SUE'S BIRTHDAY IN CHINA

On May 26th, Sue celebrated her 59th birthday.  It was an important birthday because it was the last birthday of her . . . . well, you certainly can't say, youth.  Maybe we'll say it was the last birthday she'd celebrate before  moving into "old age."  Next year it will be the BIG SIX-OH!  Oh no!!!

The 26th was a Thursday, and after my morning class, Mary, my friend who showed me how to make Chinese Dumplings, and her gang came over to cook.  She brought me the flowers in the picture above.  Toto brought me the necklace.  I showed them how to make no-bake Chocolate Oatmeal cookies.  It was a lot easier than their Jiaozi.  The cookies were finished up before we knew it, and we sat and spent a half hour or so talking about the differences in our cultures until Wenjing knocked on our door.  Wenjing is our new Weiban (facilitator).  Toby was promoted to the director of his division and Wenjing took Toby's place.  She's in her mid-thirtys and has a little boy who's about 3 or 4 years old.  Toby had a tradition of bringing a cake or ice cream over for the Foreign Teachers on their birthdays and Wenjing is carrying on with the practice.  She brought four containers of different flavored ice cream.  I'm so glad that she brought ice cream!  The bakery birthday cakes leave a lot to be desired here in China.  We enjoyed the Chocolate no-bake cookies AND the ice cream!

Later that evening, we went to the Crown Plaza Hotel's restaurant for dinner with four of our friends.  This is the best restaurant we've found here in China if your are looking for American food.  Dave and I each got a Caesar Salad and I ordered Norwegian Salmon.  It was sooooooo good!  It was the best food I've had in all our time here in China.  We enjoyed sharing our meal with Morgan and Luci Jones and Don and Linda Gold.  The cake in the picture above is what the Restaurant manager threw in for free when he heard it was my birthday.  It actually tasted kind of good. : )

In the evening after returning home from teaching my class I found a gift hanging from the ceiling.  Dave had purchased a new ring for me for my birthday.  It was a total surprise.  I'm not used to Dave being so sneaky!!  I loved the ring!!

Here's a close-up of the ring on my wrinkly, fifty nine year old finger.  It was a wonderful birthday.