Three Times a Party

Friday my birth-weekend-a-thon starts. My "fan club", the mothers of my youngest kiddos, sent me a cake. We ate a piece during play time. It was really sweet they made me light all the candles and then sang happy birthday to me. One of my other students got me a present, dress socks!

In the evening my co-workers took me to dinner at the Kogi King. It is an all you can eat meat buffet, and you're the cook! What could be better?  
 
Before:

Why yes those are whole cloves of garlic in the center.

After:

Then we went to Nore-bong (private karaoke). Koreans are all born with the ability to sing any pop song perfectly. They make the Americans look ridiculous, for one thing they know the words to the songs. I, on the other hand, belt out the chorus then mumble through the rest of the song, if I really get lost I bust into a dance/clap interlude.  (depending on your audio settings this might get loud...fair warning)

The evening, was again, just getting started. Next we went to a coffee shop for an after hours birthday party of one of our other friends. It was a good time, with lots of food and drinks, that quickly turned into a soju soaked dance party. 

The evening ended in Jundong at Freestyle, an expat bar. No pictures from here because I lost all motivation, and most of my fine motor skills necessary to operate small electronics. (below is an artists rendering of what I suspect the evening consisted of)

Saturday "  morning"   (noon-ish) Jessica, my co-worker, and I went to Surisan for a hike. We ended up on a icy death march to the top of a mountain. Really beautiful views coupled with subdermal ecchymosis of the radiocarpal joint (aka a bruised wrist. Thank you wilderness 1st responder class). 

Sunday...my real birthday I went to a 1 year-old's birthday party. It included a little over 30 catered dishes, prize drawings, a sword to cut cake, beer, soju, a picture montage, a photographer, enough sushi to kill a man, a MC, free gifts, and I don't know what else?! I was told that this was a "small" party too. Apparently 1st B-days are a big deal here because infant mortality used to be a real issue. My photos all sucked so you will have to trust me: This thing was off the hook. (ya I just said that and I am OK with it.)

That's a one year old with a sword :)

In the evening I had dinner with friends at SPOON a local restaurant that is owned by yet another one of my friends. Lee-Ge-Hey (the owner) and her mother Lee-Gey-Sun were kind enough to buy all of our dinners. We drank and ate well. It was a really great way to end a birth-weekend-a-thon. Thank you to everyone for the great time and the birthday well wishes.

Late Twenties: I am here to stay.