Birthday on Campus

When I taught non-credit, I had a list of everybody's birthday, and when someone's big day came up, I'd bring a cupcake to class, put a candle in it, light it, and have the class sing "Happy Birthday" to the honoree.  Then I'd ask the birthday person to cut it into 40 pieces so everyone could have some.  They'd ask when my birthday was, and there were cakes--whole ones!--when my birthday came around.

We don't do that in Credit ESL.  I don't know when they were born, and they don't know when I was born except that it was a long, long, long time ago.

Still, I celebrated my birthday on campus because a friend whose birthday and retirement I had wanted to celebrate insisted on treating me.

The day began well enough in spite of my having lost a number of items.  I had good energy and a call from Jonathan wishing me a happy birthday and telling me he could get a cheap flight here for Thanksgiving!  Then after I'd been blocked from getting out of my driveway and the light turned green, some kind soul stopped to let me out even though he wouldn't have had to wait, anyway, for a red light.

Here's a song to the tune of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco"

I leave my house.  At least I try to
On 19th Avenue, my street.
I wait until their light is red.
But they speed up ahead.
They only stop
To block
My way
Every day...

I haven't yet written the end of the song when the kind soul lets me out!

Once on campus I found the yellow folder I'd been looking for, so I had my scored Scantrons for the "Meat" section of Chew on This and the group work pages for ESL 142 002.  Two copy machines were working, and Miguel, a Spanish teacher who loves Madrid as much as I do, was there to rhapsodize about Spain with me.

A student returning to classes just so she won't lose her student visa and return to China accompanied me to the registration office to turn in the signed-by-both form reinstating her, and on my way I saw a distinguished woman, who turned out to be a Tonga, here at CCSF since 1989.  When I asked her whether I could take her picture, she said, "Why not?"  A response I loved.

Later I'll tell you about he lunch I had with my retiree-friend-since-1976 and the funny things he said as well as the former student--one of the best--who greeted us.