Andrew’s Birthday

Well, this is a combination post about the first 1/2 of December and the birthday of one of the best guys here in Cheongju – my coworker Andrew (who you may recall from this article). Normally, such an event wouldn’t merit more than a cursory comment, however I am feeling generous this evening in further efforts to redress my inexcusable absence from my blog.

Dinner bonding!

The first week of December passed uneventfully. I started my new semester of split time between Avalon and Langcon, we all bonded over evenings out and dinners, and I became slightly disenchanted with what was apparently one of the coldest winters in Korean history. I thought it strange when all of the students kept freaking out about the snowfall – it was maybe a couple inches – and I later asked why. I mean, Korea is about level with RI and only a couple hundred km from Russia, so I reaasoned it would have seen this much snow. Apparently it was just an excellent year for snow here and we got some very pretty landscapes. It felt almost exactly like home.

My lovely street with a light blanket of snow.

With such an abundance of perfect snow, Ryan, Erin, and I had a great little snowball fight in the park on my street. We met up after classes ended, went to a convenience store for some brews, and proceeded to go winter-ninja on each other for a splendid good time. 3 people, midnight shenanigans, Koreans staring at us out their apartment windows and thinking the White People are crazy… That’s how we like to spend our time. On a side note, I had to destroy all photographic evidence of said incident for fear that it would lead to extreme jealousy.

It was the next weekend that two events coincided in a most unfortunate manner. The handsome young fellow in the first picture at the top of this post was forced to return to the land from whence he came to finish his Master’s degree program this Spring. His flight was on Friday, but Andrew’s bday was on the next day – the 15th – and they had been thick as thieves since before Korea (having known each other from beforehand, and being good friends to boot, tends to do that). So fending the lowered spirits of departure, we saddled up and headed South to Daejeon for some Mexican food and ‘Ritas.

‘EEEEYYY! I’TS MY BIRTHDAY HERE! WHAT YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT?!

I GUESS… Ah… Is that cake?

Our favorite part about the Mexican restaurant was that it proudly proclaimed “Made by real Mexicans” on the top of their menus. So, you know it’s legit. We know he enjoyed the evening and felt happy to be the center of attention, which menas the weekend wasn’t a total wash.

On a more religious note, Chanukah took place in December and for the first time I can remember, I had literally no one around me who understood a single thing I was talking about when I said, “I’m going to run home, grab a bite to eat and do my Menorah.” Big thank you to Aunt Laurie for the wonderful – and unattended-apartment-friendly – glow stick menorah so I could at least semi-pretend that I was participating in the rituals. It was incredibly weird to not have family close by or any one to really share the experience with.

Snow, new classes, departures of dear friends, and the everyday struggles of life as an adult. The first few weeks of December were pretty un-noteworthy. Oh well. I guess there were only two other things worth mentioning from December, but I’ll do so in other posts.