Lauren's 30th Birthday

I am extremely late in updating the events that occurred for Lauren's BIG 30. I think Lauren handled her birthday well. The crying was limited because she had family and friends cheering her up with a number of wise-cracks and jokes. This helped make light of this melancholy birthday, she especially enjoyed her re-gift of the coffin with the black rose. Liz, nice return! I have never seen her laugh so hard.

We celebrated Lauren's birthday on the Saturday before January 15th with our friend Barry, who's birthday is just a few days before Lauren's. We left Barry's apartment around 8 after giving our gift to him, which was a skinny belt. Korea has been very good to Barry's waistline. We headed to The Holy Grill, which now serves a decent burrito. It is decent food, considering that the owner is Canadian and the Korean cooks have just learned how to make some tacos! We cut the birthday boy and girl's cake and started indulging in libations.

Berkley was the next stop -- this bar is owned by an elderly eccentric Korean who has a hairstyle similar to Albert Einstein’s. The name of the bar is fitting, like Berkley, California, the bar is very laid-back. There are a ton of cozy couches and a variety of chill music to be heard. This is by far Lauren's favorite bar in Daegu, ironically, it is also the only bar in town where you can get a bottle of white wine.

After meeting a few friends at Berkley, we decided to change the scene and headed to the military bar called Itaewon. This joint is notorious for fights breaking out and for the occasional head-butt from random guys. More often than not, these fights break out because you happen to be talking to someone else's girlfriend. I guess we were looking for some entertainment when we decided to go to Itaewon and lucky for us, we were not disappointed. At Itaewon we met a guy named Wolf and a guy who took his scooter a little too seriously. Plus, low and behold, a fight broke out!

Our next stop was, Old School. This joint is a popular watering hole of ours. They have an enormous projection screen that shows the latest music videos from the states and they serve 30oz steins for 3 bucks. We received an extra treat that night-a bunch of dudes with their shirts off, getting their freak on. Seeing that was the least of our problems, we were about to meet Chris, one of our managers at Moon Kkang. He is from Newfoundland and if you are Canadian, you know what they say about Newfies and if you're not, I will fill you in:

Newfoundland is a region known for its population of die hard drinkers and partiers. Once you have made contact with a Newfie, you are immediately held hostage and are forced to drink at their command.

By the time we met Chris it was 4am, our senses were already weakened, so our attempts to resist his invitations to eat were futile. And thus, we fell into the Newfie trap!

We walked what seemed like an eternity, then got into cab, and then walked some more before we arrived at the secret after hours Korean restaurant that never closes. Mind you, we were still in the presence of the Newfie so the Soju was flowing like water. Shortly after sitting down and having our first bottle of Soju, two large stew bowls arrived. From what I remember, it looked like someone hacked the spine of a cow in half and then threw them into a pot of boiling water with some veggies and red pepper paste. I picked at the bone for small chunks of meat with chopsticks, while Lauren starred at me with disgust.

The night wasn't over after our delicious meal because we were still in the Newfie's grasp. He invited us to his apartment to watch the sun rise over Daegu. It was there on top of his roof, looking over Daegu, that we ended Lauren's 30th birthday celebration.