I turned 23 today. Wow, that sounds old! I woke up to a phone call and my family singing Happy Birthday to me. What a great way to begin the day! I had a wonderful birthday with Heidi and Nick (my friends and co-workers)! It started out with a little treasure hunt that Nick put together, and at some points there was chocolate. Then we went across the strait to Mojiko in Kyushu (another island). We took the boat across, which was fun. We went to a restaurant to eat kowara soba (green noodles served on a roof tile). You dip the noodles into a sauce and then eat it. It was very good! Then we did a little bit of window shopping.

It was rainy and extremely windy! All of our umbrellas blew inside out on our walk home from the train station back to our apartments. We had about 30 minutes to get ready before heading to school. There we put together the Christmas cookie plates for several of the teachers. I think that they will enjoy them. Nothing is extremely sweet. Tonight there was a Christmas program at school. (Somethings never change, like having a concert on my birthday. I'm discovering that some things transcend culture;) Heidi and I sang "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming" from an area above the stage. And since there is no heat in the chapel everyone had to suffer together. I wore as many layers as I could! The program went well and afterwards four of my students found me to wish me a Happy Birthday. They also had a present--chocolate chip and raisin cookies that they made for me. It was so thoughtful of them! On the way home there were even a few snowflakes in the air.

After the concert we made tacos. I had the ground beef and taco mix and Heidi had the toppings and made tortilla shells. Our collaborative efforts turned out really well! While watching "Miracle on 34th Street" we had some of the left over Christmas cookies. The day was lots of fun and very memorable!