N for "New School Term"

Long, long time no see, readers.  :)
I haven't written my journal for so long.  Actually, I have a lot to share because I have just had a summer vacation and my birthday!  I have finally got used to the normal work hours.  I had summer work schedule for 4 weeks, but I didn't get the hang of it till it was over.  Now I know what time I should leave home and which train to take.  Kids started schools again and the latter half of this school year has started.  I expect this coming 6 months will be much busier than the first half since we have a parents' conference, presentation day, assessment test, and on top of all, we are planning to launch a new reading program.  Our time schedule is already full and very difficult to squeeze in another class.  But the decision has been made.  We have to do it.

Let's talk about my summer vacation.  I had a week off and spend 3 days in my sister's place in Shizuoka.  It was my first time to visit Shizuoka city properly, and I was first surprised how close it was to Tokyo.  My sister took me to the zoo and the museum, and I even had a completely free day on my own.  Shizuoka city has almost everything and there was not much difference from Tokyo.  (I once had lunch at Soup Stock Tokyo....in Shizuoka!  Shame!)  I realized that I haven't travelled much in Japan.  (I tend to think I'd better keep the money to travel abroad rather than spending to explore Japan.)  It was a very interesting experience and made me want to visit more places.  Also, my sister's place was, as expected, very neatly organized and clean  ;)  I was happy to see her, her dog, and cat again. 

And my birthday.  Guess what?  I got a proper birthday cake, with a name plate and candles!!

This made me sooooo happy :)  How long had it been since I saw my name on a birthday cake?  (Usually, I just have regular dessert at the restaurant, or my mom makes one.)  Of course, this cake tasted great ;)  This came before my birthday, but on the actual day, I was invited to my friend's housewarming party.  There were three other people who recently had their birthdays, so they had secretly prepared a big cake for four of us!  It turned to be a joint celebration.  There were two other cakes for personal birthday present and housewarming present, so we enjoyed three different cakes that night!  Yum ;)

I was not looking forward to the day I get older, but I thought it's not too bad to be one year older since I had such a great day this year thanks to wonderful people around me!

Cheers :)