'appy birfday

The best part of being an English teacher in Shanghai (or, at least, one of the top reasons) is the students' birthdays. Unlike in Canada where students expect sweets and treats from their classmates, students here bring their classmates and the teacher a present. Usually, this means individually packaged cakes from a delicious bakery.

Today was one such occasion.

Today was Bobby's birthday. The slightly freckled and overly-enthusiastic chubby kid whose English is at the top of the class finally had his day. Bobby has been a handful since day one. Whether he was shouting the answer over the rest of the class, or having, what can only be described as, a complete meltdown because I forgot to give him a sticker when his team won for the day he always made things interesting. Today, though, all that was put behind us. Today Bobby brought me a piece of his white and purple birthday cake. Complete with a mountain of frosting and pink and purple layers, the individual portion of sugary, tooth-decaying delciousness sat on my desk for a full 35 minutes taunting me until class was over.

When the bell rang, I ran out of the classroom trailing markers, magnets and flashcards behind me and made straight for the teachers' lounge. Like a small child, I looked around to make sure there was no one watching and, with my grubby fingers, I carefully opened the plastic box. I peeled off the plastic wrapping that surrounded the cake and started licking the frosting from the top. Then, a mouthful of cake.

It didn't take more than 5 minutes to finish the thing and when I was done my face was covered with frosting. I tried to wipe it off before someone saw but my fingers were also covered with frosting, bits of cake and chalk dust. Eventually, I found some tissue in my backpack and was able to clean up the mess. Then, like the guilty child I was, I got on my bike and rode home to a nutritious dinner of vegetables and rice.