Pete's Log: Happy birthday to me
Entry #1496, (Life in General)(posted when I was 29 years old.)
I spent my 29th birthday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I had a surprisingly entertaining evening.
Work was exhausting today, but I made plans to have dinner with the PM and a German working on another project for CA here. While in my room, waiting for dinner time, there's a knock on my door. I open the door to see a hotel employee with a room service tray, and as I'm about to tell him he has the wrong room, he says to me "Happy Birthday!" and reveals to me a cake on his tray.
This, I think, is an incredibly nice touch by the hotel. They must've gotten my birthday off my passport, and since the majority of their guests are here on business, away from friends and family, to surprise them (me) on their (my) birthday with a cake is just cool.
So the guy asks if he should light the candle, and I tell him to go ahead. So he lights the candle, shakes my hand, wishes me happy birthday again, and he's off. I blow out the candle, but then take the cake to the CA office across the street. The PM is still there, as is a sales guy, and we call our German colleague to come over too.
After the cake, we grab dinner, then head to the cigar bar in the globe on top of Al Faisaliah tower. We had a great view over nighttime Riyadh, enjoyed some mocktails and cigars, and before we knew it, it was midnight.
I still can't wait to get back to Germany, but this trip hasn't been nearly as bad as I feared. And I definitely had a good evening for my birthday, even if I couldn't have a birthday beer.