Backdate--> My Birthday Week

I don't usually go out with other people much since I came to Kobe, because I do not have many friends here. Surprisingly, during my birthday week, I actually met up with quite a lot of friends! Although 90% of these meet-ups were unrelated to my birthday, I still felt very happy that I didn't have to spend a lonely birthday.

~23th Sept 07~

went to Himeji Castle with Inoue-san. Inoue-san's from Hiroshima, but currently studying in Himeji Uni to become a Japanese language teacher. i got to know him thru ping last dec when she came to Kobe. coincidentally, Inoue-san was also one of the student-teacher in the summer Japanese course i attended. so we arranged to go visit Himeji castle together someday, since he hadn't been there too despite having lived in Himeji for a few years.

now, Himeji is only about 1 hour away from Kobe and the castle is considered one of the most beautiful ones in Japan. however, i had a hard time climbing up to the top tower... so so so many steps!! after visiting the castle, we walked through the shopping street and had dinner in an Asian cuisine restaurant. spent the day talking in Japanese most of the time... quite exhausting for mi! =P

~24th Sept 07~

met up with J in Osaka. she's one of my fellow Hiroshima-internship mate 2 years ago, and has recently found a job in Tokyo. 24th Sept was a public holiday in Japan and J happened to come to Osaka for a business trip, so i went over to meet her. we had lunch and then went to karaoke!


at night, i went to my Japanese sensei's daughter's violin concert. now not only is his younger daughter a professional violinist, his elder daughter was the accompanist on the piano today! i asked my colleague to go with mi, and we were quite surprised to see that most of the audience were senior citizens. anyway, it was a nice concert, although i admit i kinda dozed off during the longer pieces. =P

~25th Sept 07~

actual day of my birthday! i had work as usual but i requested to have lunch together with my boss and colleague as a small celebration. we went to a Brazilian restaurant where they served meat at your table from a super duper big skewer... and it was a eat-all-you-can kinda thing. was so full of meat that day!

~26th Sept 07~

had breakfast with Shoko in Starbucks. she's another Uni student who aspires to be a Japanese language teacher, and i met her in the summer Japanese course. Shoko has studied in England for a few months before, so she can speak English pretty well and wanted someone to practise with her. we talked quite a lot about what we usually do, first in Japanese and then in English. she's really a nice girl!


work was usual for the day but after work, my colleague and i went to Karaoke with Tadayoshi, one of our students. Tadayoshi goes to Beijing very often for business trips, so he's trying very hard to pick up the Chinese language. how? by learning Chinese songs! he always asks us for recommendations on good singers, and right now some of his favourites are Elva and S.H.E. hee~ so that night, he sang many Chinese songs, including Elva's latest "Biao Bai" which contains a rapping part! i also sang Chinese songs to my heart's content because i don't usually get to do so when i go karaoke in Japan.

~30th Sept 07~

we were supposed to go BBQ with my boss's volunteer group, but it got cancelled due to rain. having already bought the charcoal and stuff, boss suggested to have the BBQ on our apartment's balcony instead! attendants for our mini BBQ session: mi, boss, colleague, housemate and ex-colleague C, who's back in Japan at the moment for her company training in Osaka.


look at the spread! so healthy, isn't it? with so much vegetables! this is the typical Japanese style BBQ. i think we should learn from them and include more vegetables in our BBQs!