31 Baskin-Robbins

It was my birthday yesterday. I turned 31.

Koreans call 31 their Baskin-Robbins year for obvious reasons. I'm not actually 31 in Korea, because of Korean age reckoning, but I'm 31 in America, so I'm going with it!

A few of the friends that I've become very close to are on vacation, so I was a little bit sad about not having them there last night. It was still fun, of course!

At the office, my officemates got me a cake from A Twosome Place, which was eaten in about four minutes flat. (Those little white spots on the cake are where the candles were.)

A co-worker that I've known for seven or eight years (we worked together way back in the day in LA!) took me for a coffee in the afternoon, and I really liked the sleeve- a new Cath Kidston design. These cabbage rose designs are all the rage lately in Korea, which my sister is loving.

While I was in Jeonju (전주) for a week, some of my work friends found a new pork place. They serve enormous chunks of pork, as pictured above, which are cut into manageable little slices once there's a nice crust on the exterior. It was really quite good!

Someone suggested that we go to a noraebang (노래방, karaoke) after dinner, so off we went for drinking and eating and singing and dancing like fools. They bought me (another) cake- this one was ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins, separated into nine squares of different flavors. There's something for everyone, yum!

Bending the candles is a weird trend in Korea ... I don't know, I guess Koreans just want to do something different? 

A few people that were there were really good singers! I love Koreans and their sudden shedding of inhibitions after imbibing some meat and alcohol. 

I managed to get even the two non-singers to both sing a song; pouting and asking them to do it for me on my birthday works successfully!

We threw the boys away (we were about half boys, half girls) and they went off to do their manly thing. Koreans tend to separate by gender a lot more than Americans do, which I used to find weird. Now it seems ... normal. Somewhat natural, given that each gender has its own characteristics and interests. 

The girls went to a Japanese place to have little nibbles and a few more drinks. 

Salmon sashimi salad and skewers of eggplant, beef, and chicken. Very good. We lingered over the food while chatting and giggling like only girls can do. 

All in all, it was a fun, low-key birthday.

I want to stop aging for a while, though. Just, like ... five, six years....