20

Today, my friends, I officially exit my teenage years.  And thank goodness too!  I've thought I was 20 for a long time, so it's nice that I actually am now.  Super crazy, though.  I always saw 20 year olds as adults, but I still feel like a kid!  That's okay, though.  I'm excited for the next decade that awaits me because I know it will be filled with exciting things like kids and houses and of course, more adventures!

Celebrating my birthday in China was a very interesting experience.  I'm used to waking up at home on a beautiful spring morning for my birthday, clear skies and plenty of lilacs to smell.  I'm used to spending the day with my mom, and ending the day with dinner out with all of my family.  It was kind of sad, today, to not be with them!  Luckily I had my Bailey who took me out to the bakery and the lemonade stand.  Which was fun, but I wish the skies were clear and that there were lilac bushes!

Overall it was a happy birthday, of course!  People were sending their love from home, and my favorite message was this sweet picture of Ayla, who I miss so much!

And later today, we met up with Shey, Petro, Andrew, and Monica for some fried dumplings and badminton!

Badminton was very fun.  I haven't played badminton since Jr. High!  But I don't think I'm too terrible at it.  It is a little bit exhausting though because the building (like many/most here in China) was not air conditioned.

There were a lot of other people there playing badminton, and it was kind of funny to watch them laugh at how bad we all were.  Bailey and Petro ae pretty decent though, so they went up to the professionals and challenged them to a game!  Haha, the professionals sent the girls to play them.  The girls were really good though!  But we don't know who won the game, because it ended when Bailey hit the birdie too hard, planting it in a curtain near the ceiling.

The facility which we played at is actually a place where Olympic ping pong players train.  So after we played badminton, we went downstairs to watch the pros play "table tennis", and of course Bailey and Petro wanted to try it out.  So the three boys played while us girls sat on the floor and chatted.

I got a couple of bug bites on our way home, but when we did get home, Bailey let me pick the movie we'd watch!  We spent the evening snuggling and laughing at My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (which wasn't as good as the first of course, but still pretty funny and silly).  In the end, it was a great 20th birthday!