誕⽣⽇ (だんじょうび) – My Birthday

Yesterday, I had my first birthday away from home. I don't know what I was expecting, but it turned out to be a really nice day. I woke up and straight away opened the cards that my family had given me back in England before I left for Japan. Then I allowed myself two cookies with my breakfast. I was off to a flying start. My morning at work was fine, but my afternoon was excellent. Thursday afternoons May and I are in the Pharmacy which is probably my favourite department in terms of the work we have to do there. On top of that, the guy who looks after us in the pharmacy brings us coffee and cakes and biscuits part way through the shift, and then he lets us leave 45 minutes early. Yeah, we like Pharmacy-san. Yesterday's meals at the hospital were particularly good also; They must have known it was my birthday, lol. During my lunch break, I gave the hospital president a gift that I had brought from England – the first opportunity to do so since I arrived. It was surreal giving somebody else a present on my birthday. Oddly, quite an uplifting experience though... Hmm. In the evening I wrote emails to my family, ate yet more cookies, read some of my book and watched an episode of Six Feet Under. All in all, not a bad day :-)

From Kimura-san: