It was my birthday a little while ago and I didn't want to spend it just doing what we normally do, so I invited the girls out. That kinda sounds bad like I am saying Kyle wouldn't have made it special, but he would have for sure. I just crave girl time a lot since being here. On Friday, I worked and it didn't really seem like a birthday because I spent it being frustrated at some of my classes and rushing around getting ready for ELC Christmas Day and being away from Kyle. My students were so surprising though. I was given so many present. I got like 7 things for my cell phone (little decorations that hang from it that I probably won't use because they can't get really annoying), ear muffs, 4 pairs of socks, candy, a scarf, chocolates, a necklace, a bag, a hair clip, some hair ties, fruit forks, and a bunch of other things. Gabrielle said that she had never seen a teacher get so many presents from her students. I also got a few love notes from my kids. It was great. With one of my presents came the note:
"Hellow. Happy Birthday Amy Theacher. This is small present of call phone ring. It is small but I congraulations you. That is wrong. Sorry. Love Tim."
I love how he corrects himself by saying "that is wrong". He is 8 years old. So, I was pretty impressed with his English in the note. They always can make me smile even though I get so frustrated with them sometimes. I am really starting to realize how much I will really miss those kids when I go home. A part of me is going to stay here with them. I will make sure they all have my email address so that I can get little funny notes from them all the time. :)
We went out for drinks at Beer Plus the night of my birthday. They have the best nachos in town. It's sad, I crave western food so much sometimes that I go there quite often and they know me and what I will order. Oops. Eating out here is very cheap though.
The next day, the girls came out. I was so happy. We went shopping at the outlet mall in Wonju and bought a few things. Kyle bought me two sweaters for my birthday. They are the first articles of clothing that I bought in Korea. Since then.... I have bought a couple more things. He has opened pandoras shopping box. Oh well....
Later on, we went to pick up Steph at the bus terminal. Kyle and I were cold in the terminal since it has been rather cold here lately, well, not anymore, but it was cold. So we decided to stay warm by playing "line tag" in the bus terminal. It was so funny. Some old woman was watching and I think she thought that Kyle was trying to hurt me and I was running away. In truth, I think I was the more violent player... bending and breaking the rules as I needed :P He was cheating so there was no other way around it than to push him off of the line, tag him and run away.... ha ha ha. We went out for Dak Galbi that night with the girls and then we came back to the apartment and played Killer Bunnies and did TimTam Slams. So good. I will introduce you if you don't know what they are when we come home.
We stayed up late playing games and talking and then the next day we went shopping at Rodeo Drive and had ice cream at Baskin Robbins. We proceeded to have pizza after ice cream and then we headed to the Cafe The Mary Jane after that and had coffee. It was so much fun. It was actually the cafe owner's husband's birthday that day too. So she gave our table half of his birthday cake to celebrate my birthday. I love the people at that cafe. The husband and wife who run the cafe are having a baby this week. They are by far the cutest couple I know in Wonju, besides Kyle and myself of course ;)
Then we had to say bye to the girls. They headed back to the city and I missed them immediately. Kyle and I got in our PJ's (it was only like 5:00pm) and laid in bed watching movies the rest of the night. It was a great birthday. Sometimes it even felt like we were back at home. I am so thankful for friends here and for being able to get to know Steph. She has become a great friend of mine and I love her. She is amazing.
Next time, I will write about the happenings of this weekend.... Seoul again, Dongdaemun Market, DVD Bong, Coffee Shops, sleeping at Kristas and church. Kyle and I are sponsoring a child from an orphanage here in Korea this Christmas. Also, since we don't plan on doing much for Christmas, we are going to a Christmas Gala to donate towards Churches in Orissa, India that we destroyed last year by extremists. Money donated will help to rebuild those churches. We couldn't think of a better way to give our money this year than to attend that and to sponsor a child by getting them Christmas presents (kind of like a shoe box at home).
I will also tell you about our other Christmas plans with our friends. I can't believe its Kyle's birthday in 10 days and it is almost Christmas and it is still 11 degrees outside. Weird.
Much love!!!!!!!
