January 28, 2017
11:45 pm
Beijing, China
Do you remember your last birthday? Did you have a big party, a small little get together with friends, or did you spend it on your own? I sincerely hope you spent it with the people you love doing something you enjoy. Today was my 23rd birthday and, truthfully, it was a little weird. Like most birthdays, I don’t feel any different. No big miraculous change occurred at midnight China time or midnight Ohio time or any other time during the day. But it was a bit different to spend my birthday in a foreign country without family or close friends around.
My birthday started out with a bang, literally. 12:00am January 28, 2017 was the official start of the Year of the Rooster (also my Chinese zodiac). As such, the sky was lit up by fireworks to an even greater extent than it had been the day before. When I awoke this morning, I had a few birthday wishes from friends here in China. As Saturday arrived in Ohio, I received loving texts from my family and some good friends. It was a wonderful way to start my day.
I did not want to spend my birthday cooped up at home, so although I did sleep in and take my time getting ready, Taylor and I left around 2 to head up into the city center. Remember how I mentioned that the city is pretty dead right now. Yeah, I didn’t realize how true that was until we hopped on the train into town. There were so few people, it was crazy. Even arriving at Sanlitun, a big expat area in Beijing, the streets were “deserted.” Okay, they weren’t really empty, but there were way fewer people than there normally would be, especially on a Saturday. Once we arrived in Sanlitun, Taylor and I made our way to Bookworm, a cozy international bookstore/library. There’s a cafe/restaurant inside and while you’re inside, you can borrow any book that’s on the shelves. We ended up ordering some lattes and sitting down with a couple books, although we didn’t get much reading done. I also purchased a book for myself to bring home.
After spending a fair bit of time at the bookstore, Taylor and I walked around the malls for a bit. The malls in that area of Sanlitun are a lot like the Tanger Outlets. (Question, I was having this discussion with Taylor and later my mom and some ski friends, how do you pronounce that name?) After a bit of window shopping, we headed over to an American-style BBQ restaurant called Home Plate. I was super excited for this dinner. I have been craving a good burger and fries for about a week. Needless to say, that is exactly what I ordered once we sat down. And it was AMAZING! Exactly what I wanted! Taylor and I met up with Ashlee and enjoyed a nice dinner together. We had a great time and fun conversation. We then headed out to find ice cream (which never was located) and ran into some other EF people. There was a small bit of catching up and then we headed home.
I’ve spent most of the night, and well into Sunday morning, talking to my family on FaceTime. Although they’re on a New York ski trip, I was able to catch most of them when they came in for lunch. It was nice to talk to them for a while and just feel like a part of the family action for a few minutes. So after a fun, enjoyable, and definitely memorable birthday, I am ready for some sleep. Hope you’ve all had a great day! Talk to you soon!
Goodnight,
Kristen
