Well, I am now old. Yes, on April 23rd I celebrated my 25th birthday. My first one abroad. It snook up on me to be honest. When a fellow teacher mentioned it to my students a few days beforehand, I was almost as surprised as they were to hear it! Bit strange. It ended up being a great day though. It was the Monday immediately following my weekend of picnics and was yet another busy busy one. In my morning class, my Junior 2s sang 'Happy Birthday' to me and had written a big sign on the blackboard. I liked it so much that I couldn't rub it off, so made them all turn round to work off the scratty blackboard at the back of the room! Straight after class it was off to the teachers canteen for a little lunchtime party. I was bombarded with presents and got some really cool stuff from my students.
Then it was cake time. The photo above is immediately before it all began, when Anthony shoved his piece of cake right into my face. Then all hell broke loose. There was cake and coloured foam flying everywhere.
This is 'after'. Shortly after we had finally used up all traces of leftover cake, who should turn up but some kids from class 122, carrying a big cake... So we had a second cake, along with a bunch on Junior 1s who'd been attracted by the screams and chaos. I held off throwing any of it about for as long as I could, which I could tell was a little disappointing for my students, holding as they were two bags full of icing. So as soon as we got outside, I grabbed a bag and squeezed it all over their heads. We all ran about on the drive for about 20 minutes caking anyone foolish enough to try and pass. It was good fun.
Of course my birthday had not gone unnoticed by the schools leaders. That evening we were taken out by all the important men to a nice restaurant to celebrate. The top photo shows little Tang, Vice Principal Tang, Mr Feng the party secretary, Mr Lei, Mr Lei, Mr Lei, Anthony, Moi and Lacy - the third Mr Lei's daughter. There was beer, thankfully, and only one glass of rice wine. We did not get wasted. I had my third cake of the day but this time there was no fighting involved, despite the two kids hanging round me in a rather ominous fashion. For better or worse Principal Li was away on business. A shame cos he missed it, but good cos he would have pressed for KTV and all that entails. Luckily, that night there was a rehearsal for a performance featuring a good number of my students. I said I'd rather go watch that so we got out of singing any more Britney and I got to hang out with all my kids, which is even more fun when slightly buzzed. A fine day.
Well, I am now old. Yes, on April 23rd I celebrated my 25th birthday. My first one abroad. It snook up on me to be honest. When a fellow teacher mentioned it to my students a few days beforehand, I was almost as surprised as they were to hear it! Bit strange. It ended up being a great day though. It was the Monday immediately following my weekend of picnics and was yet another busy busy one. In my morning class, my Junior 2s sang 'Happy Birthday' to me and had written a big sign on the blackboard. I liked it so much that I couldn't rub it off, so made them all turn round to work off the scratty blackboard at the back of the room! Straight after class it was off to the teachers canteen for a little lunchtime party. I was bombarded with presents and got some really cool stuff from my students.
Then it was cake time. The photo above is immediately before it all began, when Anthony shoved his piece of cake right into my face. Then all hell broke loose. There was cake and coloured foam flying everywhere.
This is 'after'. Shortly after we had finally used up all traces of leftover cake, who should turn up but some kids from class 122, carrying a big cake... So we had a second cake, along with a bunch on Junior 1s who'd been attracted by the screams and chaos. I held off throwing any of it about for as long as I could, which I could tell was a little disappointing for my students, holding as they were two bags full of icing. So as soon as we got outside, I grabbed a bag and squeezed it all over their heads. We all ran about on the drive for about 20 minutes caking anyone foolish enough to try and pass. It was good fun.
Of course my birthday had not gone unnoticed by the schools leaders. That evening we were taken out by all the important men to a nice restaurant to celebrate. The top photo shows little Tang, Vice Principal Tang, Mr Feng the party secretary, Mr Lei, Mr Lei, Mr Lei, Anthony, Moi and Lacy - the third Mr Lei's daughter. There was beer, thankfully, and only one glass of rice wine. We did not get wasted. I had my third cake of the day but this time there was no fighting involved, despite the two kids hanging round me in a rather ominous fashion. For better or worse Principal Li was away on business. A shame cos he missed it, but good cos he would have pressed for KTV and all that entails. Luckily, that night there was a rehearsal for a performance featuring a good number of my students. I said I'd rather go watch that so we got out of singing any more Britney and I got to hang out with all my kids, which is even more fun when slightly buzzed. A fine day.
1 comment:
David,
Happy birthday, man! I just got the link to your blog last night from Anthony, and I've already spent several good hours enjoying it. A-dog isn't remotely as thorough in his correspondence, and so I've been soaking up the details and images I've been missing since he left.
Anyway, congrats on being so old, and good luck with the year ahead, with all of its unknowns. And thanks for sharing your experiences.
Take care,
Nat
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