Happy Birthday to me happy birthday to me happy birthday to me happy birthday dear meeeeee-e happy birthday to me!!!
So I got to have the opportunity of spending my 20th birthday in Shanghai. BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!! It all started the second the clock struck midnight! DANCE PARTY! Well we tried to find a Karaoke bar but failed… oh well. We met these cute Chinese people at the hostel that we took with us and they were just the nicest cutest things ever. They were clapping their hands because they were so excited to go dancing with us. Seeing them so happy made me so happy. We hopped around to a couple clubs I love shanghai club and this “hip hop club” at the top of a really fancy hotel… was not hip hop at all! Anyways being with the cute Chinese people for the night made it so much more fun. When we went back to the hostel and after I brushed my teeth I found them in the hall again they had a cute little present for me with notes fr

om all of them and they sang happy birthday to me in Chinese. J ! CUUUUTE what awesome people!

And then my birthday continues, well this year September 14th landed on a Sunday so we found the branch in shanghai and went. On our way to church there was a COLD STONE!!!!!!! There was no way I was passing up some Cold Stone Ice Cream, and of course I could count on Em to get some with me…. Emily is addicted to ice cream she can’t get enough of it. There was a soft serve ice cream machine and she went and got ice cream every day, sometimes twice a day, and even sometimes two, one in each hand ha. The ice cream machine was gone one day and I think she’s having with drawls J well we got to church and it was really nice, it always is really awesome to see the wards outside Utah they are so welcoming!

When we got home from church the group pushed me in the room and brought out yummy cake for me .... just thinking about it makes my mouth water! it was this really rich chocolate cake yum!!

Mid Autumn Festival (or so I think it’s called) is the second biggest holiday in china. They stay up late and eat moon cake with their families. The school gave us all a box of moon cakes, the cakes are the size of a hockey puck and I swear they weigh like a pound. We told the school thanks you and have much we liked them…. They were so disgusting! Ha well that night we walked around the river bank on the Bund we took a taxi to the other side of the bank with all the cool buildings the big TV tower, the tallest hotel in the world (The Grand Hyatt) and the Tallest Building in Shanghai 10 floors. We went up in to the Hyatt it was 88 floors and we went to the 87 it was a bar called cloud 9 and literally you were in the clouds you couldn't’t even see the group looking out the windows. We got back in a taxi to take us to the long waited for Jazz club- The Blues Room. I have come to find that it’s a myth that there are Jazz Clubs in Shanghai….. There was no Jazz Music ha! We ate some dinner at the diner above the club and it was western food to the T most western food we get here has a big of a Chinese twist to it but atmosphere and all I felt like I was home. Maybe it wasn’t a Jazz Club But it was sure the most hopping place in Shanghai, at least I thought! There were lots of internationals there people from Singapore, Switzerland, France, Ireland, The US, and so on. Well the Swiss people were a blast I didn’t know I could have so much fun with a bunch h of 50 year old I didn’t even know. Well we walked in “yeeeeeeaaaaaaahhhh” (the Swiss) This is going to be awesome! There were two guys entertaining us they both had guitars. Tanna didn’t hesitate to run to the front and tell them that it was my birthday. I Figured they would sing happy birthday and that would be it right…… no…. Far from that! “Do we have a Stephanie in the house?” “Stand up Steph” “its Stephanie’s birthday today…….ahhhhhhhhhhhhhahhhhhhhhh” And Everybody Sang happy birthday, but it doesn’t stop there on the Swiss guys stood up and recognized all the different countries at the club and had every group sing happy birthday in their language. Ha then he told all the guys in the club to go give the birthday girl a big kiss…. Oh crap!!! Thank goodness they were just kissing my cheek! That was a huge relief. Well that whole night was crazy every country came up and sang a song, we had no idea what we were going to sing. So they sent me up and I sang and played on the guitar, everyone was cheering it was awesome! I even got an on core and later when up and played again booyeah! This was for sure the best birthday ever we were laughing all night long, words cant start to explain how fun it was! All I remember is everyone yelling “ Stephanie, Stephanie, Stephanie!!!!”