The Birthday with Two Cakes

My morning kindergarten class has dwindled from 5 children down to 2. One girl left over break due to learning disabilities (long story short) and took her friend with her. My boy Ethan moved to another city. At least, that’s what they tell me. Things in Korea aren’t always as they seem. White lies are very common here, its one of the more sneaky aspects of the culture. It’s been nice and peaceful with just two children, although I miss the ones that left. It’s almost a little too peaceful. Class is so quite now that I have to consciously keep my self awake, with a cup of instant coffee in hand. My small morning class also disarms me for my second class of the day, which consists of five, grumpy and hyper seven year olds. I’m always a little frayed after an hour of dashing around, tearing markers out of their hands and shouting at them to sit in their seats. This is also the class which decided to hold a vote on whether or not my butt is big. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the situation... although if you must know the outcome, it's large.
Last week I turned twenty-three! It wasn’t a big production. Most of my birthday presents were opened at or around Christmas time. One of my most anticipated gifts was a pair of PUMA tennis shoes from the store down the street. David took me there and let me pick out a pair of my very own! I’ve wanted a pair since high school, but I’ve never allowed myself the luxury of buying them. I picked out a cute gray and bright pink pair. I’ve worn them almost every day.

We went out to eat at “What’s David’s.” I got some delicious fish and chips (my mouth waters just remembering it) and had a nice meal with my husband and friends. We went back to Steve’s apartment, where they surprised me with a Baskin Robbin’s coffee ice cream cake. It was pretty delicious! Although the ice cream cakes over here are completely made of ice cream. There’s literally no cake part to the dessert!
We sat down to watch one of my favorite movies (“Serenity”) and the doorbell rang. It was Steve’s Korean girlfriend—who we all know and love. Steve ran back into the dark room, whispering “Act surprised! Act surprised!!” while throwing our used cake box into the closet. His girlfriend walked in, grinning and holding yet ANOTHER Baskin Robbin’s cake (it was strawberry this time)!! We acted surprised and they sang Happy Birthday for me yet again. I blew out the candles and made a wish for the second time. It was pretty delicious—and probably the only birthday I can claim having two surprise cakes within an hour of each other! What a great example of Korean hospitality.





Unfortunately we had Saturday school that weekend. Saturday school, in my opinion, is the devil. It saps all of the joy and fun out of my week and my weekend. Plus is exhausts me and makes me a very grumpy person. Hopefully it’s the last one we’ll ever have to do. Ever.
Despite the drag of Saturday school, David and I made the most of our Sunday by going out to explore. We went to Munhak Sports Complex, a stadium near here, and explored ancient government buildings that are across the street from it. David was doing some experiments/learning some things with his camera, so he got a lot of shots. Afterwards we went back to the Dr. Fish café and enjoyed a nice hour of reading and coffee. I let the fish nibble on my feet for a few minutes too.






That’s about all that’s happened in our lives. The next big thing on the horizon is a ski trip we’ll be taking in February and a week after that some family is coming!! I’m so unbelievably excited for that!