Today was Annelie's birthday.
Steph and I woke up early to wake the darling up with a flower and a little note telling her that she didn't have to work today. We'd talked to the housekeeping team and arranged to take over her duties for her.
Of course, since she wasn't expecting anything, she was extremely excited:) She said it was the best birthday present ever! ..But she didn't know what we had planned either, so...
After breakfast, Steph headed over to Annelie's house to do her hair and help her pick out a cute outfit for church while I did Annelie's chores.
Then we had church and right after, one of the Germans here who has a car helped us sneak Steph past Annelie and drove her to pick up the cake.
Meanwhile, Annelie was opening presents in the hallway. Autumn and Jessica got her a bottle of a very expensive perfume that she'd always wanted.
Steph and I skipped lunch to put together the rest of Annelie's birthday surprise. We'd written out nine hints yesterday and we tied each to a little boquet of two or three flowers.
I spent the in-between times of yesterday and this morning running around frantically making sure everyone knew where they were supposed to be, giving the boquet-hint things to the people who were supposed to have them and checking on reservations.
Kelty (who went to Vienna with us) and I walked to Schwartz where she explained our plan to them in German and asked them to keep one of our hints. On the way there, I found out that Annelie's parents and little brother had dropped in for a surprise birthday visit and brought a cake. So when I got back from Schwartz, Steph and I joined them and each had a little piece of her mom's chocolate cherry cake, which was without a doubt the best cake I've ever eaten.
Of course, finding out her parents were here had a rather adverse effect on Steph and my planning, but while Annelie was out of the room, Steph explained to her family all that we had planned and it turned out they couldn't stay long anyways, so it worked out perfectly:)
After her parents left, Annelie went back to her apartment where we told her we wanted to hang out with her for awhile for her birthday. We met her there a few minutes later, holding one of the hints, saying "Look what we found in front of your door!"
The riddle told her to go catch the bus. Steph and I played it off as if we had no idea what was going on, sort of teasing her a little bit and she asked us over and over again, "Where do you think we could be going??!!"
Obviously, we replied with, "I have no idea! Do you think they're watching us right now? Do you see anyone you recognize? Are they kidnapping us??!!"
The bus ended up being an hour late. We were really cold by the time we got on. But it all worked out. Annelie's still asking where we're headed. How she's gonna know when to get off.
At the first stop, David and Austin were waiting with the next hint. Annelie literally squealed when she saw them, haha! ..Germans don't usually do that.. =P
Their hint told her what stop to get off at. Emma and Brooklyn were waiting there with a hint that lead her to a pizza place where the rest of the gang was waiting. I think there were ten or twelve of us total. When she saw everybody waiting there with balloons on her chair, pink roses on the table and her gift, she started crying, it was the cutest thing!
We ordered pizzas (I honestly don't know what they do to the pizza here, but it is incredible, all of it) and hung out just eating and joking around. Annelie opened a couple presents from her parents and grandma. The waiter was so nice to us! He brought out a complimentary birthday dessert plate with candles and we all sang happy birthday:) (he later tried to hit on Autumn and ruined his awesome waiter reputation...what is it with forty year old indian guys, my gosh?!)
Dinner ended costing us like four euros each, not bad at all. We caught the bus back home and Annelie was smiling like a crazy person, it was great! She even started tearing up again, haha cause like I said, she wasn't expecting anything for her birthday. After every step, she thought it was the end of her birthday celebration, but when we got back to the Bode, we had another hint waiting in her apartment.
David (German guy who helped us order the cake) helped me get everything ready while the whole group followed the clue over to Schwartz. At Schwartz, the lady handed her the next hint, which brought her to the kitchen. By this time, David and I had gathered everyone from the halls of the Bode downstairs in the games room where we had the cake set up with candles and everything.
In the kitchen, I met back up with the group and played a little "hot and cold" game until Annelie found the next clue, "a room with four beds that is close to your heart." She didn't hesitate at all, but headed straight up to my room. When we got up there, we blindfolded her and lead her down into the games room. When we got there, the room was silent, the candles were lit, and the lights were off. As soon as I took the blindfold off, everybody sang happy birthday and Annelie was in complete shock=)
She blew out all the candles in one breath and all thirty or so people got a piece of cake with some left over for Annelie to take home. She was so cute, her face was all red and she couldn't even talk she was so happy and excited! And she absolutely couldn't believe we remembered her favorite kind of cake:)
It was a great day and everything worked out just perfectly. I'll try and come back soon and post some pictures of it=)
Psalm 126:2
Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”
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