The 12 Days of Erika

So now I'm officially an adult for the second time of my life. I've been one for 24 hours now and it feels...just like being a kid. I still laugh at the same things, and do stupid things, and am exactly the same person...just now it's in another language. Kinda.
I had four cakes. My birthday has been like the 12 Days of Christmas. Last Sunday I had my church birthday party, and had sushi cake. It was like a meal in a cake, with two layers of rice, and tuna in the middle like a filling. Then on Saturday morning Bonita made an angel food cake for me, and when I came back to the church wearing the kimono, me and all the people that had come to see me consumed it together (with tea of course). Then that night me and 5 of my friends went to this place to eat honey bread - basically like a loaf of honeyed toast with ice cream on top. They brought these ridiculously long candles and shoved them in everywhere. It resembled something like a hedgehog. A hedgehog with tall burning spikes. Quite funny. And yummy. Then today I went to Odate to have another birthday meal with 5 other friends there (one of them is the lady that was with me when I pushed the green button). We had this double layer white cake with whipped cream and huge strawberries and peaches all over it.
I have no idea why I just described all these cakes to you.
But basically I had an amazing birthday. I've had some pretty good birthdays in Canada (going to the lake with friends - swimming back to the cabin to eat Hamburger Helper and McCain's Deep and Delicious cake from the middle of the lake dragging a half sunk canoe behind me, going camping and forgetting things essential to successful camping like an ax and cooking pot) and I really didn't think it could get better. But I guess when God blesses he blesses. I have friends over here, and I can actually communicate with them. Enough to have fun and laugh with them. Be myself.
And I must tell you another thing. We are in the middle of rainy season where it's supposed to rain like all day every day. Other parts in Japan have gotten up to 20 inches of rain in one day. Here we've had blue sky every day, and sunshine. Just gorgeous weather. Very abnormal. But just another way God is bringing me joy.
Back to the 12 Days of Christmas. Or should I say the 12 Days of Erika. I'm getting to be pretty good friends with one of the couples from church; on kimono wearing day I wore the wife's kimono, and the husband took off an entire day of work just to come take pictures and hang out and eat cake. Maybe not eat cake, but just special for my birthday. He drove me home after, and he told me this on the way. I was absolutely blown away. Work in Japan is super super important, and to have someone take a whole day off just for you is crazy. I told him we should make it a new holiday, like Christmas Eve...just Erika Eve. He liked that. I told him to go home and write it on his calender.
In fact I think everyone should add it to their calender next year. June 24. We could do things like eat ice cream and go go-carting. Hang out with Jesus. Maybe have a hedgehog cake. And burn an exhorbant amount of calories from laughing. I should call the head of the Calender Association and put in for a new holiday.