I'm 23! I've been looking forward to this day ever since my cousin Lindsay told me about "Golden Birthdays" several years ago, so I had always hoped 23 on the 23rd would a momentous occasion. And I must say, the day did not disappoint! Thursday, Friday, and Saturday all provided wonderful and surprising moments, and I'm just feeling a lot of love from all over the world!
So the fun actually started on Wednesday, when I woke up blissfully early and decided to make my way downtown for some shopping. I had a particular place in mind, a dress shop next to the Travelator (a giant escalator in Hong Kong to get people from Central to the Mid-Levels), which had had this gorgeous blue dress in its display window for the past couple of months. Every time I had passed by, I would always mentally take note of that dress, and since I kept thinking about it, I decided it was worthwhile to go and actually check it out and maybe try it on. So when I arrived at the shop, I browsed for a few minutes, but ultimately decided to try the dress on - it was a bit big, but once they pinned it all up to show how it would look once altered, it took my breath away. After a bit of negotiating, I decided to get it! The dressmaker would even do the alterations for free, and would make it a rush process since I wanted to have it for Friday! I felt very well taken care of, and absolutely thrilled with my present to myself!
Thursday started off auspiciously, as I awoke to an e-mail from Kacie with an embedded video, which featured my favorite 7 year-old and 4 year-old singing and dancing to a song they made up called "Hong Kong Jenny." As you can imagine, it's pretty much the cutest thing ever, and I've been playing it on repeat since. So I head out the door, just hoping to get through the busy day of a double lesson and four hours of faux interviews with my 2nd year students, not expecting anything spectacular until the next day.
I walk into my 1310 (my first-years) class, a couple of minutes late, and no one's there - there are a couple bags on the desks but not a student to be found. I'm seriously taken aback because usually no one in this class is ever late, they're always right in their seats, right on time. So I get a little concerned, wondering if maybe they had all left because they thought I wasn't coming, or if they were just boycotting my class because we had had a "come-to-Jesus" meeting about their latest assignment on Tuesday, and I was starting to think that they really didn't like me. Then Allyson, one of the other tutors, comes in and is like, "Where is everybody? What's going on with all of your students?" And at this point, I'm getting worried and a little upset because I just have no idea why they aren't there - then this random girl walks in and sits on top of a desk and pulls out her camera and points it at me, and I'm like, "Umm... what??" Then, all of the sudden, I hear people start singing "Happy Birthday" and I look over, and my entire class is walking into the room, carrying a birthday cake with candles and a big bouquet of flowers, and all singing to me!!! I was *shocked*!! I just about started crying right on the spot - it was absolutely one of the sweetest things I've ever seen. Not only did they bring me a cake and flowers, but they also brought me a card in which they had all written really sweet notes and gave me a big red Mickey Mouse pillow, which they told me I could sit on when I was grading their papers because they know it takes a long time. I was just absolutely speechless. I literally could not stop smiling all day. My students make me so, so happy.
My flowers!
The day just got better from there, as I received numerous birthday wishes from people in the English department, and after finishing up interviews, I ran down to Central for my second dress fitting. In addition to the dress being perfect, my dressmaker also offered me 50% of manicure the next day for my birthday and gave me her membership number for a show store so I could get a discount on new shoes for the dress? Was this a ploy just to make me contribute more money to the Hong Kong economy? Probably. Did it work? Yep. I came home already sporting a happy glow from the day's events, even though I still had quite some time before my actual birthday. That night, after midnight, my flatmates all came and wished me happy birthday and helped me celebrate as I bought myself my big birthday present. The best part is, I ended up getting a much better deal on my present than I expected, which virtually cancelled out the cost of the dress! So I was most certainly happy that I ended up making my purchase, on both accounts!
Friday began with the family calling me in the morning to wish/sing me happy birthday, which is always a lovely start to the day (as long as it's not at 6:15 AM!). I headed back downtown to pick up my dress and get my wonderfully relaxing manicure and made it back home in time to relax and watch the latest episode of Top Chef before starting to get ready. After a good three hours getting ready, some of which was spent curling my flatmate's hair (sound familiar, Elena and Rach?), we jumped on the bus and MTR and headed down to Tsim Sha Tsui, home of the Peninsula Hotel. The Peninsula, I believe, is the swankiest, most beautiful hotel in Hong Kong (and that's saying something), and one of their main attractions is the bar/restaurant on the 28th floor, featuring some of the most beautiful Harbour views in the city. So the flatmates and I ventured up here first for the evening for drinks and snacks - I had my favorite, Fraises Royale, which is the way-jazzed-up version of Strawberry Andre. It was lovely and a magnificent lead-off to the evening.
After drinks, we jumped on the MTR and headed across the Harbour to dinner at Wagyu, an Australian steakhouse in Lan Kwai Fong where we met up with Su and Ren. Now, given that I had been studying menus for weeks (and we know how much I enjoy this activity), I had solid expectations for this place, but oh my gracious goodness, it was PHENOMENAL, even better than I expected!! Here was my menu of the evening:
Appetizers:
Wild Mushroom Camembert (camembert cheese with assorted sauteed mushrooms with thin crackers and cranberry sauce - I expected it to be good, but it was beyond delicious, great flavor combinations!)
Portobello Mushroom Milanese (lightly breaded and fried with yummy greens and sauces)
Entree (get ready):
8 oz. Wagyu fillet
Medallion of foie gras
Whole portobello mushroom
Whole baked garlic
Blue Cheese Butter Sauce
Potatoes Au Gratin
Sesame Honey Carrots
Sweet mustard sauce
Now to be fair, most of the accoutrements came with the steak, but I will admit to ordering an extra side dish. And all I can say is AHHHHSOOOGOOOOD!!!!! I seriously could not take more than two bites without stopping and exclaiming to everyone at the table how unbelievably delicious it was. Could very well be the best steak I've ever had (but that's tough competition). My flatmate Annie also had a phenomenal meal of slow-cooked veal shanks, which when they came out, looked like it was essentially the entire baby cow - it was *huge*!! Overall, I think the meal was enjoyed by all, and I hope that I can return again soon!
My dinner before...
My dinner after! Steak demolished! Yummmm
Happily finishing sipping on my wine for the evening
After dinner, Annie and I decided to stay out a bit longer, and while at first we went wandering for a sports bar so I could watch "football" (by which I mean soccer), but given the lack of games that were on, we settled on going to bar called Tastings. Now imagine this (this is how Annie described it to me): It's basically like a really classy wine vending machine. They give you a card at the beginning, and you go through and browse the various bottles of wine of display, and you can choose either to have a tasting, a half-glass, or a full glass. You then stick your card in, make your choice, the charge is added to card, and the wine is poured from a little spout in front of the wine bottle. It's a brilliant idea, and if there aren't already places like this in the major cities in the US, I think they should be opened. Kacie, get on this.
See, classy wine vending machine.
Saturday also started in a wonderfully surprising way. I got a call from the Hong Kong postman that morning, telling me to come outside and get a package. Being delirious and not knowing who might be sending me a package, I stumbled out to be handed two boxes. Once I got inside and got them opened, I found out they were boxes of treats from Shijie's family!! It was a wonderful surprise, and a great start to that day! Plus it got me up early enough to be able to witness myself actually turning 23, which didn't happen until 12:03 PM on Saturday. Which of course, birthday 2.0 would be celebrated on Saturday night!
After a chill afternoon, Ally and I ventured out to Ocean Park, one of Hong Kong's biggest theme parks, which is famous for its Halloween Extravaganza (think Six Flags Fright Fest). It was fantastic!! A bit crowded, but still really fun. We walked around amongst the zombies and ghouls that were terrifying the park's visitors all over the place - I screamed at every one that jumped out at me, even if I saw it from a mile away. We went through one of the haunted houses (with lines over an hour, it was all we had time for!) and rode some of the rides, the scariest of which was actually just the cable car over the mountain, which was extraordinarily steep and kind of horrifying! My favorite part of the night was dancing to "I Gotta Feeling" with a giant monster.
At the entrance to Ocean Park with our newly acquired headgear
Dancing with the Monsters
After Ocean Park, I headed back to downtown to meet up with my fellow BR '09er, Brittany and her fellow Fulbright-er Emem for a night of revelry. After several solid hours of dancing, we ended up sitting outside Club 7-11, eventually making our way over to the Flying Pan, a 24 hour breakfast joint, around 5am. The perfect cap to a fantastic weekend: Bacon and cheese grits with good people.
After having a few very busy days with work and Yale-China business, I received two more final birthday joys: the making of the Funfetti cake that my mom had sent over a few weeks ago last night, and then the arrival of birthday cards from the whole family today! I even received a fantastic new Colt McCoy jersey, which a little bird tells me is from my dad - Thank you so, so much Dad!! I love it!! I can't wait to wear it around HK tomorrow!
Overall, this was one of the best birthdays I could have asked for - I only wish all of my favorite people from back home and school could have been here with me, but just know that I appreciate the love I was getting from around the world that day! Thank you so, so much to everyone who made the day/days/week so wonderful!!
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