San Ju Tanjyobi!
Well in case you can't read my Japanese yet, today is my 30th Birthday! SUGOI!!! The day had a sad start because today Sarah headed back to the states. Last night was our goodbye party for here. I'll post more about that later. But with that party I was up past midnight. Thus beginning my birthday. And the fun doesn't stop until 2 pm Saturday as midnight strikes back in IL drawing my day of birth to a close!
And let me tell you you need 14 extra hours to celebrate your 30th birthday! It has and will be jam packed with things to do. Tomorrow from 12 to 2 I will be enjoying a hanami party. This is when you sit with friends under the beautiful cherry blossoms. It is an amazing site. This we will our third outing as we watch the blooms fill more and more of the tree with each party! (I will have more on this in a future post as well)
Much of my Birthday was spent in language class so on a break I ran to the corner "conbini" (convenience store) to grab some "keki" (cake) to share with the class. I love my class so it was great to spend my birthday learning Japanese! (more to come on this as well... can you tell things are busy here!!!)
It was a beautiful blue sky and sunny day. The perect spring day to enjoy a bike ride home from school. When I checked the mail box there were three birthday cards from family back home. They got here exactly on my birthday, amazing. All my cards from home get opened tomorrow. Which will still be today back home, the birthday fun never stops!
The students got back later than expected from taking Sarah to the airport. So a diversion was needed to get me out of Aim High so they could decorate for my surprise party. This worked out great because Yoshihiro and I were able to go out for dinner. He has been working and going to driving school since I arrived so I haven't spent much time with him. It was great to really begin to reconnect with him. A perfect Birthday gift!!
When we returned home I saw that we had "a few" extra bikes at our house. Yoshihiro just laughed and said "No, no there are always this many bikes here!" SO I walk in the door and there's the SURPRISE!!! it was great!
It was a packed house and then over the next 4 hours more and more students popped in as others needed to head out. Just when I would think. Oh Mai Mai and Hiroko couldn't make it. That person would seem to walk in the door just a few minutes later! It was really great. I bet there were at least 30 people there all together. Hey 30 how cool is that!!
Oh yeah, Watchi made an awesome Banana Cream Tart for my birthday and Ruth Ann baked a traditional Birthday Cake. She also got all the great decorations that you see in the pictures and she made that SWEET banner. Thanks you two!!!
OK last thing! I totally wanted to keep an eye on the clock to see when my time of birth arrived marking the true switch to 30. Well I believe that is 9:20 am IL time. So I wanted to watch for 11:20 pm Japan time. Things got busy and I totally lost track of time. Then all the sudden Hiroyuki decides to quiz me on my Japanese and asks me "Nan ji kan" (don't quote me on that, I'm still working on that phrase. I get it wrong a lot) I actually answered him correctly though, which just might be a first. I said "Ju Ichi Ji Ni Ju Fun" translation 11 hours 20 minutes. It took me a while but soon I realized that he asked to check the time just when I wanted to be looking at a clock. We both thought that was pretty amazing. Isn't it wonderful how God will do even small stuff like that for us!
Yup, He sure is an Awesome God!!! He's gotten me through 30 years (and counting)! This should be quite a year!
More of Him and less of me is my prayer for my 30th.
It's great to be 30! A whole new decade to explore!!
posted by Keith @ 1:40 AM
5 Comments:
Happy Birthday, Old Man! Dean and I will be catching up to you soon!
Didn't I say don't quote me on that. :) He asked me "what time is it" in Japanese. I can't remember exactly how you say that. What hour is it is as close as I could come.
Thanks for the birthday wishes!!
Sorry, I missed your birthday, but it looks like it was a blast! Happy belated birthday. My prayers are with you.
Heya Keith! Happy Birthday Belated! I am so sorry I missed the actual day. It sounds like you had a fantastic birthday celebration. What a way to turn 30:) My prayers continue to be with you. I hope language classes are going well.
Hey Keith,
Sorry I missed your 30th birthday,but it sounded like you had a awesome time!! Well I hope that you are doing well,we miss you! You are in our prayers. Oh I am going to have a c-section on June 21st and it's a girl(can't remember if you knew that)
Well take care,
Heather
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