Aging too quickly and eating lots of cake

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This week I had a very unique birthday because I turned 24 and 25 on the same day. In reality of course I’m now 24 but in Korea you are aged 1 the day you’re born and my ‘Korean age’ is therefore a year ahead of my actual age. Needless to say I always give my Western age when asked in a vain effort to hold on to my youth. Thought I’d give you a rundown of how the birthday went…….

I got up early to open all the birthday cards from family before setting off to teach my adult classes at the language school. I hadn't mentioned to anyone that it was my birthday but somehow my first class, comprised entirely of middle aged housewives, had got wind of it. I turned up expecting to give my class and to my surprise they’d prepared a party....cooked food, got me a cake and even bought me presents.

Then I went to work at school and at first they’d forgotten it was my birthday. Shortly after, someone remembered and I heard them all discussing what to do (they didn't realise I could understand what they were talking about). By the end of the day they'd bought me a big chocolate cake (cake number 2) and even sang 'happy birthday'. They also all gave me money and my boss gave me a birthday bonus too. All in all I made a profit of 130,000 Won (about 70 quid).

After school, I met with a few lads and we went for dinner. We don’t usually get much chance to meet up during the week so it was good of them to come out for my birthday. We had a traditional kind of Korean food called Galbi which is like an indoor barbeque and you can find Galbi restaurants on every street.

When I got home, I checked my e-mails to find an astonishing number of birthday messages for which I was extremely grateful. It’s not much but it was actually quite humbling to think that so many people took time out to get in touch and it really made my day.

In many ways Thursday was like a second birthday. I was working at my other school, which I now only go to once a week and has become my clear favourite of the two. All the kids there knew it had been my birthday and gave me my favourite day at school so far. Swarms of children came to say happy birthday when I got to school and all of my classes did something for me - from writing 'happy birthday' or 'we love you David' on the board before I came in, to singing for me. Best of all, one girl even brought a cake in (number 3!) and had the class waiting with the lights out and the candle burning until I arrived. I later found out that it's unheard of for kids to do that kind of thing here. Apparently she told her Mum she'll go without pocket money for a few weeks just so she could get me a cake! After school, I went out for a birthday dinner with some of my Korean colleagues and, as usual in Korean restaurants, I lost all feeling in my legs from sitting on the floor.

Birthday aside for a moment, I must tell you about the Dog Café I went to in Seoul a couple of weeks ago. Don’t worry it’s not what you think! Essentially it’s a fairly standard coffee shop type establishment, but for the fact there’s a load of dogs just roaming about and having a lovely time. As you sit with your drink, some of them run around or jump on the table whilst others come and see you for some fuss. The staff who serve the drinks double as ‘dog discipliners’ and wander around smacking any pooch that steps out of line. It was all very surreal but highly amusing. Check the pictures for some of my favourites - they'll certainly give you paws for thought!!!

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