Et tu Brett-e?

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So yesterday of course was the Ides of March. The fateful day in 44 BC where Julius Caesar met his untimely death. Some 2000 years later, yours truly entered the world.

Well, this year my birthday would be spent in Beijing. This was extremely weird for those back home sending me birthday wishes because, given the time difference, they would have to do so the day before. Many seemed confused why they were wishing me a happy birthday on March 14th. From my perspective it was "Brett-fest '06" in that when I talked to some of my family the next day....it was still my birthday. Two full days of birthday....crazy!

However, when I mentioned my birthday to Chinese people...they usually had the same reaction....March 15th is an important day in China. "Oh yeah," I would reply, "What is it?" To the best of my ability here's what I could piece together. March 15 is "Consumer Day" in China. It is a day when complaints can be lodged against companies for bad business practice or bad products....then the names of these companies are broadcast to the nation and it is explained what they have done. They also highlight companies that have done a good job. According to my host brother, consumers can even bring products down to the TV station to be on TV to show how bad they are. He told me a tale of one company who claimed to be manufacturing flooring for over a 100 years, and have a partnership in Europe...as it turns out...on further investigation...the company has only been around a few years... stamps their name on some cheap factory immitation...and Europe has never heard of them. I was told that they lost a lot of customers following this expose on Consumer Day a few years back.

Anway, the day was a wondeful adventure. It began at 6 in the morning when I waited by the phone for the entire US (Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Florida, and New York) all checked in to wish me a happy birthday. Then I made my way to school where I would teach 5, 7th grade classes in a row. In a weird twist of fate, our topic for the day's lesson was festivals. A perfect opportunity to ensure that much of the youth of China knew it was my birthday. However, in true teacher form, I gave a little apptitude quiz on holidays, and the final clue on question 8 was..."This is probably the most important festival in all of America...it is today..." Okay, so maybe I overhyped it a tad...but they all got the right answer when I showed them my birthday bear sent to me by my girlfriend back home. One class sang...it was pretty cool. I love my birthday, so any chance I get to share with others of the special day is firmly taken.

The evening activities included going out to Italian food with some friends. Yes, Chicken Picatta...in China on my birthday. The weirdest part was...that is exactly what I did last year. The difference being that this year it was a restaurant named Annie's in Beijing....last year an Italian restuarant in Waltham, Massachusetts. The food was tasty....the most enjoyable part was the bread at the table!!! Yum...how I miss bread!

The best part was yet to come! When I arrived home later that evening my host family had purchased me a Birthday cake. My host father went to a famous pastry shop and asked them to write "Happy Birthday" special in English on the cake. I was so happy! My host brother got me a Chinese music CD and host cousin got me something called a diablo...see picture.

They sang to me in Chinese....which is the same tune as English...but in Chinese. I blew out the candles...and we ate cake....it was great. I really feel part of the family, and this experience cemented it. Tonight they made me (I would have had it last night had I not been out to dinner) something called the Long Life Noodle....basically long noodles in a stew one gets on his/her birthday to bring long life.

Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes! It made me feel closer to home.

Until next time,
Brett

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