Birthday Madness in Nanjing!!

So after mom and dad left shanghai, I had lots of work to do and it was sad cuz I wasn't eating expensive meals and enjoying the peninsula spa, haha. but then thursday we left for nanjing and my birthday weekend extravaganza! :)

when we got on the train, magnolia brought out two bottles of champagne! (very hard to find in china) it was super cute! And she had fruit to put in it and homemade me guacamole cuz it's one of my favs. soooo adorable! and I love christmas (duh) and I also love oreos so I get really excited every year when they christmas ones come out and she found them! basically, we had a very fun train ride. Then we had a lot of trouble getting to and checking into the hotel, super annoying. but it worked out in the end. We went to a bar called talking and got some drinks and dinner. We met some foreign students (british and canadian mostly) at the bar and they recommended a bunch of places to go for the weekend so that was nice.

Friday morning we got some food at a bakery for breakfast and then took the subway. Instead of tickets, they just had these little plastic tokens. It was weird. haha. We went to Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum, which was up this mountain/hill in the middle of the city. It was really pretty at the top. lots of fun.

in front of the mausoleum

the view of the city/the hill from the top of the mausoleum

oh ya, btw. so there's this drink called a smirnoff ice. It's technically a "malt beverage" i think, but it's basically a really really weak (like 4.5%) mixed drink with vodka and fruity flavors. and they're really girly. there's a game that a lot of college age kids play where you "ice" people. basically you make them find it without them knowing and then when they find it, they have to chug it while on one knee. This happened to me about 8 times in two days. the first time was at the mausoleum. My friend Jay goes "I don't like holding my fleece in photos" and hands it to me and inside is the smirnoff ice.

me being "Iced"

after the mausoleum, a few of us went to the lake and got snacks and then magnolia and I rode a boat. it was really cute.

me driving the boat, two speeds: forward and backward

we had decided to make friday night the big birthday night, so we went to a really nice/cute french restaurant for dinner. I had foie gras, escargots, steak, and chocolate fondant. yum! And Magnolia knew how much I love wearing crowns on my birthday so she found a birthday girl cinderella crown and fake pearls to wear. It was great. And Alex had tried to get me an ice cream cake from DQ but they didn't have any cakes so instead she got me an oreo blizzard (my fav). It was really sweet. Then we went to talking bar again and the bar people brought me cake and a shot. Everyone kept buying me drinks/shots and taking my picture and the chinese men behind us kept giving me roasted garlic on a stick. haha. Then we karaoked and it was epic, as usual.

Saturday, MY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOO!!!!!!!!!! I got iced immediately upon waking up and had to drink it in the shower. pretty funny. We went to lunch and got burgers and crepes. I got iced again there. And my friend Sup accidentally found the ice that was planted for me, haha. then we went to a confucius temple and old town area. It was pretty typical in my opinion.

me banging the gong at the temple

We went to mcdonalds to get a drink there and magnolia asked them to give me something special cuz it was my birthday. They said that was only for children but they'd announce my birthday on the intercom. So when they did, I stood up and waved to everyone. haha. Then they played different versions of happy birthday for like 10 mins. Then we went home and napped for a bit, then took a group boat ride on the lake. It was fun cuz the lights were all lit up around it. Chinese people love lights. They do them pretty well. Then we went to a teppanyaki japanese all you can eat and drink dinner (like hibachi, with the big grill and stuff). We got a private room cuz there were a lot of us. balloons were tied to my chair. It was delicious!!! lots of sushi, grilled food, sake shots. We got our chef really really drunk with the sake. haha. It was pretty epic. Then we met up with our nanjing local friends and went to a few bars and clubs. very fun. (lots more ice-ing happened all night)

Today, we went to the rape of nanjing (big massacre commited by the japanese during WWII) memorial, or so we thought. We only saw things about how the "KMT reactionaries murdered the good communists" during the chinese civil war. haha. pretty interesting.

me at the memorial hall with a balloon I was forced to tie to me all day. It's haibao, the shanghai expo mascot. he's everywhere.

then trained home. got iced again on the train. not happy about that one. haha. two more weeks left in china! and that means this blog will die too. so sad! :( we have lots of papers and presentations and exams in the next week or so, but then we have like 2/3 days to chill out and have fun before we have to leave! Ready to go home but also really going to miss china and all my new friends! I love you guys!