of vegan pastries which we split. my favorite was the dulce de leche croissant.
we went to al diablo coffee in the early afternoon to paint ceramics and eat lunch. i selected a heart shaped dish for joaquin to paint, and he chose a bus for me to paint. it was more difficult than you'd think, to get the details right, but it was a relaxing process. the two little girls sitting behind us were also painting ceramics, and theirs looked impressive next to ours despite our seniority. i ate eggs with bacon and toast because sometimes i need a taste of the U.S.
as i've gotten older, i've become more and more comfortable with being alive. i care less about what others think or how i'm perceived, and i hardly ever worry about my appearance or if i said the wrong thing. i like feeling lived-in, like the patina on a well-loved leather journal.
i think 27 will be my best year yet.