My 30th Birthday Weekend

We had quite a busy weekend. On Friday we had a house warming party for our director and co-workers. When we first started teaching at the school it was hinted at that we should have a house warming party. Actually, Mr. Kim said, "You will have a house warming party soon I think". So we put it off for a few weeks until we settled into our place a bit.

Some Canadians we met moved out of their apartment last Wednesday which is a few doors down from ours. We raided their place for hand-me-down furniture and random wall hangings. (We now have a Brazilian flag hanging in our living room). Since our apartment was clean and we had places for people to sit, we invited everyone over. This apparently didn't matter since they pushed the furniture back and sat on the floor in a circle. :)




We served deviled eggs, barbecued meatballs, chips and queso, potato chips, and steamed and fried dumplings. I was greatly amused by watching people try to pick up the deviled eggs with chopsticks. To quote Pretty Woman, "they're slippery little suckers".

Our friend Jared came to the party as well. I was grateful for this when he was able to help us avoid a few faux pas throughout the evening. One such instance came when the director ordered food from a take-out place. He came up to Jason and told him that he had ordered food. This seemed okay with us, but when the food came Jared jumped up and paid for the delivery. We didn't have enough cash for the food because we weren't expecting to have to supply any more food or drink than we already had. Apparently if it's your party you're expected to pay for everything - even if you don't order it. :) Also good to know is that if you invite people out for your birthday you're expected to pay for everyone. I guess we'll be celebrating our birthdays alone from now on. :)




On Saturday, Nathan and Kat came down from Seoul for a visit. It was great hanging out with Nathan and meeting his girlfriend. They showed us around Ulsan (even though they'd never been here) and made sure we knew where the E-Mart and Lotte Mart were in town. We didn't do much other than that except for eating and drinking. I just had a great time catching up and getting to know Kat a bit. (I promise we'll do more next time).



Notice the Starbuck's cups above. See Theresa ... you'll love it here.

On Sunday we put Nathan and Kat in a cab and went for a walk. There is a buddhist temple about a half an hour walk from our place. It was a beautiful day as we walked through the countryside, by a lake, and to the temple.

There was an adorable puppy at the temple who loved us at first sight - maybe a little too much. He wound himself around our legs vying for attention and we were hardly able to leave without tripping over him and falling down the steps. We finally shook the cute little thing about 15 minutes after we left the temple. Good thing too because I think Jason was considering trading him for the cat.

The temple was beautiful and peaceful. No one was around because Sunday isn't their worship day. We did hear some chanting but I think it was a recording. We'll have to read up on the etiquette a bit so next time we can go inside one and have a look. I'm curious to see what they'll be like on the inside.