Chinese Birthday

As many of you know (hopefully all who are reading this), my birthday was just a few weeks ago. I was a little skeptical about what to do on my birthday, but it turned out to be a really great day, probably one of my favorite birthdays in memory.
In the morning, the Vice-Dean and Chairman of the office of our department (Foreign Language Dept.) surprised me in the break between classes by showing up in my office with a cake and some of my students in tow. So, I got to have a little birthday party in my office right there. They had this really neat candle, too. It's supposed to be like a lotus flower. It starts closed up, but when you light the middle it lights these other candles on the petals that cause it to open up. It's really neat, but it played "happy birthday" non-stop until we couldn't take it anymore. So we had to break it to stop it. I was still in my office enjoying the surprise, when Oliver (one of the other foreign teachers for grade 2) surprised me by bringing in my former class to wish me a happy birthday. It was so great! I got to see all my old students, and I was just thrilled that they were there to wish me a happy birthday.
I went home for lunch, as usual, and spent a few minutes calling 2/3 of my brothers. I told them I was calling them so they could wish me a happy birthday. :) But I really just wanted to hear their voices. At 4:00 I got to learn some more wu shu, which was fun and energizing, but I had to cut out early because I knew Mom would be calling me, which was also exactly what I wanted. Then I got to talk to the other half of my family (Mom, Dad, and Sam).
To top off the evening, some of my friends took me out to a Korean restaurant in town. They also gave me a cake and some small gifts, but really it was the company that made the night. We watched "Father of the Bride" after dinner, and while walking home one of them tripped on the last stair -- but saved the cake! :) Anyway, it was a great day. You can all rest assured that I did have a very Happy Birthday.