A package came for me at school the other week from my mom, and everyone was so curious about what it was. I opened the box and inside there were a few presents and a ton of cards (thanks to everyone who sent me something!), so my school immediately asked, "When is your birthday?!" I told them, but didn't think much of it until my students started talking about it. I realized that everyone in the school knew. On Friday, the day before my birthday, everyone was saying "Happy Birp-day!" and one class even sang to me. I had my afterschool class with my wonderful sixth grade girls and I knew they had something planned because they'd been giggling around me all day. Sure enough, they came into my classroom singing and holding a birthday cake. It actually wasn't a cake, but about 15 choco-pies (like Little Debbie's) piled up with chocolate sticks stuck in them to look like candles. It was adorable! They also presented me with a box of notes, which I almost cried reading. They all said happy birthday and thanked me for teaching them, it was so sweet. At the end of class, the other 5th grade English teacher, MJ, came to my classroom with one more suprise. She presented me with a book from our students, full of birthday letters and pictures. It was so amazing, and probably the best keepsake I'll have from Korea.
On Friday, we were all getting ready for a big celebration- the Boryong Mud Festival! We were leaving Saturday morning, so a few friends got together for a low-key birthday dinner at the best Indian food restaurant in Busan. We ate a ton, had some hookah, and then headed home to get ready for the main event.
Lucky for me, the most ridiculously amazing event of the year in Korea happened to be on MY birthday! Thanks to Alexis, I had a hat to wear to the festivities so everyone knew that it was my birthday. It was probably the best present I received because I got so much attention from everyone ...mostly from dirty, muddy, strangers but at mudfest that's ok! Oh and there were Korean photographers everywhere snapping pictures of us crazy foreigners and they LOVED me and my birthday hat, haha. The "paparazzi" took so many pictures of me, we were joking that I'll probably be seen on a banner or brochure next year, so if you're in Korea then, keep your eyes peeled! We had a blast, covering ourselves in mud with 10,000 other people, and spent the day going down fun slides, mud wrestling, and just partaking in all of the muddy shenanigans. At night, we showered off and the party continued at bars and restaurants with the thousands of other foreigners and Koreans alike.
At the end of the weekend, I was absolutely exhausted but it was worth every bit of suffering I experienced at school on Monday. It was a birthday that I am SURE I will never forget!
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