The year of the Rabbit

As I write this, it's been 2011 for over 14 hours here, but is not quite midnight back home for my American family and friends. So maybe I'll celebrate again in 20 minutes.

anyway this week has been a successful one. My Christmas party had a good turn out. We had about 10 people, a lot of wine, amazing food, party games, and wine. I think everyone had a good time, and they appreciated my last minute attempts at decorating. For my Christmas 'tree', I took one of the green mats that used to adorn the walls of Sherry's room and set it up against a box, on top of which and in front of which I stacked my Christmas presents, and after emptying it, hung my stocking. Then put a snowflake-decorated ribbon in front of it. It was kind of a modern art thing, but everyone got a kick out of it. I think they were all glad there was at least a little bit of decorations.




Then the following week we had no kindergarten, so I could sleep in since I didn't have to be at work until 1. I loved it! I wouldn't mind having that schedule all the time. I took the extra time to organize my classroom and do some other prep work, and most importantly get some quality time in on the piano! Only problem is, I don't have any sheet music and my repertoire of memorized music is pretty small. But still, I enjoyed having a chance to play some songs and improvise a bit without an audience.

I also turned 26 this week. Birthdays in Korea aren't really celebrated, because Koreans calculate their ages differently. But I'm an American so I wanted to celebrate! My Korean friend Hannah that I work with gave me 2 boxes of my favorite cookies and some packets of green tea lattes, which are my favorite drink. She and her boyfriend also spent the weekend looking all over town for a Green Tea cake for me, so she gave me that too for my birthday cake. It was very sweet of her! Then that night I went for a solo birthday dinner of Dunkas, which is breaded pork cutlet. Then I went to Taekwondo and brought them some of my cake to share with everyone. So they all wished me happy birthday, and Chang Bae even tried really hard to say it in English for me. Aw.




After TKD, I met up with the boys for some birthday drinks. Derek stopped on his way to buy me some house socks as a birthday gift. It was funny because he clearly bought them in the shop below the bar on his way up, but still I thought it was nice. So we hung out at Cheers and played some games, then went to another bar downstairs for one last drink before heading home. It was a fun night. Much, much better than last year. Last year on my birthday I was in a really bad place and really unhappy, so turning 25 really freaked me out. But this year I was just so happy to be celebrating with my friends in Korea, and so happy at the positive turns my life has taken to get me here, so I can say it was the best birthday I've had in a long time.



Thursday night a friend of mine who's in the army came in to town to take me for a real birthday dinner at Outback Steakhouse...so good! I haven't had a steak since I've been here. I got a ribeye, medium rare. It was so delicious. Of course not having eaten much red meat in 5 months it was a little difficult to digest, but it didn't make me sick so that's good. He also gave me 3 relatively new American movies on DVD that i've been wanting to watch, so I'm excited to catch up on some American culture.

Then of course last night was New Year's eve. Me and the boys met at the bus stop at 5:30 to head in to Seoul. Or plan was dinner downtown, then walk around and look at the Christmas lights displays, then go to the casino and finally to a bar to ring in the new year. We did all these things. The lights were really pretty. There were a lot of them set up along the stream where the lantern festival was.





this is the restaurant we ate at...a complete rip-off of Chipotle. But just as good!



Then we went to the casino. I wasn't real keen on going to a casino because i don't like to gamble, but I was along for the ride. It is strange because casinos are illegal for Koreans, so you have to show your green card or passport to get in to prove you aren't Korean. So we finally found it (it was tucked away inside a maze of a mall that was mostly closed) and got in and it was full of foreigners, mostly Chinese and Japanese. And it was deathly quiet. Very strange. There was no music playing and the din of the crowd you usually find in large rooms like that was almost non-existent. So we all sat down to play some slots, because the drinks are free if you're playing. Of course we lost all our money so the drinks ended up costing us quite a lot. There were some clowns there too, for some reason, walking around making balloon animals and handing out chocolate. And no, there were no children present.
I couldn't get a photo because photos are strictly prohibited. Actually i did get one of Derek at the slot machine before i knew this, but i didn't take any more after that.




here we are in the courtyard at the mall where the casino is..


So then it was 11:15 and we wanted to find a bar to ring in the new year. We found an interesting restaurant called 'O'Kim's Brähaus'. but they wouldn't let us in because they said they were closed. Funny, it was full of people and the doors were open. We suspected it was because we were white. But i don't know. Anyway then we got on the subway to go to the Gangnam district which has a ton of bars. We walked in to one but were turned away because they closed at midnight. By now it was a quarter to so we quickly went off to find another one. After a few more closed bars we found one that was open so we sat down with 5 minutes to spare and ordered some beers. We got them just in time to toast the new year. The TVs switched over to the live scene of downtown Seoul, where we had been earlier. Then there were no people on the streets but suddenly it was packed. There were stages set up and there was the ceremonial ringing of the bell. It is rung 33 times, i'm not sure why. It's a tradition that started 100 years ago. Anyway on one hand we wished we had stayed there but on the other, it was pretty cold out and we were glad to be inside.
This bar had a very eclectic decor, but it served Paulaner beer on tap. And it had the best juke box I think I've ever seen, and a foosball table. So we had a good time.



After they closed we decided to go to Itaewon, the foreigner district in Seoul. We've all been shopping there but Derek and I had never been to the bars there at night. It was pretty much the trashiest group of people ever. And really felt sketchy. We walked up 'hooker hill', so that was interesting. Then we went to a bar for a drink, but they closed too. Then we went to Quiznos. The line was really long and there were a lot of really drunk people there. Derek and I were rather disgusted and agree that we have no desire to ever go back there at night.
But the 4 of us had a good time together. We got a cab back to Janggi and even though it took about 45 minutes only cost 27,000 won.

So today on the first day of the new year I am just taking it easy, cooking a good meal, and watching the movies my friend brought me. It was a bit strange not jumping in the lake this morning but I decided that waking up in Korea is as good a way as any to start the new year.

2010 was a year of major life changes for me. A year ago I was in Des Moines and never would have guessed that a year from then I'd be in Seoul. I love how much can happen in one year. So here's hoping that 2011 continues this upward trend in my life and that lots more memories are made. Doubtless they will be.

Happy New Year, everyone!