My Birthday in Korea! (and Everland!)

Ok, so for those of you who know me, you know that my birthday is early April and I have been really slack (really really slack) about keeping my blog up to date in the last little while. I could blame it on having a crazily busy and fascinating life but really I have just been being lazy - I have had plenty of time and have just been practicing the fine art of procrastination! I am lucky enough to have mum here now, so I knew we could have dinner for my birthday which makes it feel a little more like home, though mum works a late shift so balancing our schedules was interesting! Then I was given a special present... a Kindle! Best present ever! I have been obsessed with the thing since I got it! In Korea it can be rather difficult to get your hands on books in English unless you want to trek all the way into somewhere like Itaewon and even then you can't always get the books that you want. Some bookstores will order them in but an e-reader just makes the whole process easier. When I got to school a couple of the teachers gave me gifts too which was so sweet and I was stunned when even the principal came to visit me with a card written half in Korean and half in English! I had been for dinner the night before with my co-teachers who had gone to all the trouble to get me a cake and really make a fuss. I had arranged with school to finish early that day so that I could make the most of mum's prezzie to me; a massage and facial, before heading home to relax for a while before dinner. That night we met up with mum and had dinner at the fanciest restaurant in Osan, don't laugh, Outback Jack's Steakhouse. I am not kidding! The food there is amazing...totally twisted by the Korean chefs but thoroughly delicious! I was spoiled rotten by mum as well who had arranged Amazon credits so that I could buy books for my kindle! My birthday was on the Friday so on the Saturday Mum and I jumped onto a bus and went to Everland - which is like the Korean version of Disneyland or Dreamworld. It's absolutely huge and beautifully decorated....and swarming with people! Everland averages about 9 million visitors a year and has a zoo and a water park as well as rides and a few other attractions. Highlights of Everland for me; Hurricane (a spinning up and down ride) Feeding the budgies in the "Africa" exhibit

The big tree that looked like what I always imagined a bunch of fairies would live in

All the couples walking around in matching fluffy ears

The completely insane Korean women that were there in stiletto heels The gorgeous flowers / spring tulip festival Trying to work out if these little fluffy animals were actually skunks Lowlights: Standing in massive lines for the rides

The "Haunted house - laser gun" ride... worst ride ever. Feeling a bit sorry for the animals in the zoo... they dont get the space that we are used to seeing the animals in at the zoo's in places like Australia. We had a fantastic day jumping on rides and looking around - the lines were a bit of a bummer but it still didn't get us down - and we were completely exhausted by the end of the day! It was a perfect birthday...and birthday weekend! Thanks to all my gorgeous friends and family for the beautiful messages on facebook and the text messages. Thanks also to my mum for spoiling me rotten!