Well, my birthday has once again come and gone, and I had a spectacular time! The birthday itself was a surprisingly easy day at school, and we were even able to head home a couple of hours early. Then that evening I went out with my general teachers class. They treated me to Gamja Tang (my new favorite food) and beer, and then took me to a karaoke room for singing and cake. You have not lived until you have seen middle aged women vamp and preen and dance while singing korean pop music at the top of their lungs STONE COLD SOBER. I have never seen anyone sing karaoke sober.
The next day was yoga followed by a trip to the bathhouse with Stephanie and Sunny. I met another nice old lady in lacy underwear who scraped all the dead skin off my body and washed my hair, with the bonus of seeing the oldest woman in the world getting the same treatment. She was ancient. She was a crone. She had more wrinkles than I have ever seen on anybody ever. It was actually kind of great. Then I moved on to the salt baths where another older lady sidled up next to me in the pool to discuss whether or not Americans really like hot water. She kept putting her hand on my knee and shoulder and gesturing at my hair. It was hard not to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation.
Saturday was long and lazy with bike rides and beaches and coffee shop conversation, and visitors from afar (thanks Nate and Josh). Then in the evening we all got together to eat “pumpkin duck,” which is a duck (big surprise), cut into cubes and baked inside a butternut squash. Then the squash is cut open into petals, with the duck served in the middle. It is incredible. From there, we headed to the beach where we had a sneaky bonfire complete with s’mores and cheap fireworks. It was a lot like home, and I was left feeling happy and lucky and full. I wish you were here.
