Wednesday, June 1, 2011

A Zuperb Birthday in Zhengzhou

It is officially June 2 here in Zhengzhou meaning that my 24th birthday has ended. (However, thanks to the time difference, friends are still writing Facebook birthday wishes. It's like a 48 hour birthday!)
This was a fantastic birthday. It started out late last night, as it's somehow important to be the first person to wish happy birthday, so I had about 6 students text me at midnight all to be the first. One of them even described me as the most responsible teacher she has ever seen. While it might imply uptight, I'll totally take it!

Susan, an 11th grade student, and I went out shopping on Sunday to prepare for the party. Here's Susan at the costume store.

Next, Trista recently left school to go just study English, but was so kind as to make a card and e-mail it to me.

We held a 40 person party in my classroom so I decorated and my students bought this ginormous cake for us.

Here, the students arrive and play with the candy and the streamers set out.

We held a flip cup tournament (minus any beverages), and the teachers came out victorious in a great comeback. This is 王晓培 (Della) and 董淡 (Dong Dan) the Chinese English teachers for my two 11th grade classes.

A 40 person cake for my birthday. I was intensely flattered.

Me and Swave (刘海博) in clean up. He's the #1 student in his class and always the target of some icing in the face and hair.

Finally, some amazing gifts to commemorate a birthday and year in China. There's a hand-made scroll, tea cups, a book on Chinese culture, and (from two people who know me super well) a mini keg of German bier. I now have 10 liters of imported beer and must laugh at how perfectly suitable it is for me.

Thank you so much for your birthday wishes!
Later Days,
Rick

1 comment:

bridgetwhoplaysfrenchhorn said...

Oof, I'm fairly certain I can't bake a cake that big...it wouldn't be able to fit in my oven! You're a lucky teacher, that's for sure!