You Say It's Your Birthday

Yesterday during our lunch break, we celebrated the 30th birthday of "Rachel," one of the Korean teachers at my school. Although I'm sure our small gathering paled in comparison to a "real" Korean birthday, it did grant me a little insight into how birthdays are done here. There really weren't any major differences, except one, and that was that the cake that Rachel's boyfriend bought for her included candles, matches (in a special sleeve with a striking surface: genius!), and poppers. Basically, everything one needs to enjoy a birthday cake. I got me to thinking about how back in the States, one has to buy all of these things separately, and, really, why is that? Would it be so very difficult to include them all in one nice little package? I don't think so, but I do think that it would run counter to our well-entrenched uber-consumer culture, which dictates that one must go searching for all of the separately packaged essentials and pay a premium on each of them.

Also, the cake was made with sweet potatoes, decorated with kiwis and cherry tomatoes, and we ate it with chopsticks. And that part was fun.