A little update...

I went to Tokyo for the weekend before going to the airport to pick up Joe and Mike (who are now in my apartment!) For some reason, my friends thought that my birthday was on the 20th, not the 27th. I kind of knew that they thought this, but I didn't really know how to tell them my birthday was on the 27th. I thought it would be a little presumptuous of me, like I assumed they were going to do something for my birthday. We all planned to meet on Saturday for dinner. I met a friend earlier who wasn't able to come to dinner. Somehow our conversation came to the topic of ages, and my friend said, "you're 23, right?" And I said, "almost." "He looked at me and said, "but today's your birthday!" I had earlier thought that if they did celebrate my birthday, I wouldn't tell them that they had the wrong time, but then I realized I should just tell them the truth. He was surprised, and told me that everyone thought my birthday was that day! Anyways, I had almost forgot about the whole birthday thing until after dinner the waitress came to our table with a cake! My birthday cake! And then everyone simultaneously piled presents on the table. My birthday presents! I have great friends...:)

Joe and Mike successfully made it to Japan on Sunday afternoon! They got out of customs really quickly, so we were able to make it to Tateyama (3 hours away from the airport!) around 8:00pm. I was going to cook, but that would have taken too long, so we went to a cheap and fast family restaurant (not exactly high-quality food, but the boys were pretty tired!) After work today I brought them to see my school. They were able to see all the students (there was an all-school assembly in the gym), and have green tea and snacks with my vice-principal (I love him so much!) It was a great trip to my school. At night we went to my friend Junko's restaurant for sushi, tempura, and eel. We were the only ones in the tiny restaurant, so Junko could visit with us for a while. After we finished eating she brought out a cheesecake with candles- my second birthday cake! I was so surprised and happy! (and full! I could barely eat any of the cheesecake!) She is so thoughtful, and an awesome cook! Tomorrow we are off for a few days in Kyoto, then a day in Tokyo before the boys head off to southeast Asia. It's kind of an exhausting schedule, but I'm excited!