Wow, it's hard to believe that this is the THIRD year I've spent my birthday in Seoul. I suppose after "the big three-oh" last year, number thirty-one was bound to somewhat pale in comparison. And while it wasn't quite the "bash" of years gone by, it was still a lot of fun.

Last Saturday, we had my party at a jazz club in the old university district called Daehangno. I had only been there twice before but last time I decided that it would be a good location for a big party. I was a bit worried that a lot of people wouldn't be able to make it because (a) Daehangno is kind of far from where we live and (b) another teacher was having HER birthday party on the same night. Fortunately, though, most of my friends were able to make it, about 15 people in all. Almost exclusively foreigner guys and pretty Korean girls, of course!

I admittedly was a bit cranky when we first got there. I had taught a five hour class of SIXTY-ONE students earlier that day, in a room with poor air conditioning and no circulation. I was hungry, too, and kind of stressed about trying to coordinate everyone's arrival. So you can imagine I wasn't in a very good mood. Eventually, though, more and more people arrived, the beer was flowing, and I was more relaxed. My good friend Caroline, whom I hadn't seen in three weeks, brought a Ben & Jerry's ice cream cake that was definitely the hit of the party. We did the requisite singing of "Happy Birthday", blowing out the candles (which took me many more tries than I care to admit) and embarassing photos.

Of course there are more photos!

The music at the club was more "funk" than "jazz", I suppose, but everyone seemed to really like it, and a lot of people commented on how much they'd like to go back there again sometime. So not only did I feel good about being the center of attention, but I do love to show people cool new places. It's part of my role as "Seoul tour guide", I guess.

On my actual birthday, I went to Ben & Jerry's, had a really great meal at a Thai restaurant, and then went to see "Rent". I had seen it in Boston about five years ago and I was really excited about seeing it again. Imagine my surprise and disappointment, though, to learn that it was a KOREAN production of "Rent"! I enjoyed it, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting...

As mentioned last time, I am only teaching on Saturdays in July, so I have lots of free time (and am feeling MUCH more relaxed than I did in July of the past two summers). I haven't actually done too much during that time, though, because I am kind of hanging around trying to help my replacement get settled in the class, plus I seem to lack much motivation to travel during the rainy season. I am hoping to do at least one trip this month, but I don't really want to go alone. So maybe something will pop up.

I have been going out with my new friends and showing them around. A few weeks ago, I took a bunch of friends (foreigner guys and Korean girls, as always) to Itaewon, which is the foreigner neighborhood. It was a Saturday night at 8:00, and the first bar we went to was PACKED (mostly with GIs). We only got 10 steps into it and I could tell that the girls didn't want to be there; I guess I didn't, either. So we went to the Three Alley Pub, scene of many big nights out, most recently my friend Rob's bachelor party. It was crowded there, too, but one of the guys working there recognized us as F.O.R. (Friends of Rob) and gave us a big table. I'm always complaining that people seem to know who Rob is and only know me as "his friend", but I guess that's better than not being known at all!