Turning 23 in the Place to Be!

As many of you know, my birthday was May 31st. I was very nervous about having my birthday so far from home, but I have found many friends here and even had met a new wonderful guy a month earlier named Gordon who I have been dating.

Many times I tried to make plans for my birthday but I was told by my friend Meredith that the plans were under control and not to worry about it. "Don't worry about it?" I thought to myself. If anyone knows me, they know, unfortunately, I tend to lean a bit to the worry- wart side of things. But I played along and decided to go with the flow. I didn't really have anything I wanted to do except wear a cute dress and have some drinks with my friends, which I was sure Mere

knew.

As the day grew closer I got more and more excited and nervous about what plans were being made for my big day, if any. My squeeze told me not to make plans for the day because he was planning something and with each day that grew closer he was more and more excited about my birthday. I think that on the final days leading up to the big birthday blowout Gordon was more excited than I was!

The morning finally came and I was woken up like a child on Christmas morning and told to go look for my present. It was early in the morning and I was still tired from going out the night before. Slowly but surely I was able to climb out of bed and look for my present. I didn't get but steps away from the bed before Gordon told me it was in the first bedroom. He was beaming and I knew that it was something special that he had been planning. He was so excited about it and it make me feel so special. I opened the door to the other bedroom and there it was, pink bows and all. A Basket, A Bell, The color: Cherry Red!! I had my very first Japanese style bicycle! I felt like a child getting their first bike and all I wanted to do was go out for a ride and put things in my basket. I opened the card, which played a song to the tune of 'Happy Birthday', and opened my second gift, a beautiful, trendy pair of dangling earrings. I am a lucky gal I think.

After this, Gordon and I watched a movie and then got ready for a special event. He said we were going to be riding our bikes and since we had to be there at one I had a feeling we were going for lunch. We rode a ways to Maiko (which is about 7 km or so) and stopped at an elevator. But this elevator was not like any other elevator; it went diagonal! We ended up at the top of a hill at the Maiko Villa Hotel. As we entered the lobby I knew I was in for a treat. The beautiful chandeliers and the marble floors gave this lobby the feel of class that was not matched by any hotel I had been in during my time in Japan.

We rode the elevator to the 14th floor where we reached our ultimate destination. Floor to ceiling, wall to wall, were windows. The view; Akashi Bridge and Awaji Island. (Background information: Akashi Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the world. It connects Maiko (near Kobe) to Awaji Island. It is also the most expensive section of Highway in Japan for the three minutes it takes to drive over).

The view was simply breathtaking. We sat down at our table and to my delight the food was french and italian. We couldn't read all of the Japanese, and even though Gordon's Japanese and Kanji are both really good, we still struggled with the choices on the 5 course menu. We decided to get one of both of the choices so we could try everything they had to offer for that lunch course and boy was it delicious. We had everything from good cheese and meats to seafood and beef, even pasta. It was beautiful.

For some reason neither Gordon nor myself had a camera... Someday soon I shall go again and take photos.

After this I went home to meet Mere and Miho before heading to Sannomiya to meet Gordon for drinks. I got home and rode my bicycle to meet them in town. We went back to my apartment and I put on my new black dress! I was very excited about this dress as it took Mere and I an entire day of shopping to find as I am tall for Japan and didn't want a short short dress or a floor length dress.

We hopped on the train to Sanno and as we arrived Mere told me Gordon was running late. She asked me if I wanted to go show our friends Yuki and Simon my dress and have a drink while we waited for Gordon. Since it was right next to the station and the Hobgoblin is my favorite pub I said sure. As we entered the bar I realized that it was all a trick! The girls had planned a party at Hobgoblin for me and all of my friends were there already to celebrate with me!

We had a great time and opened presents and had cake. After the pub, we made our way to Trinity because Gordon was going to be playing in a blues jam session and the band wanted to sing to me, plus we all wanted to see him play. :) But before heading to Trinity we stopped by the horrible Mickey D's for a shaka shaka chicken (if you don't know this please look it up on youtube. There you can find instructional videos....no joke).

I am one lucky girl. Minus the McDonald's!!