Recap

Right, so I've written squat since Thursday, and nothing of significance since the Monday before that, so I think we're due an update. I turned 25 years old on Wednesday. It doesn't feel much different. My Korean age will remain the same until January, when I'll be 27, bluhhh. It was a pretty low key day as I was working in the evening and most of my friends were working the next morning. Nevertheless, it was nice; I was showered with some expertly-chosen gifts (mostly art materials, very cool), and had the Happy Birthday Song (or sometimes the Korean version, Sengil Chukahmnida) sung to me about seven or eight times throughout the day. After work I went round for a little celebration at Shannon's with cake and beer and friends. Thursday was a little stressful. We're having lots of Government-sponsored students this month, which inevitably seems to mean very low English skills. Trying to conduct a class with such low comprehension can be draining at the best of times, but this month I'm teaching theatre class, the lesson plan for which focuses on having the kids act out a short theatre piece. When only one of them can read the title of the play, getting them through their individual lines is total fantasy, which leaves me a little adrift at times. Friday was more of the same, but at least it was Friday. After graduation, a troop of SEV staff made their way over to Itaewan, to the final of the battle-of-the-bands-esque showdown that our friend Kane Sole was competing in. He was robbed of victory by a dodgy mike that meant the vocals could barely be heard (the sound guy adjusted the acoustics right after Kane's set) but was awarded with an 'honourable mention' at least. We had planned to meet up with Shannon's going away crowd afterwards, but the competition and MC dragged on for so long that all we wanted to do after the result was head home to bed. Saturday was a typically lazy weekend day - I could've done with doing some shopping and laundry, but the only productive activity I managed was a little Korean study. Me and Christa went out for sushi later in the day, which was both disappointing and expensive. The salmon was frozen solid (and it's not like it's easy to complain here) and the majority of the sashimi that we ordered was too chewy to enjoy. The highlight of the meal was Christa gamely taking up my challenge to eat the whole dollop of wasabi in one go. It had been making my eyes water even in small doses, so I was a little concerned as to what it might do to her, and there was indeed a moment she looked certain the throw up, but thankfully she managed to stifle the reflex before it got that far. At some point in the near future I want to write a post on some of my favourite Korean dishes; it seems that usually when I talk about food here it's because I'm drawing attention to some weird or wacky thing I've seen or tasted (and often I've only mentioned our cafeteria food, and we all know what school dinners are like!). There are some real tasty foods out around though, so I feel it only fair to redress the balance. For now, all I'll say on the matter is that on Sunday, me and Christa had a great lunch at a local restaurant before heading out for an exhausting day of Christmas shopping in Insadong, of which no more can be revealed at this time.