A Gift from the Universe

21 was as 21 should be. Fun, wild, and a little bit painful at work the next day.

22, though. I knew I’d come to China and make friends and probably get dinner somewhere. Happy birthday! The end.

Nah. The universe had different plans, plus I’ve got some cool people in my life.

A few days back letters started arriving in the mail. One day there were six. Nobody gets six letters a day here, people often don’t get six letters their entire trip. Each one was filled with love and wishes for a happy twenty-second birthday. I smiled and cried a bit reading all of them.

The next time I talked to my mom, I told her about the letters I had received and she didn’t seem a bit surprised. I had already suspected her for sending out my address, but this confirmed it.

“I figured the best gift we could give you in China is lots of love.”

Know that I’m sending all of my love back! You guys are the best.

A few days back, China celebrated the Dragon Boat Festival, one of China’s traditional holidays. Besides the tradition of eating yellow foods and pyramid-shaped sticky rice stuffed with various delicacies, the most famous aspect of the Dragon Boat Festival is the hundreds of dragon boat races that take place throughout the country. Around these parts, the event was to take place in the Hangzhou wetlands.

I originally planned to go with a group around midday, but worried I would miss the entire event, I left a few hours earlier. I walked into the wetlands all by my lonesome as the mercury shot well above ninety degrees. I had no idea where I was going, so I just wandered in the general direction of people. I eventually found myself trotting alongside a young husband and wife with a two-year-old son, and they were speaking English with an American accent. I’m not sure who said “hi” first, but we soon started chatting. The husband, Lark, asked if I was with anyone.

“Nope.”

“Well, we have an extra ticket if you want to join us!”

New friends! We only caught the tail-end of the race. It was neato, but there were so many people it really was hard to see anything. The temperature and sun were just too much to stay outside for long, so we prepared to head our separate ways. Then Lark said, “Actually, tomorrow is my birthday and a group of us are going to lunch if you want to join.”

“What!? Tomorrow is MY birthday!”

“Well then, this is my birthday gift to you.”

Even more new friends! Lunch was fantastic. We ate at a classic Hangzhou restaurant called Grandma’s Home. We ate dried mushrooms, fatty pork, cauliflower, grilled potatoes, beggar’s chicken, peanut ice, and drank dark beer, wine, and fresh-squeezed lemonade. The group of about a dozen consisted mostly of Americans and Chinese. We chatted and ate and enjoyed the company of the others.

I am trying to fully immerse myself in the culture here, but any small connection to home is a happy one. And this was a wonderful, kind, intelligent, generous group of people. When I told my mom this story, she said, “Well, I guess this is your birthday gift from the universe!”

That it is.

Wait, but it wasn’t even my birthday yet! June 3 was my fo realz birthday. I woke up to a message from my mom, “You awake?”

I dragged myself up and Skyped home. As soon as the audio came on, I heard scuffling as my mom said to my sisters, “Shhh… get in the frame. Move the chair.” The video came on and they serenaded me with a beauteous rendition of Happy Birthday. They even harmonized the last note!

In another small gift from the universe, Tuesday is my late start today, so I got to sleep in a bit. I arrived to class, and our 班长 (bānzhǎng — class leader) greeted me with a beautiful cake and some of the most fragrant lillies I have ever smelled. They sang to me. After class, one of my classmates prompted me to sing them all a song. I love singing, and I love singing to and for people, but I just get so darned nervous. I initially resisted, but I did it. It was really fun.

Then for dinner, I and a group of friends went to a local favorite called 绿茶 (Lǜ Chá — Green Tea). It was a meal that made me grateful for the incredible people I’ve met this trip. The very best part of the meal was the toast box and the peanut ice cream.

I finished the night with a Rogue mocha porter I’d been hoarding and the first hour of Desolation of Smaug.

Much love and thanks to everyone.