Happy Birthday

I’m a whopping 28 years old this week. If I were Chinese, the advancement in age would be most welcome. With it comes cultural respect and freedom from parental control. But, because I’m American, I value youth. Sometimes I wonder if there are any similarities between East and West.

Also, birthdays are celebrated differently in Asia. The older you get, the more elaborate the party becomes. But “older” means reaching 70 or 80. So, turning 28 isn’t worth much mention here in Hong Kong.

However, I did get a birthday gift from one of my kindergartens. At the beginning of the school year I was told that the kindergarten’s administration would either buy me a birthday gift or just give me $70 HKD.

But then I received an e-mail from the school asking a most peculiar request:

The school will give a maximum of H.K 70 dollars, for you to buy a gift. In this regard, please could you buy a birthday gift of H.K 70 dollars, at your own cost first, and then bring it together with the receipt to school on Wednesday, 30 January 2008 for repayment.

So Wednesday rolled around and I didn’t have a gift for myself. Partly I was curious about the seriousness of their request. So when I was asked to cough up the goods I told them that I’d use my lunch break to go birthday shopping for myself.

The next day was the big birthday party. The IT man came to the teacher’s gathering with his over-sized digital camera. There were six teachers with January/February birthdays. Each one brought a beautifully wrapped gift. The headmistress of the school called my name last for the photo-op of us shaking hands while she presented me the self-selected present.

Before I walked up, one of the teachers whispered in my ear, “Every year I just wrap a box with nothing inside. That way I just keep the $70.”

Too little, too late. I walked up and the headmistress handed me a very thin gift card with no wrapping. In the photo, I’m sure my face is red.