Happy Birthday!

Hi everyone!

I hope all of my blog readers are doing well. I wish I could email you all more directly, but at the moment I can't even read my gmail, so I'm happy I have this option!

Well of course the big news this week was...my birthday! Due to the fact that my students were well warned about my impending personal holiday (we have a birthday calendar on the wall), they've been running around whispering to each other for weeks it seems. Every once in a while I would get the question, "Ms. Meghan, what's your favorite flavor of cake?" or "Ms. Meghan, what's your favorite color?" Sometimes one of them would actually say "There's going to be a surprise for your birthday!", then they would be indignantly shushed by the others. Finally the whispering got to the point that I made a joke of it, closing my ears whenever anyone started to make hints, saying "I don't know anything about that!" Finally on the day itself, they were all in a tizzy, whispering to "let all the teachers know", and yet somehow still believing I had no idea. They arranged (through another very transparent ploy) to get me out of the room for break time, and then when I came back, well, let's just say I didn't have to practice my surprised face too much because they proceeded to shower me in snow spray, party string, and tinsel with the loudest "Surprise!" I'd heard in...just about my whole life. Very cute. They were all very excited, and we had cake, played music, and they watched me all open my presents. A nice happy birthday part for all, followed by math games for a little while (I got a little learning in there!). So here we all are, complete with my overlarge birthday card. You can also see my gifts, and flowers, with Mon Mon, my assistant next to them. Mon Mon is my "right hand", and it's been nice working together this year.

In the evening, Todd and I went out to the nearby Trader's Hotel for dinner, a delicious Indian buffet, which came courtesy of Todd's mom Cathy. Thank you Cathy! We would have included a photo, but we forgot the camera!

My other picture is from our "Who Discovered America?" talk show we had this week. I was surprised at how well Myanmar kids could perform. I think they must have a few talks shows themselves because we had some arguments, just like you'd get on any talk show in the states, the only difference was Columbus was arguing with a Native American. It was good fun!

Todd has been putting together a website for his classroom, and so if any of you would like to see some photos and other info, check out:
http://web.mac.com/todd_davis8/iWeb/Site

Take care everyone!
love, Meghan