My Korean-style Birthday!

My Birthday went something like this....

I got to school and was greeted by one of the co-teachers giving me a chocolate muffin and a very nice card.  I didn't have to teach at all yesterday because all of my students were taking an English listening test, so it was a pretty easy day.  I did miss seeing my students though!  The head of the English Department asked me to proofread their English language newspaper before it went to print, so I spent most of the morning reading their stories.  I was also able to chat with several friends from home on Facebook!  As for the newspaper, the girls are very good writers and I mostly made corrections like adding prepositions before nouns and periods after sentences.  It took me right back to my semester of tutoring!  It was fun to read their stories about the school's many recent triumphs!  Our school won a Japanese singing contest and a (either regional or national...either way, a big deal!) play competition (kind of like large group speech I'm assuming...) and will travel to Japan over winter break to compete in the next level.  We were also named one of the top schools in our province for English education programs, specifically getting the girls to speak English on an everyday basis. They are obviously quite proud of their achievements, as they should be!

After lunch (I ate half a chicken cutlet in a mustard sauce, among other things, and didn't get sick!), I was told by one of my co-teachers that we were having a meeting in the next office.  I walked into the office to see a cake with candles lit and the whole office singing Happy Birthday to me!  What a surprise!  And, the cake was awesome!  Sweet potato cake!  Later on, another two teachers came to my desk singing Happy Birthday with a small chocolate cake and two sugar cookies!  I took that one home, so I haven't eaten it yet..but I'm sure that one will also be quite tasty!

After school, several girls stopped in to the office to wish me Happy Birthday.  Another group sang to me in the hallway.  As Emily and I were leaving school, a group of girls followed us down the hill singing!  What delightful little serenades!  Then, as Emily and I were leaving my apartment on our way to dinner, another group of girls sang to me in the street!  They all giggled and clapped afterward.

Emily and I walked all around downtown Gwangju looking for a place for dinner.  It was fun to see everything that downtown offers!  There are many cute shops and restaurants, a small traditional market and even a few pet shops with really really cute little puppies!  They made me miss Snickers!  We finally decided on a rice porridge restaurant.  I had a crab and cheese porridge and Emily got a pumpkin porridge.  Along with our selected porridge, they served us a small dish of each of the following items to be added to the porridge: kimchi (of course!), soy sauce marinated beef strips (I never thought I would say this, but it was so good!), a red pepper and garlic paste and pickled radish.  The food was amazing, as was the conversation!

Next, we walked back and hung out for a little while in the hair shop that Emily's friends own.  As we were walking back to our apartments, another one of the homeroom teachers at my school stopped us.  She asked if I would be around and/or awake at 10:00 that night.  I said I would and she said she would call me to come down for a short meeting.  I talked to Mom and Dad for about an hour and read for a little while.  Right at 10:00, I received her phone call and went downstairs to the street.  She, three students who aren't in my classes and another homeroom teacher were standing on the sidewalk with another cake and candles lit, singing Happy Birthday!  And, the cake was from Baskin Robbins, in the shape of a rabbit!  So cute and soooo good! 

This morning I awoke to find several e-mails and facebook messages and wallposts from everyone at home, also wishing me a Happy Birthday!  Thank you all soo much!  I had a spectacular birthday!

Today has been a fairly chill day at school.  It is the last day before break, so everyone is pretty relaxed and ready for the break!  We just got gifts from the school as a part of the Chuseok tradition.  What did we get?  Three bottles of grapeseed oil!  Hooray!  I don't think I will have to buy oil the entire time I am here...  Emily gave me a bunch that she had left over (as in eight bottles) and now I've got three more!  One of the teachers asked me if I knew what it was for, and I said, "Yes, for cooking."  Another teacher chimed in, "Put that in your car!"  What a clown.  We all laughed.

Tonight I am going to see the girls put on their award winning play right after school.  Then, I will meet several other foreigners for dinner to celebrate my and another foreigner's birthday (which was also yesterday) at a traditional Korean restaurant downtown.  It should be loads of fun!  Tomorrow, I will meet Liz and Barry in Seoul again...maybe round two of fish pedicures?  We'll see... and then, I'll report back!