Birthday blog
This morning on the way to class, I stopped at the small roadside shrine near campus, tossed in a 5-yen coin, shook the rope, and asked for good luck from the Gods. I figured since it's my birthday-not-birthday, seeking some protection would be a good idea.

Birthdays here seem pretty similar to those in the states, bearing in mind that I'm not actually Japanese. After yesterday's outing festivities, today was somewhat tamer. I was surprised by any number of things, though. First and foremost was how many people wished me happy birthday and were both generally nice to me and serious about trying to form a party for my very own birthday. You see, some other girl is having her 20th celebration tomorrow and I have other plans, so a makeshift "crew" has formed to create a get-together on Saturday after we get back from Kawagoe. Just for me!!! Hell, I didn't know that this many people liked me until today. I guess I just fly below the radar most of the time. One girl (she's a real sweetie) even left me a little keychain/ cell-phone dingle-dangle in my mailbox as a gift!

My host family has been genuinely kind and obliging to me as well. Every day I am SO grateful that they let me stay with them. As dubious as I was at first, and as cautious as I still am now, I know that they are good people. I was so fearful and so CONVINCED that I would be stuck with a miserable family that it never even occurred to me that I might LOVE them. Now it really brings tears of gladness to my eyes to think that these strangers would let me into their home and make me part of their family. If only I knew how to say it to them!

But no, really, you may think I'm lying but I'm not. My family is so kind and so understanding that now I'm the one who listens sympathetically to other people who are worried about misunderstandings and conflicts with their families. I do feel guilty being so busy but my family is also busy so I know they understand.

Today both my mom and my sis gave me nice presents. Ayumi san gave me a small, soft, white terrycloth bear with a bell on its ear and a bit of nice hand cream. She also handmade a banana/ chocolate creme pie to go with my dinner, of which I ate about half. (Lookame, the fatass!) =D =D

After dinner, mom gave me a pot full of bamboo arranged in three concentric and progressively taller and smaller circles. Apparently it's meaning is "luck in money" and is supposed to guarantee that I'll be a millionaire. Ironically, she then turned on the TV and what should be on but the Japanese version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire! And you know what? When the questions aren't about Japanese authors/ history and provided I can read the kanji, I can STILL answer the stupidly easy things. Beh. I should be a millionaire! I'll have to make sure to love my bamboo nicely, as having plants in my room makes me insanely happy. Did I mention that I miss my 26 plants from home? Yeah, I had that many.

For dinner, they served me tuna and shiitake mushrooms over a bed of lettuce with carrots and green beans (the most "american" veggies I've had so far). On the side I had a bowl of cool edamame (soybean pods) and, of course, miso soup. Tonight's surprise was ... dun dun DAAAA... NATTO!! My mom and my sis love it and because I'd expressed some interest in trying it, despite that I've never before liked it, she decided to give it to me on my birthday to see if I liked it. Talk about PRESSURE.

Natto, in case you don't know, is fermented soybeans that curdle into a sort of stringy paste. You mix it with rice and can add things like green onions, seaweed and egg to it. The first few bites of natto weren't bad, but I can't stomache so much of it. It's not that it tastes BAD or that the texture is AWFUL but it just isn't GOOD. The taste of natto is rather neutral and the texture is sort of grainy. What makes natto unpalatable is the strong STENCH of ferment and the slimy strings that stretch off of it and get all over hands, face and table. Can't do much about that to make it more edible. I did, however, manage to eat like half a bowl of rice mixed with natto before my gag reflex forced me to quit. I had to keep going though; my mom was practically orgasmic with glee that I was eating it. And natto is really good for you! It has active cultures, just like yoghurt!

I prefer my cultures to be a little LESS active, thanks. Bleahhh. I can eat Uni, I can eat Salmon Roe ... I can eat the weird pickles and the fish byproduct (in limited quantities), I can even eat raw egg and oysters. But keep the natto for the true Japanese, thanks.

Ahh, anyway. Today, as a present to myself I'm going to try to go to bed BEFORE midnight. At this rate, that WON'T happen but I'll try. The rest of the day I spent running errands all over town. I went to the post office and got a big box for the christmas gifts, bought some more presents for family, picked up some school supplies and had an adventure trying to find various personal products (hair spray, deoderant, astringent, cotton balls, tampons, disposable razors) in a Yakyoku (pharmacy). I spent a good deal of money but I should be within budget still. Even though today was a lot of errand-running and buying gifts for OTHER people, I think that it was the perfect way to spend a birthday. Especially the gift-buying. It makes me happy to think that I can send a bit of JAPAN back home. : )

Japan is starting to seem "familiar" in a home-like way. It's still novel but it isn't strange in the way that it was when I first got here. I feel comfortable walking down the street, even if strange things happen quite often. For example, on the way back to the station from campus today, some foreign guy (arabic?) looked at me, pulled down his expensive shades a-la Top Gun and winked at me point blank. How classic. As soon as he passed I started laughing.

Now that the seasons are turning, I feel much more comfortable and easygoing but also more nostalgic. What I wouldn't give for the company of good friends, the presence of a familiar face and the conversation of a confidante. I want someone with whom to spend these moments. I think I'm learning to rely more on myself again for the moment-to-moment affirmations though. That right there is worth the trip.

It seems like just yesterday that I was having my 20th birthday bash in the Chase Village apartment. God, that makes me nostalgic. That party was such a turning point for so many things. One crazy night to wake up from the next morning. And after that, one crazy year with new and old friends. Every day was a good day, even the bad ones. I never could have known where I would be today. I'm glad I can't see the future after all.