The Coming of Ages.

So...yesterday was my birthday. Yay! I am now officially an 18 year old living in a country that doesn't really care. I wasn't as excited about my birthday as I thought I would be, mostly due to the lack of hype surrounding Birthdays and that turning 18 is just another number. But, it was a good day and even if it wasn't the party I thought it would be when I was younger, it was memorable in its' own way.

12:20 am. Mai (Koto's sister) walks into my room and unceremoniously places a plastic bag on my bedside table, she wishes me a happy birthday and walks back out. I thanked her and rolled back to sleep without looking at the bag because I thought if I looked I would start brooding and then not be able to sleep. Thus, it was only when I woke up at 6:40 in the morning (after stirring several times during the night) that I looked into the bag and discovered a small horde of Japanese snacks. Most of them will probably come back to Aus with me as I already have an astonishing amount of food sent it from family and friends. Most of which is chocolate. xD

I received cards from my sister, my best friend, my aunt, my grandmother and my mother. I read mum's on my birthday because I knew somehow she'd find a way to make me cry. She suceeded. Nanny's was probably the most hilarious card I've ever received that, upon opening, blares High School Musical songs without end. Oh, how classic. My aunt sent me scratchies on which I won 10 dollars and my lesbian lover and my sister sent me chocolate and happy cards.

When Mai gave me the bag she said it was from all of them, so I went on the presumption that was my present. I wasn't expecting anything major but I thought they might have done a little better than that. So, when I came downstairs to eat my breakfast I thanked the mother for my present, she looked kind of confused but didn't say anything as I continued to eat my breakfast, ogled Johnny Depp on TV (he's here for my birthday, I swear) and went and made myself publicly presentable in the bathroom.

On coming out of the bathroom, I was handed with a letter and a present, disregarding the Japanese cutom to open presents privately, I read my letter and opened my present which was (ZOMFG!) an Arashi DVD which I like flipped about. Yaaaaaaaaa~y! I kept thanking them and tried to keep myself from bouncing up and down with excitement. This way I've got Arashi in Aus as well.

Then, with my delays, I had to hurry to get myself ready for school. Then, as we were running late, (not my fault, I still managed to be finished by the time I normally do) Koto protested that we be driven to school on my 'special day' instead of walking. Koto's mother reluctantly agreed but mostly because we were now in a position that we couldn't arrive to school on time unless we half jogged. We were dropped to the 7/11 near school and Koto bought something for Kana-chan who also had her birthday on the same day. I'd brought a packet of Gobstoppers for her. ^^ But, once we got to school, how horrible, Kana wasn't there as she had been struck by the vicious infection calling itself Influenza. That was a real shame because I was looking forward to sharing a birthday with her, she's such a nice thing.

So, I walked in and most everyone wished me a Happy Birthday which was nice. Class started, I went on the computer and read all my charming notes of love on my Facebook. (!) After that, we went down for P.E and practiced for our Dodgeball tournament next week. I am an ok Dodgeball player, I'm a decent dodger but I'm bad at throwing the ball, it's too light to keep a proper aim. In any case, it was a lot of fun to all be playing together.

The third and fourth period saw us doing some activities with a Uni lecturer that has lived in Japan for 22 years and was teaching us memorization techniques to learn things faster. The techniques did have some merit but seemed more hassle than it was worth. This is the poem I memorised yesterday in around 20 minutes or so:

My heart leaps up when I behold
a rainbow in the sky;
So was it when my life began,
So is it now that I am man,
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man,
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

Not that hard, we memorised the poem by learning one line at a time going from the bottom to the top, then we cut it up and put it back together like a puzzle and did other such activities.

Btw, I think something have must have happened with Gobstoppers and a kid as the packet has this new warning saying: This product in not suitable for small children. It consists of small balls which may present a choking hazard. It must be something. Sorry, I'm just eating some right now which is why it sprang to mind.

I wore my 18th badge which mother sent me and everyone seemed really fascinated by it. Everyone kept asking whether it was homemade as if you couldn't buy them in normal shops. So, I had to explain that people sometimes wear them but especially on the important ones they tend to and everyone was like...'Wow..' We fuss over birthdays much more than they do it seems, as well as Christmas.

Lunch time was eating with everyone, receiving Pocky from four different people and playing a card game which is basically like Snap! Then, they wanted to play Speed but I was surprised to find that the way they do it is different. They split the cards in half and put down five single ones in front of them, then once the put a card into the middle, they take one from their remaining cards to replace it. They also play with Jokers in, the Jokers become any card you want. I like our way better.

The afternoon was pretty normal, I was going to go home before Koto as she had some preparations still to do for International Day. When Mai asked me whether or not I wanted to come along with a few others to a nearby International Uni to watch a presentation by the foreign exchange students. With nothing else better to do, I agreed and went on my merry way to the uni with Mai, Ami and two Akane's. The Uni was surprisingly close to Koto's house and I had asked in advance what time it would finish so I could be sure I'd get home in time for my mother's phone call. Mai said 5.45 at the latest so I figured I'd be safe.

During cleaning, I handed out Red Skins, everyone said they were nice but were surprised at how hard and chewy they were. xD

The presentation itself was very interesting, there were around 10 students all from different countries: Brazil, Canada, England, Thailand, Russia, Cambodia, China, Korea, Vietnam and a few others I can't remember. Each dressed in their countries traditional clothing, those from Brazil, Canada and England all wore normal clothes and they each did like a traditional little dance.

It was pretty cool, then the meanings of their flags were introduced and then it became just like a panel discussion. The main guy was most liekly their teacher and I swear he was gay, he reminded me of our irritating PnO Cruise Director Adam. He came on yelling, 'Do you love me?' with his hands flapping all over the place. Lolz.

But he, and one other teacher, posed questions about the differences in culture and everyone went around and answered them which often led to other topics of discussion. It ranged from, 'What was the first thing that surprised you in Japan?' to 'What do you use to eat food with?' and 'What do you think of Japanese guys?' and so on. This was all of course, in Japanese for the audience although sometimes they'd explain in English when they couldn't in Japanese. I was pretty much around their level of speaking although they were a tiny bit more grammatically and structurally conscious than I usually am.

Then I went home, having just missed mum's phone call, the Uni thing must have run late as it was 6:06 when I got home. Mum called again not long after and we had a lovely little chat, then Katherine called as well, which was an unexpected pleasure. Although Katherine and I have a tendency to talk about non-important things at length so I ended up missing the entirety of vs. Arashi although I could watch it from where I was sitting. Having English spilling in your ear and reading Japanese subtitles (most variety shows subtitle what the people say but only when it is interesting) at the same time can be most confusing. But, there is youtube.

From 8-10 o'clock we ate whilst watching the first disc of my Arashi DVD which has film clips from all their best hits. In the first one they are soooooooo unbelievably young as it is their debut clip when they are only 16. MatsuJun is really dorky but Aiba hasn't changed a bit.
So, all of us laughed at that for two hours and I ate Sara Udon (the crunchy kind, crunchy noodles and a mix of vegetables on top) and sushi, I was full with the Udon but I kind of felt that I had to try everything so I also squashed a Koroke down.

Koto was supposed to be at a band rehearsal as they are performing tomorrow at an event called 'Kansho Live' which the teachers aren't supposed to know about but she seems to have come down with a cold which is bad timing on her part. She came to school today but left around 10 with a fever so I hope she is okay. She asked to watch the second half of my Arashi DVD, maybe that was her plan all along? >_<

10 o'clock saw me watching Himitsu no Arashi chan, the latter half of the show had a section I hadn't seen before which got to see everyone act. For example, the gave each of the Arashi members sushi, one of them had a generous dollop of wasabi in it but everyone had to act like theirs was normal. Then the other team had to guess whose actually had the wasabi in it. They were all surprisingly good at acting. Although Nino decided to help out and act like his had the wasabi as he could see it was in Jun's from where he was sitting. Love the team work. ^^

After that, we ate cake. It had shifted in the box and thus some of the icing off the side had come off, the mum was really apologetic but I was totally fine. I told her we were going to eat it anyway so it didn't matter what it looked like. Mai used her skills and made me the whole cake, it was like a nutty creamy flavour with apricot and nuts in it. It was very nice.

Koto's mum gave me a present of a really nice shirt and a calendar with Japanese phrases on it for every day of the year and Koto's Dad gave me some Hello Kitty pens which was good because they were the ones I didn't have yet, as I collect Kitty charms.

Then at around 11:20 I went into the Ofuro and bathed, I came out, thanked everyone for a fabulous day and went to bed. By the time I was fussing about my room and putting clothes away and finding places for presents (I also got a Rilakkuma cup from An-chan!) time had passed the line between day and night and it no longer was my Birthday but very early in the morning of the day of which my Birthday was yesterday. So, quite happy I went to sleep. and that was my 18th.

So, thank you for the love and well-wishes and I will be back in a month now. Time does fly. I don't even feel like a grown up, the only thing that has changed in Japan is that I can now legally enter a Pachinko building. Lolz. (Pachinko is their form of gambling with lots of flashy lights and sounds.) I may even take advantage of that liberty just to say I've been in one.

So, that's all for me. I don't have my camera on me now so no photos. Check back later and I'll stick some on. Woah, the bell just rang. I got to get out of this empty classroom before I get in trouble. xD

<3

Ashley-chan. (The adult)