goodbye to 35…

deery-lou.
i spent the weekend leading up to my birthday eating, drinking, and sleeping. on friday night we had a work dinner for all the april birthday's. there were three of us. we went to a kalbi restaurant where the meat is boiled instead of bbq. it actually tastes like a pot roast but much sweeter. it was extremely delicious. i could have kept eating it all night. i managed to keep the drinking to a minimum that night. although i had to do the soju shot in beer to appease the natives. to korean standards it was a early evening. i actually got home by 11 something and immediately went to sleep. i slept so good. it must have been the soju. on saturday i ventured into seoul. i had some errands to run before meeting up with friends. outside it was grossy-gross. the dust from china was thick. almost to the point where i could taste grit in my mouth. i should have bought a mask but i didn't. i went to the art store to pick up a few things then wondered around the underground mall from hell. that place to pure mayhem. i'm not sure why i even went there. it was packed with people and hotter than hell itself. i stayed 15 minutes. i met up with chen shortly after that in the twan. we hung out at a cafe until it was time to head out for dinner. i had a small dinner gathering at my favorite indian restaurant namaste. chen got me a cake. how sweet was that. and then came the embarrassing turn the lights out in the restaurant and sing. it was good times. the cake was like eating a slice of heaven. a chocolate mousse heaven. after dinner it was back to the twan and off to the hill. we hung out there chatting and enjoying ourselves. close to 1am jen and astrid heading off for home while becky, chen, and i went to ff club. i got a membership so i best put it to use. we spent the rest of the night drinking and dancing. by 5:40 am i found myself on the subway heading back to ansan. i got back to my apartment by 7:30 am and crashed until 1 pm. i had absolutely zero energy all day. my eyelids felt like they weighed a ton. i managed to get to the corner store for a 1.5 liter of pepsi. its only 900 won [$.90]. i love korea. spent the rest of the day in bed watching tv.
on monday most of my students wished me a happy birthday. how sweet was that. i even got presents from some of them. of course most of them will not be leaving korea with me. as i was opening them i thought back to all my grade school teachers and how their desks were covered with gifts that looked like they came from the 99 cent store. thats how my desk looks now. especially with the teddy bear in a dress holding a heart-shaped frame and my new love dog snow globe. aside from the dollar store gifts, i did manage to score some cool stuff:

1. fuzzy dalki angel frame [anyting fuzzy rocks]
2. palace story sharp [a sharp is what kids call mechanical pencils. who knows!]
3. a gold elephant [might be to hold jewerly or a very chic ash tray]
4. drinking panda journal [he's drinking alcohol]
5. epik high cd [have no idea what they sound like but liked the cover]
6. pencil chopstick [i really thought they were pencils at first. can u say dumb.]
7. a phone charm with the letters of my name. each letter has fake diamonds. [k-bling]
8. banana fish vol.8, 9, & 10
9. superhero action figures [only later i found out they were for my students. oops. thanks sis]
10. lots of emails + ecards from friends and family [thanks guys]
11. phone calls from the states [misty, mom, and kate. love ya]
12. a pencil case filled with lots of goodies. [i love lots of goodies]
13. a new outfit for amber
14. notes from my students
15. an anime toy i get to put together [it shoots marbles]

my birthday was also filled with one of the hardest workouts in my taekwondo history. kwanjangnim taught the class that night. i thought we'd never stop doing situps. he mentioned that we are going to have harder practices from here on out. can't wait. i finished off the evening meeting young and anna for spicy chicken. it was most delicious. and that wraps it up.

be well…