A few weeks ago it was my birthday. I turned 21, totally exciting in the USA but an irrelevant age in Korea. Here D and Amy are helping me celebrate at a local bar. Yes, we brought cake and candles into the bar. The bar actually gave us plates a forks to eat with. Now that is "service" for you. (Whenever you are given some complimentarily Koreans say "Service" it is so cute and you get awesome things!)

Nothing remarkable happened but the sweetness of my students was apparent.

I let this class have a snack party to celebrate my birthday. They brought in snacks and arranged their desks so they could face each other and talk. It was really cute to see them acting like kids and not educational soldiers for once. They also gave me a few gifts. Amy gave me a pen that was in a little box wrapped in metallic paper. Mark gave me a few handmade soaps and earrings. He said his mother makes and sells the same soap and earrings.

Another class sang to me and also gave me a few gifts. Sarah had given me a card that I was reading when Kalf quickly came forward to intercept saying he had "A more expensive gift." He handed me a wrapped box that I opened to find a scarf.