Wednesday 8 July 2009

I forgot!

In the midst of my other rantings and ravings, I never mentioned one of the most surreal experiences of my life: A Korean first Birthday party.

One of my co-teachers invited us all to her kid's first birthday. Now, I assumed that it was a thing mainly for the parents and their friends to chat and drink at whilst the babies played in the corner. Nuh-uh. The baby was definitely the star of the show.

We arrived at about 12 (after being told to dress up) at a Wedding Hall (A set of reception halls that can hold multiple weddings/functions at the same time) style place in Migeum and went downstairs. The baby, and mum and dad were all dressed up to the nines and welcoming people in. We sit down, talk to some of our co-workers (hierarchy is such that mingling at formal gatherings is frowned upon; you stick to your group unless someone formally introduces you) and get some buffet food. Then the lights go off and an announcer comes in and starts heaping praise (according to the front-desk girl who translated for me) on the baby, before a little slide show comes on.

So far, so normal. But then, spotlights up, techno music on, and in come 2 Korean waitresses wearing fairy wings and things on their heads, who proceed to do a 10 minute dance with sparklers for the baby!

It was most bizarre. And now I want a similar party for any of my children because it looked friggin hilarious.

In other news, the topic of what I want to do in "the real world" has reared its ugly head. Part of me still wants to qualify as a teacher, but at the same time I have a nagging feeling that if I were to choose teaching, that I would be shutting down all my other options. And I don't want that.

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