Korea.: 23rd Birthday in Korea

I have been dreading this day for quite a while. Today is my 23rd birthday (24th Korean age). I actually don't enjoy my birthdays as much because I get super emotional with all the attention and pressure of having to do something special.

Being in Korea, I know that I wouldn't have a birthday celebration with my family and friends. I was scared I would be sitting in my apartment, crying my soul out because I can't see the people I love. I tried to make plans to keep myself occupied and keep my emotions intact.

I woke up to birthday wishes (Korean time)..a day early for America. I thought "Hey I don't feel so bad". I guess it's because I was preparing myself to not expect anything, since I can't expect anything being 6000miles away from home. In my head, I repeated... no birthday dinners..no presents..no surprise birthday parties, no birthday cakes (quite sad right?) It's just part of living abroad away from family and friends. Knowing me, I had to prepare myself for this day.

It turns out I had a pretty good day. No expectations is good because when something happens, you're extremely grateful and happy. My students did not know today was my birthday. No one at school knew, but when my first grade boy (quite a rowdy boy) gave me his game card....I asked him "for me?" and he nodded. I kept it in my pocket the all day because it was a gift! He had no idea... I felt appreciated because kids usually treasure their toys a lot so giving up what he likes meant a lot to me.

After I got home, I spent some time talking to my parents and emailing thank you notes to close friends from home. I then got ready to go to the sauna with one of the TaLK teachers. I wanted to go relax in a warm place...since it has been so cold (it snowed today..). This is my first time at the sauna and I had no idea we had to be completely naked... (of course women and men were separated). I was like...uh awkward..naked in front of my friend?? But it was actually not too bad. The sauna was nice..I relaxed in the the hot pool and went into one of the really hot sauna rooms. I was sweating like crazy but it felt so nice. One of the room was 70* Celsius! There were a lot of older women. It's common for women to go to the saunas... they rub off their dead skin after relaxing in the hot pool. I'm thinking of going back whenever I'm bored. I will have perfect white skin by the time I get back to the states. hehe

Don't expect to see any pictures of this part of my day... ha

After the sauna, we went to get dalk gang jeong (chicken mixed with this red sweet sauce). It was really good since I was really hungry after the sauna. My friend and I got some bakery goods also. It was a good dinner. I ended the day with my favorite coffee, caramel machiato, from Dunkin Donuts.

I got back around 7pm and felt it was enough. I didn't need to do anything else.

~ A shoutout to my beloved family and friends. I feel blessed that you thought of me on my birthday. It means a lot that you took the time to say Happy Birthday to me! I can't really express how grateful I am to be loved and cared for by so many people. Thinking of you all. ~