Caedmon's 5th Birthday

Caedmon's birthday is in August, but it may as well be the same week as Christmas as tomorrow is the biggest holiday of the year here.  For the second time since moving here I, Erin, had to decide how we would celebrate.  We aim to make birthdays a big deal, hoping as we celebrate the boys’ births (and each additional year we are given) our celebrations at Christmas will make sense to them.  So, as Caedmon’s birthday fell before the end of the fasting month, again this year, we had a little party at the ‘break-the-fast’ time.  Most people travel to their parents’ or grandparents’ home for the Holiday so waiting until the weekend didn’t seem practical. 


The morning began with cinnamon rolls and presents.  Then we all visited an in door amusement park, which is actually pretty well done and quite quiet on a week day morning.  Caedmon had been waiting for this event since last year as he was aiming to be tall enough for a specific ride.  He was tall enough, exactly the 110cm needed.  For the evening, we invited a few neighbors, a friend’s family, and our host parent’s grandchildren to a small party.  We started at 5:30 with some games.  Caedmon’s favorite was ‘pin-the-coconut-on-the-palm-tree’.  Games are not common at birthday parties, unless it takes place at McDonalds, so most of the kids were too shy (or maybe too confused as I gave instructions in the local language) to play.  Everyone was a little more willing to take part in hitting the piñata, which the boys and I made earlier in the week.  We then all ‘broke-the-fast’ together with ‘ice fruit’ (literally translated), some traditional treats, which John bought, and birthday cake-in-a-cone.  Shortly after our guests left, with the exception of some neighbor kids who played with John until after Caedmon and Whitman where in bed.  The party was short and sweet, and hopefully enjoyable to all.  Aside from the games not being usual at birthday parties, presents are also handled very differently as they are not opened in front of the guests.  Caedmon had to wait until after all the guests left, which is very difficult for a five year old; after eating cake he kept wandering inside to look at his presents. 



encouraging kids to participate in a few games set up in our garage

Caedmon's turn hitting the piñata

 

after many light little hits, the piñata fell off the rope and was finally torn open and emptied by John

 

neighbor girls eating 'ice fruit' and birthday cake-in-a-cone

our host parents' grandsons, all our guests where girls until they arrived

 

Learning how to make local food here has been a treat.  Here is the recipe for the ‘ice fruit,' there are many versions, but this one is my favorite so far. 

Ice Fruit

½ honey dew melon (slightly unripe/crunchy)

3-4 cups young coconut meat
2 packages of agar-agar (or unflavored gelatin)
 ¼ - 1/3 cup melon syrup (similar to the syrups used for Italian sodas or coffee drinks)
1-2 cups water

       1)      Shred the melon and set aside.  Prepare the agar-agar according to the package.  Basically like making unflavored and only slightly sweetened jello. 

2)      Once the agar-agar/jello is set, cut into small chunks, ~¼ inch cubes.  To simplify this process I poured the liquid into a big cookie sheet to set up very thin.  

3)      Combine all ingredients.  Add additional syrup and water until desired sweetness and consistency.

4)      Ice is usually added instead of water, but I prepared ahead of time and kept them in the fridge until we were ready.

Enjoy!