Birthday Surprise

Dear Mom and Dad,

       You were worried about my birthday, if I got a cake or if I got to celebrate it?  Well, here is the answer!  

      So, my birthday was a couple of Fridays ago (already, whoops!)  The day started off like any other.  I woke up and went to school, but since it was my birthday, the school called off all classes for the day.  Yep, yep that’s right!! I’m so special that school is cancelled for my birthday!!  Ha ha, not really, I’m just reveling in idealism, lol!

      Actually there were no classes Thursday or Friday, since the kids had their talent show on Friday afternoon for their parents.  They were showcasing their afterschool club activities for their talent show.  They all performed as a class, most at least once, some were in a couple of acts.  You could tell which group was performing what act, since they were in costumes and the costumes and costume themes were recycled from group to group.

magic - 4th and 5th grade

taekwondo - 3rd and 4th grade

ballet 3rd and 4th grade

     There was dancing, skits, magic, ocarinas, a guitar performance, traditional Korean drum performance, performance jump-roping, and ballet.  The kids were absolutely thrilled to see that I came to watch them and as they passed by me in the back, the little ones would greet me with a wave of the hand that shook themselves all the way to their toes.  The older ones did a good impression of an excited fish with a fin in an electric outlet.

dance -  6th grade posing

     A couple of the parents greeted me as they passed by on one of their many trips through the back to get pictures of their kids outside.  The kids would pose as a group outside the gym right after their act and the parents would all rush outside to get pictures and hand out bouquets of flowers and lollie-pops.  The kids did a really good job and they were cute in their costumes and so excited to perform, there really weren’t any overly shy ones.  The kids all seem well adjusted to being on stage and performing in front of a crowd, especially the MC kids.  All in all they did a great job.  At least I thought so.   *Proud teacher grinning in the back.*

guitar and singing -5th  grade

     Since there were no classes on Thursday or Friday, it worked out really good for me, since I had to re-do my lesson plan and materials for my open/recorded class this last Friday (for the following week).  I had made up all the materials and detailed lesson plan was written up for my one co-teacher’s class, who had originally agreed to hold the class with me.  Until I got in to school on Wednesday that week, that is.  Suddenly she was too busy to help me.  This was strange to me, since we would be teaching together the next week anyway and I was doing all the work for it as well.  But, oh well, it’s kind of a roll-with-the-punches situation at times.  So I had to re-do everything before Saturday.  That was another headache, but also another story…!  Anyway, some of my 6th grade boys heard it was my birthday, and just as I was about to yell at them for getting into my desk and on my computer, they pulled up the “Happy Birthday” song (K-pop version, of course, lol) on the computer and promptly got shy and ran out

Gorgeous Korean painting by my friend Lee

     Well, that evening I had Korean lessons and my friend Olivia had asked earlier in the week if she could take me out to dinner afterwards for my birthday.  I’d almost forgotten about it by then, but class went well and afterward we caught a cab back to my neighborhood and walked along the street.

Tiramisu birthday cake!  My favorite!

     I didn’t know where we were going until we got there.  We were going to our Diner’s Club’s favorite restaurant in Iksan, a small Italian restaurant called Puritani, a sweet 7 table restaurant that has the best steaks in Iksan, and maybe in just about anywhere. It’s a three course meal with salad, pasta/pizza, and steak, with your choice of cola, juice, or house wine that is all part of the meal set.
   
  It is topped off by Korean style dessert, which is choice of coffee, juice, or ice cream, and this time it was fresh hot macaroons.

     But that was not the extent of the surprise.  I walked in, Olivia making me go first.  And as I turned the corner, there they were!  Some of the closest friends I’ve made here, waiting to surprise me!  Balloons, champagne, cake, and some of the most thoughtful and delightfully special gifts a person could ask for!  Being so far from home, these wonderful people made my day!

The gang all together

Love ya'll!