Birthday and weekend and anything else I can remember

This past Thursday was my birthday, so there were all kinds of festivities throughout the day. For one, Patty told all of my classes that it was my birthday, and then made them sing Happy Birthday to me in English, Chinese, and Taiwanese. Consequently, I probably received as many Happy Birthday songs on Thursday as I have the past 10 or 11 birthdays combined. Fabulous! My school's director got me a cake, which we had before lunch. It was surprisingly realistically cake-like, which is rare in Asia. Then I had lunch and went to the introductory class of English Angels. The class was short because it was the first session, and afterwards the director busied himself demonstrating to me all of the facilities I could use to teach them. In addition to a computer and a projector and a big screen, our classroom has a karaoke machine. Naturally. I think the director really loves his own voice, because of course he just HAD to demonstrate the karaoke machine, and then he wanted me to sing a song too. Now, something I had at lunch must have disagreed with me, because at this point I was really nauseous and feverish and dizzy and generally feeling awful. I sang a little bit, and then tried to explain to the director that I felt sick and I really just wanted to rest and not sing or talk or anything. He decided that I was just sad because it was my birthday and I missed my hometown, and I had to do a lot of explaining to make him understand.

Patty covered for me in the afternoon while I sat on the sidelines, and it didn't take long for me to feel better. I made the students guess how old I was, and got answers ranging from 18 to 30. Hmm. Then we talked about how in America, you don't get to be 1 until a whole year after you are born. In Taiwan, you are 1 when you are born, then you become 2 when Chinese New Year passes, and when your next birthday comes, you turn 3. At least, I think that's how it goes. It is definitely different.

In the evening, my host sister Grace threw me a little birthday party. It was the first time I met her, and she's really nice. She even went to the restaurant beforehand to put up some decorations. After dinner, we had pseudo-cake, which was really muffins arranged in a circle, one with a candle in it. We asked Grace what the muffins were, and she said, "It's a traditional Taiwanese dessert...prawn muffins." Now, you think it sounds weird, but here in Kaohsiung everything has seafood in it, so you have to be ready for things like prawn muffins. Poor Maya is allergic to shellfish, and she has to be really careful because they are always sneaking into things. Anyway, Maya put her muffin aside and made a mental note not to eat it so she wouldn't die, when a dubious Gered asked Grace again exactly what kind of muffins they were. "Prawn muffins," she said. "P-L-U-M."

Oh. Well, they were very delicious, and I was certainly glad that they contained plums and not prawns. After dinner we went across the street to Birthday Park, where you are apparently supposed to go on your birthday, but it had just rained and it was dark so we only went and looked around for a minute. It was all right, though, because my birthday was pretty fabulous overall. I am the big 2-2...twice as old as my students. Sweet.

On Friday I think I slept all day...don't remember. But Saturday I went with Gered and his host family to pick up their nephew from his military base and bring him home for the weekend, which was fun. His family has a 9-year-old daughter named Isabella, who is incredibly hilarious, and we are totally pals now. Isabella and Andy (the nephew) spent the whole car ride home (~1 hr) teasing each other, which was very entertaining for me, as the three of us were together in the back seat. My favorite excerpt (translated and paraphrased for your convenience), on the topic of Isabella's rather round face:
Andy: You little fatty. You look like a puffer fish.
Isabella: I am not a puffer fish! You are a puffer fish. I am the moon.

During the course of the day, Isabella also: played Frisbee, played badminton, tried to do chin-ups on the bars at the base, played cards, made a cow puppet, played mancala, played Chinese checkers, played regular checkers, played Mamma Mia and sang, disappeared for a minute and came back with her face painted and a "tattoo" drawn down her arm, and danced with me on the light-up sidewalk at Urban Spotlight*, among other things. It is a busy life, being 9 years old.

*the hip downtown hangout in Kaohsiung...lots of food and drink places, live music, and everything is covered in multicolored lights

So Saturday was a really full day...then on Sunday I woke up feeling really sick and slept all day. It's okay though, because today I felt better, plus I went to the doctor and he gave me like 57382945783429 kinds of medicine to take at all different times of day, so surely I will be better in no time. He also told me not to talk too much, to which I say hahahahahahaha. I am a teacher. Wish me luck with that one.

Also, there is a new typhoon here, potentially one with a silly name. Basically, it is rainy out, and delightfully humid. Yes!