Birthday Fun

Today was my friend's birthday.

Like birthdays in the U.S., my friend's celebration included cake, candles, snacks, and beer.

Unlike birthdays in the U.S., it also involved a rousing variation on duck-duck-goose, as well as a mid-celebration shower break.

Since it is too hot to stay indoors, the celebration was held at the only outdoor party venue on campus: the track. We set up in the middle of the soccer field, spread out some newspapers to sit on, and got started. After singing the obligatory birthday song (in English for my benefit), and drinking the requisite birthday toast, we dug in.

The cake was actually better than the average Chinese birthday cake, meaning that I could just about make out a tiny bit of flavor (is that coconut?) above the sickly sweet taste of the mountainous frosting. It was kind of like having a mouthful of sugar-infused shaving cream.

Anyway, I was innocently enjoying my cake when it began: the frosting fight. (Like the song and the toast, this appears to be a mandatory part of every Chinese birthday party.) Despite my initial resolution to "sit this one out", within seconds I had a giant gob of frosting on my cheek and was sporting what appears to be a frosting hat. A war cry could be heard as I ran ahead wielding a plate of half-eaten cake.

As it turns out, no one was spared.

The war may have gone on indefinitely if it were not for the fact that we eventually ran out of cake. At some point we realized that we had nothing left to throw, and were stuck standing, breathless, in the middle of a large field, covered in yellow cake and white frosting. Moreover, the latter was attracting insects. Thus, the shower break. Well, if you consider a rusty faucet in the nearest public restroom to be a shower. Everyone's face, neck, arms, and hair got thoroughly rinsed, so I say it counts.

I know that now you're thinking "geez - what could be more fun than a frosting fight? the rest of this entry is going to be so boring!" But you are so wrong. The best is to come.

Duck-duck-goose? Yeah, we played. Not much to tell.

What could be more fun than duck-duck-goose and a frosting fight?

Why truth-or-dare of course!!

That's right, the source of so many stories and scandals has made it to the Far East.

Examples of Dares:

"Go up to that guy and tell him he's hot."
"Shout your name across the field."
"Pretend to hug guy-you-like-but-won't-admit-you-like."

Examples of Truths:

"Do you like guy-you-like-but-won't-admit-you-like?"
"If you had to marry one of the following guys in our class, which one would you choose?"

Hello middle school. Did you miss me?