My birthday

Yesterday I had my first birthday away from England. I am now the ripe old age of 23, and am sure that in that one day I became a whole heap wiser!....maybe not! To be honest, I thought my birthday was gonna suck this year! It was the first day back at school, and so I had no classes because of things like Opening Ceremony (don’t ask!), and exams etc. I therefore expected to spend the day sitting at my desk in the freezing cold staffroom, watching the teachers milling about sniffling in the cold, with no clue (or interest!) that it was my special day, and waiting for the clock to hit 4.15! And yes, that’s pretty much how the day panned out! Although, by the afternoon, I gave in, and just told a couple of teachers that it was my birthday….just to get some attention for the briefest of moments. One of the English teachers (a big beardy teddy-bear-like man) even attempted to sing Happy Birthday to me! Bless!

So by the time I was due to go home, I was feeling more birthdayish, generally more cheerful, and excited by my night of yakinku (see next post!) and karaoke ahead! I was also delighted to hear that all my parcels and cards had also arrived, so one of teachers drove me to the post office to go and pick them up. I think she was more excited than me! When she saw the jiffy bags in my arms as I walked back to the car, she said “I think you are loved very much!”…I thought that was really sweet….my grumpy mood had well and truly been lifted! Back at my apartment I ate Malteesers (yep, I know how to live!), whilst opening all my goodies, and was really chuffed with everything that I was sent. Thank you Mum and Dad, Paul, Margaret, Judith, Grandma, Lisa, and Vicki. I also spent some time reading e-mails, and opening e-cards that had been sent throughout the day from my lovely friends!! Thanks you guys!! Just before we went into town, Kat (the other JET in my town) came over to bring me a prezzie from her and Ellen. They bought me a really fab Muji throw thing…which will go with my apartment splendidly. Kat even made me a card..with bits of origami paper, paint, stickers…you name it, it was on my card! The girl’s definitely got a strong creative streak! I loved it!

The rest of the evening was spent in Yanai with Kat, Kirk, Aaron (and his sister), and Neal…where we had yakiniku, my favourite dessert (blood orange sorbet) at ‘Jolly Pasta’, and then 2 blissful hours of karaoke! Didn’t quite realise how tipsy I was until I walked home, and stumbled into my apartment at 11.30 (it’s a school night, so not a late one for me!). All in all, it was a really nice day…and it definitely didn’t suck! It felt a little strange, just as Christmas did, to be in Japan for a special occasion…but it wasn’t a bad ‘strange’…just different!