MY 1st BIRTHDAY AWAY FR HOME

10th March 2007
Arranged to have a small dinner pot-luck party in my own apartment with a few close friends that I've made here... Invited them over at abt 7pm and wala.... We had a real feast! I took the chance to make chicken curry since I cannot possibly finish a whole pot of curry if I cooked it for a normal meal... Also prepared Vietnamese-styled shrimp rice paper rolls. Kaoru couldn't make it last min so she came earlier to drop off her cherry pies. Yumiko made me a nice chiffon birthday cake covered with strawberries and pumpkin pie... Mayumi made a Chinese veggie dish, Felicia made soba salad, Yurika made pumpkin gratin, Russell brought my favourite Otaru wine and Wade brought ice-cream. There was so much left-overs! We had a good time just pigging out and chatting.
Received many presents such as a recipe book fr Russell, bath set and watch from Yurika and Shinobu, tea snacks fr Mayumi. Later at night, Felicia, Wade and I attempted to watch the newest James Bond movie on Wade's laptop. The new Bond guy didn't seem to have Pierce Brosnan's charisma. It was... well...maybe I was too tired... We didn't finish watching it in the end.. haha

11th March 2007
Went to church as usual but was really sleepy coz of staying up late last night... During lunch, Yurika suddenly brought a sponge cake right in front of me and everybody sang the birthday song to me. How sweet!
Then I took a bus to Hach station to meet Mandy as we have agreed to attend a kimono fair together. We both managed to wear kimonos in the end! Aren't the kimonos pretty? After that, I invited Mandy over to my apartment for tea and we had the leftover cherry and pumpkin pies.
Around evening time, I walked to the chicken restaurant near Russell's apartment to meet the rest of my ALTs for dinner. It was a really small place that can only accomodate 3 tables! The chicken pieces were quite small so it wasn't v filling ...Luckily I wasn't very hungry....After dinner we all went to Wade's house coz he said he bought a small slice of cake for me so we should just gather and sing a birthday song to me. Everyone agreed and we made our way to his house. However when I was presented with my cake, it was in a huge box. When I opened the box, it was a full-sized cake decorated with a picture of me! Wow! What a surprise! It was very well-made! Was very touched. Then I was presented with many presents such as Calbee Potato Chips (fr Claire coz she remembered how I kept eating her potato chips the last time. I just couldn't resist Calbee's potato chips!~), teddy bear and hair-dryer from Wade (so sweet!) and a big postcard from people in BOE. This is not the end of the surprise though....
Then Claire showed some dvd on Wade's TV. Apparently, my dear colleagues have gathered to make a home video using Singlish! Amazing! It's hilarious to hear them attempting to put on the Singlish accent!!!!
It was an unforgettable 27th birthday. Really unexpected and awesome! THANKS GUYS!!!