I thought that my birthday would be a relatively typical school day -- alarm goes off, get up, get ready, run for the bus, barely make it to school, look at the daily calender, find out the day's flower, teach, grade papers, have fish for lunch.... -- you know, all the typical stuff! But I was pleasantly surprised by several of my students as I made my morning rounds. The day before, three of my 2nd year girls just randomly asked me how old I was. To make them think a little, I said "Today I'm 25. Tomorrow I will be 26." Well, I guess they figured out the "English riddle" because they greeted me in the hall with a jolly version of Happy Birthday (in English too!) Here in Japan, birthdays aren't as popular as they are in the US. Birthday celebrations are the epitome of the individual and since Japan is a community-oriented society, birthdays don't quite fit in. In fact, I recently read that everyone "celebrates" their birthdays together on January 1st. I guess you could say that its the official "community birthday!" Anyway, I have tried to introduce my own customs of birthdays to my kids by giving them each a special card on their birthday. About a month ago, one of my sweetest, smartest students wrote me a thank you note for her card, and asked me when my birthday was. However, I was completely shocked and touched when after class she handed me a birthday card (above). Not only had she written her own message, but she also translated the message "Every encounter is a once-in-a-lifetime encounter. Thanks for this encounter." If only she knew how true the words are!
P.S. So the July 1st birthday flower is a fig geranium. Anyone know what it is? I couldn't find a picture of it!
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