So a few days ago was my birthday (and thanks so much for all of the amazing birthday wishes I received). There was something extra sweet about being so far away but still getting lots of messages. To be honest, other than receiving some random presents (not complaining, I love my kitty socks), it didn’t really seem much like a birthday. I had to work, of course, though my classes were pretty chill.. and when I say chill I mean me throwing a football down a hallway and enjoying watching the kids scramble to get it. The Chinese don’t place a lot of emphasis on birthdays. Whenever you ask a student what they will do for their birthday, they always say, “eat cake”. They don’t get presents or even have parties. That’s right, Mom and Dad, had you brought us up in China you wouldn’t have had to shell out the megabucks for Chuck E Cheese. Though, if you had brought us up in China I most likely wouldn’t exist..I like to think a little celebration once a year is worth it to have me in your life!
Random Chinese birthday facts:
In China, when you are born, you are one year old. Which means all of you out there, clinging to age 49, thanking the stars that you aren’t 50, sorry! In China, you are 50! (It is actually more complicated than that, it goes by the lunar calendar and such; sometimes you are a year older than we think you are and sometimes you aren’t.) This makes things very complicated at school sometimes. The minimum age of students we are supposed to teach is 3. So in come these babies that don’t even understand the minutest amount of Chinese, and the sales staff says “They are almost 3!”. Nope, not at all. That baby is one and a half.
The Chinese sing the Birthday Song differently. Despite the fact that about 85% of Hohhot does not speak English, I have yet to come across someone that does not know the Birthday Song in English*. However, they song;
“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you”.


*-See post: English Words Every Chinese Person Knows