Crazy for Shanghai: 02/18/09

I celebrated my 25th birthday yesterday.

I'm officially a quarter of a century old.

Somehow some of my coworkers found out about this last week and told me that they would take me out to a nice restaurant. Of course this sounded great and I was grateful for the gesture.

What I didn't know, and what I never expected, was for the news to spread like wildfire through to every student and teacher at school, and to then be presented with well wishes, notes, presents, cards, flowers, and treats by nearly every one there. It was incredibly humbling to be so well thought of, and it definitely left a lasting impression that will stay with me for a long time.

My most prized possessions are the hand-made cards from various students (most of whom I never even taught!) because they made sure to spell my name correctly and each wrote a nice note wishing me health and happiness, and of course, eternal beauty (a favourite of theirs).

That evening for supper, I was taken to the "Pretty Red Fish" restaurant. They specialize in Seafood and the food is indeed delicious and very fresh, as it's the kind of place you walk into, go straight to the ‘aquariums’ and pick your meal while it's still alive.

Of course they had pre-chosen the dishes for this occasion because they wanted to make sure they had "only the best" for this evening. This included the restaurant's best wine, and two GIANT cakes which I was to bring home to share with the English teachers in my residence.

20 teachers shared the table and ate at least 15 different starters, 25 different plates of food, 10 different desserts, and a few bottles of wine. The most amusing thing I’ve come to notice is how they drink their wine and beer here. It isn’t sipped on like in North America, but rather, taken like a shot of liquor. You basically go around the table, Cheers a fellow friend, and chug-a-lug. It was definitely a different way of doing it and I appreciate the enthusiasm they have for this. They especially loved saying Bottoms Up or I Love You before inviting someone to a shot.

Not only did I enjoy myself, but I was able to try a few traditional and regional specialities: frog, jellied pork, some kind of seafood cartilage, clams, jellied crab, and a handful of other tasty treats. .. I don’t know that I would eat most of those dishes again, but I am quite glad to have tried them.

By the end of the night, I had done various beer and wine shots, had eaten things I never knew existed, been sung Happy Birthday a dozen times, had been given two flower bouquets, a multitude of cards, gifts, and eaten cake with Chopsticks; not only do I think I was so lucky, but I am also proud to say that it all happened here in China.

To cap off the evening, I came back to residence and had a beer with my fellow English teachers while we munched on my second cake and talked about life here in China. It was a pretty perfect end of night and sleep welcomed me by the time we were done.

Here are a few pictures from that day.... and yes, I am bragging just a little bit here.

Enjoy!