It all started on Friday when I got a birthday package from Kelsey!!! What a great start to a birthday weekend! Mail is the best, but birthday packages are just the icing on the cake! lol See what I did there?
 |
| Birthday presents with instructions! that's exciting! |
 |
And its contents. All of my favorite things!
|
It was also my Korean co-teacher's birthday on Thursday, so all week in class we learned about birthdays and months and ages, and then Friday when Hyungkyung came to class, we surprised her with a birthday cake and cards from all the kids and I taught them American birthday games like Pin the Tail on the Donkey. It was such a success! I was too wrapped up in it to get pictures though :( I only got one of my kids playing balloon volleyball. lol
 |
| The birthday girl, her cake, and some of the 3/4 graders! |
 |
| Balloon Volleyball! |
I'll be honest though, I was a little skeptical about my birthday in Korea. Besides the birthday package, it got off to a rough start when the beach trip that I planned ended up being cloudy and a little chilly. The weather said it would be cloudy until the afternoon, then sunny from then on, but it didn't get sunny until about 5pm, which also happens to be the time we pulled back into the bus terminal in Gunsan. lol So the beach was a no go. But we found starfish and other unknown sea creatures and people watched for a while, so it wasn't a total waste.
We got back to Gunsan and started getting ready for a night out on the town. I put on my new party dress and Laura and I met up with everyone at one of my favorite Korean restaurants and had dalkgalbi! It was amazing, as always. That'll probably be my most missed dish when I get back to America, so hopefully I can find a good Korean restaurant that serves it in the city.
After dinner, we went to our favorite bar, TLC! I was promised a free
fire shot from my favorite bartender, Billy. (He's the one who does the fire breathing trick in the video!) We hung out at TLC for a while and played some darts. As always, TLC was a good time, but we wanted to try and venture off to a club we had heard about called SL. (I know..so many letters...lol) So we get in a taxi and he takes us to SL. We get there and head straight to the restroom. After that, we go to the front door only to be told they just closed! It was only 1:20am! That's like 5pm in Korean bar/club times! Bars and clubs don't usually close until 5am or later, so we were completely shocked to see that they were closed so early. Knowing me though, I pulled the birthday card and they said, "Oh, birthday! You can go to the bar!" hahaha Score! So I go in and he tells me I can only have a beer. Yuck.. so I got it and we shared it between the four of us and danced in this empty club for a couple of minutes. We were clearly not wanted there though, and can take a hint, so we left and stopped at Lotteria (basically a Korean McDonalds) for a little midnight snack, then called it a night.
 |
| My sweet lady friends! |
 |
| Before the fire! |
 |
| During the fire! Sometimes little things like sparklers make me wayyyy too happy! haha |
 |
| This was a magic trick. I eventually wrote my name on a card...then... |
 |
| BOOM! This was on the other side!!! SO FUN! |
 |
| And here he is now...Don Harva AKA Magic Man! |
 |
| Billy! Now known as the fire breather! (the one in the video!) |
 |
| Dragon boy! |
Today when I woke up, which was my actual birthday in Korea, I was feeling pretty sad. I just wanted to be in America doing America things like going to Target, eating Mexican food and a snowcone while laying out next to the pool. Then, Laura came over and surprised me with a beautiful, delicious birthday cake! After our little snack, we decided to go explore the lake/park by my house. What a gem that little place is! I'm so sad it took me four months to discover it!
Story break... Happy four month anniversary to me and Korea today!!! Four down, two to go!
So we walked around this beautiful park and saw lily pads and lilies, coy fish, a ton of cute Korean babies and a rock wall! I didn't take my camera so I didn't get any pictures, but next time I'll document it for you guys. It was such a good find. I'm glad I found it before my mom got here. I can't wait to show her! (26 days until she gets here!!!!) It was such a nice day outside today, so I was happy to get out of my house and explore! Afterwards, Emilee came by and brought me a whole tub of my favorite Baskin Robbins ice cream and my birthday gift. These girls know me too well. lol She also brought me birthday gifts from Virgina and Lizzie. I am just so happy to have them all here. Days like this make me sad to be so far away, but I was lucky enough to have these sweet ladies treating me like a birthday princess all day! We topped off the day with a restaurant we call "The Cheap Place". Clearly you can tell how wonderful it is by it's given name. lol It's another place I'll have to take my mom. Nothing's better than delicious, cheap Korean food!!
 |
| Birthday face masks! and my favorite Korean gum, some TLC money, and a Korean chocolate snack! |
 |
| Beautiful and delicious birthday cake! |
 |
| Birthday Dr. Pepper!!! YUM! It's not as hard to find in Korea as all the blogs I read before I came here said it was, but it's still a rare thing, so I was extra excited for this! |
 |
| ICE CREAM! |
 |
| Favorite fruit chews and granola bars! |
I'd say overall, it's been a great birthday. I celebrated 22 on the beach in Destin last year and 23 on the beach in Boryeong this year, so I'm excited to see what beach I have in store for next year. I also celebrated my birthday for entirely too long, which isn't technically possible I don't think, but since Korea's 14 hours ahead of America, I'm celebrating my birthday in Korean time and American time!! I've also gotten a ton of Facebook birthday wishes, so those are much appreciated and keeping a smile on my face!
Who knew that when I was 22 I would move 6,000 miles away and teach English to some of the cutest little kids in the world? Here's to making my 23rd year even better! Cheers! I can't wait to see what 23 has in store for me.
59 days and counting, people!
-Kyla
댓글 없음:
댓글 쓰기