Go girl, it's your birthday!!!

I turned 21 in Shanghai. Which sounds pretty nice in an exotic, adventure-traveller kind of way. But I was quite homesick and a tad worried that I am aging so fast (emphasis on aging). I took stock of my life and realized that I have subtly become quite disillusioned. According to my life plan (made when I was 15 years old with inputs from my equally crazy best friend), I should have moved out of my parent's home, gotten married and maybe had a child by 21. As it turns out, I'm still extremely single and have no desire to move out so forcefully anytime soon. The baby part is still extremely alluring but without any candidate for the paternal position, that will have to wait a while as well.


I was really really homesick, I kept smelling the aroma of my homeland's dishes (waakye, jollof, nkrakra etc), and would stay up till 3am to talk to family back home.


BUT


My friends here stepped in and made my birthday so worth it. I got a qipao (cheongsam, a traditional Shanghainese / Chinese outfit) custom made for my big day. Hey, you turn 21 only once right? And I'm in China now right? And I enjoy messing with  people's heads right? So I got it and I loved the looks and stares when I wore it out to my birthday dinner. My friends and I went to Pasha, a Turkish restaurant here in Shanghai for my birthday dinner. 


So even though I was homesick, good friends, a good meal and a good time made for a good cure :)