Week 18

July 26, Day 120:
Today was a work day to prepare for summer school. Lots of cleaning, organizing, cutting, labeling, and planning. Our team helped the 1st and 2nd grade team with their “carnival” summer activity after work. Free hot dog!

July 27, Day 122:
I spent the whole day looking through/organizing the cabinets in my classroom. I don’t think anyone has completely looked through these cabinets in YEARS. Feeling accomplished.

July 28, Day 122:
I turned 23 today! Started off the day with blueberry pancakes and a couple phone calls home 🙂 When I got to work, I was greeted with flowers and gifts and more pancakes! My sweet partner teacher decorated my desk with Miffy decorations. We ordered Dominos pizza for lunch and ate it on the floor of my classroom. After work, I headed downtown for my favorite treat: anko taiyaki😍 Since we were already downtown, Christine and I headed to Din Tai Fung for a soup dumpling dinner. I got home around 9 and took a sip of saké for the sake of tradition with my brother (who didn’t toast with me because it was 5 in the morning in Arizona). Not only did I receive some really nice gifts from my coworkers, a few packages were delivered to my apartment from friends and family in Oregon! How blessed am I to receive so much love from both near and far places? Fell asleep smiling.
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July 29, Day 123:
If you know my family, you know about my mom’s baking skills. I look forward to my birthday cake every year and was a bit disappointed to miss out on homemade cake this year. However, my mom used Amazon to deliver some adorable cupcakes to my work today! I had the lemon lucky clover cupcake and shared the rest with my team. Not as delicious as my mom’s baking, but it was the closest we could get. After work I rented one of my favorite movies (Pretty in Pink) and didn’t feel badly about quoting almost every line because I live alone and didn’t bother anyone. I had sunny-side up eggs for dinner and a birthday dessert from yesterday. I love birthdays. Well, I’m off like a dirty shirt!

July 30, Day 124:
There are pros and cons to having a birthday on a weekday. Cons: you usually have to work on your birthday. Pros: you get celebrated on your birthday AND the following weekend. I rounded up a couple friends to head downtown for a fancy dinner at the “Forest Kitchen”. We split a caprese appetizer, I ordered scallops for dinner (which surprisingly was one of the least expensive items on the menu), drank a drink called “orange blossom”, and indulged in a zunda waffle dessert. Zunda is a sweet edamame paste. Trust me, it’s good.
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July 31, Day 125:
The forecast predicted today would get up to 96 degrees, so we headed to the beach! Stopped at the konbini for some picnic foods and arrived at Tsukihama beach around noon. Tried Japan’s classic ‘fruit sandwich’ for the first time and was delightfully surprised. It’s basically a fruit tart engulfed in white bread. Yum. No matter what I wear to the beach, I will always get strange looks and stares as a foreigner. It’s normal I guess. I should have reapplied sunscreen.

August 1, Day 126:
I don’t have work today. Why? Not sure, but I’m spending the day cleaning, grocery shopping, studying for the upcoming unit, and making phone calls home 🙂