Sorry for being strangers for the past few weeks. We've been crazy busy with not only the holidays, but with moving into our permanent housing! In case you're wondering, we survived our very first holiday season (Thanksgiving, Christmas and NY) without seeing family. It was a hard at first, but having made some friends we kept our social calendar full and before I knew it we were into 2014! First up? Merry Christmas Birthday Nate!

On Christmas Day we joined 12 friends (some old, some new) for a 5-course western style dinner at a restaurant near by. Although the food wasn't spectacular, it was nice to meet new people and have some food that resembled home. That wasn't the highlight of the evening though...KTV was!!! KTV? Why yes, Karaoke TV! Karaoke in Shanghai, and from what I've heard most of Asia, is nothing like it is back home. Most of the karaoke places at home are held at bars, where you sing to a random crowd. KTV? You rent a room with your friends, can order food and drinks off of menus, and since it was Christmas props were provided!

Yea -- that's me, Rudolph, serenading Nate with a little Mariah Carey.

The other highlight was birthday cake!!! Our friends helped me order Nate's birthday cake from Ruby's Cake Shop. This is where they sell THE original Shanghainese dessert cake -- white sponge-like cake, layer whipped cream, more white sponge-like cake, more whipped cream, and topped with at least a few pieces of maraschino cherries. Since I wasn't sure how many people were showing up for dinner, I ordered a huge one. We were so full from dinner that we ended up only eating a quarter of the cake, no worries though, Nate was able to share some with various KTV parties going on near us.

The chocolate piece says Happy Birthday -- or at least that's what I was told...

Also popular? Fruit baskets! Here's one that we were given as a Christmas gift. We've actually received two now. They are usually filled with grapes, apples, oranges, and dragon fruit. Yummy!

~ Trisha