Day 105 - Happy Birthday to ME!

Day 105 – Happy Birthday to ME!

David and I both had classes today.  Mine went really well.  These students are so great to work with.  I had a video of a house that has their Christmas lights timed to the music of “Amazing Grace” and they loved it. 

Got to chat with Seth, Carolyn and Rachel for a little while after my class.  Then I took a little nap and got ready for my afternoon class.  They had performed their reader’s theaters today and did a great job on them.  Some were better understood than others, but they all did a great job.  They don’t just to reader's theater; they also have to act it out some.  So fun!  After the reader’s theaters, I gave them the banana bread that I had baked on Monday.  Word does get out among the students on this campus about things like this because there were little comments like, “This is a good as I heard it was,” and, “I’ve been waiting for a taste of banana bread!”  They did enjoy it and it was all gone in the space of less than 5 minutes.  

After class, David was waiting for me and we walked back to the apartment as fast as we could then caught a taxi at the south gate and went to Jenny’s Restaurant for my birthday dinner.  Stan and Nancy Pace and Wayne and Libby Clarke were there along with Eva, who helped set it all up.  Jenny’s prides themselves on serving American style foods and I think Eva wants to know what we think of the dishes, if they are “authentic” American foods.  How do you say that enchiladas, Lasagna and curry dishes are “authentic American?”  Some of the dishes were better than others, but the service was so slow.  Half the table had their food and then the rest came about 20 minutes later.  A good thing they don’t tip in China, because they wouldn’t have gotten one. 

Eva had bought a cake and brought it.  The Clarke’s gave me a little book and some sugared peanuts that I like.  The Pace’s gave me a bag of Dove’s chocolates.  Eva gave me a warm hat that I will be able to wear when we go to the Harbin Ice Festival on New Year’s Day.  I’ll post pictures of the hat then.  The restaurant played the birthday song and they all sang.  Eva did a great job in setting this up.  I had a lot of fun.  The restaurant has a policy that if you have a large group (more than three people); they would arrange a ride home for you.  With Eva along with us, they took the Pace’s and us in an van and she arranged for him to drive us right up to the gate outside of our building.  Then he drove the Pace’s to their campus.  It was a nice way to celebrate, the only better way would have been to have the family here, and that’s not possible right now.

Here is the cake Eva had made for me!  It looks like a lot of frosting on it, but it was light and fluffy, more like whipped cream. 

The croup to celebrate my birthday.

This is the box that the cake came in.  They believe in beautiful wrapping here.