Celebration Time

Hi all :) I know it has only been a matter of days since my last post, but there have been many important events over the past few days and I thought I might share my celebrations with you!

The 25th of April is ANZAC day in New Zealand, as we all know. They don't have ANZAC day in Denmark (obviously), but funnily enough they have their own public holiday the day after, Bededag, which means praying day. It's a religious holiday, but no one's really very religious so no one actually prays. They do eat though, these sweet white puffy bread rolls. We didn't eat any however, because I had baked ANZAC biscuits AND an ANZAC cake, so three "sometimes" foods all in one day would have been a bit much.

Thomas, Simon, Stine, Caroline and Frida (Caroline's best friend) with tea, cake and biscuits on ANZAC day

It is also my birthday tomorrow, and since we had the day off on Friday, I thought it would be nice to hold a birthday dinner for my friends last night. That way we had the whole weekend to clean up! It was a really really fun night :) I didn't get to bed until 1AM which is like, ridiculously late for me. I spent all day getting the food ready. Last year for my birthday, my mum cooked what is known in our household as "the Japanese Feast". When we lived in Japan, there were certain foods that we LOVED, and every single one of them is in this 'feast'. I must admit, I have cooked Japanese food before but never ALL of it, all by myself. Funny thing is, the only thing that went wrong was the simplest thing: rice. I got the wrong kind from the supermarket and it wasn't sticky. But that was ok, no one noticed and I don't think they would have cared either way, after all, rice is rice.

Itadakimasu :)

A feast for Kings :)

I also concocted a little event for after dinner, before the cake. I made a whole lot of games and competitions and split everyone into two teams. We made origami balloons and had a competition to see who could keep theirs off the floor for the longest - a little like what we do for volleyball in PE. We also did a chopsticks speed challenge, Kendama speed challenge (that Japanese toy with the red ball on a string connected to a wooden handle), and a hilarious adaptation of karaoke where only the one singing can hear the song, and the rest of their team had to guess which song it was. Finally, for bonus points, I added a little New Zealand flair and said anyone who ate a spoonful of Vegemite would get ten bonus points. HAHAHA. I wish I had filmed their reactions - honestly the funniest faces I have ever seen a human being pull. They were shocked that I actually eat it. I think there is a difference between eating it off a spoon and eating it on toast, though!

Super speedy origami hands!

Puzzled over origami instructions

Sofie playing Kendama!

I made a second ANZAC cake for these guys as a birthday cake, and sure enough it was all gone. I used the cookies as a prize for the winning team of the competition :) I was also sung the Danish Birthday song by these guys too, and given some really sweet presents - a gorgeous top from a shop called Message, a brunch voucher, and a cinema date with a friend. I am excited to redeem everything!

I really enjoyed myself last night. It's normal in Denmark that when you turn 18 you have a huge rowdy party and drink 18 shots and then throw up everywhere. I was glad I chose to do something else, something I would remember, and something that my guests would have fun doing. It's really nice to feel like I have friends now - I must admit it is hard at times. I have known my friends at home for YEARS and we know each other so well, whereas here the maximum time I have known anyone is like, three and a bit months. I was contemplating not even celebrating my birthday with friends because I was worried it would be awkward! But, I did. And I'm so glad I did because I feel so much better for it. I am also so grateful for my hos family - that they both encouraged and allowed me to have a birthday party, and that they helped so much with setting up and preparing, and most importantly cleaning up afterwards. And also just generally, I am grateful to have such an amazing host family and friends.

As you can tell I'm in a good mood. Let's hope the sun comes out tomorrow for my REAL birthday - in Denmark they say that if you have good weather, you've been good throughout the year :) We are having brunch with the extended host family tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to celebrating with them too. Last day as a child (sort of)!!!

Over and out :)