Since the 26th of December was Saturday, there was no cake hour. Today, however, we had a cake to celebrate the birthday of one of our colleagues from China. Today was the closest cake hour to the date so she brought in a cake and we helped celebrate her natal day.
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| Good looking cake for a belated birthday! |
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| includes a serving of fruit! |
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| It looks pretty gooey but it wasn't! |
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| The birthday girl disappeared but time to cut the cake! |
The cake was from a local supermarket. Take one look, especially the top, and you would think it is going to be pretty gooey. But it wasn't! The light chocolate frosting was actually made of whipped cream which, as you should know by now, is preferred because it is lighter. The chocolate cake was fresh and moist and only one layer - good for the waistline - so you didn't get filled up. It was a good choice to celebrate with and we dutifully sang Happy Birthday to our coworker.
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| The whipped cream frosting kept it light! |
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| Celebrating our colleague but not necessarily Mao! |
It turns out, the 26th is also the birthday of Chairman Mao Zedong or Mao Tse-tung as it used to be transliterated - the head of the Communist party who overthrew the Kuomintang and became dictator/premier of the People's Republic. So we were told it was easier for our friend to always remember her birthday since Chairman Mao's birth would be celebrated the same day. Who knew? There was some confusion with a Japanese colleague over the correct Chinese characters for Mao Zhedong. From this we learned that Mao simplified the Chinese characters so everyone could be taught to read. Apparently other places still use the Traditional Characters such as Japan and Taiwan. At least now we know why there are two selections when you are choosing a language for your computer...assuming you speak Chinese.
生日快乐毛泽东 - Happy Birthday Mao - simplified characters!
生日快樂毛澤東 - Happy Birthday Mao - traditional. Yup, there is a difference!
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