Happy Birthday to Me!

I love my birthday. I get really excited for it and starting counting down several weeks in advance. On my 18th birthday, my Grandma Moore sent me a card where she recalled that when I was little I used to run around telling people that my birthday was March 4th! I still do that! Anyway, I was extra super excited for my birthday this year because I turned 21 in Japan! As many family members and friends have told me in cards and messages, not many people can say that they celebrated a birthday while visiting another country!

The day before my birthday was the kindergarten's birthday parade for the March birthday kids. Keiko had asked if I would like to be a part of the parade (of course!) but I still had to wear the embarrassing flag costume like the other teachers. I asked if I could wear the princess costume that the Birthday Fairy wears, but she said no. I still got to do the flower shower for the kids and had one of my own and I had to sing a little song in the microphone. I was told I'd be singing the song that the oldest group of kids sing, but the music started playing for the youngest kids when it was my turn so I was caught a little off guard! The song has the audience say your name and then say something that translates to "where are you? come here!" and then I was supposed to answer back with "here I am!" I'm not exactly sure if what I said in the microphone was right! The kids liked it though!

My actaul birthday started out with my making the decision not to get up early and go running, but rather to sleep in and enjoy my day by being lazy. As I was coming back up to our room after taking a shower, Lori met me on the stairs and asked if I wanted to eat breakfast with her. I could tell she was planning something because she had a goofy little smile on her face. I went back downstairs to the kitchen where she had put balloons on the door- only these balloons had rabbit faces on them and little ears! Lori had made me a lovely little card the night before and gave me a tasty pastry treat to enjoy for breakfast. Yum!

Throughout the day I received lots of happy birthdays from teachers. They had posted Happy Birthday posters throughout the office and one on our room door too. After school, I had to do two lessons of English for two groups of teachers. As a thank you for teaching English, the teachers usually give us some Japanese junk food, so I got several different snacks along with the Happy Birthday song (it's the same song we sing in the U.S., except the Japanese people can't say their r's very well, so it sounds like Happy Basday). At the after school program, I showed this little boy, Kaiya, how to fly like Superman and he loved it. My mom used to do this with my sister and I when we were little and I used to do it with my neighbors Kourtney and Brady when they were a bit younger. If you've never done Superman, you lay on your back and puts your feet in the air while the kid rests his or her stomach on your feet and holds onto your hands. If you have good balance with the kid, they you can let go of their hands so they can "fly"!

For dinner, Minako and the rest of the Nishimura family took Mike, Lori and I out to dinner. Minako had asked where I wanted to go, but I

told her to pick since she'd have a better idea of what places are the best. She chose an Italian restaurant called Fracasso where I ate waaaaaayyyy to much food. I'm not going to go into details about how much I ate for dinner and dessert because I'm too embarrassed but I'll just say that there was a lot of melted cheese and chocolate cake involved. I was delicious however. I think I was pushing my limit though of the excuse "It's my birthday! I'm in Japan! I can do whatever I want!" At dinner Minako gave me a gift bag filled with a couple little presents and a card signed by all the teachers. How sweet!

Keiko's daughter, Yui brought us these display carrots at the restaurant. Yum!

So, all in all, good birthday. I sort of felt like I had two days of birthday celebration because of the time difference. I was half way through celebrating here, but back home my birthday was just beginning! Thanks everyone for the birthday messages on Facebook and Skype. I also got a few cards in the mail that I really appreciated. Both of my Grandmas and Grandpas sent me cards (thanks for the surprise confetti shower, G'ma Moore!) and from my mom and dad and from Mr. and Mrs. Worpel (Lori's mom and dad). My sister, Jen, is going to have her baby any day now and her due date was set for March 4th. I wasn't sure how I felt about sharing my birthday, since I already do with one of my best friends, Julie Daniel (which is kind a of a special bond we have). However, little baby Sophie hasn't come yet, so I am free to from sharing more birthday attention. Pretty soon though, my darling sister and Kevin will be parents! Hooray! Tomorrow we are going to Yokohama, so we can explore a new area of Japan!

Here's Mike with his new best friend, Dr. Shin! And more carrots too.