Micky Walker

Micky’s 32^nd Birthday

     I am 32 years old but this is the best birthday I’ve ever had. I had a hard time last year but my students, colleagues and my friends gave me an unforgettable birthday! Two days before my birthday, a friend took me for a drive to the northeast coast, to have lunch and bought me a tasty cake. He's such a nice guy. 

    天哪!我32歲了!但今年生日是我擁有過最棒的生日。雖然過了很不順遂的一年，然而我的學生、同事和朋友們今年給了我令人難忘的生日！在我生日的前兩天，一個朋友載我去東北海岸兜風、吃飯，還買了好吃的蛋糕給我。他真的是一個很棒的人。

On my birthday, all my students sang “Happy Birthday” to me and my class held a birthday party for me! They bought me a big cake and it read “Happy Birthday, Teacher Micky” (We Chinese always call the teacher “Teacher”, not “Mr.” or “Mrs.”). All of us have a small piece of cake but my students put the frosting on my face instead of eating the cake! How naughty they were! I wouldn’t be angry with them cause I am today’s birthday girl. Haha!

     在我生日的這一天，我教的每班學生都祝我生日快樂，還唱了生日快樂歌。我們班的小鬼則訂了一個大蛋糕給我，上面寫著”美琪老師，生日快樂”。切完蛋糕，每人分到一小塊，但小鬼們沒吃完反倒是抹在我臉上，真是…皮啊！但我今天不會生氣，因為我今天是壽星呀！

     My colleagues are really nice to me. A teacher sent me roses after he learned my birthday. I guess that’s because I teach his class English. ^_^. That evening, my colleagues, aka my close friends, celebrated my birthday in a nice Italian restaurant. I forgot to take photos because the Italian cuisine was so delicious that we “devoured” all the dishes right after they were served. After dinner, they sent me an amazing gift that every girl wants --- a “Tiffany” necklace! That was the best gift that I have ever had! They said they couldn’t find me a good guy but they could afford a nice necklace. ‘Thank you so much, dear Jen and Ping.’ The “Tiffany” is as good as a diamond and diamonds are women’s best friends, better than men!  

     我的同事眞的對我好好。有一位老師在得知我生日後特地送我一束玫瑰。我猜那是因為我教他們班英文吧！^_^ 那天晚上，我的好友們，也是我的同事，在一間很棒的義大利餐廳幫我慶生。我忘了拍照大概是因為義大利菜太好吃以致於菜一上桌我們就掃光了。餐後，他們送給我每個女孩都想要的禮物---一條Tiffany的項鍊！那眞的是我收過最棒的禮物！他們說無法送我一個好男人所以就送給我一條很棒的項鍊。真是太謝謝你們了，親愛的雅媜和國萍。這條Tiffany跟鑽石一樣棒，而鑽石是女人的最好的朋友，比男人更棒！

  
  My colleagues are so nice to me, not to mention my best friends in college. Jo Jo, who is working on her PhD in London, gave me a call from Swiss. She was spending her Easter holidays with her boyfriend but she didn’t forget to give me a call to wish me good luck. Gloria, known to everybody, who is my classmate both in college and graduate school, gave me a call too. Another good friend, Fanny, who also teaches in Taipei, brought a bottle a red wine to celebrate my birthday the next day. A couple, whom I met in a tour to Europe four years ago, invited me to another Italian restaurant to have lunch and sent me another necklace the next day. Thank God for giving me so many wonderful friends. I am not rich but I have valuable friendship!

     我的同事對我很好，更不用說我的朋友們。我那在倫敦攻讀博士的朋友，于喬，特地遠從瑞士打電話來祝福。她雖人現在跟她男友放復活節假期去還是沒忘記捎來生日祝福。大家所知的秋萍，我大學兼研究所的同學，也打電話來祝福。還有一位好友，秀芬，同樣在台北教書的，在我生日後一晚帶來紅酒和晚餐來幫我慶生。還有一對夫婦，四年前在一趟歐洲之旅認識的朋友，不僅請我吃義大利餐，還送我一條漂亮的項鍊。感謝老天賜給我這麼棒的朋友。我不富有但我有珍貴的友誼。

     Two days after my birthday, a student, whom I taught ten years ago, invited me to lunch to celebrate my birthday. We went to Chillis, a Mexican restaurant. (Thank God, not another Italian restaurant. I had had Italian cuisine for two days!) It was quite cool to have Mexican food. To my surprise, I bumped into a student I used to teach at the restaurant. She is the waitress at the restaurant! (I must be so old that I meet students at the restaurant quite often!) I had fajitas and steak. The way we eat fajitas is similar to the way we eat Chinese spring roll. We put some stuff in a flour tortilla and roll it up to eat it up! Look at me in the picture below. Ha ha! Yummy, yummy. The only true fajitas, however, are made from skirt steak. I am lucky to born in Taiwan so that I can enjoy all kinds of food around the world, tasty and not too expensive. Taiwan is such a “Formosa”! I am so lucky that I have so many friends and students to celebrate my birthday or pass their blessings by messages or e-mail. Thank you, thank you all, my dear friends.   
 
          
       在我生日的第二天，一個我十年前教的學生，請我去一家墨西哥餐廳吃中餐來幫我慶生。（還好不是義大利餐廳，我已經連續兩天吃義大利菜了！）吃墨西哥菜還蠻酷的。初我意料之外，我在這家餐廳巧遇一名以前教過的學生，她現在是這家的服務生。（我一定是老了，老是在餐廳裡遇到學生，唉！）我們吃了法式達和牛排。法式達的吃法跟春捲挺像的。就是將食物配料放在玉米麵皮裡包起來吃掉就是啦！看照片裡的我，好吃咧！我覺得生在台灣挺幸運的，可以享受各國美食又不用花大錢，真棒！台灣真是個是寶島！