Revenge is Sweet.

2016/01/24 by Nina 5 Comments

Never believe that you can escape surprises even from overseas. I wasn’t looking forward to turning 30, but I figured it will be a day that passes like anything else. I told my friends I don’t want to do anything. I was told no matter what I must have a drink and I begrudgingly agreed to it.

Birthday loot.

Class 6-7’s cake for me.

The two days leading up to my birthday at school the sixth grade organized little mini birthday parties for me. Some classes sang and gave me cake and snacks. It made me smile, but didn’t quite dissipate the heaviness in my heart before the big birthday. Call it anxiety, but the day before was worse than the day of my birthday. My last sixth grade class of the day surprised and then my co-teacher, Bomi turned on a video for me that she had made with the students. The video was really sweet and meant a lot to me. The message at the end really touched my heart and I know I have a wonderful coworker and friend with me everyday.

 

Birthday cake with the teachers.

Later in the afternoon when I was feeling a bit low, I was surprised by a singing telegram that brought me a stuffed teddy bear, a card, balloons, and flowers. The card was simple, but it made me cry to think that my family spent that much money on me just so something was delivered in time for my birthday. The scrooge in me says its a waste of money, but it made my day, haha.  I had cake in the afternoon with some of the sixth grade teachers which was nice. Kerri treated me to a delicious meat dinner, too!  I thought that all the surprises were over, but I was wrong.

My surprise birthday gift.

Good morning, birthday girl. 30. Ugh, like an unhappy person I was unhappy to wake up being thirty. But I had things to do. My friend, Kristen and I headed to Itaewon to say goodbye to a friend who was leaving Korea after six years. So we grabbed some delicious Turkish food. Kristen told me that I had to get changed when I got home to go out and have a drink, I was surprised when I walked into my house. My friend, Kerri, had been busy rearranging my house to make it feel more, ‘homelike.’ There were pictures everywhere and candles lit, I was really surprised and touched.  Finally, we headed over to a bar to meet friends, where I was unexpectedly surprised by lots of people I know. They all came out to say happy birthday to me. It was a bit overwhelming and surprising to see so many people there. Sometimes we forget how many people we know, or how many people care about us.

 

Turkish food.

Isn’t complete without Turkish coffee.

It was a very fun night out drinking, chatting, and dancing the night away. Granted it ended up with me throwing up into a bucket before I passed out at home, with Kristen deciding to sleep in my bed with me, since two friends were sleeping at hers. It doesn’t matter how old I get, shots of tequila always end my night. Thank you to all my family, my best friends Kerri and Kristen, and everyone else for making my birthday so special. It means a lot to me and it made me forget about all the stupid little things.

Reading about 150 birthday letters from the sixth graders at my school.

The funniest thing about the day after my birthday was all the stress I had put on myself about not being where I wanted to be at thirty disappeared. It is just a number, but sometimes our head doesn’t agree with us. I’m hoping my thirties are better than my twenties were!