Saniye's First Birthday

No, Saniye is not turning one.  But this was the first time she was able to celebrate her birthday on the date of her birth according to my best guess based on novice astrological calculations.  

Let's back up a few steps.  Who is Saniye?  Well, she was essentially the first person we met in Berlin, and she has become one of our best friends here.  She owns the fantastic café, Bitter Süß (roughly pronounced Bitter Zoo-s), that we live above so we see her daily.  She and I have passed many afternoons chatting about life, human nature, love, travel, religion, and the stars while sipping latte macchiatos in her shop.  

Here she is opening up her shop first thing in the morning.  Her locally painted sign and colorful handmade pillows are like a welcoming beacon to all who live on the block. 

When we walked in on the first day, Saniye was playing Devendra Banhart's "At the Hop" (one of my favorite songs) and she had The New York Review of Books (Fritz's favorite periodical) displayed on one of her coffee tables.  Surrounded by cozy 1950s decor and newspapers hanging from a rack on the wall, listening to one good song after the next, and sniffing the sweet smells of freshly baked scones wafting through the air, I took one bite of her heavenly chocolate cake and felt like we had struck gold!

The regulars who frequent Saniye's shop have lovingly started to refer to Bitter Süß as "the living room".  I have met many of our neighbors here and have made several good friends because of the wonderful environment Saniye has created.  She knows just about everyone who enters her shop and often hugs most of her visitors.

Fritz, Allie, and Ben during their visit to Berlin

Fritz and I always bring visitors to Saniye's shop for her delicious brunch or a slice the most amazing chocolate cake I could ever dream of. 

Saniye and her little duck, a birthday gift from Fritz's parents

It didn't take long for Fritz and me to figure out that Saniye was a very special person.  In one of our early interactions with her, we learned that she can speak 5 languages fluently.  She was quite humble about this fact and then she said, "And I want to learn 5 more before I die.  I think if I could speak 10 languages, then I would be rich."  With this kind of life perspective and ideas about where true wealth lies, I knew that Saniye was someone I needed to get to know.  

She was born in a small village in Turkey but came to Berlin with her parents as a little girl.  She went to university in Scotland and spent a year in Chile teaching English.  So as you can see, she is quite the international woman!  Still she dreams of moving back to the Turkish village where she was born to connect with the land and lifestyle of her ancestors, learning from the richness that would come from such an experience.  

Over the months, Saniye has generously shared many stories from her life.  The quiet conversations we have had together, or occasionally in the company of another "living room visitor," has enriched my life as I have absorbed her unique perspective and tried to soak up the incredible openness with which she greets the world.  

So as I mentioned, Saniye has never known her exact birthday since she was born in a rural Turkish village.  Her mom can only remember that she was born just after sunset at the end of April or early May based on the farming cycles of the village.  As a young student of Astrology (just starting my 3rd year), figuring out Saniye's birthday based on the location of the sun and moon during the month of her birth was a challenge I was excited to tackle.  

Our many conversations that dove into the depths of Saniye's life, purspective, and purpose, resulted in, not only a date but the exact time of Saniye's birth.  April 27th at 9:11pm, and I won't tell you the year out of respect for Saniye... though she seems like the kind of person who doesn't really mind if people know how old she is.

Now, you may or may not believe that anchient Astrological principals hold any relevence to todays modern world, but somehow the universe brought Fritz and I to Bitter Süß where we met Saniye.  And she told me her story, and I am a richer person because of it.  

For that reason, on April 27th Fritz and I held a small birhtday party for Saniye in our apartment.  Our beautiful friend Laura came too, bringing a colorful assorment of the best macarons in Berlin, and the four of us talked, and laughed, and shared our memories until we were all yawning and too sleepy to utter another coherent sentence.  

So Happy 1st Birthday Saniye!  You have made our time in Berlin so special, you give this neighborhood a shelter full of warmth and welcomeness, and because of you, the world is a better place!