Khristine's Birthday in Xi'an

I forgot that it was Khristine's birthday when I went for work yesterday morning. If I was at least reminded, I would have brought my camera. I was not on leave the day before. I supposed only a few knew about it and that Khristine would not find it a good idea to announce it to the whole team. So I was sure no one would bring anything for her birthday.

She was late. I thought she won't come to work at all. Arlene whispered to me about her planning to bring Khristine to some place, and I was so frustrated for not remembering. I had nothing -not even a simple token to give her, though it was a relief neither did others have any plans. When she arrived at work at around 10 in the morning, I was hoping she was wearing something red, just to let the day realize that she was special. In addition to that, it was her favorite color.

Before lunchtime, Xiaoxia approached me to ask if it was really Khristine's birthday. They did not take it seriously, it was my fault I guess. Before Khristine left for the Philippines last month for a short vacation, we had a dinner party in my apartment and I told everyone that it was her birthday and that I was cooking all those food for her. A cake was surprisingly brought to my apartment by Johner (Khristine's team group leader) a few hours after that. If you were wondering why it was Johner who bought the cake, well, let's just say that Khristine had been a very special lady in Johner's heart in the past few weeks (you know what I mean).

So Xiaoxia arranged for a very special cake to be delivered to the office right before office hours were over, not only for Khristine, but for all birthday celebrants for this month. Around 30 people were inside the conference room. Khristine thought it would be a general meeting of some sort, we pretended to feel nervous about it. She was surprised to see the cake and the party hats worn by the other celebrants. As expected, no one brought a camera so Chris (my boss) used his iPhone to take pics. He left the room with Zahid, though, shortly after that. Unlike in the Philippines where we usually buy palabok, Pichi-pichi and barbeque from the popular Amber's resto, here in DCFS they just had this cake with few little candles that the celebrants blew altogether before they made their wishes. They did not really do this often, maybe Xiaoxia just wanted to express her gratitude to Khristine for helping out on the project.

Almost everyone saved the icing of his piece of the cake for a much more childish part of the celebration. Maybe you know what I am talking about...

Geoff (our big boss from Misys of course) caught us on cam with icing all over our faces. There was no exception. Even Geoff got a taste of it, hahaha. It had been so long since I felt like a child again, I felt both enjoying the moment and irritated because my hair did not escape from "the boys".

After work, we went to a resto which I first checked out after I got back from Hong Kong. People who joined the nightout were Geoff (again, our big big big boss), HJ, Arlene, Steven, Bao, Genius, Purple, Johner, Khristine and myself. We ordered all sorts of food -seafood, pork, a variety of vegetable dishes, as usual neither fruits nor pastries for dessert. The boys decided to order one bottle of 50-proof alcohol drink from which I was not exempted from. Another bottle followed that in less than an hour. Letting this liquor touch my lips was enough to make me hate it for the rest of my life. Geoff had a lot next to HJ. Johner and Bao turned red all over after a few jiggers. It was good Geoff had this something which he mixed with a glass of hot water that alleviated the effects. Johner did not seem to be the human dictionary like he used to be before taking Geoff's solution. Bao surprisingly was undefensive and closed-mouthed when he's drunk. Hahahaha...

We left the restaurant at around 10 after Geoff paid for our bill. After that, Arlene and Zahid went home and the others decided to go to a KTV bar. It was odd that the boys seemed to never have taken any alcohol that time, and that everyone was excited to go somewhere else. And so we went to this popular KTV just 6RMB-cab ride from the resto. It was probably the fourth KTV I had visited so far. Our colleagues did not really take us to the same place. Geoff ordered for a big room that had its own stage inside and ordered some more liquors and bites to eat.

It always felt distressing to try to listen to our colleagues singing those Chinese songs (except of course the songs from my all-time favorite F4). They usually did not "sing" the songs, they sounded like yelling with some melody at the background. I remember advising Bao to sing from the heart so the song would be pleasing to whoever listens to it. I don't know what is it with the volume that makes them think it's better music. Everyone, except Khristine, had their own song number. Geoff and I did some duets, I remembered they were "Somewhere Out There" and "Endless Love" . Bao and I sang "A Whole New World" (I asked him to learn to sing this song a few months ago and he kept on listening to it until he perfects it). We also got our Chinese colleagues to sing the two of the very few English songs they know: "My Heart Will Go On" and "Yesterday Once More". They also requested me to book "Lemon Tree", but I personally find that song a little monotonous so I did not bother. Sorry for those who like that song... Aside from singing, some also danced with Khristine.

We reserved the room until 2 in the morning. After that, we called the night off and decided to go home. Surprisingly, everyone still seemed to be "recharged" for another activity, except for HJ who fell asleep a few hours before singing time was over and started to throw up just before he reached the KTV room exit. We waited for him for half an hour outside and he still looked tipsy when he got out. Genius and Bao went off with me while the others were still arguing who's gonna go with who... We dropped Bao to the street near where he lived, then Genius and I got off in a corner road near my apartment. He personally walked me home to make sure I would be safe. Genius rents a small flat somewhere in the small village just across my apartment's building.

Then was one of the many times I stayed out very very late. I never had the chance to feel this kind of independence in the past. It was really unfortunate I did not went back for my camera before we started the fun last night.