Happy 어린이 날!

¡Very Belated Feliz Cinco de Mayo! Or, as it's known in Korea, 어린이 날. No, that doesn't mean May 5th. It means Children's Day, which was Tuesday. On Monday, I asked my students what they were doing for Children's Day. I got the expected roars of "CANDY!", "PRESENTS!" and "NO SCHOOL!", but one little boy told me, "I will receive the presents from my parents." I hope he made off like a bandit. <3 Children's Day is a national holiday in Korea, which meant I was free to spend it celebrating Cinco de Mayo.


Tomitillo, a new Mexican grill in Seoul, held a Cinco de Mayo festival. There was Mexican beer (something beside Hite and Cass, yes please), half price margaritas and ₩2,000 tacos! Plus, live music. Decent Mexican food is expensive here, so I was excited. I wasn't the only one. The celebrations lasted from noon to eight. I showed up at three and wound up in a very long, very slow line. It was almost all expats, which caused the Koreans passing by to stare at us with open bafflement. Luckily I met up with Marie, Greg and Robin, so I wasn't too bored while I waited in line for an hour and a half.


The food was, well, the food was okay. By the time I reached the front of the line, most of the food was gone. They ran out completely by five. I think the organizers were surprised by the turn out and the quantity of food people bought. I spoke to a manager who told me they had prepared 700 tacos that morning, which would have been enough if each person had only ordered one or two, but after months of very shelling out ₩30,000 for On the Border, I know everyone in my group was planning on ordering 16 tacos a piece. (Actually, Marie wanted 17 margaritas. Alas, they ran out of tequila before we got any and I we had to make do with Dos Equis and Negra Modelo.) I will definitely be going back when they're not swamped, especially since it's just down the street from Kyobo, one of the better English bookstores.