My birthday happened in China!

Well, I've officially spent a birthday "abroad." It doesn't seem like it, anymore, since I've been here for 8 months now. But, I did what any good foreigner should do in China for their birthday and did KTV, that's right we rented out a room for karaoke. I mean, on my ACTUAL birthday we went to the small brewery I found cause, ya know, craft beers... I was truly amazed at the turn out for my birthday. I have met so many amazing people in China. A few weeks after my birthday was another friend's birthday and another friend's going away party... also KTV. These pics are FOR YOUR EYES ONLY! hahaha. I also found out that bringing your boss (for his birthday!) a bottle of wine from Australia means he brings you a bottle of your very favorite liquor for your birthday! Woohoo Haley got gin. There are once again lots of pictures, these ones are mostly for my sake, as I have been writing this blog as a security measure to make sure I don't lose these photos and can look back on my memories. So, this one might not be as awesome for you as it is for me but here it goes:

These are the remainder of those who came out for my birthday! The end of the night, everyone else went to the club. Both of my shoes had broken and I'd paid for the room til 5am (not that we made it that late). I don't know the girl to the left. Eva behind, Tiff in front and my Brazilian friend Marianne on the right. :)

This was Hooley's the next day. My China bestie got an award for doing awesome!

Someone offered to take the picture after I took that awesome one! From left: Allen (friend of Josh), Flik (who sadly is the one who left), Maeghan, me, and Josh

I get Guangzhou happy and take pictures of buildings!

During my bday KTV, Paul and Joey!

 Maeghan, Lycia, Bea (kinda), Mike and then Nicole and Sharday. ^^ These 2 are my heroes, they made me dance, now I go to clubs, whodathunkit?!?!

Brianne, my Canadian bestie, Yoshie and Jay!

We smoked shisha out of a pineapple! (This was some day around my birthday...they all kinda blend together now...)

This was KTV for Mike's birthday and Flik's going away. Regina, Leo, Josh, Sharday, Drew, Cait, me and half of Mike's face!

And again! Beka, Ruby, Leeza, Leo, Josh, Drew, me, and Mike's forehead!

You get the point... selfies are hard when you're not entirely sober........

Flik, Jay and Chris, dancing on the bar at Inside

Me, Mike and Nicole! I might be the sober one!... haha

Needless to say, my birthday was amazing, I have awesome friends who have pushed me beyond my normal boundaries, I've learned so much about myself and I keep learning more. I am so thankful for all the friends I've made and keep making here. Leaving is going to be very, very difficult.

April 25, 2016- May 1, 2016

Australia is amazing. So is Lyndsey :)

I had the amazing opportunity to go to Australia. Reasonably priced travelling from China and one of my bestest friends ever lives there and loves me enough that she let me come live with her for a week! It was amazing to say the LEAST. I got my first sunburn of the year on a FALL day of a mere 80 degrees out. And my sunburn I mean I got scorched. Yeah, I wore sunscreen, apparently I missed some spots. I met some awesome people and got a little taste of what her life is like in Australia. After being in China for 7 months at that point, I'm surprised at the reverse culture shock I got. I could suddenly understand conversations I could eavesdrop on! I didn't have to think about the translation for the numbers when paying! I paid, like, 4 Australian dollars for Dr. Pepper, more than once, I also paid a boatload for Blue Moon, because home comforts are just worth it sometimes...and vacation... A well deserved vacation, if you ask me! Anyways! I am miserable at remembering to take pictures BUT Lyndsey took control of the camera at the important places so I still got lots of kangaroos and koalas and such! (like...90 to be exact...sorry if that's not your thing...just scroll on ;-) ) Enjoy:

More candy in the Malaysian Airport!

Vegemite!

Kit Kats in the Malaysian Airport!

Dawn over Australia

Breakfast in Australia!

The walk home to Lyndsey's house from break

Okay, I found this neat because of Donnie Darko, turns out, this is where the wine tastings happen at vineyards... which kind of explains WHY it's supposedly the best combination of words according to linguists (according to the movie...really I think that just means they were winos)

My first kangaroo sighting!

On my first full day we went on a winery tour, they have this whole group of a bunch of wineries that like to give you lots of free samples! There was even a brewery that let me mix and match a 6 pack to bring back to China with me. I also bought my boss a bottle of my favorite wine that I tasted (lucky guy has the same birthday as me!...except I'm five hours older... Yeah, we did the math... including the time changes...we're cool like that)

Meat pie and chips and gravy for breakfast day 2! 

Day 2 was the Cleland Wildlife Park, where I met some very friendly kangaroos, koalas, and saw some other neat animals I'd never gotten to see so up close. Unfortunately, the dingoes weren't able to come out and play that day!

Tazmanian Devils! Ugly little things, aren't they?

Koala, chillin'...

Cutest little buggers... they were everywhere! I wanted to take one home. They are called Potoroos!

View from Cleland Wildlife Park of Adelaide

Wallabies! (smaller than the average kangaroo...and were much shyer...)

This was the first time I made them "work" for it, they would grab onto your hand to get to the food if you held it just out of reach. So cute!

For the most part the emu wasn't having it... he didn't like me much...ran away shortly after this, and didn't actually eat out of my hand. 

Red Kangaroos are HUGE! They are the ones that can get over 6 feet tall.. this guy was LAZY! He wasn't getting out of this position to eat and Owen and I were both petting him while feeding him.

Did I mention I got to HOLD A KOALA!?!?!? Freakin' amazing. So amazing. 

Koalas and kangaroos were both much softer animals than I'd assumed! I always figured their fur would be quite coarse but they were both much softer than they look. When holding a koala you aren't supposed to move quickly or bend at all, you are their tree when they are holding onto you, so if you bend they freak out because they think their tree is falling over! 

Echidna look like porcupines!

Wombats are kind of so ugly they're cute...

When I watched this guy I realized how much these kangaroos really do use their tails as a third leg to help with lifting their feet to jump further!

For lunch, we went to a German town and I had my first schnitzel!

Australian pool is stupid...in other words, I lost...twice... BOO

West Beach, Adelaide, South Australia

Australian literature is legit!

Can I live here, pleeeeeeeeease??

That's me...freezing my butt off in the ocean!

My name! (in case you forgot...)

Lyndsey saved that ray-looking creature because the tide washed him up, and I was too scared to!

BURRRRRN!!!

Noarlunga was AMAZING! So beautiful, a reason to go back in the summer..there's a reef right off the dock!

I let the bird lady scam me! She said the "proceeds" went to the children's hospital... I highly doubt it, but meh. The damn bird tried to steal my earring, too! And that's my friend I made while in Australia! I actually got proposed to twice that night...for green cards to the states, but, ya know... I am just that awesome, too!...... Hilarious and random night.

Adelaide is known as "The City of Churches," there were definitely some impressive ones!

Horrible for you, amazing food. Fries, Gyro meat, tzatziki sauce, hot sauce. Amazing. 

Their town square

For my leaving/birthday dinner we got to go to a "Mexican" restaurant!!

Australia was amazing, I had an amazing time and I'm so glad I got to see one of my very best friends whom I hadn't seen for a few years. I ate kangaroo, I got to eat "Mexican" food, I got my hair cut and got to spend hours on beautiful beaches, I got to play trivia in yet another foreign country, as well as write my name in the sand in another country. Thank you so much Lyndsey for sharing your life with me for the week! I miss you tons and can't wait til you come home (when I'm actually there!). So many great experiences and memories that will last forever. DID I MENTION I GOT TO HOLD A KOALA?!?!?!?

<3

I had two layovers in Malaysia, the first one only a few hours, the second was over night, unfortunately all I really had time for was food. So here is the beauty that was my meal in Malaysia!

Wasn't the best meal ever but it looked neat!

April 15, 2016-April 22, 2016