My birthday fell on a Thursday this year. We were provided with beautiful weather Monday-Wednesday with hopeful statements of rainy season being over. Recalling a time long ago when it rained on my birthday and I cried, I was really hoping it was not going to rain on Thursday. But of course, it rained. It wasn't too bad though, so I didn't cry. Despite having a 40 minute bike ride to work, both legs of the commute were relatively dry. However my plan of taking a nap in a park fell through. But enough about the weather.
That week I happened to be on the elementary school 6th grade lesson about months and dates, more specifically: birthdays. It really was a nice coincidence- I swear I didn't plan it. So at school I would give an example, "My birthday is June 30th." Few students caught on, but usually the teachers would figure out that my birthday was the next/that day. One class surprised me with a poster of notes from all the students and a few separate ones from individuals. They were cute.
The others teachers at that school, realizing only just as I was leaving that it was almost my birthday, promised me a celebration the next week when I would be back. They did indeed follow through, and I wasn't even expecting it. I went to that school 3 times that next week, Tuesday-Thursday. By Thursday afternoon I'd figured they'd forgotten. But just before 4 (when I go home), I somehow missed ALL of the teachers leave the room. One came back and ushered me into another room where the teachers surprised me with noise-makers and cake. They forced me to eat the cake by myself as they all stared on, occasionally taking pictures. Despite my calls of help to eat the cake, they all refused and they sent it home with me. As awkward as it was, it was really nice.
I got a few more cards and birthday songs in a few of my junior high classes and a teacher at my other elementary school brought a cake for me.
My friends also planned a nice taco dinner for me with homemade tortillas and all. I also received a new kendama. My friend had bought one, sanded off the red paint of the ball and painted it neon green! It's pretty awesome. The other staff members of the Nagazasshi, the magazine I work on, chipped in to buy me the coolest umbrella on the planet. I'd seen it on TV a few weeks earlier and one of the editors and I stopped by the store that sells them to check them out one day. The umbrella is black with a white skyline of London. BUT, when it gets wet, the white turns multi-colored. It's kind of like those spoons that would come in cereal boxes that change color in the milk- only better. It's really great.
The following weekend, I stayed at a resort on an island off the coast of Nagasaki. It was a nice, relaxing time with many trips to the onsen. From there we went to another island not far off called Gunkanjima (See the next entry.)
I had a wonderful birthday, but of course it would have been great to spend it with my loving family back home.
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