On my actual birthday I didn't expect much to happen at all. My host mom had explained ahead of time that the week is busy so we would celebrate on the weekend. My friends at school had asked me when my birthday was in like September, but hadn't mentioned it since. I was quite surprised when all my friends came over to me carrying a present and card and started singing happy birthday. It was so sweet of them! They got me a really good gift too: a digital picture frame. You just insert an SD card and it will do slide shows and you can play music and movies on it too. They made me a card and everyone signed it in Japanese (I still have to sit down and figure out what they all wrote). Risako even made me cake! She actually made a tea cake, forgetting that I don't drink (or eat) tea, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it.
When I got home, my host mom had bought a little cake for us to share. It was a yummy strawberry cake. :) And then she took me out to dinner at a family-style Japanese restaurant. My host mom is so thoughtful.
I wish I could have taken pictures of my birthday. I woke up, realized it was my birthday, and decided I should take my camera to school just in case. I try turning on my camera to check the battery and it makes a horrible sound that cameras are not supposed to make! I am not sure what is wrong with it, but it won't focus and the zoom doesn't work. Basically, it won't take pictures. It was quite sad.
So I got to spend my birthday and my month's Rotary allowance on a new camera on Friday. The good thing is that I really like my new camera (Sony Cyber-shot W220)! It takes much better pictures than my old one did and it has lots of cool features, including in-camera-editing. Fancy stuff. When I got to Yodobashi Camera they told me that the camera was about 60 dollars more expensive than it had said on the website. When I asked about this they said, "oh, we have it in Japanese too." The exact same camera cost an extra 60 dollars so the menu and instruction booklet would be in English. Way to rip off the foreigners! I bought the Japanese one.
On Saturday (May 16) my host mom, Rika (my host sister), and I got in the car and drove to Kawaguchiko Onsen, an onsen town near Mt. Fuji. We spent Saturday night at a hotel there overlooking Kawaguchiko (Lake Kawaguchi) with Mt. Fuji not too far beyond the lake. Unfortunately it was really cloudy and rainy so we couldn't see Mt. Fuji at all. The scenery was absolutely beautiful though! There were so many trees and green hills and mountains. We spent Saturday evening and Sunday morning driving around the area, looking at the lakes. In Japan Fujigoko (Mt. Fuji's five lakes) are pretty famous. They are really beautiful, too! It was almost like being back in the the UP...
Rika and my host mom. Just look at all those green trees!
This is at a touristy traditional Japanese culture place. It's the kind of place where you can dress up like a samurai! But I didn't want to do something so ridiculous.
Dinner and breakfast were at our hotel, New Century Hotel, but I didn't really like it. It seems like they go more for quantity than quality. And I was really in the mood for a good pizza to just be delivered to the room. This was our dinner and our breakfast looked pretty similar so I didn't bother to take pictures.
Rika, my host mom, and me. That food is only for me and Rika. You can't see my host mom's plates.
A nice sashimi boat, which was actually good quality I guess. I wasn't really in the mood for raw fish though.
Especially once I saw this guy staring at me. And those shrimp with the eyes and heads! No thanks!
The little trip was really fun. My host mom planned it just for my birthday. I had a really nice birthday this year. It was better than I expected it to be, but I did miss the awesome cakes that Daddy makes for me. I guess there is always next year... :D
This is the view from our hotel room. That darker grey part is Mt. Fuji. It would have been an awesome view on a clear day.
