24 Cycles

Guess what? MONDAY WAS MY BIRTHDAY!!! :D I am now 24 years old. The wheel in the sky keeps on turning.

I've been busy ever since. lol. This week was Golden Week (a series of holidays at the beginning of May), so I had Tuesday through Thursday (today) off! :D This still means that I had to work on Monday, which sucked in the sense that having a holiday on my birthday would've been awesome, but it was AWESOME because I taught my first graders at one of my schools for the first time and they were SOOOO CUTE!!! I mean, seriously? I had at least 6 little girls run up to me during lunch time and tell me that they love me. B'awww.

After a long day at work because I had to be especially energetic for my little ones, I went home to change out of business clothes into comfy clothes and went out to the ramen shop near my house with my friend Eric. Aki, the owner of the ramen shop (who has also become a friend) gave me two slices of char siu on the house since it was my birthday. :3 Eric ate a bunch of gyoza because he didn't feel like having ramen while I porked out on, well, PORK. And ramen. :D

Kazupon, who I'd only met once but is really sweet and nice, came over a little later and gave me a present! She bought me a little Happy Birthday card that looks like a chocolate cake (IT LOOKS DELICIOUS!) as well as a cute beige scrunchy. So adorable! Eric gave me a Hawaiian Red Guava scented air freshener that I keep sniffing even now. It smells SO good, and you just know he got it for me because I'm from Hawaii. hahaha.

Eric left early because he was going to spend the night at his mom's place because of Mother's Day and I went out drinking with Aki, Gou, Kazupon and Hanawa, Kazupon's boyfriend. There was also the guy who lives in Chigasaki, but I forgot his name. D: If anything, I have the excuse that I'd already had two whole bottles of beer, and I mean Japanese bottles, not the smaller American ones. Haha. After a few drinks I totally knocked out because I 1) drank a lot, which made me sleepy and 2) it was late and I'd woken up early because of work. Luckily, I had Gou's shoulder to sleep on. I don't think he minded at all. He thinks I'm cute. XD

After I'd woken up from my catnap we bought more booze at the nearby 7-11 and went to Aki's place to chill. Aki started pushing pressure points on everyone's feet. Apparently, if you didn't feel it that was a sign you're healthy. If that's the case, Hanawa and I are NOT healthy. Why am I not surprised? Hahaha. Out of boredom I went around giving shoulder massages after Kazupon left early, and I guess out of mutual boredom Hanawa and I gave each other simultaneous foot massages. I apparently did a really good job because he could really feel the difference when he walked around afterward. Hahaha.

After all of 3 to 4 hours of sleep I woke up and got ready to go down to Odawara for the parade they have there. I brought my yukata and T helped me put it on. She's no pro, but I couldn't do it myself without a mirror so it really helped to have her help me. T wore hers and she also helped out friend Christina get into the one T gave her. We met up with some friends at the Odawara Castle to watch the parade. It was swarming with people, but because of the earthquake and the tsunami back in March, the parade was smaller. It was probably less than half the size it was last year. Sad, but still pretty. I took video, so hopefully I can upload that eventually. I'll probably forget though. lol.

We wandered around the festival stands and got food. I got rainbow shaved ice, which was AWESOME, along with a GIGANTIC burger. I can't believe I ate the entire thing. Haha. They had shop stalls as well. The girls were interested in buying kimono because they had used kimono for sale. I actually got a pink silk kimono, an obi and the under kimono for about $35! The woman was going to sell the kimono for $50 at first, but she saw that I was skeptical and said she'd lower the price to $30. SO awesome.

After swinging back to T's place and changing into normal clothes, we went out with Christina again to a party for a bunch of foreigners living in the Odawara area. It was fun. We had Yakiniku and the meat was, of course, good quality and therefore tasted ridiculously good. We went to a bar afterward where I was hit on by a VERY drunk Japanese guy who kept asking me to kiss him. Of course, I didn't. He moved on to another girl after my continuous refusal, only to return again once that girl had left. I was so mean. He said "Maybe I'll just go home." in Japanese and I replied "Yeah, maybe you should." Honestly, that's what you get for being 34 and hitting on a 24 year old that you KNOW is 24.

I spent the night dancing along with my friends and went back home to T's place covered in sweat from the heat of the bar as well all the dancing. T and I fell asleep almost right after we got home and woke up relatively early to have some coffee. Her friends came over to visit while I was getting ready to leave. They were so nice and gave me a lift to the train station so I wouldn't miss my train! :D

After dropping off my stuff at my place, I went back to the station and hopped on a train bound for Yokohama where I met Shimbo and some of her friends. We went to Karaoke and did Purikura before two of her friends had to leave. I had a Matcha Cafe au Lait with Shimbo and Kobayashi while talking about what had changed at one of my schools since Kobayashi had moved to another school.

We split ways after coffee and I dropped by Uni Qlo and Putumayo afterward and did a bit of shopping. I bought an ADORABLE outfit and skirt from Putumayo as well as two adorable Care Bears themed shirts from Uni Qlo. Something comfy to wear out with the new skirt I'd bought. :3 I also dropped by a jewelry shop in the same department store and bought some earrings.

While walking home from my station I noticed that Aki's shop was still open and dropped by, only to find that he was sitting having drinks with some friends. They invited me in and I got drunk on Shochu that was delicious.

And now it's Thursday. The week's gone by surprisingly fast and I've done so much only to spend today checking emails and fiddling around with my computer. I've got to say, after all the fun it feels really good to just sit and relax at home. Especially since my neck's hurting from some serious head banging when we were all dancing at that bar two nights ago. Ouch.