my birthday month

Well, I'm officially 27. It doesn't feel any different than 26. One thing that was different about this year was that I got to celebrate for almost three weeks. It was great! The last of my birthday parites was on Friday so I am just now posting the pictures.
I want to dedicate the rest of the post to showcasing some of the gifts I received. I truly did appreciate each gift, and wish I could list them all, but here's a sampling:
1. earrings-I got these great earrings from a girl who works in the reservation dept. I told her how much I liked them and she said, "I got them for you because I thought Jill is a very ____ person, so I think she would like these." (the ____ being a word I didn't know the meaning of). I said, "what does ____ mean?" She said, how about _____? Again, I don't it. OK, how about _____? Still nothing. How about jiao ao. This one I know. Prideful. hmm. I know the original word was 4 degrees from prideful, but still! I got these earrings for you because I think you're so prideful. I don't care the reason. They really are great.
2. a haircut. One of the American girls cut my hair. This was an especially great gift because it meant I didn't have to attempt to explain hair cutting terms in Chinese. (blue shirt is pre-haircut...black sweater is after the cut.)
3. pig wine bottle holders. It will be the year of the pig in just a few weeks, so you can find pig everything here. I am now the proud owner of pig wine bottle holders. (see picture) the bottle would rest on their hands across their little backs and head :)
4. flowers! they were beautiful!
5. jump rope. It has a counter on the handle so you don't have to count in your head. This is useful because it's too cold to do anything outside and sometimes the hotel takes the equipment out of the gym to use it for a meeting room. It drives me crazy actually, but what can you do? Having to jump rope so much was one of the reasons I quit basketball in high school. And, I also think it's been long enough since college tennis practice that I'm somewhat over my aversion to the jump rope. I'm going to give it another try. It will be different since I will choose when and for how long, as opposed to my previous experiences.
6. a personalized birthday greeting video. very funny stuff. One of the American guys made it. I can't explain. You'll just have to see it someday.
7. a pass to go swimming at the 5 star hotel. I used that already (see above about not having gym access). It was the best swim I had in a VERY long time. It was warm and not overly-chlorinated.I had the whole pool and locker room to myself. Locker rooms...some day that topic will be a merit a whole post, but not today.
8. lunch at my FAVORITE restaurant...You Mian Da Wang. You should come here and try it.
9. lots of other really great things...it was a wonderful 3 weeks of birthday goodness!