I lucked out this year for my birthday. I didn't have to teach! Yay! Of course, I normally don't have to teach on Wednesdays, so that's nothing new, but it was nice not having to get up in front of my classes and teaching a lesson. I do enjoy teaching sometimes, but I've got a cold. Which makes talking loudly not so much fun—though, my students do seem to be amused listening to me and my cold today (Thursday). Fortunately, they're working on group projects, so I don't really have much to lecture on. I must've been psychic or something when I decided to have them work on a group project...

Anyway, my birthday went well. I woke up later than normal. I should've slept in a bit longer, but I decided I wanted to get up. I ended up remarkably bored 'cause Jeff was still asleep. He was asleep until I made him get up at noon, actually. I think I might've given him my cold... Oh well. I did the dishes and cooked lunch and tried to wake him up at noon. My freshmen students invited us to a Christmas party at one, so I wanted us to eat before we left. Unfortunately, we had just sat down to do that when my students called and said they were waiting for us.

Jeff and I walked with them to KTV—a karaoke bar—to participate in their celebration. They decorated the room with balloons, tinsel, and pictures of Santa. My students were all so excited to be together—they are such a fun group! The party started with a few songs from students before we exchanged gifts. Jeff and I didn't know we were supposed to bring gifts for a white elephant gift exchange, but Jessie (one of my students) provided us with some. I got a little statue of a monkey, and Jeff got a cute bear.

We were then separated into teams and participated in a series of competitions. It was funny watching them pass along a bow using straws—our team won, by the by—and hearing them sing their hearts out to win in the karaoke contest. Jeff and I sang Hey Jude. It went on way too long, and seemed really slow, but my students liked our performance (it doesn't take much to impress them if you're a foreigner).

My students really surprised me when they brought out a cake and started singing “Happy Birthday”. I had told them it was my birthday on Monday during our last class, but I didn't expect a party or anything. They brought the cake out and had me blow out the candles and then cut the cake (I didn't do very well at that). I wish I'd taken a picture of the cake. It was beautiful. I ended up with a tomato on my slice, though. Bleh. I gave it to Jeff. I got a few presents from my students—they're all such sweethearts!—and then blushed when they kept offering me good luck and whatnot. After enjoying the cake, we then proceeded to enjoy listening to people singing karaoke.

Chinese parties are fairly similar to American dances in middle school in the fact that no one dances,but everyone sings. Very interesting. I snapped a few pictures of them as they went about, and they took many pictures with us. After all, we are foreign and different, which makes us superstars.

After the party, we stopped at the gates of the other university for some pictures with Mao Zedong's statue. I had Jeff take a picture of me with my students. Hooray! I'm going to miss them all so very much...they're so much fun!

Afterward, Jeff and I ate the lunch I made and then chilled the rest of the night—English Corner was cancelled—and then finally went to bed around ten. As far as days go, it was fabulous!

Today was my last day to teach my freshmen English class.  I'm so sad it's over.  They were such a good class.  My freshmen were always eager to learn, and seemed to enjoy my lessons a lot more than my sophomores do.  Though, when you first start out college, you are really excited to learn.  I guess that excitement just fades away...which is a shame.  I hope my freshmen can keep up their enthusiasm for the rest of their college experience.  I almost started to cry when the bell rang.  Almost.  Fortunately, my stoicism returned almost immediately and I went off to deliver my next lesson on advertising.  Have I mentioned I don't really like teaching business concepts?  I don't think I have.  Except for right there.  I'll say it again.  I don't like teaching business concepts.  Alas, I am teaching Business English majors...