Received an email on my phone on that day from another fellow Malaysian, Aishah, asking if I would be available to join in the birthday dinner for Chua. Frankly, I had plans for that evening - to do my Japanese grammar homework that was due the next day and do some reading up... but I decided to join in, nonetheless.. homework can wait, birthdays only come once a year.. :)
As my classes for that day ended around 2.30pm and the time they arranged to meet up was around 7pm, I had plenty of time to kill.. I went to my lab and I did..... my homework! :p Although I must say I was very tempted to go home as it was raining heavily and the soft warm bed in my room was beckoning me.. but I resisted, just barely..
Met up with Aishah in the University and then we went to Shinjuku to meet up with the rest.. There were 7 of us - 4 girls and 3 guys.. 5 of us were here since Apr 2007, while 1 came over last Sep, and 1 new girl who just arrived in Tokyo less than 2 weeks earlier.. but one thing in common: all are Malaysians on scholarship! ;)
Then the "fun" began. With no map and no concrete direction, we went looking for the hot-pot restaurant that the birthday boy had chosen.. We walked around the east side of Shinjuku for almost 20 minutes but we can't find the restaurant.. Everyone was cold and hungry... In the end, Chua went into one of the police posts and asked for directions.. With our half-past six Japanese, we managed to find the restaurant after listening to the directions given.. Yippee!!
As one of us do not eat pork, we spent some time discussing and deciding what to order.. While waiting for the food to arrive, we did some catching up and some "getting to know you" stuff..
From the left: Chua (the birthday "boy"), Chun Kit, Jessie, Aishah, Lee Feung, me and Jeffrey (who was holding the camera and taking the picture, which explained his extra "lighting").
Then it was food!! Food! Glorious Food!! :p We ordered lots of beef, chicken and vegetables.. With the rainy weather and all, it was good to have some hot and spicy soup... :) But comparatively, I still prefer the steamboat we have in Singapore or Malaysia.. there wasn't much variety in Japan, just slices of meat and vegetables.. unlike back home, we have fish/squid/prawn balls and various kinds of fish.. not to mention the fact that the price here is super duper expensive as compared to Malaysia.. The total bill came to around 15,000 yen, which is roughly SGD$200 or MYR$450!! Personally, I didn't feel full at all.. :p but it was okay since I didn't want to sleep with a full stomach anyway...
Last year, we celebrate Chua's BD in Shakey's Pizza, I think.. then, there were a couple more fellow Malaysians, all who came to Tokyo on the same flight!! but as school progressed and/or research work became heavier, we never quite meet up as often.. and I must admit, I was one of them.. I was either too busy with school work/work from my Prof., too busy getting sick or too lazy to get out from my cozy room.. :p :p
Anyway, hope that Chua will have all his wishes fulfilled this year, whatever that may be.. :)
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