Photo of the Week 1: My Birthday

So, I realize that I don't always get around to posting as much as I'd like. This is partially due to the fact that I am easily distracted by the Internet, but also because it can be time-consuming. In an effort to share a bit more of my experiences, I've decided to share a new picture and the story behind it every Saturday. I hope you enjoy getting to see more of my favorite pictures! And please, harass me if there is not a new photo of the week every week!

So here it is, Photo of the Week #1:

This picture is from my birthday (December 17th, of course). I love this photo for several reasons:

1. First, my amazing coworkers surprised me with a birthday cake! And when I say surprised I mean that I was really and truly shocked when they came into the teacher's room with a bunch of TA's in tow and excited kids trying to figure out whose birthday it was!
2. I'm cutting this cake with a metal ruler. Knives are not commonly used here, and none of us were able to find one. So we improvised with a (thoroughly washed) ruler! Worked perfectly, and it took less than a minute to cut it all.
3. If you haven't noticed, I'm wearing a yellow shirt with the King's face on it (and it says "We love father" in Thai, which refers to the King). The monarch is much loved in Thailand, and his birthday (December 5th) is a national holiday. Everything shuts down so that people can celebrate! One of the King's colors is yellow, and everyone in the country wore it for the entire month of December to show their love of the King! It was certainly strange walking by a restaurant to see everyone wearing the same shade of yellow.