Birthday Partying

Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me... oh wait that was 2 days ago. Anywayyy...

"Last week a candle-factory burned down, people just stood around and sang Happy Birthday."

With thanks to Steven Wright and Sebastian.

So, about my birthday then. My birthday was friday, for those who didn't know (no hard feelings) and I started the partying wéll before it was actually friday. I mentioned the parcels before, I had 7 by thursday, the cards didn't fit on the ribbon anymore, and I went off to Sachi's for a drink. Someone managed to tell him that it was my birthday the next day, so at 12 o'clock after being congratulated by the dutch people I was there with, Sachi brought over a cake!!! It even had my name on it! Well, it was supposed to have my name on it, but the Japanese aren't familiar with Western names and apparently he had phoned through the order, so it now read "denifa" instead of "jenifa", but hey, it was great! So I cut the cake into enough pieces for everyone, and so everyone in the bar got a piece of cake, it was delicious!! A quick drink turned into a late night out, which might not have been a good idea, but it was well worth it!

Or so I thought, until I had to get up the next morning for class, woke up 15 mins before I had to leave, so my birthday morning was a little foggy ;) I had opened Luuk's presents when I got home from Sachi's the night before, so had had my first presents already!! After morning class I went to have lunch across the street with a bunch of people, no wait, I got prezzies from Mariko first, thén went to lunch, got prezzies from Gerrie Sahim and CLaudia, then rushed back to the uni because we were expected to attend a guest lecture by Prof. Beukers, someone from Leiden Uni, but not specifically from Japanese. So he held his talk about herbology in Japan in 1600 something, and I desperately tried to stay awake. We were made to sit all the way at the front, and there were people constantly taking pictures of us, so it really was imperative I stay awake. After succeeding I zombied home, where after a nice long shower, and after getting cake and prezzies from the boys, I went to sleeeep zZzZzZzZzZ.... BUT! ALl too soon I was up again, talking to my mummy and unwrapping her presents (wait... I unwrapped several other parcels in the mean time I think as well...) and then I quickly got dressed and ready because it was time for my birthday dinner! With a bunch of people ( I do a lot of things with a bunch of people huh... anyway) we went to an Indian restaurant. So I heard there were people wondering why I'd go to an Indian restaurant in Japan. Well why on earth would you go to a Japanese restaurant? We have Japanese as good as everyday! I had sushi for lunch several times a week, I meant, that ain't nothing special ;) silly people who will remain nameless (because I don't actually knów their names...).

So, dinner was fabulous, we were all stuffed to say the least, so then we rolled down to shianbashi for Karaoke, where we were meeting a bunch of Japanese people as well. I don't think they were as amused as we were, as the gaijin sang the most songs, a few in particular, I took a low profile with my umeshuu and kahlua milk, but I sure has fun! After a 2 hour karaoke session we decided to head to Cybac, the big entertainment center I have mentioned in some earlier post. Not foot bathes or massage chairs this time, but I amused myself with various arcade games ( I even did some snowboarding), a game or 2 of pool, and a bit more karaoke in a stuffy smelly room. So having started my birthday early, I concluded it late, I think it was about 5am by the time I got home, and I couldn't have been happier to see my bed!

I had a good sleep, and then it was time for... more presenst! :D I hadn't opened all my parcels yet, so I got to open 2 more! woo! I opened my parcels from my friends in Holland, filled with prezzies and letters and cards, it was so cool. That was a pretty good start of my saturday, after I which I had to then clean up my incredibly messy room. All that wrapping paper and stuff ;) I spent the rest of the day doing just bits and pieces that needed to be done, watched a movie, and went to sleep again! Had Taiko today, I get the feeling I'm getting better at it, so that's good! haha, it was fun again, can't wait for the muscle ache to set in over the next 2 days.

So one last thing...For those of you who know me, you know I've worn these LL bracelets for ever and stuff.... well, to mark my 22nd birthday, I cut them off!


Claudia filmed the whole thing, hopefully I can get that online soon. For now, enjoy these videos taken by Maarten at Sachi's on thursday:

uninterested Jenn with Nono wishing me a happy birthday and guy at the bar going "jennifer 22 years old lalala"
Sachi "pumping" guy's stomach

Pictures are being uploaded right now, link will follow shortly. I have included pictures of all the presents I got, thank you again everyone! Enjoy!

HERE they are!