NiJuGo! (in nihongo- that is #25) Shu

So, here I am admitting it- damn- I am no longer in my early 20s. I have honorably- yes!- honorable- moved onto mid 20s- officially- with the mark of my 25th year here in this grand universe....

So now with that said- the more I say it the more I will be comfortable with it- let me tell you about the party... it really was a great time... remember my going away party- how everyone had a great time (well at that was what I was led to believe); the eclectic mix of people, complete with a harmonious vibe- (actually that sounds like any party I have ever thrown)...well stir that up with a japanese twist pour it over a glass of ice- and there you have it- my 25th birthday celebrated, even over celebrated, in the land of the rising sun....well it was more like a birth(day) week....

I started my week off with a tall glass of Tokyo Adventures...story precedes this...

Tokyo- complete with friends- good times- amazing conversation; especially about the Japanese culture vs the Western culture with highlights covering ear picking intimacy and the abilty to cook in the nude..the nicest and best dressed, but really in need of makeup tips transvestite that Kubikicho has to offer...and my first birthday cake, not sure if I can call it cake, but birthday ball sounds odd...but literally that is what it was- a fried ball of pumpkin- with something inside- I wish I remembered but it was Friday nomihodai night- but basically it was a fried birthday ball complete with a sparkler....

I returned to the rain of Niigata- you can always tell when you get to Niigata because it goes from great weather to what the ??? for a quick week.. (Karmen and I took nekyu- a day off- on Monday) So after we struggled to get through Tuesday- the next day was it- the big 25.

The day of my birthday was absolutely spectacular... I had talked to a couple people the night before who put me in high spirits- and so I woke up- showered and set off to Arai Junior High School... up over the mountains right in my path the whole way to school was a huge niji, a rainbow, complete- you could see beginning and end. I beamed on my whole drive knowing that it was obvious- I was exactly in the place I was suppose to be in my life at that exact day and time....cheesy maybe- but sometimes when you keep doing things without direction and without having any clue to as why you are pursuing somewhat bizzare, stark aspirations things like this just make sense....I stood before school with a couple of my students- they taught me the word niji and I taught them the word for rainbow...

The day only got better...Wednesdays tend to be a very busy day for me and I am at school alone because Karmen goes to Arai Minami... but during my first class instead of responding to my extremely genki "good morning everyone" with "Good morning Carrie", the class took it upon themselves to say "Happy Birthday Carrie". Seems as though one of the students in the class knew it was my birthday... I had told them a long time ago, but really expected for no one at school to remember, especially my students...I also had two san nensei (3rd graders) come visit me after lunch... these girls are adorable...they always want to chat..but they never want to do their work- they are both in my worst behaved classes...but they came down and wished me a happy birthday, asked me if I was going to have cake, how old, died at the thought I was turning 25- which made it even better, and made me smile...Another great thing that happened at school was when a student- who had made me feel particularly old not even two weeks before tried to guess my age and put me at 19 or 20..yes! Why was I feeling old you might say because really I am only turning 25- which is a great age by the way!- Well, I can tell you... A couple weeks before for Thanksgiving I took in pictures of my friends and family..this student had looked at the pictures, and this boy is quite fond of me and is very inquisitive- he even asked me to a rock concert one time from a conversation strait from the text book..very kawaii...but he was looking at pics of me and the fam, and brought one to me and asked me how old I was in it because i looked very young....I looked at the picture and my heart sank...I had a good opinion in my own mind that that picture was a fair representation of what i looked like..it was an actual decent pic of me (yes there can be a thing) but i looked at it and realized how right he was...the picture was from the day Duncan and I graduated from highschool...Sara looks young..everyone else looks young...but I looked ok..but then I told him- yes, that was 7 years ago...I was young. time really does fly.

On that note, a round of martinis on the house or in the apato...it's all the same....right?

For the evening I had planned to have some friends over for drinks, conversation, and a movie... with everyone having big plans for the Holidays a night in would be best, cheap, and it gave everyone a better reason to get together on a Wed. It was a great group... Liz, Neil, Annie, Melanie, Dave, and Karmen. I cooked up some Red Thai Curry for the bunch we sipped on some french martinis, conbini bieru, and chuhi. Annie blessed me with a great little cream treat...and Mel gave me a great hat! (it completely matches the great scarf I got in Tokyo) I pulled out and cleaned up some things to show off to my friends.. actually show off is a bit of a stretch- since we were more discussing the sympathy of certain topics and how amazing it is that we have all been here four months. (Next week marks my fifth by the way)

Well I still haven't gotten to Saturday night- but i will, just not yet...