I really wasn’t looking forward to my birthday at all this year. Being trapped out in the middle of nowhere with no one to hang out with and nothing to do plus having to teach on top of that didn’t sound at all appealing. I even made this weekend’s writing prompt about birthdays; my response being that they aren’t a big deal. Because nowadays, they really aren’t, but that doesn’t mean I’m not up for pleasant surprises. This birthday was just that, quite a pleasant surprise. Sure it’s unfortunate that I had to teach on a Sunday, but otherwise it was a really nice day. Possibly one of the most special birthdays I’ve had in a long while. It started when my brother and his girlfriend made the hour long trek out to my campus to bring me a huge, delicious cake. I’m sure I’ve described the deliciousness of Chinese cake before, but indulge me for a moment, will you? This cake is like no other I’ve had back home. It’s soft, light and moist and has such light, fluffy frosting that I’m a little afraid breathing too hard might send it flying across the room. Chewing on a piece of Chinese cake is like eating a baked cloud; if such a thing were possible. It’s really quite magnificent. After we had a piece of cake we flew kites around the campus and played cards for a while. When my guests had gone, a few of my students invited me to a party later that night.
When I was informed of the party I had the idea that we’d just chill for a while eating cake. Instead my students had prepared quite the show for me. We first played a two player version of hangman in which the loser gets cake plastered all over their face. Fortunately I won most rounds, but I still had my fare share of frosting mustaches. Once the frosting ordeal was cleaned up, many of my students tried and failed to teach me Chinese. I tried, I really did, but when I can’t see it in pinyin there’s just no hope. After that I was escorted to another one of my classes where one of my students showed off her sweet rollerblading skills and several others sang me Chinese and English songs. Then, of course, they expected me to sing an English song. I’ve been asked many, many times to sing a song in English, but whenever someone asks me I forget the lyrics to every song ever. Every song except “Why Does the Sun Shine” that is. I’m usually so embarrassed to sing that of all songs that I just refuse. At this point, though, I felt obligated to do it. So I sang the first verse of They Might Be Giants’ “Why Does the Sun Shine” to a very confused and perhaps a little disappointed audience.
