Mario Invades Korea

As I've mentioned, my good friend Mario flew in to surprise me for my birthday. I was in absolute SHOCK! I couldn't put 2 and 2 together when I first saw his face at my school. It's so like Mario to top off any gift idea and pick up for a spontaneous adventure. I must say, it's very reassuring to know I can be found, here in the middle of a country on the other side of the world.
Mario was only here for 3 days, but they were 3 amazing days! Of course, we went out all 3 nights. The 1st night was a local pizza place where we ate with my co-workers and ordered huge pitchers of beer. We told them it was my birthday and received the customary Korean "celebration": they blast this song and everyone in the place claps. This particular restaurant has chandeliers that turn into disco balls and the waiters pop party favor graffiti at you. Woo Hoo!








The 2nd night wasn't so low-key. We hit every bar in town, starting with a huge Korean night club called "NEWS". We were the only foreigners in the booking club. It's supposed to be a match-making place, but the staff let us alone because we were already co-ed. I was the one who'd suggested the place, knowing they have great entertainment. (bands, D.J.s, extravagant shows put on by talented Russians...) I wasn't expecting STRIPPERS to come on stage. Neither were the boys! I think they were happy with my choice. This place also did the Happy Birthday bit (hundreds of people swinging their white hand towels around while the "celebration song" blared) It was great! Mario also told the DJ to wish me a happy birthday over the loud speaker and he did, while singing along with "I like to move it move it". Does it get any better?

Yeah it does. You might think I'm referring to my Konglish Party the following night. No, I'm referring to my actual Birth day. The last 3 classes I teach are kids between 10 - 12 years old. They brought me tons of presents... really really thoughtful presents!

Alice used to be incredibly shy. She wouldn't talk and appeared to be nervous most of the time. Then one day I brought my puppies to school. That night for telephone interviews I told the kids they BETTER ask ME a question. No one-word responses, I want actual conversation. Well Alice asked me if I had dogs back in America. She then talked my ear off for 15 minutes about pets. Usually the interviews run 5 minutes at most. Ever since, she's been an extravert and TOP of her class. She kicks ASS now! For my birthday, she remembered me saying I love strawberries during our fruit/vegetable lessons. I LOVE HER!

Sara shares my love for writing. She always comes up with innovative stories and tries to be creative in her work. One time I asked the kids to write about somewhere they'd been over the summer. Every kid said, "ZOO" or "BEACH". She struggled for the longest time, trying to tell me about some lili-pad festival she'd been to. Finally I just said, "I don't care! Just make something up." She's extremely sensitive and hangs on every word I say, so she ended up crying. I felt like the biggest JERK. Then she wrote me a Christmas card saying how much she loves me and that she was sorry for crying in class 2 times. (her classmates weren't cooperating for a puppet show once). Well she gave me a journal for my birthday that says, "Don't borrow from tomorrow, live each day to the fullest." Wow. Some other girls brought me notebooks, pens, candies, and notes thanking me for teaching them. One girl even brought me a georgious butterfly necklace (another favorite of mine is butterflies) and I just started teaching those girls a couple weeks ago. And to top it off, Mario got to spend the day with my kids. They asked him all kinds of questions about his job, America, and where he was sleeping while here in Korea. They loved him and he even brought them snacks and post cards form New York. Thanks Mario!