Shanghai'd

Happy Birthday - Chinese style!
Yesterday I turned 24, which was special for many reasons:
1. It was our first birthday celebration in China.
2. Every 12 years in China, you celebrate a special year. You know those placemats at Chinese restaurants with the Chinese zodiac? Each animal represents a Chinese lunar year and they cycle through every 12 years. Meaning, if you were born in 1982 like me you are a dog and this is a special year! Chinese often do not ask your age, but if they find out your animal they can make a good guess!
I got to celebrate with 2 surprises. On Thursday, I met Tim and his work colleagues at NI Shanghai to find them all in the lobby, prepared to take me to a local Shanghainese restaurant. These people are the best hosts. The place ended up being a KTV (karaoke) restaurant, and I was worried for a minute I would have to sing! Instead we were taken to a banquet room. Two Chinese ordered and the food started coming: lotus with sticky rice, evergreen (yum!), tofu with 1000 year old eggs, fried duck skin "tacos", sweet and sour spare ribs, and a kind of shanghainese hamburger, and more - we were stuffed! Then the KTV came loud over the speaker - sheng ri kuai le! We had cake and sang in both English and Chinese. Such wonderful hosts.
Last night Tim had another surprise for me. He came home with flowers and we got dressed to go to a mystery location. I was blindfolded in the cab and couldn't open my eyes until we were looking out over Shanghai from 57 stories up. We weren't there yet, we changed elevators - twice - until we were at the 87th floor of the 3rd tallest building in the world - the Jin Mao tower. We had drinks at the Cloud 9 bar and went to dinner at the Club Jin Mao (only on the 86th floor). The food was amazing, as was the view. What a wonderful birthday in China. ;-)