| 
         "My
        twenty-first birthday is on Saturday, and I'm going to go out with some
        friends. 
        To wish me a happy birthday, they're going to pull on my ear 21 times,
        once for each year. It's an old custom here in Barcelona. Some people do it only once, but
        my friends are very traditional!!"  | 
      
         "My
        husband is going to be 60 tomorrow. In Tokyo, the sixtieth birthday is
        called kanreki – 
        It's the beginning of a new life. The
        color red represents a new life, so we always give something red for a
        sixtieth birthday. What am I going to give my husband?  
        I can't say. It's a surprise."  | 
      
         "I'm
        going to be 30 next week. So I'm going to invite three very good friends
        out to dinner. In Paris, when you have 
        a birthday, you often invite people out. 
        I know that in some countries it's the opposite 
                              
                                – people take you
        out."  |