New Beginnings

My birthday was this past Tuesday (Jan 17) and I had a good last half of the day. The 1st part of the day I was at work. Since it's my 1st teaching job, I figured it'd be bad form to take a day off on the 1st week of work in the 2nd semester. And we had a meeting that day too...

Later that night I went out to dinner with some friends from work and church. We went to a restaurant where they serve shabe shabe, which is where they boil water in a wok at the table and bring you a big plate of vegetables and noodles to put in it. The vegetables are delicious at this place: mushrooms, cabbage, and onions mostly. They also have a good red sauce that goes with it. I got 2 gifts: 3 pairs of socks, which was great, and my very own extra cake to take home (with candles included, which I used that very night:)

And the next part was a bit of an ordeal. They sang Happy Birthday to me in Korean 1st, then in English. :) Then I blew out the candles. Then they wanted me to tell them what I wished for but I said it was a secret. Then they wanted me to make a speech. So I did. I stood up and said thank you to everybody and I love the church I go to and I love Korea! I thought it would be over then, but then this guy started asking people loudly what nice things they wanted to say about me. It was so loud in there you couldn't really hear and it was embarrassing. Then I finally told him that that's not the American style, but he said "But it's the Korean style," so I gave up. Then he wanted me to tell everybody my prayer request, so I just said to have God's favor. Then the restaurant owner played a song over the speakers for me, and several different people told me that it means I was born to be loved. Finally, after all that, the guy from church sat back down and ate his cake. I tried to smile the whole time and be nice, but it was really embarrassing and not my thing to be in the middle of that kind of fuss, but it was kinda funny so I'm glad it all happened.

That night I went home and called Mom and Dad so they could wish me a happy birthday. Haha. In case you're wondering, I'm 24 in American age, and 25 in Korean age. (I joke that I don't want to be 25 because now I have to round up to 30, but at 24 I can still round down to 20.)