21st Birthday

Hey all, thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. :)

Sooo... on Monday (6/7) I got to celebrate with the host family. The kids came over and Britt (secretly) baked a brownie cake and topped it with homemade chocolate sauce! Although the pieces were the cut the same, the kids ended up fighting over who got the bigger sized bowl.

But before I came home, I went (by myself.. haha) to Akihabara to scope out the restaurant I wanted to eat at the next day. And, since I was there, I had to check out the UFO catchers. At the Taito arcade, I stalked watched a couple clear out a machine of its prizes so I observed their tactics and waited to attack. After they left I asked a worker to move the plushies I wanted to try and win and put in 500 yen for 6 (!!) tries. I got another Love-chan in 2 tries and then a French (Ko)Rilakkuma in 1 try! After that I didn't manage to get anything else but I was pretty darn satisfied with 2 animals for 500 yen!

The new members of the family! Capybara-san is from Jillian. This Rilakkuma is going to one of the kids in the host family.

ラブ兄弟 - They can hang out with each other.

On Tuesday first up was the Pokemon Center. If you visit within 3 days (before or after) of your birthday you get a special birthday service. First from the Tokyo shop you get a birthday Charmander for the DS games. It has the moves Quick Attack, Return, Hidden Power, and Howl (for you few who appreciate it). I also got a giant shiny Pikachu card and happened to win a free folder from the Pokewalker scratch card promotion which is running until the middle of July. There was also the opportunity to have a birthday battle (against an employee on Pokemon Revolution for Wii) but I opted out because all my good Pokes are in my English version (are they compatible?) and we had to get back for class.

After class I went out to ゴーゴーカレー　(Go Go Curry - and they have a gorilla logo) for dinner with Britt, Elizabeth, Anna, Jillian, and Gary (Keung-san! who happened to be visiting Japan). This place serves Ishikawa-ken style curry which I saw on TV one night and wanted to try it out. The curry sauce is thicker than usual and although the whole pile of rice is completely covered the sauce doesn't soak through. They also put shredded cabbage on top with whatever other toppings you choose.

来た！ Looks soooo good!

Katsu curry!

And for the very reasonable price of 1000 yen, Jillian got the jumbo sized Major Curry.

Oh my goodness!!!

She did a good job and whittled it down to about 1/8 left. Toppings: 2 sausages, 1 hardboiled egg, 2 chicken katsu-s, 2 ebi fry (fried shrimp) - all piled on an extra large rice. Apparently there's a Go Go Curry in New York so all you East Coast people go find it and eat!

Afterward we went to look at the UFO catchers (again... but they change them a little each day!). Gary wanted to get some plushes as gifts so I showed him the easy machine from the other night. However, today it was 500 yen for 3 tries instead of 6. He was trying for a Rilakkuma but a Snuggle bear (detergent mascot) was getting in the way of one of the arms. Somehow the Snuggle bear ended up getting knocked down into the prize chute and Rilakkuma shortly followed. With a few tries left, he asked to try for a black dog holding a picture frame and ended up getting it in 1 shot. A salaryman was hanging back waiting for us to finish (kind of how I was the day before) and we inadvertently made him wait for quite while. He played after us and tried for (and eventually got) a... Snuggle bear. I wonder why they're so popular.

Finally, my parents sent me a gift basket from a shop in Japan. It came with a few fruit, muffins, and other snacks. I got a good number of people trying to peek into the box (it had a clear top) when I was carrying it home.

Thanks parents!

Wednesday after baseball practice and lunch meeting, my team sang Happy Birthday and gave me gifts. The 四年生 (fourth years) gave me a baseball charm with a message inside:

Kate - Wherever you are we are teammates! Until August have fun with baseball! From: 4th year(s)

Thank you everyone who got me things, wrote on my facebook wall, or though of me!

Elizabeth - the socks you gave me are in the wash.