birthdays are awesome!

so my birthday was pretty great. my birthday fell on thursday but friday was a holiday! whoo hoo! work was hard this week too as the end of the month involves report cards and evaluations. so all week i spent trying to clean and scrub my house and fill it with food and stuff so my teachers could come to my house and party! so in my mothers style all week i stayed up till 2 or 3am working in the house and trying to prepare.

on thursday each class was a surprise as the students made me letters and sang happy birthday to me before i tried to teach them more english. it was so wonderful! they made posters, letters, cards and some of the teachers gave me gifts as well. yanny teacher gave me a moon heejun cd which is awesome! and janie teacher gave me some sweet bracelets - we have similar jewerly style. so it was a wonderful day and we all shared cake after work!

so after we all finished working we went to the grocery store and then to my flat! they made all seaweed soup which is traditional for bdays, then some cold soups and kimchi jjang...which is one of my favorite foods! they were amazing! they did the cooking and i learned a few things. then we just sat around and talked and watched tv and had a great time together! there were 7 teachers total plus me. then we all decided to go out dancing at a local club...which is a different type of club.

you pay like $30 and you get a table and food comes with it automatically. there is a dance floor which is small and the tables take up most of the space. then....waiters sporatically come around and try and get women to go and sit with other men. this is called booking and its a way to help people meet other people. yanny and michelle teacher both got dragged to another table but quickly returned! so it was a great "girls night out" and i had a blast!

so then on friday morning i woke up early...6am because i was supposed to be going to nami island with my friend sanghoon. but sadly enough we were unable to get sitting train tickets - there was only standing seats. so we decided we were both tired and we didnt' really want to go...plus i was having a birthday party at my house and was meeting my friend soon at 4pm.

so instead we went to the movies and we saw "kung fu panda" - awesome! so good. i could only think of lindsay as i listened to jack blacks voice! then we had lunch and went to my favorite tea shop in insadong! we even got to see a protest and went to a bookstore. it was a lot of fun!

then i met up with my friend soon to go shopping for food for the party! soon is pretty amazing because when i told him about my party he offered to take me shopping (driving his car) and also to cook food! i was just going to get some pizzas and ice cream! hahaha, so soon, sienna and i went shopping and i learned alot. hahahaha.

they made ddeokpokkee and kimchi fried rice which were great. and it was so funny because soon kept having to leave so some other korean would step in and start cooking. i didnt even feel like the hostess. i just supplied the food and place and everyone did everything else. it was a good combo of the koreans i know through different venues. it was awesome.

also, tristan bought a cake and 2 chickens. soon made soju fusion drinks (cocktails) with watermelon. no one really liked them but it was cool! i had about 12 people total throughout the course of the night. it was a lot of fun. and they even brought me birthday gifts! it was crazy! but so much fun and a great birthday!

then on saturday night i went to my directors house and dinner with Baejee, Sylvia teacher and Mr. Bae. they live pretty close and on the 20th floor! their flat is awesome! we had dinner and loooked at pictures and enjoyed being with each other.

so i had a great birthday weekend filled with love from new friends in korea and shout outs from my friends in america. i love you and miss you all so much and i can never forget you! :) dont worry!