28 Years Young!

I know right? 28?! Woozer! Who’d a thunk?!

So I am officially 28 years old! No more mistaking me as an early-twenty-something anymore. I’m not even in my mid-twenties. I have undoubtedly rounded the corner into my late twenties. How do I feel about it? Pretty damn good actually.

This birthday is rather significant for a few reasons. First, it is my golden birthday. Ordinarily I wouldn’t know what that means, but you see, I have a godparent who is into all that new-age crap, and she once mentioned the term. Another reason of significance is, it’s my 10-year high school reunion. 10 years! It seems like my first 18 years couldn’t go fast enough and now... I’m not going to my class reunion though, I figure I have a Facebook account that can notify classmates of the alluring and glamorous life I live, which saves me the cost of an airline ticket. I am curious how many people are tied down with kids and a mortgage though. SUCKAS! And lastly, this birthday is rather significant because this is the oldest I’ve ever been! I can’t remember a time when I was ever older than I am now, which is reason enough to celebrate, don’t you agree?

Just now, I googled the number 28, and this is what I found. ‘28 is the natural number following 27 and preceding 29.’ Wow! Thanks Wikipedia, what would I do without you?

So onto the website, howstuffworks, which is one of my favs btw. In short:

Geminis born May 28 don’t wait for life to happen to them, they go out and wrestle with it. They are adventurous types who never lose interest in life of confidence in the ability to conquer it.

Enthusiastic and fun-loving, May 28 natives make great friends. They love people and enjoy getting involved in the personal lives of their friends. In romance, they are idealists, often unable to see the bad points of someone with whom they are involved, which occasionally leads to heartbreak, but more often than not, they are lucky in love.

The career path of May 28 individuals is often less than direct, but always interesting. They believe that variety is the spice of life. They care far more about what job they’re doing than how much money they can make doing it.

May 28 people believe that their life is a success if they are happy. Material goals mean very little to them. They count their successes according to the number of lives they touch and the people they inspire.

Hmmm? Little ol’ me?

Last weekend I went to Seoul to celebrate my birthday properly. I stayed with Val and her roommate Barb, and met a few of their friends. We went to Itaewon, which is the foreign district of Seoul. I bought the book, ‘The Alchemist,’ bootlegged DVD’s from the guy on the corner, and browsed through some foreign markets stocked with Macaroni and Cheese goodness.

One of the illicit movies purchased was none other than ‘How to Train Your Dragon,’ which completely lived up to all the hype, (so much so that on my actual birthday I saw it in 3D with a new co-worker, Juliet. FANTASTIC!) The girls baked me a birthday cake, which was oh-so-good, and we lounged about laughing and giggling, reading tarot cards and sharing YouTube treasures.

The last day we went for massages and I received a hot stone treatment for the first time! It was so relaxing, I fell asleep and started snoring instantly. Barb also fell asleep, but she started drooling. What a pair we were! After massages and Thai food, we went to a Korean sauna and loafed about various temperatures of water. There’s more to the experience than that, but I’m gonna write an entire blog entry on it later, so you’ll just have to wait for the details.

Some of my kids knew my birthday was coming up and made me cute cards and letters. They are seriously so sweet, I have to share some with you:

Dear Alex

Hi Alax

I'm Brian

happy birthday!

Although I couldn't prepare a gift for you I realy want to say happy Birthday. I hope you having a happy birthday.

Again happy birthday.

from Brian

As you can see he drew a lovely sunflower, and on either side are people. I am on the left wearing a crown and holding a lollypop, but apparently Brian doesn't know who the boy was on the right is because next to the arrow is a question mark, which could be the best part of this letter. Either that or his decision to change the spelling of my name the second go around. Or how many times he says happy birthday. Regardless, I think we can all agree it is quite cute.

To Dear Alex (Alexander)

Hey! Im Tim

Tomorrow is your birthday.

Somtime I'm sorry because I made a noise sometimes. from now on, I will be a good student.

Although your birthday is tomorrow, I want to congratulate Your Birthday now Even though my gift is small, I hope you liking my gift for you!

I like you - I love you

So Tim made a paper airplane out of the letter and drew an airplane on the top, and then some faces and a flower in the bottom corner, but what makes this particularly special is, one of the faces is undoubtedly barfing. BARFING! Tim drew me a face of someone throwing up, which makes this the best birthday gift ever! I love my life!

To Alexis -

Hi, I'm Joel. I'm celebrate your birthday. Please play with my toy. And we're will more study hard. Thanks to teach we.

Bye!

I also got a really great card from Joon, one of my advanced students. She wrote a really nice message and then established an itinerary for my birthday, which included meeting the Korean president, and a quick flight to London to meet the cast of Harry Potter! WOW! What a birthday!

Joon is in favorite class, which brought me a birthday cake, some chicken and ramon (noodles represent a long and happy life) and sang a rousing chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ that nearly brought down the building! They are a sweet group of girls who always keep my laughing and amazed.

These are my advanced students Sarah, June and Jena, and they are oh-so smart!

And if 2 cakes weren’t enough, after my last class, some of the staff sang to me and we enjoyed yet another cake! This one was cream and even had some cherry tomatoes on top along with kiwi and orange slices. It was really good!

So yep, now I’m 28 years young and feel pretty good about it all. If I had a magic wand made of Holly and a Phoenix tail feather, I wouldn't change anything about my life, which is a distinctly wonderful space to be in. Thanks to everyone who messaged me or called, or even just thought of me on my special day. Don't doubt for a second that I couldn't feel your loving thoughts and well wishes! Love you all.