my 26th/27th birthday!

Okay, a little bit of a culture lesson. Although I am 26 in the west, here in Korea, I am now 27 and on January 1st, I'll be 28. In 2 weeks, I will have gone from 25 to 28!  In Korea, age is counted differently than everywhere else. When a baby is born, Koreans count him or her as one year old, Koreans consider the gestation period as the first year. This shows how Koreans respect all stages of life.

Koreans count themselves one year older every January 1. So, a baby born on 31 December will already be 2 years old on 1 January.

I hope I got that right. Korean friends, help me out if I messed that one up.

Now, on to the festivities.

December 22 is the best day in the world. If you know me, you know I absolutely love my birthday. No, I'm not narcissistic, I just simply love my birthday. Perhaps it's because it's so close to Christmas or because my brother and I are only a few days apart; but I enjoy making my birthday a big event or celebration each year. :) Some of my friends even refer to December as "the month of Ellie" because I tend to celebrate all month (and sometimes a few months before and after). Simply put, I love my birthday. :)

In the past, I've had dance parties, dress up parties, a Michael Jackson party for my 25th, etc. I even have my 30th theme picked out already. Who says birthday parties are just for kids? :)

Well, this was my first year away from my family on my birthday and I wasn't quite sure how it was going to turn out. Yes, it is really cool that I got to celebrate it in Korea but I was still a bit sad knowing that we weren't going to do our traditional birthday celebrations (like get up early and sing the birthday song). It actually turned out to be a great day though, or should I say month? :)

The first weekend in December, Rachel and I (another December baby) went to Hongdae, the entertainment district of Seoul. We went dancing to celebrate the beginning of December and we stayed out all night and then went to a coffee shop while we waited for the subway to open.

Last weekend, a few of us went ice-skating to celebrate John-Paul's, Rachel's and my birthday. We went to the ice-skating rink at Lotte World (which is about 5 minutes away from where I work and this place has an underground shopping mall, a Lotte Department store, a hotel and then the largest indoor amusement park in the world). Sometimes after work, I just go walk around this huge place so it was cool actually going to skate.

Really cool place!

Meg and Heather, aren't you proud? (Meg and Heather are competitive figure skaters and you think I would have learned something by now...haha)

After skating, we went to a nice chinese restaurant that was called Chinese Restaurant:)
This was our cake! (please refer back to my cake entry) :)

On my actual birthday, I had to work (boo) but it wasn't too bad. I had just gotten a package from Annie, Kim and Meg so I opened them with the help of my Giraffe class. Then, throughout the day, the kids sang to me, made me a little cake and were really sweet. Midday, I got a special delivery from my family. They sent me a rose, like the rose on Beauty and the Beast. It was so nice and so thoughtful. Then, that night, I went out for Galbi (Korean BBQ, my favorite). Then we went out for coffee and more cake!

 Panda made me a cake out of blocks

 Koala sang to me and gave me hugs

Giraffe made me this cake

 My surprise delivery:)

Panda sang to me!

 My new calendar courtesy of Kim and Annie! haha

 Packages!

My delivery!

 Om nom nom galbi! Yum!

After dinner, we went to a photo booth which turns out is a big popular thing to do here!

Coffee and Cake Time!

my trying to dress Korean-like:)

My day ended with Skyping with my family. :)

FOOD!

Sorry it's taken me so long to write about this. I have been too busy stuffing my face.

Korean food is delicious. I had actually had it a few times in the States and I knew I would not have a problem with the food here. It is so good and it's pretty inexpensive, so add that to my lack of cooking ability and that equals to eating out and trying just about everything! Plus, what better way to immerse yourself in a culture than through the food?  Also, I eat lunch with my students which is a great way to try a lot of different things.

Here's a little bit of information and then pictures!

Side dishes: Korean food has many side dishes. The side dishes can range anywhere from 2 to 12, but all meals feature at least a few. When you eat at a restaurant, various side dishes will come to you before your meal in small bowls and it can range from vegetables to meat to seafood prepared in a variety of ways. Korean dishes are all served at the same time (not separate as in the West). The side dishes are all served family-style in the middle of the table.


Rice: Rice is basically the backbone of all Korean meals. It is eaten with every meal which is good for me because I love rice.

Jjigae (Stews): Usually, each person will have their own bowl of soup or stew (the stews here are SO good!).  The stews are thicker than soups and are usually served sizzling in a stone hotpot with plenty of spices. My mouth is usually on fire when I have the stews but it's worth it!

(The egg on top boils because the stew is so hot)

Kimchi: This is a cold, side dish which is served at nearly every Korean meal. It is generally made with pickled and fermented cabbage seasoned with garlic and red chilli. It can also be made from cucumbers, white radish and other vegetables. There are many different forms of kimchi. Kimchi is a favorite of mine and I've liked it since the first time I tried it  back home. I was excited to see that it really IS eaten during every meal here.







Now for a few pictures....

One of my first meals! This was at a department store food court.

Street food! Good and cheap! 

 Ramen-type soup. I have this at a little place by where I live. PS: It costs about USD$ 2.00. Score!

 Dumpling soup

 Bibimbap (mixture of rice, vegetables, beef with an egg on top)

Korean BBQ! Another favorite!

 My favorite jjigae: doenjang Jjigae (Fermented Bean Paste Stew)

 Nakji Bokkeum (Stir-fried Baby Octopus)

 More Korean BBQ...YUM

Okay so this one is actually Vietnamese Pho but I had to point out the octopus! It's yummy and not scary. (Side note: Since being here I've had Vietnamese, Indian and Thai food. I am mostly planning on trying as much Korean food as I can!)

 I am getting better at using the chopsticks! 

 Bibimbap and Jjigae

Check out all of those side dishes!

 YUM!

Korean BBQ: A lot of the food pictures are of Korean barbecue. These dishes are often prepared at the diner's table on gas or charcoal grills that are built into the center of the table itself. This is my absolute favorite! 


I found this online and it explains it perfectly! :)