I turned 30!

Well, I turned 29.  But in Korean age, I turned 30, which is something I didn't consider when I decided to move here.  Who doesn't love turning 30 twice, though, right?

So, I turned twenty-nine-or-thirty and it was fantastic.  I spent the weekend with my best Korean ladies, who treated me to all kinds of incredible-ness and many ridiculous surprises.  I EVEN WORE A WIG. Therefore, I had an awesome birthday.

My bestie-co-worker treated me to surprise Indian delivery on Friday afternoon for dinner.  In all honesty, the surprises could have ended there because I was smitten.  Indian delivery on a regular work day?  What a flippin' treat.  Oh my gotts, I really can't get over what an amazing idea that was.  The weekend kicked off from there and the surprises kept coming, including, but not limited to, hilarious underwear, wigs, vegan deliciousness, BLACK BEANS, pumpkin candy, TVP, and various other chotchskys that made me swoon.

More awesomely, the Busan International Fireworks Festival decided to happen at 9pm on my twenty-ninth-or-thirtieth birthday.  I guarantee that this is a firework show like most people in the world have never seen before.  We were smart and staked out our spots on the beach at 3pm.  We were not smart and did not stake out umbrellas.  BUT NO WAY WERE WE GIVING UP OUR SPOTS.  We sat homelessly in the rain for approximately 98758695879 hours to watch the fireworks.  This was actually a hilariously enjoyable aspect to the weekend for me, however it was badly marred by an evil sneeze that would not escape my face.

GOD, the evil sneezes that get stuck in my face in Korea are insane, but this day was especially bad after spending the night at my lady's apartment which had recently exploded in mold.  For real, her walls were furry, and for some reason it made me think of some puppets on Sesame Street that I can't remember the names of...she had furry walls, man.  Furry walls that resembled puppets on Sesame Street.

Incredibly, the evil sneeze gave reprieve for a few hours in order to put on a wig, shake what my mama gave me, and have a beautiful night out in Busan.  I even got a birthday spanking circle, does it get any better than that?

The VERY best part of my birthday was fulfilling my wish.  I sent out an email to all of the indescribably fabulous and generous people in my life, explaining that for my birthday, I wanted to raise money for BAPS, the rescue group I love and support here in Korea.  My people responded whole-heartedly, donating a total of $550 to the group.  I'm in love with so many things about this and and beyond grateful and pleased.  Go, dogs, go.

On the Richter-scale of birthdays, this was a mega-quake.  I was rattled and rolled by love and friendship and couldn't have been a happier girl (does turning twenty-nine-or-thirty mean I have to call myself a woman?).