I'm an adult now?

As of Saturday, I'm 21 years old, and considered an adult by almost all societies. I don't really feel like an adult though, because I'm still in school, and mostly dependent on my parents, and well, I still feel and act like a kid sometimes. This whole 'adult' thing is weird, and I'm not sure I'm ready to embrace it. This is evidenced by the way I spent my birthday. I went to an amusement park!
Hirakata Park is really close by. I pass the train stop for it everyday on the way to school and back, and you can see the ferris wheel from the train. I went with a group of people, and we had a ton of fun! Even after it started raining!

We got there a little after 11am, and the sky was sort of dripping, off and on, but hadn't decided if it was really going to rain or not. We took advantage of this fact and went on as many rides as we could see as fast as possible. We wanted to get our fun in while the rides were still open. There were three main roller coasters, and we started with the smallest. It was very short and very violent-slamming us around in the hard cars. Next was what Mason City fairs call the Salt and Pepper Shaker and what I call the Emma's Going to Throw-up Now ride. Needless to say, I didn't go on this one. It went upside down. I don't do upside down. I surprised myself by joining them on the next one though-a meteor drop ride. You go way to high up, and then they drop you down really fast so you're sure you're about to splat on the ground, and then it stops and your safe, but you can't walk. Yeah, why did I go on that again?

Then we headed to the longest roller coaster-Red Falcon. Most of the rides' names were in English strangely enough. It was pretty good, but still a bit uncomfortable-my knees were up to my ears in the small car. We did a couple of water rides after that. In one we sat in a log shaped car and rode through a 'jungle' and in the other we were in a large round circle, and got splashed. We didn't get as wet as we would have in similar rides in America, but there were some wet jeans and shirts at the end of the ride. We then found the final roller coaster which turned out to be the best of the three. It was called Elf and was the only wooden coaster in the place. Its seats were really comfortable and most of the ride was up and down long and short hills. It was also the fastest ride, a definite plus!

We rode the ferris wheel of course, and a few other rides, namely the carousel and the tea cups. The tea cup ride was interesting for two reasons. One, the cups had Sanrio characters on them, like Hello Kitty. Two, we spun the cup really really REALLY fast. I usually don't get dizzy on a tea cup  ride, but there's a first for everything. Sooooo dizzy..... We also played a couple of 'games' There were three or four of them and they all revolved around some sort of maze, and doing a task as you go through the maze, which earns you points, and then playing a mini game at the end with those points, and maybe winning a prize for your efforts. The fun part came from the fact that most of the participants were small children running to and fro, and we were five tall foreigners, who didn't really understand what was going on, but running around anyway! I somehow managed to win one of the end games and got a small bag on a lanyard. I have no idea what or how I did so, but yeah me!

For dinner that night, my host family took me out to a udon restaurant. We were in a 'traditional' room, with tatami mats on the floor and an alcove for speical decorations, but there were carpets over the mats with Western tables and chairs. In the alcove, there was a drawing of a horse! Perfect for my birthday dinner, as I was born in the year of the horse! When we got home Okaasan handed me a bag and said they had gotten me a present! Which I completely didn't expect at all! It was a nice jacket-black and soft on the inside.
I hope I expressed my appreciation enough! For desert she had bough a number of individual cakes of different flavors. I had a chocolate one and one that was white cake, with lots of whipped cream, with strawberries and other fruit on top. Yuummmmy~! While eating the cakes, Okaasan and I discussed the differences in American and Japanese birthday cakes. She said that they could get whole cakes of one flavor, but she thought that was a bit boring. She liked trying the different kinds. It was fun to have so many cute cakes, but I also like my chocolate cake with chocolate icing and chocolate chips. :P

All in all, I had a pretty awesome birthday. It wasn't what I normally do, but it was fun all the same!