Concerning...goodbye 22, hello... something.

As I've explained before, age ra-heeeally becomes just a number because of the weird Korean counting systems so numerically, my birthday wasn't that big of a milestone. When I left the US, I was 22 and immediately upon entering Korea, I added a year to reflect the Korean consideration of the time in the womb, deeming any newborn automatically one year old. Then, January 1st, I added another year along with the rest of Korea. So in four months I went from 22 to 24. Given that, going from 22 to 23 to 24 somewhere back to 22 in my mind and now firmly landing on 23 didn't give the extra year much punch.

Age loop-di-loops aside, I did have a pretty nice birthday. Despite this, the build up was not entirely pleasant and in fact I was somewhat dreading the day but my kids started the weekend off on a good note. UCLA gave me all sorts of great gifts, including hello kitty pens, a 5 inch barbie cell phone charm, a hand painted fan and other assorted nick-nacks. Brown wasn't as in tune to the day which made it all the more endearing when Irene came up behind me, put her little arms around my waist (I was sitting down) and said "Becky Teacher, happy birthday to you." ALL KINDS OF ADORABLE, I'm telling you. After lunch, another one of my kids gave me a card wishing me a "Happy Bathday" but the real icing on the cake was my 4:00 remedial class. I'm not that close with them because their English is at a super low level, like I've taught them almost everything they know, and so I can't communicate very freely with them. And, there's only 4 kids. However, they quite literally rendered me speechless when I walked into the room and the lights were out, a candle-bedecked cake waiting at my place on the desk, with cute little presents around. They popped out from under the desk and exploded confetti at me while yelling "Happy Birthday" and I had to fight not to cry. They got me this huge, violently pink, ribbon and bow festooned rose, another cell phone charm, and a little chair tea light candle holder. Beyond words. Then, my last class, one of my favorite 11 year olds threw me a paper airplane note that exactly read:

From Becky Theacher
Theacher, Becky teacher, Happy birthday! Today is your school birthday. Today anything is yours. I not have your gift. I'm sorry. But I am very like you. Happ birthday!
(Really big heart)
To Chris

Oh my god. These kids have melted me down to levels of my soul that I didn't know existed. Right now, through the steadily growing excitement of going home eventually, I am slowly realizing it's bittersweet. It was obvious in England that I'd leave a part of my heart there but my attachments to my students here have been slower and more subtle in their development. I didn't know they were under my skin until they were there to stay. That will be a definite tug when I do leave.

That night, we went to Level Eks for the first time in a month and it ended up just being me and 5 Koreans going out to fried chicken. They found out it was going to be my birthday and also surprised me with a cake, and sang happy birthday. It was so sweet and it totally reminded me of that scene in "A Christmas Story" when the waiters are trying to sing Jingle Bells on Christmas. Hilarious and so heart warming, despite the indecipherable lyrics.

Then to the actual day. Knowing me, and how my homesick heart refuses to deny one moment of nostalgic twangs, it of course had to start with the teary phone calls back home but once those were over and kleenex firmly thrown away, the fun could begin. Well, after cleaning my apartment, mopping, fixing a light-bulb, getting groceries, and a shower. That done, I went to a BBQ for my friend Chad whose birthday is two days after mine and had a little too much fun with some water-guns from his roof. That, and yummy sangria. After dinner there, a friend and I went back to my place for some wine and Sex and the City to get ready for our night.

We went out to a local foreigner bar which was so much fun, we had about 3 tables combined for Chad and myself. Another friend got me a cake (4 and counting- work also got one for me) which was so sweet. That, combined with the flaming unidentified shot that I drank out of some kind of citrus-y fruit equaled a haaaaappy Becky who was well into the festivities. We went out dancing at a club nearby and it was so so so much fun, everyone kind of let loose and popped a move. There were also an inordinate amount of attractive Koreans, or maybe that was the screwdrivers. In any event, much fun was had. I made it back to my apartment in time to see the sun rise and plop in bed.

Sunday was mostly spent sleeping, after which I went out to dinner with another friend and had an early-ish night. Work is good, winding up the June session and as I said last post, no matter how much I try to live in the moment, my mind will not release its grip on the countdown. We're almost at 2 months now, in case anyone was wondering. Love!!

Becky the Birthday Girl

PS- Sorry for the lack of pics, I'll try and remedy that one of these days.
PPS- Thanks to all who sent along birthday messages, they were so appreciated and did a lot to get me in a festive mood!