こんいちは！

I realized I haven't done much updates about what I have been doing. Keeping a blog isn't as easy as I thought it was going to be with everything I've been doing. With everything I've been doing I spend all day moving and by the time I return home I just don't want to write anything. So this post is just catching up.


September 27th[Tuesday] was my birthday, my 21st birthday. I couldn't help but think, "Who would have thought that I would spend my 21st birthday in Japan as an exchange student." All I cared about when I was in high school was just graduating and trying to figure out what I wanted to do, let alone think what I would want to do for my 21st. Even though the drinking age here in Japan is 20, and I'm all ready legal, my 21st birthday is the best birthday I've ever had.

The American girls in Ryokuchi Koen planned me a surprise party; but they had gotten me surprised twice. On my actual birthday they had surprised me with a fruit tart-like cake. It was right after dinner down stairs, everyone had left and I was helping Amanda fill up her backpack full of water bottles (she goes them pretty fast). I'm pretty sure we filled up eleven water bottles before heading up. But before I went all the way up the stairs Fujiwara-san wished me happy birthday both in English and Japanese which put a smile on my face. Fujiwara is definitely a father figure to all us girls in Ryokuchi Koen, he looks out for all of us.

When I got up stairs and turned the corner I was greeted with everyone singing happy birthday. I wasn't expecting such a surprise, apparently Julie had planned the whole thing. But I was so grateful that they had pulled this off for me especially since we've all only known each other less than a month. This just shows that time doesn't always mean anything. The cake was small covered with various fruits on top; strawberries, blueberries, peach slice, pear slice, apple slice, kiwis and some fruit we had no idea what it was. Inside there were strawberries too! And the classic Japanese Happy Birthday writing is on a piece of chocolate placed on the top of the cake.

Julie then told me that she was going to spend all day with my Saturday for my birthday weekend, and then Sunday all the girls of Ryokuchi Koen would take me out somewhere. Something to look forward to for the weekend since my original plan of going to Tokyo would not happen.

The week passed by like normal and Saturday arrived. Julie and I didn't leave anywhere until afternoon. We've been teaching our friend Fuka cursive writing since she needs to read and write it for her part time job, thus we met up with her for lunch and spent the whole afternoon together. Eventually we met up with Mai for dinner at Mos Burger before departing. Julie had told me that what she had planned was in the evening, but we had time so we walked back up to the dormitory before we left for this destination. As we walked up the hill Julie had announced that everyone was going to Umeda again from a text she had gotten, and began complaining that everyone goes there to often and it's always to do the exact same thing. I didn't think anything of it at the time...

After freshening up Julie began to led me to where we were going which turned out to be the bowling ally that is close to campus and is basically on the main road. Excited I hurried to the elevator with Julie to go to the top floor of the building. Well, I had the surprise of my life when everyone was there waiting at the elevator when the doors opened. It was such a surprise, I turned five shades of red instantly earning many comments about it. I even got presents! The girls in Ryokuchi Koen pitched in and bought me a soccer ball while Mai and Fuka had bought me a little blanket you use when studying (or in general, but mostly when studying), a mug with cats on it, and a pen holder.

The night went by quickly with two games of bowling, me winning the first game on the lane I was in, and the Julie won the second game. But out of the two lanes that we were using Nick had us all beat with over 140 points. But the night didn't end with bowling, it was the arcade. The main purpose though was to go to the purikura machine, one of Japan's famous icons in pop culture.

With my birthday wrapped up, the next few days were just filled with going to school and enjoying life in Japan. From playing soccer with some Chinese exchange students who we met last Monday to just sitting outside on campus all day. Especially the later. Relaxing on the main lawn is what I have done basically all week after classes. People come out and play sports or practice. One club though that stands out is the double dutch team. Yes, double dutch team. I've seen them various times and watching them practice is absolutely amazing; the things they do just makes me stare in awe.

Julie has recently joined the team though with the efforts of Natsuki who started to talk to the team for Julie since she was to anxious to do it by herself. The few that were still there were extremely friendly and wanted Julie to try jumping a few times. It was honestly intimidating, I haven't jumped rope like this since I was an elementary school students. But the two guys teased Julie to try and make her relax along with the two girls there. Eventually one of the girls though came over and pulled me out to try. It's so difficult if you don't get the timing just right. (>_<) At least I was better than John who had tried a few times, haha.