The birthday train

My birthday has come and gone. We are not discussing my newest age. I have stopped counting, so if anyone asks, I will tell you 21. Why does it seem that when we are young, birthdays arrive ever so slowly, like a feather floating on the wind currents calmly breezing and chilling on the drafts as we jump up and down trying to grab it from the sky. But when we get past 20 they zoom towards us like a blazing flame-encrusted alien asteroid shot from a speed of light powered cannon. I am dodging those ever growing alien space balls as skillfully as I can, but in all honesty, my reflexes are seriously lacking, and they hit me much too often for comfort. I am on the fast train to thirty years old, and as much as I beg and plead with the train conductor to freaking slow down this mad dashing train, he only laughs menacingly and calls out to the worker sporting overalls and a shovel in his gruff callous voice "More coals to the fire!" I can almost see the brick wall looming on the tracks with the big 30 bedazzled in pink rhinestones mocking me.

I just need a watch to slow down time. Anyone have one? It's not that I don't ever want to be thirty, it's just that I thought I would have accomplished so much more by that time. I imagined that I would be a grown up by my age, but I don't feel like a grown up. I don't feel like an adult. I still feel like we are just playing house. What I really want is a few more years before I am thirty so that the dreams of an eight year old can be realized. Is that really too much to ask?

So although I would have preferred to ignore the day reminding me of that looming brick wall, we did actually celebrate the day of my birth. A friend came to stay with us. Enchiladas were had. ( A serious treat from some lovely co-workers!) Saturday, Kyle and I had a joint birthday bash in Itaewon (the foreign district) with an Indian buffet and chic bar called the bungalow with sand on the floor to complete the bohemian vibe with friends in Seoul. Sunday afternoon, we had a BBQ with co-workers and celebrated a joint birthday with one of our co-workers wife who had also had a birthday that week. It was a solid week of celebration and super duper fun. And although I wish my birthdays would stop stacking one on top of the other like precariously piled jenga blocks, I was able to look past what it means to be my age and live life as best as I know how.

Happy Birthday mi amor!

Kyle hit a milestone yesterday, he is now officially 26 years old, he is over the hump and sliding the downward slope towards 30. Of course, we don't talk about how I am technically a year older and that my birthday is very rapidly galloping towards us, even as we type/speak. We are just going to ignore that huge looming 7. Nope, if I just don't acknowledge it, then it doesn't happen right? At least that is the school's philosophy, and it is doing them wonders!

What did we do for Kyle's birthday? What did we do to celebrate this great event, the acclamation of the day of his screaming entrance into this little ole world? Next to nothing, and it was glorious! Friday night (the night before the actual blessed day), we did actually go out on the town, and by "town" I mean Yangpyeong which is technically a town, but still in the boonies. We chose Friday night because originally, we had planned on doing a big hoopla in Seoul on Saturday night. We were going to celebrate with friends from English Village on Friday night, and friends in Seoul on Saturday night and have an entire weekend of unending celebration, because let's face it, Kyle is magnificent, if I do say so myself. However, after a month of consecutive weekends lacking of sleep and full of unending fun, we decided that what we really needed was rest. What we really needed was a sane house that wasn't turned inside out. What we really needed was some quality Kyle and Vanessa husband and wife time and going out for Kyle's birthday was only going to continue the current streak of exhaustion.

So what did we do?
Friday we went out for some duc-galbi (a Korean chicken dish which Kyle hadn't yet tried and is probably my favorite Korean meal) and we went bowling. Yes bowling, which is surprisingly nearly identical to bowling at home.
Saturday
-slept in till 12 pm. We didn't even stay up that late. I am guessing we got a little over 10 hours of sleep.
-made breakfast tacos (with ingredients from Costco! Thank God for Costco, cheese and tortillas come to mama!)
-watched a movie
-did laundry (our house now feels like a tropical island with the amount of humidity since we have three loads of laundry hanging around drying)
-went out for sushi and Baskin Robins ice cream
-watched another movie
-went to bed

Sunday
-slept in again
-worked out
-ate lunch
-watched an unfinished movie from Saturday
-worked on the "to do" list


This weekend was marvelous, and if that makes me old, so be it. We had a weekend to catch up on sleep, chores and each other- nothing short of perfection. Happy birthday darling! I am so thankful that you were born.


*Note* neither of these pictures is from his actual birthday. We forgot the camera :(

10 things that make me happy...continued

6. Love- I love LOVE. Don't we all though? I love loving. I love being loved. Love makes me happy. Love gives me purpose and fuels me when my happiness-o-meter is low. Friendship love, family love and husband love all fall under this category. Hearing from friends and family at home is a joy that is unparalleled when living a world away from those important to us in our lives. It is easy to feel isolated and alone, when in a completely distinct culture with all new people and surrounded by a strange language. Knowing that I am missed, appreciated and loved is an invigorating life force. So thank you to all of you who continually support and love us, even when we are far far away.
The love I recieve from my husband also falls under this heading. I am one happily married wifey. My hubby is the love of my life and his love is a shining beacon in my life. I don't know what I would do without him.

7. Attention- So this is my attempt at being earnest. Not that it's a secret, but attention makes me happy. From the time I was two when I broke my foot and collarbone on two separate occasions jumping on a chair, when my mom dared to divert her attention from her darling daughter to cook a dinner. It has always been a part of my personality to like attention. It was something Kyle had to learn quickly when he first started dating me. His girlfriend (at the time), now wife likes attention and if she doesn't have it, you can be sure she will get it one way or another. Luckily, I haven't broken any limbs trying to get Kyle's attention. I have moved to more sophisticated methods such as following him around, poking him or giving him puppy dog eyes when I feel neglected. And my definition of neglected and normal people's definition are quite different.

8. Learning- If I could make a living being a professional student, I think that would probably be my career of choice. Knowledge expands our minds, and I am forever thirsty for more knowledge.

I admit however, I also adhere to the "ignorance is bliss" philosophy as well, which might seem like a paradox, but at least in my mind, I can still hold both statements as true: I love learning and ignorance is bliss. When I say that I subscribe to the philosophy above, I mean to say that I don't particularly enjoy learning about the hardships of humanity. I don't enjoy learning about the poverty of the world and the diseases. In fact, this type of learning doesn't make me feel happy at all. It just makes me feel wounded and helpless. The learning I enjoy is the kind that gives you power, the power to change and contribute, new ideas that expand my mind to think deeper with a different perspective than I previously held.

Wow, who would have thought I would have to work so hard at explaining a love of learning.

9. Home- I love traveling. I love seeing the world. I feel like traveling is almost more of an education than one can ever experience from a textbook. I thrive on traveling the world, meeting interesting new people and experiencing so many new enterprises. However, there is no contest, home is home and there is nothing quite like being home.

Home: San Antonio, Texas, that wonderfully colorful city where my family lives. It is the place I grew up, where all of my childhood memories reside. And although many of my friends have scattered across the world, it is where I met many of my closest friends and where most of them come home to, at least for special occasions.

Home: The US of A, our stupendous country where cheese doesn't cost me my entire paycheck, where I understand everything that is being spoken, and where I feel like I belong. One thing I have discovered on my travels is my appreciation of where I have come from. I come from an unconditionally loving and supportive family (in-laws included). I come from amazing friendships as close to family as non-blood relatives can come. I come from a country of opportunity, a country of diversity and a country of hope. The US has it's problems, but so does the rest of the world. We are not a singularly messed up country, we are not alone in corruption, the rest of the world doesn't have it all figured out either. And despite our so many problems, I would rather be from the US, from Texas, from my family and friends than anywhere else in the world.

10. Being creative- Have I mentioned that we are taking photography lessons? Creativity is a life force locked away behind bolted doors within the stone tower of my brain pounding to be let out, calling for it's prince charming to come release it. I have found many cracks in the aging wood to allow it's release in small doses, but it remains a prisoner, unsure of how to destroy its barriers. Recently, one of the things I have discovered about myself is that creating is what makes me truly happy. I want to create, I need to create to feel alive. I want to let that creativity stream out of me like rays off the sun. Creating is what life is about, without it, the world is leaden. We create our destinies, we are the author of our lives, we will create what future generations will stand upon and I want to be a contributor to that.

Writing has become an important creative outlet for me. It used to be, in high school, an activity that I abhorred as vehemently as pea soup, as it was always a difficult task, time consuming and a brain sucking strain. But from the start of my first blogging, while on our Italian study abroad program way back when in 2005, I discovered an enjoyment in the wielding of words, the interweaving of sentences to create a world I couldn't produce with speech. It has been my creative outlet for years now. It is still difficult, I was never a natural with words, but it is rewarding as it is the act of creating. I think, no, I know, there is more locked away waiting for it's prince.

Other ways I free it is through cooking with my hubby and now I am trying my hand at photography. One of these days, when I find that key, I will be as brilliantly bright as the sun for when we, as people, find our calling, we shine and sparkle with radiance.


Now for my awards... Some of my favorite blogs :)
Leslie and Peter
Living life on the Road less traveled
Houston Central
20 days/ Australia
A shelter from the storm
Kim is in Japan
Beautiful Mess
The Johnson Jingle
Eat your Veggies
Country Mouse

YAY! Award time!

I got an award, I got an award! Someone in the bloggersworld likes my blog enough to give me an award. More specifically Smocha over at Cats on a British Counter likes my blog enough to award it the Happy 101 award. I am not sure what that means, but who cares, I got an award!

I love awards, can you tell? I guess, I just like the recognition. It feels good to know that when I am writing, it is not just floating off into cyberspace for no one but stupid spammers to find.

Here are the rules:

1. When you have received this award you must thank the person that awarded you in a new post.

2. Name 10 things that make you happy.

3. Pass this award onto 10 other bloggers and inform the winners.

I find #2 super ironic, because right at this very moment, I am tired and cranky. We had a bit of a wild night last night celebrating a friend's b-day in Seoul and I had dreamed of a nap in my own bed for the two hours I sat zombie like on a subway when I couldn't hold my eyes open, only to be alluded by sleep for over an hour and a half once actually under the covers in my own bed. Why does that happen, I ask you? Why can you not sleep when you want to, and can't stay awake the rest of the time? So if any of these sentences don't happen to make sense, don't blame me, just blame my sleep deprivation.

10 Things that make me Happy

1. I bet you can guess what number one will be... Naps. Oh how a lazy afternoon nap can be so refreshing. Naps make me happy. Not napping makes me cranky, almost t-rex cranky.

2. Lots of things make me happy, but right now all I can think about is sleep. Stupid sleep. Okay, think, think, what else makes me happy. We are only on number two for goodness sakes!
Chocolate- yes, milk chocolate makes me happy. Right now my current addiction is Tim Tams. My australian friend introduced me to this little delight, heaven in a cookie. It is a chocolate cookie with chocolate icing, but what makes this sweet special is how you eat it. As everyone knows, the proper way to eat an Oreo is to dip it in milk. Tim Tams are rectangular, so the proper way to eat them are to bite off each corner, dip it into milk or hot chocolate and use it as a straw. Hot chocolate is better in my opinion because it melts the chocolate inside making this crunchy cookie melted chocolate goodness. When I first experienced this, I dreamed of it for days. I'm not joking. I dreamed of eating the melted goodness. Yes, chocolate makes me happy.

3. A good book- I'm on a roll now. It didn't take me long to come up with that one. Maybe just thinking of things that make me happy erases the crankiness.

A thought-provoking book, a love story or a well written novel are all examples of words on paper that bring me joy. I love holding a book. If a book is particularly lovely, I find myself hugging the inanimate object wishing that it had arms that could wrap around my body and squeeze all of those words so close to me that I would never forget them.

Books bring me joy. If you want to see the books I am reading, you can check out my shelfari on the side panel.

4. Nature- I love nature. I love the warmth of the sun on my skin, and the freshness of the air when I escape the city (not that we live in a city currently as our school is in the stix). I love feeling humbled by nature's awe-inspiring beauty. No matter how many times I go hiking or walk in a park, or swimming in the ocean, I am always blown away by the magnificence of the Earth. God was the ultimate artist when he put this little blue planet together. I just hope that more people appreciate it's majesty before we destroy it in our dollar-driven path of greed.

5.Kindness- As I travel, I am always humbled by strangers' kindness, stopping to help us when we are lost or confused. It is something they don't have to do, especially for a foreigner, but so often we have been greeted by such humanity. We, humans, often think of ourselves as Americans or Koreans or what ever nationality we are, but in actuality we are all human beings. Each and everyone of us share the same planet. And even though sometimes it feels as if we are all against one another listening to the news about wars and disputes, we all humans, and if we remember that, if we could consciously keep it in the forfront of our minds, in my opinion we would have much less war and unhappiness.

Our first experience abroad, we experienced this numerous times while in Italy. Here is our old Italian blog from 2005, my first attempt at blogging, if you are interested in reading about the kindness of Italians. The particular post I am referring to is called "A rough day", and is towards the bottom of the page.

This entry is getting longer than I intended so I am am going to continue it in the following post. Thanks for reading.