TWO SOUTH AFRICANS MANGLED THE AUSSIE ANTHEM

On the first Thursday of every month, the (mostly foreign) English teachers in my town gather to drink Makeoli* and compete in a pub quiz. (My team, Three chicks and a Dick, usually wins. That's not important to the story.) Anyway, sometimes when we're feeling creative we have a theme night or get up to something silly, and this month was no exception for two attendees.

Some back story: During the Rugby World Cup (boooo!) semi-final between South Africa and Australia, four friends made a drunken bet. Rodney and Shaun (SA) and Megan and Jarrod (Aus) bet that whoever's team lost the game would sing the other two's national anthem at the next makeoli night. Um... So, to clarify, South Africa lost, so Rodney and Shaun had to sing the Australian anthem in front of everyone because the referee was a 'doos'. Google it.

They practised their Aussie anthems, with video links helpfully provided by Rodney's girlfriend (aforementioned Megan), and a few weeks later had to stand and deliver. They painted tank tops with Aussie-flagged hearts declaring their love for wombats and platypuses, donned board shorts in freezing weather, and did this:

As a South African, I would like to apologise to all Australians who may have been offended by this mangling of their national song. The boys really did try to learn the lyrics, the lesser-sung second verse included, but the moment was too much. The glare of the fairy lights blinded them to the majesty of the words. If it makes you feel any better, the damn song was stuck in my head for the rest of the night!

*Makeoli = Korean traditional rice wine. Tastes like fizzy milky beer.

PS: The voice at the end saying, "That's going on my blog!" = me.

I THREW A SURPRISE PARTY FOUR MONTHS EARLY

One of many things I adore about The Lovely Gen is her child-like enthusiasm about birthdays. Any birthday is exciting to her, and she looks forward to mine more than I do (because I'm turning 30 next year and am thus pretending time has stood still). She counts down to her birthday for a month beforehand, reminding me every day, "Babe! It's only X more days!"

Sadly for TLG, her birthday is at the end of January, which in Korea is a terrible time because most people are either on winter vacation or on their way home, so there is a distinct absence of friends. So, ignoring my own ambivalence about days of birth, I teamed up with our friend Megan to throw a surprise party for TLG and Rodney, Megan's boyfriend. Four months early. It was genius.

It wasn't a fancy party by any means. There weren't gifts or costumes or strippers, but it still took a month to plan, to give people notice and keep them in the loop about the events of the day. Don't write about it on Facebook. If TLG or Rodney ask to do something that night, you're busy/dying/don't want to be their friend. No gifts required. Just STFU!

We told the unsuspecting duo that we were taking them on a special double date to a fancy new restaurant. We had to get our ducks in a row and plan for any question they may have asked, as both surprisees were sure to be nosy. And they were. What kind of restaurant is it? What must I wear? Where is it? How did you find out about it? What are we doing afterwards? No question thwarted us and we set off for Daegu and our fictitious 8pm reservation. Megan had gone in earlier to set up the venue, claiming a 'meeting' with her former employers, so we kept in touch via SMS and were veritable CIA operatives. We ascended in the elevator, she was hiding with the friends.

SURPRISE! Even I jumped with fright. The look on TLG's face was priceless and well worth the effort. She really had no clue at all, despite my near-busts and terrible excuses. Rodney was just as thrilled, it was quite adorable how happy and special they felt. High five to everyone who attended and helped!

Luckily the boys had experience with balloons and did a wonderful blowing job.

The stunned duo

Look at that face! So cute!

TLG and I. Brownie points scored!

Birthday cake, courtesy of Tim. Kamsayo!

Rodders fancied himself Dave Grohl, after which he proceeded to trip over a wire and fall flat on his face.

Foooozeball! One of the many games we played that night, including pool, air hockey and beer pong.

Look at that mic technique! Could be on Idols!

Gen and I were beer pong champions... but not at Champs. We blame the tables.

Andrew kept saying very vulgar things into the mic, so Fiona shut him up.

Megan, my partner in crime, and Rodders.

The last song of the night, well, morning as it was 4am, with some random American girls.

The boys got all emotional and sang a long song, something to do with a house?