Eighth Birthday “Capítulo Dois” (part 2)

We held a birthday party on Emily’s actual birthday for the Brazilian crowd (including married-in Gringos). As “the man” has been playing “pin the tail on my tuchus” lately at the salt mines and I had to head back bright and bushy tailed Tuesday morning, I pretty much behaved myself, despite Thomas’s (Andrea’s, not Völkering’s) at times compelling peer pressure (the Scotch “shots” at 22:00 were hardly necessary {but nice}).Emily started the day by opening a present that I objected to, a TV and DVD player for her room. The kids haven’t killed each other over viewing rights yet, but we’re still in the first week. My prediction? Scar tissue galore over this thing.Anyway, the party was a blast. An interesting cultural note: although like in the United States packs of cigarettes in Germany carry an explicit, even ominous warning, beer kegs here provide a more passive warning by way of a picture illustrating what you’ll look like at 50 if you keep drinking Hefeweizen.    Some of us are clearly ignoring the warning…