Last weekend was Steven’s birthday. He likes to downplay it, so we only spent a few days celebrating (totally Sue’s choice, I would have just ignored it). We wanted to get together a few of people we met at the wine tasting. In trying to accommodate the other two couples, we ended up with a Wednesday lunch celebration, thus kicking off our birthday bonanza.

I asked for lunch recommendations, but I forgot that Steven and I are a tough sell, especially in Spain. One vegetarian, one “if it lives in the water it doesn’t go in my mouth” eater. Hmmm, We ended up at Nam Prik Thai, a couple of blocks from us. Once we all assembled, we found out that one of us, Jennifer, is allergic to coconut. Ay! Maybe Thai wasn’t a good choice either. She did find something to eat and we all settled in for the menu, which is the set meal of the day. I ordered mine what they called Thai spicy, but I think if they tried to sell it in Thailand, it would have been considered on the border of mild and medium. We’re used to the mildness of the food here. No worries. They brought the hot pepper flakes. Despite the mildness, the food was delicious and we would definitely go back.

We are all expats. Krista and Doug lived in Italy for a while and travel quite a bit. Jennifer and AJ have two young children and are navigating schools, as well as a completely new environment. We’re all walking that line of “maybe we’ll stay — for sure we’re here for now.” For Steven and me, it’s nice having a conversation with others that doesn’t revolve around how brave (or stupid) we are because we chose this lifestyle.

After our (relatively quick for Spain) 2.5-hour lunch, we brought Jennifer and her giant labradoodle back to our apartment (yes, we all fit in the elevator) to share the joy of our ultrasonic mosquito deterrents. Fingers crossed they work for her as well as they work for Steven. He was getting bitten to bits, and protecting me in the bargain (oh, the things I do for my wife!), before we got them.

The rest of the week passed quietly, until Saturday, which was Steven’s actual birthday (as far as I know, I wasn’t there) (Technically, it is the celebration of the day of my birth, since I wasn’t born this year.) We decided on a lazy day, which meant only a short walk in the park. Lookup. The Turia is beautiful. We had dinner plans with another couple we recently met, who had just returned from a couple of weeks of watching their two-year-old grandson in Memphis. They were tired, but up for a fun dinner. Steven and I walked all the way around the corner to Osteria Da Gianni, which you might have guessed is an Italian restaurant.

Steven does not like to call attention to himself on his birthday, so I did not mention it when I made the reservation (under the threat of death if she did), but apparently every other party at the restaurant was celebrating someone’s birthday, so Steven got to hear many rounds of “Cumpleaños Feliz” (you can probably figure out that that is the happy birthday song without a translation) even if they weren’t directed at him (thankfully).

We had the classic three-hour meal: wine, appetizers, entree, and dessert. I think Steven enjoyed it. (I did! The food was great, the company was great, not having anyone sing to me was great.)

Sunday, he wanted to walk to the BioParc, Valencia’s zoo, which is about an hour away. Our friends had told us that they got a membership because the grounds were so beautiful. We walked through the Turia, but when we arrived, we realized that it wasn’t a cute local zoo, but a €50 investment. Given that neither of us really likes zoos, we decided to save the money for a lovely lunch or other and decided to bike back. The city bikes, or Valenbisi, as you may remember, gave us trouble the last time we used them and this time was no different. It took me a few times of trying to log in and being rejected before I got my bike, but Steven’s app was really giving him a hard time. We were about to give up, when it got tired of messing with him and behaved. I wonder if it would have been kinder if I told it that it was my birthday the day before.

We cycled back through the park, dropped the bikes, and headed back to our apartment for cool showers. Did I mention it was close to 90 degrees by then?

After all that, we were tired, so a march down the block was about as much as we were willing to do. We had sampled the food at the Mexican place next door and weren’t impressed, so we headed all the way to the end of the block and across the street to the other Mexican joint, La Reconquista del Maiz. Very delicious and they had micheladas.Made me homesick for Mexico.

(All in, a great birthday weekend and over just in time for us to turn our attention to Sue’s Birthday…month)