Today I passed out my omiyage, small little maple leaf shaped cookies filled with sweet bean curd. Yum.
I had bought 32 of the little buggers, and so I passed them out to all the big wigs, all of the first year teachers, and then the rest I gave out to people that I have gotten along with. I’m not sure what the protocol is, but there are almost sixty teachers there, so some people didn’t get anything. Research is underway to see if I handled everything OK.
One great thing about the omiyage was that it got some conversations going, and people came by to thank me and ask about my trip. The school principal was particularly excited about my trip. He is such a great guy – it’s too bad I cannot speak better Japanese to have a longer conversation with him. He just comes off as a genuinely kind person.
I did three Halloween lessons, and I’m starting to dread saying “Jack O’ Lantern” over and over again. Luckily, tomorrow I start a new lesson for the first year students. It’s about schools in America, and I’m going to rub in the fact that high school students are allowed to drive to school – something that I’m sure will blow some minds.
After school I stopped in at the next town and went shopping for a warm comforter. I have a great sleeping bag that keeps me warm, but I want to keep it in reserve for the real cold nights. It’s cooled down to around 50 degrees at night – no big deal, but since I have no insulation, I am starting to feel it. I want to save the sleeping bag for the nights during winter below freezing.
Anyway, I go into a store and expect to pay about $40 or $50 for a comforter. Sticker shock! I got the cheapest one I could find that was my size, and it was about $140. There were comforters selling for 88,000 yen. That’s like $800 for a warm blanket. Yeah, right. The one I got looks fine, so I’ll try it out tonight and see how it goes.
