Dave's Birthday Week!!!!

It was my birthday this past Thursday and I turned 26...well 27, but in 2 weeks I turn 28. Let me explain....In good old American years I turned 26 this past week but here in Korea you are considered 1 year old when you are born because they think of your time in the womb as the first year of life (or 9 months, but who's counting). So 26 +1 = 27. But also, on January 1st it is normal to being saying you as old as you will turn that year, so although my actual birthday was only 2 weeks previous I should begin saying I am 28 in Korean years. So basically, I gain 3 years of life in 2 weeks which is way to fast for me, not enough time to really accomplish much at the age of 27, even though I'm only 26....I don't know how old I am anymore.

Anyway, Lindsey, being as fantastic as she is, decided she was going to celebrate my birthday week this year. She started off by hanging Happy Birthday signs in my classroom with paper bows. She got me little treats through out the week and did nice little things like doing the dishes when it was my turn and just plain being really great to me. On my actual birthday Lindsey woke me up by scaring me to death by yelling "Happy Birthday!" as I rolled over still half asleep and then making me breakfast in bed. A delicious Korean delicacy known as the bagel and cream cheese (which is expensive). It was delicious. As for presents she got me a basketball which I am very excited about but I havn't gotten a chance to use yet because its been freezing outside and thats as much as an excuses as I need to not exercise. She also brought me tons of candy and coffee from home that she didn't think we would be able to get here in Korea. It was awesome! I have tons of Reece's Cups and 2 giant containers of Folder's Instant Coffee! She really knows how to make me happy.

Once I was allowed down stairs I got to see that Linds had balloons all over the floor and happy birthday flags hanging from the loft (which I plan to just leave up until her birthday in August). We still have the balloons all over the place because it jazzes up the apartment a bit. Although, when you walk in it does look like someone had a big party and just never cleaned up the balloons, which I guess is sort of true. We made birthday tacos for lunch and I think I ate 7 and it was fantastic.

At work Linds has put more balloons in my classroom and the other teachers all got my presents that were really nice and unexpected. I got a DVD, some nice chocolate, some moisturizing lotion, and pajama pants (more of those later)! Also, for my birthday our Director took everyone to the duck restaurant under the school before work. I'd never had duck before but it was really good. It can simmering in a soup and all the meat just fell off the bone, it was delicious! Our Director asked if I knew what meat I was eating. I told her yes and she asked how, I told her because the building is covered in giant ducks outside.

This past weekend Lindsey surprised me by taking me to Gwangju. Gwangju is one of the 5 big cities in Korea and less than an hour away from us by bus. We hadn't been yet so we headed up there to explore for the weekend. Our plan was to spend the night in a Love Motel which is exactly what it sounds like. Basically everyone lives in apartments so when young Koreans want some alone time they check into a Love Motel. They are generally cheap, tacky, and come with free soft-core porn so we naturally had to try it out. Our room did, in fact, have all of those generalities. The room was 40 bucks for the night and the building was full of dark hallways and mirror covered windows. It was like a casino. The decor was very 80's and awesome. Our room was called The Yellow Wave and looked a little something like this...

The room came equipped with a big screen TV, computer, heated bed, toothbrushes, condoms, heaps of tissues, robes, "extra hard" hair gel, hair spray, aaand bug killer. Everything you may need for an enjoyable evening.

Once we had checked in we headed out to explore the city. After a bit of confusion with a taxi driver and walking several blocks in the wrong direction was eventually found the downtown area which was really amazing. It is suddenly just blocks and blocks of pedestrian only roads filled with people and engulfed in shops 3 stories high.

Despite it being very cold we walked around taking everything in and periodically stopping in random stores to look around and regain some body heat. You could seemingly buy anything here, there is even a 3 story Dunkin' Donuts. I tried to buy a new flannel but despite visiting several stores I was just too big and nothing fit me, even extra large was way too small. Ends up, I am a giant.

We had dinner at an Indian restaurant that was recommended by our friends and it was delicious. There were lots of foreigners there which was a bit of a strange sight but the food was sooo good. I think we ate everything in under 3 minutes. We will definitely be returning. Afterwards we set out to find some good bars and get our drink on a bit. We started our own personal pub crawl, minus all the people and deals on drinks. In one club we tried a shot called Sex with an Alligator because that is a funny name. It was cool looking but very fruity tasting. To make an unnecessarily long story shorter: after several bars, one dirty club, and a cab ride that consisted of our driver telling us our motel had closed we returned to the motel around 2am to pass out.

The next morning we watched a movie (Lovely, Still) after googling how to write in Korean, "What time do we need to leave?" We tried to find a Korean BBQ joint for lunch but were continually directed to go to TGIFridays. Walking by TGIFridays was a bit odd though, seeing all the Koreans using forks and knives. Well, in some cases trying to use knives, but this is probably what they think seeing us use chopsticks.

All in all a great weekend and great birthday from my great girlfriend. (Sorry readers, I will refrain from being mushy from now on).


-Dave