Happy Birthday dear Zak-O!
Today is my "baby" brother's birthday! This year he is 14 years old....do I ever feel old!
Zak was born when I was in grade 6, and was in kindergarten the year I graduated from high school! We've always had a special bond, maybe because I changed so many of his diapers, or maybe because he's a lot like me ;)
We had a baby we could play with and later on a slave we could send on missions (Zaaak... go tickle ______ (insert name of target sibling), weren't we awful! But he's a very cute and affectionate kid.
Last year Zak came to Taiwan with my parents for a visit, and he got to celebrate his 13th birthday here! My first birthday overseas was my 22nd (in Brazil) so he's doing pretty darn good!
Zak made lots of Taiwanese friends when he was here, and discovered (or reaffirmed) his love for instant noodles. I think he'd move here just so he could eat instant noodles every day!
He also loved the little basketball machines they have everwhere here that let yoou shoot hoops and keep score (and even compete against other people) for just 10NT.
I hope he can come back to Taiwan again to visit, maybe even start his own private tutoring service haha! One of my Taiwanese friends joked that if he came back they could start a conversational class in their living room where he just plays with the kids for an hour or two, of course in English, since he doesn't speak
Chinese, though he's been learning a few phrases from me here and there!
Like xie xie, zai jian, and wo ai ni! (謝謝，再見，我愛你）Which of course mean thank you, goodbye, and I love you!
I have a little video in my archives of Zak (in the back) playing basketball at one of the machines in Hualian. It pretty accurately shows his expressive personality:
P.S. The blogger upload video function is really cool, but I have NO idea why there's a still picture of the video right below, nor do I know how to get rid of it... blah
Zak was born when I was in grade 6, and was in kindergarten the year I graduated from high school! We've always had a special bond, maybe because I changed so many of his diapers, or maybe because he's a lot like me ;)
We had a baby we could play with and later on a slave we could send on missions (Zaaak... go tickle ______ (insert name of target sibling), weren't we awful! But he's a very cute and affectionate kid.
Last year Zak came to Taiwan with my parents for a visit, and he got to celebrate his 13th birthday here! My first birthday overseas was my 22nd (in Brazil) so he's doing pretty darn good!
Zak made lots of Taiwanese friends when he was here, and discovered (or reaffirmed) his love for instant noodles. I think he'd move here just so he could eat instant noodles every day!
He also loved the little basketball machines they have everwhere here that let yoou shoot hoops and keep score (and even compete against other people) for just 10NT.
I hope he can come back to Taiwan again to visit, maybe even start his own private tutoring service haha! One of my Taiwanese friends joked that if he came back they could start a conversational class in their living room where he just plays with the kids for an hour or two, of course in English, since he doesn't speak
Chinese, though he's been learning a few phrases from me here and there!Like xie xie, zai jian, and wo ai ni! (謝謝，再見，我愛你）Which of course mean thank you, goodbye, and I love you!
I have a little video in my archives of Zak (in the back) playing basketball at one of the machines in Hualian. It pretty accurately shows his expressive personality:
P.S. The blogger upload video function is really cool, but I have NO idea why there's a still picture of the video right below, nor do I know how to get rid of it... blah
My "baby" brother is graduating, this year. That makes me feel very old... (though not quite as old as you, lol :P). He's also rivalling Zeke in height!
ReplyDeleteAww, what a sweet post. I can't believe he's 14, that sounds so old! I was about his age when Amy was in China, learning a few Chinese phrases from her, and never thought I'd end over there, so tell him to watch out!
ReplyDeleteThank you Charlotte. I am missing you a lot and your blog entry is making me so happy im crying. I love you so much and i wish you were here right now.
ReplyDeleteWith love,
Zak