The birthday celebration actually started on Sunday (which I actually think may not have been intentional) with a visit from the two older siblings, the older sister's friend (and roommate? maybe?) my host dad's parents, an uncle and two young cousins. The night started with a game of pictionary between the "kids" (admittedly, 20-23 year olds aren't really kids anymore, but I'm at a loss for another word.) This isn't the first time I've played Pictionary since I've been here, but that doesn't mean it still wasn't a challenge. All the words are in Danish, obviously, so I always needed someone to translate them for me. Some of the words I was actually able to figure out on my own, which needless to say, made me extremely proud. Others weren't even in the dictionary, and we ended up having to pick new cards. I got crushed pretty badly, but I guess it's only fair, since my team did win the last time we played =) Later on, we all crammed around the dining room table, and somehow, we all managed to fit - an idea which defies science itself. There's actually a picture of Albert Einstein hanging on the wall next to the table, and I was convinced I saw it shake a little, because even the master of physics himself was confused by the number of people who were able to fit around that table. It was a little hard for me to understand what was going on, since everyone was so excited by the family reunion that they didn't really translate all that much for me. But let me tell you, it was pretty satisfing when I understood a word here and there. for some reason, the word "cheese" seemed to be thrown around a lot. I spent a lot of the dinner wracking my brain to try to figure out why on earth they were talking about cheese so much. It didn't occur to me until later that maybe I was simply misunderstanding, and they weren't talking about cheese quite as much as I thought. Still, I like to think they were arguing over the pros and cons of imported cheeses, or something along those lines. As usual, things are probably much more exciting in my head than in real life.
The night wound down after dinner, but the next morning the festivites started up all over again. It's the Danish tradition to wake up the birthday girl/boy in the morning with a song. I can only assume it's the Danish birthday song. Basically, the entire family parades into the bedroom, waving Danish flags and singing. At the end of the Danish birthday song, we started singing the English version, which I doubt was part of the usual tradition. Then, it was time for presents. (When I told my host family that in the US, you get your presents after dinner, they told me that was a cruel thing to do to a child.) She didn't get all of her presents, just a few - and I figured out as she was opening them that they were all the components of an outfit - a pair of shoes, jeans, a shirt, and a belt. Which meant that Josephine got to wear a cute new outfit to school on her birthday, which I think is a very smart idea. I decided to give her my present then, too - I have her a Pandora charm for her bracelet, and she really seemed to like it. She put it on her bracelet right away and wore that too, so my gift seemed to fit right in with the "new outfit" theme. We then went into the dining room for breakfast - and the table was covered in a table cloth with Danish flags all over it. It's a funny concept, because I don't think anyone really celebrates their birthday by waving the American flag around. We had rolls and hot chocolate, and I unfortunately didn't have time to sit for very long, because I needed to catch the 7:35 bus.
By the time I got home at 7 that night, the house was full with family, and once again they all managed to squeeze around the dining room table (although this time, since there were more people, there was an extra table in there.) They had all already started eating, so I just grabbed a seat and joined in. I was introduced to my host mom's brother, his wife and son, and my host dad's sister. The grandparents were still there, as were the older sister, her friend, and boyfriend (who showed up a few minutes after I did, so I didn't feel so bad about having to be late due to class). Dinner was Mexican, and I was the lucky one to take a giant bite of red chili pepper - I think I singed off half my taste buds. Luckily everyone seemed to get a good laugh out of the situation, so hey, at least some good came out of it. We stayed at the table talking for a while, then had a raspberry tart for dessert. After that, the dad started playing the piano and everyone (but me, obviously) joined in to sing the birthday song. Apparently, the Danish birthday song has about a million and one verses. I'm not exaggerating. We got to sing the English version too, and I was able to join in on that one. I was, however, a bit surprised when they continuted on after the traditional song, and sang "How old are you now" to the tune of the regular song, and Josephine responded with a solo, singing "I'm 13 years old now" to the same tune. The brother then asked me what the correct words were, because he thought his sister was doing it wrong. My immediate thought was, "hell if I know!" But I decided that probably wasn't the best answer, and I explained that all we ever sing is the first part. They thought this was very funny. Silly Americans and their silly short songs.
Since I was gone at class all day, I missed out on the rest of the birthday tradition - which apparently included all the girls in Josephine's class coming over after school for cake and cocoa, and her opening the rest of her presents. There were a few small differences from the birthday celebrations I'm used to, but overall they were essentially the same. The most striking difference was probably the prominant role of the Danish flag (apparently a very large one was hung up outside the house - I didn't get to see it because it was dark when I came home), which you would never see at home (and not just because it's the Danish flag. Ha.)
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