Happy Birthday, Hamnida!

Gone are the days when children simply bring in a box of Munchkins for their classmates on their birthday.

It was Yoon's birthday today; the first birthay celebration of Happy Class since its inception in July. Yoon technically turned five years old but here a birthday is just a celebration, not a change in age. He will turn "six" when everyone else does, on January first.

Birthday parties last a full forty minute period and this one consisted of a cake, kimbap, chicken McNuggets, tangerines, apples, and marine life shaped 'Goldfish' wannabes. Almost all the kids brought a gift and most of them opened them up for Yoon. I think only one tried to keep the gift she brought. It was a book about Christmas.

Birthday days are always exciting in the staff room because we get the leftovers. Another birthday party that happened today raked in two pizzas, one of which was a sweet potato variety. Why hasn't the West incorporated potato wedges and corn nibblets into its pizza repertoire? I don't know how I'll eventually live without them. There are one or two more birthday parties tomorrow. I'm saving money on groceries.

For the first time ever, Yoon wouldn't smile. That crazy kid.