birthday, etiquette, language exchange

Birthday: Yesterday was my roommate's birthday, and it was fun to celebrate it with her. She got a new pet Betta fish, who is our official room pet now (his name is Gus, Gustin for long.) It was fun to see her having a good time on her birthday, wearing the paper tiara she got while eating out with some friends. We also cleaned our room together, which may not have been the most exciting birthday activity, but definitely made the room seem more comfortable. And we had fun in the process.

Etiquette: I went with some of my Japanese friends to a business dining etiquette class. We learned all about fancy dining during an interview from how to pass the salad dressing (to the right; the first thing passed is always passed to the right), to how to order drinks or an entree when an employer asks you (turn their question of 'What do you want to order' into another question - 'What do you reccommend?') The food was delicious as well - buttered rolls, various pastas, basil chicken, and vegetables, with a choice between raspberry sorbet or chocolate raspberry torte for dessert. We dressed up in business attire for the occasion. It was informative, and helpful if I ever have to do a lunch or dinner interview in the future. Definitely a tasty way to learn.

Language Exchange: After dinner I went back to my friends' room to help her with an English essay she's doing for her written communication class. I simply answered some questions about what it was like growing up in the US. In turn, she wrote down Japanese characters and some common words for me to work on. She also let me borrow a book about Japan that translates various words into Japanese, as well as Hirogana characters. And she added some lemon and milk flavoured candies into my 'learning about Japan' materials. This should all be fun to study - I'm excited to finally start learning words and phrases!