Kate's Birthday

Well, the Days of Power have come to a close. Kate's birthday celebration began with a toast at a Tsukuba bar last night (and a free ice cream sundae), and ended with a small party at our house tonight, complete with the werewolf game.

This morning I made "challah" french toast for brunch (we have found a soft, eggy, raisin bread that is similar to challah), and for dinner we had sushi at our favorite place in Tsukuba.

Kate's main present from me is a trip to the beautiful Izu peninsula next weekend. I went to the Izu peninsula in 2002 with several students from my program and my friend Zim, and there are some pictures of that trip here. We will be staying at the same place that I stayed at in 2002, and when I called to make the reservation, they remembered me and our group (apparently we made an impression).

Here is a picture of Kate's birthday cake:The Japanese writing says "shin-okachimachi," which is the name of Kate's favorite stop on the Tsukuba Express, the train that takes us into Tokyo. When I was ordering the cake, they asked if I wanted anything written on it. I told them what I wanted, and they asked no questions.

Here is a picture from the birthday party of Kate with her friends from her Japanese class, Daniella and Fanny: