Twenty-Three...a good age and a good basketball player

Dear citizens of Korea,
Stop moving to Seoul...being squished into a subway, paying an arm and a leg for a taxi because you sit in traffic jams for the majority of the time, and sweating like a Norwegian man while shopping because of the body heat from the ever growing crowd that follows is simply NOT worth it.

Look at this, it's Monday night and I am sitting down to blog. The dishes haven't been touched, my clothes are still all over the place, and Lily is practically swimming in her own feces, but by golly, this blog is being written ON TIME!

Well well well..you are now reading the writings of a very wise 23 year old. That's right, it was my birthday on Saturday the 4th. Turning 23 is exciting, and I'm not saying that because after a year of not being able to, I can switch the numbers and say I'm "32"...maybe it was my obscure imagination when I was younger but I remember being so excited when I turned 12 because I would switch the numbers and say I'm 21, or 31, or 41, and so on and so forth..you're probably like.."what the hay?" I don't know..I think I was out there as a child..the amount of imaginary situations I put myself in is just embarrassing.

Back to the birthday bonanza..Well, the celebrations started on Thursday. Yogita and Jemal took me to lunch on Thursday afternoon for a little lobster linguine. It was this cute little Italian place. It kind of looked like your blind great grandmother's house inside, but the food was amazing! They are great company and I am so blessed to have them as coworkers and friends.

Quick side story: Thursday afternoon, my 5 o'clock class was hilarious. This class is all 12 year olds. They are becoming my favorite class. They are goofy, smart, and pick up on American sarcasm pretty easily. So, this boy Dan brought this snack to class. It was raw ramen noodles and he put this spicy packet all over it and I mean SPICY! I tried a little, but being a weak Westerner, I couldn't take it, so I did the sensible thing and stopped eating it. However, all the other students did the UN-sensible thing and kept shoving the spiciness in their mouths. The room filled with the smell of spicy food and the students (except Dan) starting breaking into a sweat, then the sucking in of air through the teeth started (all but Dan), then the panting started (minus Dan), then as they were answering the questions I could hear a lisp and see that their tongues were getting bigger and bigger (but not Dan)..then mid-English exercise, I say, "Just go get water" and they all jump from their seats and rush out the door..but there sat Dan licking the last of the spice from the packet. He finished while I just stared at him, and he said with pumping fists, "Teacha, I am champion." And I said, "Yes, Dan, you ARE champion."

So anyway, Friday came along and it was such a special day. I told my adult students like a month ago when my birthday was and they made it a point that we celebrate it even if we had to celebrate a day before the actual day. So, Friday my adult students from the morning class took me for some Chinese food, which was fitting because I just got a new student in that class who is Chinese. Her name is Xian Jio or something like that, she's my age and she knows Korean fluently and is working on her English and Japanese. So in the car, we were trying to learn Chinese..."Nee How" is hello..and that's all I remember. The car ride was interesting with Korean and broken English being spoken mainly with a little Chinese thrown in here and there. It was one of those moments that made me say, "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

After lunch we went on a drive to the outskirts of Gunsan. We mainly drove around the industrial part of Gunsan that is situated right on the Yellow Sea. I read about it before I came here, so my students showed me the ferry that crosses the Yellow Sea to go to China. Again, another of those moments, "I'm just a ferry ride away from China. NBD." Then we crossed this new road that was built on this thin piece of land that goes to the islands near Gunsan. It was awesome to be surrounded by the Yellow Sea. It was a really windy day, so the swells were HUMONGO! I couldn't capture it on my camera, but I know I'll never forget it. I feel like those swells gave me a little glimpse into the power of God.

So my students brought me back, it's always a good day when I don't have to walk to work. Yogita surprised me with a gift of a hat, scarf, gloves, and nail polish..all matching. She's a gem. Later, the teachers got me a birthday cheesecake and sang happy birthday in Korean. My adult students in the evening class brought me pizza AND more cake and one of them brought me a "the king" bobblehead from Burger King. They also sang Happy Birthday to me! I was stuffed full of cake, pizza, and birthday wishes. I felt like one special teacher!

So, Saturday came along and thus the second Saturday in a row I've gotten up before 6:30 a.m. A group of us from my church went to Suwon, a suburb of Seoul to see this traditional Korean village. It was pretty neat. One of the men we went with grew up somewhere much like the village we walked through. It really is incredible to see the changes that have happened to this country in the last 70 years. And in fact, the man said that much of North Korea today looks like these traditional villages. I compare it with colonial America..if you've been to Jamestown in Virginia (or is it Maryland?) than you could combine what that looks like with an African village you've seen on TV or in magazines. The people who work there are all dressed in traditional Korean dress. We saw a traditional Korean dance and an abnormally flexible 60+ man do acrobats on a tightrope. Pretty entertaining stuff to say the least.

After our adventure into Korea's past, we dove right into modern day Korea and took the subway into Seoul..thus my introduction of my Seoul frustrations. We tried to get to the Seoul Palace before it closed but we were 20 minutes late. Bummer..but that's ok, we still stood outside the walls and went into the museum for a little while. Finally after our day of sightseeing and travels, we made it back to the Seoul bus terminal where the group bought me a Krispy Kreme snowman birthday donut! Then we got onto our bus and made the journey back to good ole Gunsan. The more I'm away from her, the more I appreciate this little "hidden treasure" called Gunsan, South Korea :)

Well, to all you Norther Illinoisians, I hope you are enjoying the snow...it's tradition that it snows on my birthday..unfortunately that tradition did not follow me to Korea. So go outside for me, make a snowman, snow angel, build a snow fort and throw snowballs at your siblings, neighbors, or complete strangers...enjoy the snow, don't hate on it.

*blowing out the candles on my 2nd birthday cake of the day..notice my
illustration of a camel from a previous class that day..that's art.
*Who has the best students? This birthday girl
*A little pregame stretch before the big show
*Some Chinese for lunch with adult a.m. class

*Traditional village group
*My birthday donut
* A little birthday dance :)