Thank You Text

This is my first ever thank you text, written to Yong Long (Jerry) for inviting us to celebrate his 20th birthday:

永龙，
你今儿早上起床之后，头疼了没有？
谢谢你请我们参加你的生日，认识你的很棒的亲人和朋友们。我在中国以来就没有机会跟那么好心的人一起聊一聊，吃那么好吃的菜。我希望你这辈子得到你最追求的目标，过得很开心啊!

Maybe my Chinese is getting a little better, or maybe this statement is so chock-full of mistakes, but I'm just too shameless to send just a complicated letter, or I'm just too dense to realize all the errors I made.

Oh well.

Jerry invited us (Claire, Luke, the Brazilian 华侨, Johannas, and I) to celebrate his birthday with him and his friends. While I imagined a little get together in his apartment just off campus, we ended up going to his Aunt and Uncle's house where they had prepared a delicious meal--made in the Chinese way, of course, meaning there were more than 5 courses and lots of Tsingtao to be had by all. I had some food I had never had before, including this seafood dish called "a 2 - uh 3.5" (it was referred to by it's Min-Nan name), and a seafood broth filled it clams and other delights. We enjoyed ourselves immensely, and while I had a LOT of trouble keeping up with the conversation (Luke, the Brazilian, and Johannas raised the speaking curve above me and Claire), I thoroughly enjoyed myself in my little mute corner, and look forward to the pictures that must come from this excursion. After the final courses of oranges, pomellos, and frozen peanuts and edamame, we went out to karaoke where we sang everything from 你要嫁给我 and 死了要爱上 to the Backstreet Boys (I did a great version of "The Call"), Luke and I left after "A Change Gon' Come" to meet up with Wesley and Paul since it was Wesley's last night in the city. We went to busted-ass K.K. and Honey (where the Dance-Techno music was on point...along with their clown on stilts), but because all of us were beyond the level of tipsy, it wasn't so bad.

Afterwards, we went to McDonald's around 3:00am and had a moment of confessions where I learned that my roommate has been quite busy here in Xiamen, and after teasing him a good bit, we shared our multiple hugs with Wesley in the elevator on after we returned to the dorm.

All in all, it was a good evening. I hope our paths cross again.

Right now, I should be writing my final paper, but I'm strongly considering spending the night in another location if I can, but that relies heavily on my stomach which always seems to be on the fritz these days.

Until we meet again, in less than 2 weeks--