I know it's a bit late, but here are the pics from my birthday. As I've already told a few of you, I had one of my best birthdays ever! It started the night before. My friend Katie who lived in Ise last year was spending the week with me. (She finished her JET contract and was just hanging out for a while before moving back to Canada. I'm really sad she's gone. I miss her!) At around 10:00pm, I told her I was tired and was going to lay down. I was laying on a futon on the living room floor and she was on the couch. I drifted to sleep while we were watching a movie. I wasn't at all paying attention to the time. I was suddenly woken by a strange sound. I sat straight up and so did Katie. I had no idea what the noise was. I leaned over and opened the living room door. Shunwas standing in my kitchen holding a cd player which was playing the Birthday Song by the Beatles. I realized it was exactly midnight. He came in and gave me a birthday present and Katie ran into the other room and grabbed a gift that she had for me. I was completely surprised. It turns out that they had been planning it for the past few days. Shun gave me silver earrings and Katie gave me flowers. I put on the birthday hat that my friend Mami had given me the day before and my birthday was off to a wonderful start.
My birthday was on a Monday, so I was a little worried that no one would be able to come (especially since many of my friends had just moved back to their home countries.) But I was so lucky and so many people made it out, even some who travelled from over an hour away. We started with dinner and drinks at Nanaimo. The picture I posted from dinner only shows a few of the people that were actually there! Shun had his mother make me a cheesecake because he knows I love it and good ones are hard to find in Japan. After dinner, we went out to Karaoke and sang until the early hours of the morning. It was really a great night and a birthday I will always remember! The only thing missing was my close friends and family from back home.
I love and miss you all.
