May 26th, 2006

So yesterday was my birthday.
It was a very good day.
It started at the elementary school. I had three good classes, and then one horrible one. Lunch was okay, even though some kid tried to dong-chim me up the butt again. He missed though. Lucky him.
Then, I was off work. My real birthday was beginning. First stop: Shin-hyup. The new bank. The bank where I was going to pay the bills. Boo-yeah!
Then, stop two. Sin Hair Room. Oh yeah, birthday hair cut.
Then, home for a post-haircut birthday rinse to prevent later birthday itching and chaffing. Also, birthday shedding on the hotel pillow.
I put on my new cowboy shirt, my stylin’ Korean-cut jeans and my black shoes. Birthday outfit? Check.

Then, to the bus station on a trip to Gwangju.

I met Jessie at the Starbucks near the bus terminal for a birthday coffee. We stuck around there for a while with Mary, another Native Speaker from Cape Breton who was working at the same camp as Jessie was. It sounds like they are having a pretty good time there. Like a non-stop vacation of social drinking and other fun.
Then, we headed to the Windmill (or winduhmil) motel to drop off my guitar and other stuff. Jessie told me we would have to hurry, because we had to go get my present!
She had me pretty wound up, because she kept hinting that it was going to be awesome, but I really had no idea what it would be. Of course, with her, there’s pretty little chance of knowing what will be coming if she decides to surprise me.
She led me down the street, and then when we reached a corner, she told me to cover my eyes so that I could not look up. Then we came to a door. Then, I wasn’t allowed to look up or back.
When we got to the top of the stairs, I heard barking. Lots of barking, and I saw a pink gate with a couple of dogs behind it. Behind them, more dogs. Behind them… you guessed it, more dogs.
It was “Biz”, the dog café. Holy crap, it was awesome. It’s a café with plastic couches, snacks, and dogs. Lots of dogs to pet and cuddle with, and lots of dogs to feed treats too. And a pregnant tabby cat, and puppies too small to be played with (about the size of a plum with legs). Oh, the whole back wall was covered with treats that you could buy for them. There were big dogs, including a big sheep dog, an afghan hound, a husky and a border collie, and small dogs, some so small that they were not allowed off of about a two feet by three feet space of counter.
After nine months (and one day) in Korea, it was amazing. Jessie described it pretty well when she said “I fell like I just had a massage.” After months of being around non-socialized dogs who do not want to be patted, it was pretty amazing to be in the middle of about fifteen animals who were all coming over to get treats and pats. They were so good too! They just waited to get handed a treat, they didn’t fight over it, and they weren’t nippy when you fed them. The border collie especially, he just gently plucked it from your hand by the farthest possible part so that his teeth were nowhere near your hand at any point.
We ordered apple juice (which is really good in Korea). It came in a sippy cup so that you could drink safely with all the dogs around, and not have to worry about crazy amounts of hair getting into it.
So, that was a great birthday present. The only bad part was that I forgot my camera. So I have no pictures of my birthday visit to the “Biz”.

After that, Jessie treated me to dinner at the “Outback Steakhouse”. On Steve’s recommendation, I had the “Prime Minister’s Prime Rib”, which was amazing. Thank you Steve, hats off. I added “melted cheeses” to my fries, which also greatly increased their size, and made it impossible to get the “Chocolate Thunder from Down Under”. We were both so small that we wound up going back to the Motel and just lying down for a while.

At around nine o’clock, we got a call from Sarah and Rodrigo, they were there, checked in on the floor below us. They were just getting ready, so we told them we would be ready soon too (Jessie had woken up from her nap by then…) and we got ready to go.

We headed over to the Speakeasy, and Shona and here friends were already waiting there. Among them were Eva, an Irish teacher from Gangjin, and Chris (I think), who I had met before, randomly, in Yeongam. Also, there was Rob, who by the sounds of it is just as bored as I am, so maybe we can hang out some time. And most randomly, there was Gayan, a Sri Lankan ship-worker from Mokpo that met Jessie at the bus terminal and who we invited out for the evening. What a nice guy! We’ll have to invite him out again.
It was nice to be somewhere that people knew me for my birthday. Actually, I’ve never had a birthday at a bar where the owners knew me. It was a lot of fun. They let me play two sets of about eight songs or so, even though the second set was pretty drunken.
We had shots sent over for our whole table, pretty common announcements from the band about my birthday, and the odd time the Irish bartender would just walk by, tilt my head back, and pour a shot or two directly into my mouth. And they were damned delicious.
It was a fantastic time, and it was nice to get to see so many people I knew and to get some new people on such a festive night.

After we left the Speakeasy, we went back to “The Biz”. There were about seven or eight of us, and surprisingly, most of the dogs were very eager to hang out even though it was two in the morning. There was a beautiful chowchow there that was not there earlier, and it was really friendly, which was really surprising, because usually you have to be introduced to a chow, so I was surprised they had one in that place. The really remarkable thing about the “Biz” was the fact that all the dogs were so well socialized. They were so nice! I’m definitely going back… maybe tomorrow.
By that time we were pretty worn out. Gayan was also just there for the night and would have to leave at 7 or so to be at work in Mopko the next day, so we took off for our hotel.

We woke up around 8:30 or so to meet Lorien for breakfast. I was surprisingly non-hung over, although my lack of guitar playing in recent weeks followed by two pretty aggressive sets led to a wicked blister on my right hand index finger and a sore left forearm. We went to Starbucks for breakfast danishes and coffees, and then Jessie stayed with Lorien and then went home, and I headed to my Korean lesson.
After my lesson I met Rodrigo and Sarah at a glasses shop where Sarah was looking for some new frames. They were so cheap. I started trying stuff on as a joke, and then I saw the price! $10 for frames! I figured that was too good to be true, and that they would gouge on the lenses. But they were only $20. Bottom line, I now have new glasses. They’re plastic frames (I’ve gone back), which is good, because then I don’t have to worry about how they sit on my nose (my old ones were set for a flat Korea nose, and no matter how much I adjusted them they always sat funny and hurt my nose).
After that we went to Art Street, which is a street in Gwangju where they have a whole bunch of art shops and cafes. We saw a whole bunch of amazing art… I could very easily fall into the habit of buying art all the time. There were some really amazing paintings that I would have definitely bought if I had 1% less self-restraint. Luckily I was sober at the time.
We were in a leather shop at one point, and this guy walked by. He had long white hair, and was wearing traditional garb, in light orange dyed clothing (dyed with dirt, I think). Sarah was fascinated and decided that we should follow him. We lost him, but we did find this wicked little tea room.
It was all wood interior, with rice paper windows on the walls. The menu was all in Korean, so using the phrasebook, I asked our waitress/hostess if she could recommend something. She pointed to something, so I said “Seigae!” which means “Three!” A few minutes later, she showed up with this bowl of iced fruit tea and three cups. She served it out to us with a ladle. It was so delicious. A few minutes later, she came back with a full tea set, and proceeded through this complex ritual of steeping and pouring tea. Then she took the tea she had put in our little shot-glass sized teacups, and using tongs, she poured them over the tea pot, so that the tea spilled over the pot and into the serving platter that everything was sitting on. Then she repeated the process, but this time, she served it to us. It was Aloe tea, and it was delicious. As we were about to sip it for the first time, Rodrigo said “One shot!”, the Korean equivalent of “Bottoms up!” and Sarah and I were reduced to hysterics in a matter of seconds. We wound up making ourselves tea for about an hour and a half, and just enjoying the ambience of the place.

When I got home (at 7:10), I remembered that we had been invited to the Ryus for a birthday dinner (at 7:30). I hopped into the shower (it had been a long day) and then we went over.
Mrs Che had just got home, so she was just beginning the dinner prep, and I was doubting myself for a minute. Did they mean to invite me on Saturday, or did I misunderstand? I was pretty worried… but then the grill came out, and it became obvious that a usual feast was on its way. About halfway through dinner, the doorbell rang, and it was a pizza! Oh Ryus, you are cute. Ordering the foreigner a pizza in the middle of this amazing Korean Birthday Feast. They saved it for dessert, which meant that by the time we got to it, we were all so full that we were close to being sick. And then there was watermelon.
They sang me Happy Birthday (kind of) but it seemed like they didn’t know the words, or the melody. Maybe it was a different song. I’m not sure, but it was really nice. I recorded it on my camera, which might have been weird, but I wanted to remember it.
They even got me gifts! Jaehee gave me a card that was very simple, just a “Congratulations on your birthday” note. Jaewon’s was a little more involved and had a nice little note in it. They got me this ridiculous picture frame, with pink and yellow cakes all around the edge. I saw the box said “picture frame” on it, so I was excited because I expected it to be a Korea souvenir, but it was this funny little dessert frame. It was pretty funny. It’s nice. I’m going to put a picture of the Ryus in it. I think that is that best way to honour it. So funny! I’ll post a picture. They also got me a pretty nice notebook.

It was a good birthday.