June 22nd was my 27th birthday. We'll start with a fun fact. In China everyone's age changes on the new year no matter when you were born. So in China I was supposed to start telling everyone I was 27 when the new year hit. I couldn't do it. I know, I know, you're supposed to "become all things to all people" and I'm sure someone could give me twenty reasons why it's important to "engulf yourself in the culture" and be one with the people or something, but frankly, I just don't really like this custom. I liked being 26 until June. Another birthday fact, when it's your birthday in China you pay for dinner. Weird.
Customs aside, my birthday was awesome. My husband took me on a birthday date to Shanghai. In the morning we went to the fake market, where we pretty much did all our Christmas shopping in an hour and a half. I'm getting pretty good at bargaining. Turns out you get a better price when you speak Chinese. Then DeMarco's Italian Restaurant for lunch - I'm drooling just thinking about it. Smoothie's for dessert, and then to one of my favorite places in China - IKEA. We bought a crib, crib mattress, and a chair, along with our Christmas presents, which made for an interesting ride home on the train. Turns out it's a little precarious carrying a 4ft. by 3ft. box into the taxi, through security, up a flight of stairs, in the waiting room, through a huge crowd of people all pushing to get through a tiny gate, down a broken escalator and into your train seats.
On Thursday the volunteer teams and our co-workers threw me an awesome party at TGIFridays, where I got to blow out the two tea lights on my birthday dessert and one candle that came separately. Then onto some epic Egyptian themed KTV (kereoke). It was a blast - thanks guys.
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