Nini’s birthday

So this week was full of festivities. This week is the lovely Nini’s birthday. Nini is the mother to our small group of misfits, well I say mum but she dances up a storm that no mother could attempt! She is our South African edition to the group and definitely leaving in Feb. (sad face) so we wanted to throw her a bit of a shin-dig.

Her birthday was actually on a Wednesday so her co teacher (our very close friend and favourite Atlantan) Rob invited us around to have a mini celebration with some pizza and wine. We had a good laugh and some very good cheesecake before deciding to ditch the dance class we had planned in place of far more stupid dancing in the house!

The rest of the night was a blur of laughing, sticky tape and just general shenanigans. It shouldn’t be this much fun with only 3 people. The worrying thing about this evening when you look at the photos is that we were too busy laughing to actually drink much wine…that’s right, this was not alcohol induced!

Friday was reserved for what might become a Vincent tradition in my house. Woody Allen night! We had Annie Hall downloaded, red wine, south African savory pancakes  and sugary lovely pancakes for dessert. (I will miss Nini when she leaves but my stomach…and Lee…will miss her more). Nini cooks for us a little too much and we really should protest but that’s like someone giving you gold and you spitting on it before throwing it in the gutter. Why the hell would we ever say no to these delights! Considering it was her celebration, Nini cooking was very nice of her (and incredibly tasty). The Kale and mushroom savory pancake was my favourite but the bolognaise chicken was of equal greatness.

Woody Allen did unfortunately take a little bit of a back seat as we were all a little too invented in our friends Lauren’s art project.

Lauren is one of those beautiful people that seems as though she has just stepped out of a Woody Allen film. She's gorgeous, witty with the perfect amount of silliness mixed in. Go and have a read of her blog here it will entertain you for hours.

Now I feel after that description of Lauren you may hear the words art project and expect a art nouveau esq piece of brilliance but….well, I think only pictures will do….(yes that is Simon Cowell made out of rice and seaweed)

In the midst of all this poor Rob had to give a very sophisticated and informative interview about being a grown up to some students in Boston. The poor man made his way through it even with the giggly school girls (us) shouting abuse and finding EVERYTHING funny (Unlike Wednesday this may have been alcohol based shenanigans)

Nether the less the Simbap Cowell (my loving name for this master piece) went down a storm with the skyping students; they even guessed who it was!

After a good few hours we headed home, alarms already set for a big day ahead of us on Saturday.

Donating our hair

Simon getting a world premiere

Hazels gift and the best things ever!

Birthday lapdance

Saturday was the big day of celebrations so we all got up much earlier than should be necessary after a night of Woody and red wine and headed to Herb Hillz. Herb Hillz is a local nature park that has a zip lining assault course you can try. I’m writing an article about this in more detail for a local magazine but it’s fair to say there was a lot of climbing, a lot and laughing and harnesses in places harnesses shouldn’t be!

Just when our bodies were bruised and weary (mine was literally bruised after zip lining my way into a wall…not something I’d recommend) we had the pleasure of visiting Mando Street. mando is a delicious food served here in Korea. Daegu has its own variations but we went for the traditional pork filled mando. The streets surrounding Herb Hillz are filled with these delicious steamed parcels so we treated ourselves to some dumplings and beer before getting ourselves dolled up for a night on the town. (I will be writing a proper article on this mando area soon, mainly for the excuse to go back).

The rest of the night went as expected, Shabbu Shabbu was eaten, soju, beer and every other alcohol you can name was drunk and a merry times were had by all. This photo of the birthday girl hopefully is proof!

Sorry Nini! It had to be done.

This was a joint event since a fantastic Irish couple we know were also sharing their birthday at the same time. It’s safe to say that teachers here in Daegu don’t need an excuse to go out and have a good time so give us three and pain will follow.

The night was a blast. The hangover not so much! Nini can attest to this, well I’m sure she will when she remembers what happened! She woke up on our floor which is always a great place to wake up after drinking. A random place you’ve never been :D

There is still one event left which is a bit of a surprise for the birthday girl. We have managed to convince her that she hasn’t had any pressies off people which is impressive but it will all be made up for when we hand her the bundle of gifts we have waiting.

It’s been a fantastic week, one of my favorites here in Korea. I realize there probably isn't many of you interested in the random outings of teachers but I wanted to jot it all down almost as a personal diary entry to myself. I know these people are leaving soon and I don’t want to forget a second of their time here.

Let’s hope that this birthday girl thinks that our little group ‘done’ good.

And that is that, all the birthdays in our group are finished for a while. Just in time for the official start of Christmas (and pay day) today! WOOHOO!  Let the festivities begin.

R.I.P my liver.