Limbo

Woo hoo! Today was my 20th birthday. I am in the year of "Limbo": no longer a teenager, but not yet 21 when you are completely "legal." It's the transition year from being a teenager to becoming a young adult. As I look back to where I was a year ago, I have seen how much I have matured and grown as a person. I have learned independence while being true to who I am. I am so excited to see where I will be when I turn 21, what new experiences I will have and what I will learn.

Today I made lasagna for my birthday dinner. Yesterday I went to a Western Market with the Byeons to buy all the supplies and ingredients. We had to search through three Western Markets to find Lasagna noodles, but we did find some. It was so strange to go to a store that had all of the products that I buy at home. One of the stores looked just like the Schnucks that my family goes to back home. It was so weird yet so normal at the same time. I don't know how to explain that feeling: going somewhere that resembles a place you have gone to your whole life, yet being away from such a place for a time in such a different environment makes it seem so foreign. It was nice to know it is there for when I plan to make another "Western Dish" for the Byeons.

The Byeons Aunt and Uncle came along with their children: Jun-Young and Eu-Jin. The Byeons aunt made this awesome salmon salad and made me a cheesecake for my birthday! I was so surprised to receive so many presents from the Byeons and their relatives. It was so overwhelming after all of the generosity they have already given me. It was a great birthday. I think the lasagna was a hit. I made two seven layer lasagnas, and a Seung-Young pan. Seung-Young is Hyesun and Kyunghye's brother. He is super shy but is very funny once he warms up to you. It has been almost six months and he is finally leaving his hiding place (his room) to come and hang out with me and the girls. He is also 16, which means he eats...a lot. I made him a three layer pan of lasagna because I knew that he would plow through at least half a pan of a seven layer lasagna. He ate the entire three layer pan...I was shocked! Not only that, he proceeded to eat a piece of the other lasagna as well. I think it is a new favorite for him.

After dinner, I went to see Harry Potter with Hyesun, Kyunghye, Seungyoung, Junyoung, and their uncle. We had to sneak out one at a time because Eujin wanted to go, but seeing he is only five and the movie was rated PG15, he wasn't going. The movie was good, but was kinda depressing. I still liked it, and it was fun to go with the Byeons on my birthday. Definately a great birthday memory. Tomorrow, me and Kyunghye are going to continue our Japan plans, we leave in a week...AAAAHHHH! Hopefully, we get everything planned in the next few days so we can have time to hang out more in Seoul.