Happy Birthday to ME!!

Yesterday was the best birthday I've had in several years. I thought it was just going to be a low key, mellow night. I worked all day and went home for a much needed nap. Then, I headed downtown to meet Trash. She was supposed to meet me after band practice for a birthday date. We were gonna hang out, just the two of us, for a little bit and then go to hang out with her band members at the new pub that Park (her drummer) is opening on Friday.

I was on my way downtown, and Trash called to say she was running a little late and Yumi would meet me to show me the way to their practice studio. When I met Yumi, she talked to Trash and said it would be a little while because they were still practicing. I have to admit, I was kind of ticked off. I mean, it's my birthday, and my girlfriend let band practice run overtime by half an hour. Plus, I knew she'd need time to get ready before we went out. Anyway, Yumi and I were "walking to the practice studio" and we passed a little pub. Yumi said that one of her friends wass in there and wondered if I'd mind swinging in to say hi. My answer... "Sure. No problem." My thoughts... "Oh yeah. I'm in no hurry. It's not like it's my birthday, and my girlfriend is running late cause she has something more important to do."

We stepped through the door, and I saw that there were a lot of people but was so frustrated that I barely noticed when they all yelled, "SURPRISE!!" Apparently, band practice didn't go overtime. Trash just needed a few more minutes to get my AWESOME surprise birthday party ready :) Boy, did I feel foolish (Na neun Babo.). Now, those of you who know me may have trouble believing this, but I was speechless. I just kind of stood there with a dumb look in my face for about 5 minutes (in my head it felt a lot longer). All of my friends from Hongdae were there, and Trash even spent over an hour searching online for my church's website so she could invite Pastor Robert and Jenny. It was fantastic.

We were there until about half past midnight. It was the best birthday I've had in years :)

I don't like party hats.

That's much better.

It wouldn't be a birthday if friends didn't put icing on your face.

...but I got my revenge!

Honggu was more than happy to get some on him too. Haha.

Me and Bang

Jae

Yena stopped by for 2 mins to say hi and give me my present :)

Me and Park (our gracious host)

Hongu, Yumi, Diane

What a great night :)

Pictures Online

When I first got here, I was posting photo albums on MySpace, Facebook and Webshots. That is a lot of work, and as I will probably be here for a long time, I'm not going to keep doing it. I have discovered, however, that I can post a link for people to view my photos on Facebook even if they aren't members...so here they are. These are the photos from my two days in/near Busan:

Saturday - Arriving and on the Island

Sunday - In Busan with Trash

Enjoy.

From the Kindergarten Halls

When you spend a lot of time around large amounts of little kids, you hear some funny things. I heard one of the other teachers yell this while I was walking up the stairs yesterday....

"No, you can only throw the SOFT toys. Ow!! What did I just say?!?!"

:)

Delicious

I've been taking a lot of videos lately and thought I'd share some. These are two of my favorites. I mentioned that I ate FRESH sushi when I was in Busan. Here are two videos of this wonderful experience with Trash :)

Get Out of Town!

Last weekend, I had a much needed trip out of Seoul. My friend, Jesse, is leaving Korea in a few weeks so we decided to do one, last, big trip. 13 of us took the KTX bullet train across Korea to the southeast coast. We went to Busan and then took a ferry to a small island about 45 minutes off the coast. It was beautiful there. We spent most of Saturday afternoon/night at an abandoned amusement park on top of the mountain on the island. That was so much fun. I was able to do all the things I ever wanted. Did you ever want to climb up to the dragon head on top of the swinging viking ship ride? I always have wanted to, and I did :)

Oh Yeah!

It was a lot of fun. We searched through the different buildings and climbed around on all the different rides. Who knew an abandoned park could be so much fun. We all (the better looking ones are Jon Dunbar's) got a lot of great pictures too.

Diane and Trash on the Carousel

Princess Cherry Blossom

Outside on the park's pool balcony

Saturday night was pretty mellow. We went out for dinner and then just chilled at the hotel. Sunday morning, most people left early. Trash and I stayed behind and just hung out in Busan. We had FRESH seafood. By fresh, I mean that we picked the fish out of a tank and they served it to us raw about 10 minutes later. We had octopus that was cut up, but still alive and moving...delicious! Then we just hung out on the beach until it was time to catch the train back to Seoul.

Trash with live octopus hanging out of her mouth

It was a fantastic, much needed weekend. I love life in Seoul, but like anywhere, it's always good to get away for a little while. Monday, I felt so refreshed and ready for work. It's good to have a little more energy during the week :)