Yesterday I turned 21! Hooray, huzzah, and jubilation!
My birthday is on the 15th. the day after Valentines day. Because of the way the scheduling worked out, this whole weekend has been one big off and on party for me.
Saturday, most everyone came over and we had a big dinner at the Hunan restaurant down the street. For Chinese birthdays, typically person takes his friends out and treats them, where in America it's (not quite, but mostly) the other way around. I expected to pay more for dinner, but we were able to feed nine people for 120 kuai. That's less than 20 USD. I love China.
After dinner we came back to the apartment to party for most of the night. More friends showed up as the night progressed. I was gifted with such things as scented lanterns, wine, and balloons. Then there was the cake. Saffron bought me a wonderful cake, which so eloquently reads: Happy Birthday Minge. (I guess it's more of an English English word.) She's such a good friend. :P
Sunday night most people were either tired from the previous day, or busy, but Saffron and I managed to get a couple friends over and out to a club. Then we fed Saffrons addiction and went to KTV. Great weekend, and a great way to have a birthday.
Then came Monday morning. For most of this weekend I was under the impression that I did not have work on Monday. So when we got back from KTV, it was about 6:30~ in the morning. Somehow I was still wide awake and got to checking things on my computer. This was probably a good thing, because it meant I was awake when I got a phone call at about 6:50. They needed me to come in to work today.
I have no idea how I managed to do it, but I did the full day with nothing but a nap during the big gap in between my classes. It was a great day at work, actually. One of the teachers there had a birthday too, so we each gave each other a piece of chocolate. All of the classes sang Happy Birthday to me, and I got to teach them some of the silly alternative verses to the song.
I can only hope that next year goes half this well.
1 comment:
I turned 21 while in China as well. In Ireland the tradition when turning 21 is to get blind drunk, which is not really my cup of tea! So, my best friend and I went to a fancy Russian restaurant (we were in Harbin). We actually splashed out on a bottle of wine so that pushed up the bill a bit, but 120 kuai on a meal for 9 people is some achievement :) !
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