As the kindergarten kids started to arrive, the goodies started to roll in. All of my kindy kids brought me something in celebration of Teacher's Day. Here's a little list of some things I got: chocolate, Bennigan's gift certificate, aftershave, shampoo, a huge canister of soy bean sauce, cookies, men's cosmetics, and more. Actually, the most interesting gift was a box of 2 pairs of panties ("panties" is konglish for "underwear"); I never thought I would get some unmentionables as a gift from a kid. Our boss (Grace) decided to buy all of us foreigners a huge bottle of wine from France. I don't really know much about wine, but it looks quite fancy and expensive. I do know it came from an expensive department store in town. I was a little embarrassed that she only gave to the foreigners and not the Korean teachers.
I've got to explain that a couple of days before my birthday I was asking some Korean teachers (Erin & Elly) what they thought we should do for my birthday. I told them that I wanted to have samgipsal/galbi for dinner; they got excited and told me that knew the perfect place and would take care of all the details. I left it to that and asked them to invite all the Korean teachers/staff. On the day before my birthday, those Korean teachers told me that quite a few of the other Koreans couldn't make it. It was a little disappointing, but I still had a few others that said they could come.
Finally, my birthday came. People kept telling me throughout the day, "oh, sorry, Shawn, but I can't come tonight." People were dropping like flies. More and more kept canceling as the day progressed. It was rather disappointing. One foreigner told me he had to go help a friend in Seoul that was being kicked out of their apartment; the British couple left a note on my desk saying they had left and couldn't make it to the party because they were feeling sick. Even the girls that were going to take me to a special place left without saying anything to me. When classes were over, my good friend Joey told me that they couldn't make it. Elly sent me a text saying "oh, i'm sorry." That was really disappointing because Elly had told me earlier in the week that "of course" she would come to my party and mentioned it might be my last in Korea. By the end of the work day, only three others said they could make it. I was almost to tears, actually. Our kindy classes have a phrase of the day everyday, and we joked that "sorry, Shawn" should have been the day's phrase. I think Joey felt my immense disappointment, and he had us all have a group hug.
We finally left the school, and we rode away in Joey's car. He told me we were going to stop by my place and drop of all of my gifts and stuff from Teacher's Day. However, when we got near, he decided to wait until later because all of us were pretty hungry. He said that he knew a great place to eat around my place. We got there, and he mentioned going to a back room so we wouldn't bother others with our English. I thought it was a good idea, but I thought we couldn't have a room since it was just the three of us. I think the waitresses told Joey it was fine so we went to where an empty room was. As Joey went to open the door to the darkened room, I noticed a hand in the window. Joey opens the door and sure enough everyone is there! I was so shocked! As I walked in, the confetti poppers went off as they sang "Happy Birthday" and I blew out the candles. There was every single person from the office...every single person that told me that they couldn't come! I was so stunned and so happy! We had a great meal of galbi together. That's what I wanted for the night - for all of us to be together. Literally everyone was there from the school. The kindy manager mentioned how this type of thing never happens; it is almost impossible to bring everyone together. All of the foreign teachers, all of the Korean teacher, the receptionists, the help teachers, and even the boss. It was quite a feat! They've never done anything like this before - not for any other Korean or foreigner now or in the past. It certainly made me feel really special. The boss even gave me a pair of Nike sneakers and then paid for half of the total bill for the meal (that something that really never happens). I had always wanted a surprise party so it was great to finally have one!
After dinner, we then headed out to a pub/restaurant near the school. The boss (I'll starting calling her Grace 'cause the boss thing is getting annoying) took us there. She ordered all kinds of food and drinks for us. I had to cut the cake here; apparently, its sort of tradition that the birthday person cuts the cake for everyone. Grace decided that it would be best to put some of the icing on my face. I then had to give a couple of pieces to the owner, another Korean birthday tradition. My group applauded for my bravery. We then spent hours together hanging out and having a good time together. Around midnight, all of the Korean girls had to head home because they had to make it back home before their curfew. Us foreigners, Grace, and her kids stayed for a while longer. Grace was willing to go to a singing room with us (even though she really doesn't like it), but we insisted she go home with her kids since it was so late.
Us foreigners then went to another pub/restaurant. We went there just to hang out some more. They told the owner that it was my birthday so they played a techno birthday song and had lights flashing throughout the restaurant. The owner then brought us some free chicken, and he said "for your birthday." Joey then rejoined us after he ran a late-night errand. After a while, we all headed out. Joey drove me home, and he stayed with me for a little while so I wouldn't have to open presents from home alone.
It was such a great birthday, probably one of the best!
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