Surprise, surprise!

How to Have a Birthday in a Foreign Country: The pointless, ham-fisted step-by-step guide you thought you never needed and were right

I turned 26 on Monday, and if my memory is correct this is the first time I've celebrated a birthday outside of Canada. Even the year I lived in the United States, I'm still fairly sure we were at the cottage in July. So a new first for me! I think. It really doesn't matter, because it was a hell of a lot of fun. So what do you do while you get old in Korea? Well...

Step #1: Travel! Get off your ass and go somewhere!

The weekend of July 16th my girlfriend, fellow teachers and I traveled down to Daegu, where many of us had never been before. Daegu is a lovely city nestled among some of the higher mountains I've seen since arriving in Korea. Most of the city sprawls in the valleys between the tree-covered slopes, so every view from any kind of height is backed by some really gorgeous scenery. Daegu is also a pretty big city (the fourth largest in the country after Seoul, Busan and Incheon) with its own monorail system to complement the separate subway line.

We rented a large flat near downtown Daegu and arrived early on Saturday morning. We were then immediately drowned in the torrential downpour of rain, which showed up just to say, "Fuck you Justin, this is why you never plan anything." But it was okay, because after loading up on meat, vegetables and ten breweries worth of beer, we barricaded ourselves in this incredibly nice place and proceeded to party. My original idea was for a chill night of drinks and jamming together, which turned into an insanely fun and ridiculous night of Korean BBQ, drinks, cake, drinking games, drinks, jamming and drinks. 

I spent most of the next day being hungover, but we still managed to fit in some sightseeing against all of my wiser instincts to lay down and die. We got some lunch at a local market and visited a famous bakery for some of the most amazing pastries I've ever had. We also visited Hillcrest Eco Park, which is a really nice park on the side of a mountain. There we explored a green tea garden, saw some animals in a small zoo and, of course, baked cookies. On a mountain.

I'm not gonna lie here: it was one of the greatest birthdays I've ever had. Check out the video below for some shots from the trip, courtesy of the wonderfully talented Elaina Wi!

Step #2: Whoa there! Settle down and relax a bit too! Jesus Christ, man!

Yeah, it was a pretty intense weekend. The weekend before my actual birthday was a lot more relaxing, but no less fun. Chloe and I explored around Coex Mall on Saturday, which is a pretty massive mall in Seoul. We got some steak for dinner on Saturday, which I think is the first steak I've had in over a year. It was also the most expensive meal I've had here, but damn was it worth it. I miss steak. 

We had a very restful weekend overall, which was nice. We've both been working so much, it was nice to just take a load off for a couple days. Chloe cooked 미역국 (miyeokguk - a seaweed soup traditionally eaten on one's birthday) which was incredibly delicious and, due to it's amazing health benefits, probably the only thing keeping me alive after all the meat I had the week before.

Step #3: You've spent too much money, idiot. Go to work.

I had to work on Monday, which to be honest was-

Step #4: Work's over now PARTY AGAIN!

Cool! Monday night a few of my friends came by my place for pizza, drinks and music. And then my managers showed up at my apartment, with more beer and cake! I was a little overwhelmed; it's hard to put into words how grateful I am to have such amazing people in my life. 

I'm a damn lucky guy. Thanks everyone!

Today's title:

You will be waiting

"Hey Justin, what's been happening since you returned from your vacation?"

It's a question on nobody's minds, but I figured hey, it's preposterously late at night so I might as well write an update. I figure if I update this blog nine times this month I should be right on track with my previous average, and having done so my readership should have dropped to exactly zero so...you know, problem solved.

Damn, it's been almost two and a half months since I returned from the Philippines, hasn't it? What do I even say here? I've visited a few places since then, like Jeongju (lots of amazing food and traditional houses, definitely a great place to go for a crash course in pre-20th century Korean culture) and Pohang (went fishing with some other teachers from another branch of my academy then partied in a pub by the beach). I could go into more detail about each of those but, knowing me as well as I do, it seems unlikely that I will.

As of posting this I've been in Korea just shy of 11 months now, and I don't know if I've posted this for sure in here yet, but I've already been talking with my bosses about extending my contract for another year! It's exciting; I feel like there's still so much here that I want to do and it's gratifying to know that I have a lot more time to do it in. Plus of course things have been going very well with my girlfriend; we have been dating for over four months as of now. That's been interesting in and of itself; one of the traditions for couples in Korea is to celebrate every 100 days, so we were able to enjoy that together a few weeks ago. So life here has been going pretty fantastic overall! I'll have to post something celebratory on the anniversary of my first full year living abroad. I'll have to actually goddamn remember to do that in the first place, but hey, it's something!

The only problem right now is the homesickness. Maybe it has something to do with it being summertime, and seeing lots of my friends and family post pictures of things happening in Canada that I'm missing out on, but I've been feeling unaccountably homesick the past few weeks. It comes and goes in waves, and a few of my fellow teachers have been on a bit of a nostalgia trip lately, so it least it seems like it's not just me. But I miss some things about being home. I miss my cottage, and I miss Canadian beer (the beer here is plentiful but it tastes like how beer would describe itself if it was vaguely embarrassed). And of course I miss all of you reading this.

To be honest, it makes me pretty sad not to be a part of people's lives in the same way anymore. I'm watching people I've known for years get married from 10,000km away. I'm not around in any kind of meaningful way, so I don't even have the option. There's a strange kind of helplessness to being so far away. I feel like the guy from The Martian except there's food and chairs and stuff.

It's funny how things change, I suppose. Looking back, I was so anxious about actually travelling here that I remember thinking, "Don't worry, it's just for a year and then you get to go back." And now, homesick as I am, the fact that I'll be staying for another year still makes me really excited. There's so much still to do and see. And there's tons of things I'll miss about Korea when I move home, so I guess I'm screwed either way. But seeing as that's the case, might as well enjoy myself when I'm here!

Don't wait up!


Today's title: