Kimchi, not for me

I'd like to think that this post will be quick...but I know me too well. However, I will endeavor to present a quick (ha) run through of my first birthday in a foreign country:

7:15-ish AM - Dad called to wish me a happy birthday. I was definitely half-asleep for most of the conversation, but it meant an awful lot to me that he called. What a nice guy!

10:30 AM - Got out of bed (ahhh...very nice). Knew I would be staying at work until 8:00, so I decided to go in at noon, because I only have to be there eight hours. Therefore, I could sleep later.

11:25 AM - Phone rings. It's Melissa at school asking where I was. I told her I wasn't coming in until noon. Then she said, "Oh, you have to come eat lunch with me!" I picked up on the possibly subtle hint that I was ruining some sort of birthday plan she had made for me. (I have a knack at doing that unintentionally.) So I hurried - severely. I half dried my hair, got dressed in a hurry, and headed out. As I was nearing the school, I walked - no, rammed into the side mirror of a car. It was the most random and stupid thing - and I hit the mirror HARD. I thought I actually heard glass shattering, but I didn't (it was just my bones) - but it startled me so bad! Which is ridiculous because it was a big BLACK car...I also yelled a less-than-pleasant word, but hopefully no one around spoke or understood English. Anyway, as I was taking off my shoes, I saw Melissa and Kylie run up the stairs with bags in their hands. They were obviously trying to not be seen - anyway, Melissa bought me a birthday cake last night when we went to Baskin Robbins together (she passed off the cake box as saying she bought lots of ice cream for later - which could have been believable perhaps, but wasn't). Anyway, when I went upstairs for lunch, she and Kylie popped out of the bathroom with my cake and presents for me. It was amazing. Lunch today at school was also seriously delicious, which is always nice. Melissa gave me a thing of lotion and body wash she got me here - it's Cacao (which she says is the old saying for "cocoa" and I believe her because she's smarter than me) and it smells heavenly....ah, it is SO nice. But there is more of the much-loved random English writing on the jar...and this makes more sense than most of the random English over here...here's what it says:

"It is like a virus of happiness spreading happiness and luck..."

There's more, but that was my favorite part. Beyond that, the day went well. My classes were good, and we all went out tonight for dinner. Oh..wait.

7:45 PM - Dinner with people from work. It was, as expected, an interesting experience. The food was great. But I somehow (and by "somehow," I mean that I ordered them instead of rice - and learned that rice is SAFE, and nothing else is) ended up with some cold noodles that reminded me WAY too much of the hearworms that were in jars at the vet office in Dothan. You couldn't really chew them either...just try and separate them enough to get them in your mouth and swallow them - this mass of cold, slimy (at the least), - shudder - (and I really did shudder too, with goosebumps!). And this is when Melissa shows herself to be the amazing friend she is. She said, "Teresa, can you share those with me? I'd really like some." So she took some of the noodles so I looked less rude...but I still couldn't finish them.

Tomorrow is an open house, where the kindergarten students come with parents/grandparents to meet their English teachers. It should be an interesting experience. I don't think many of the parents speak English, so it could be one awkward situation after another. But Ms. Lee said that she thinks the students will all be happy and excited to show off their teachers to their parents. Hopefully. I'll be sure to let you know. All I know is that I have to be at school earlier than normal and I have to dress up.

Ah yes, one last thing. I did wear pants with my skirt today, and I think it's for the best. One of my first graders came up, and before I could realize what was going on, had pulled my skirt up and over his head so that he was now in my skirt with me. Thank God for the virginal nerd look (which didn't really work out all that well with what I was wearing, but I'm going to try again tomorrow)...because otherwise I'm not sure if I could really teach that class and ever be relaxed again. Skirts, as a rule, are not made for two. Definitely not.
So, I'm going to bed now. Thank you all for the delightful emails, ecards, and Jen, thanks for your post! I love all of you! Thanks for making this a bearable experience for me - it wasn't at all sad or depressing! Thank you!