December Is Here

It is the dawn of December and it looks like I’m starting to catch a cold. As a certified optimist, I know that it is good to suffer through a cold now and get it out of my system before we travel here and there for the holidays. I’m doing all I can to fight it off – gargling iodine medicine, washing my hands ten times a day, drinking liters and liters of water while I work. We’ll see how effective these regimens turn out to be.

Early December means the mad dash to wrap up our Christmas shopping and try to get things in the mail as soon as possible. We’re in pretty good shape, actually, but there are still a few little things here and there that we’d like to add in to complete the packages we’ll be sending. Luckily we found a post office open 24/7 in Kobe, and that’ll make things a lot easier.

December 1st is also the day for winter bonuses in Japan. I am lucky enough to be in a position to receive one, and it makes the holidays a little easier having an extra cushion in the bank account. Unlike many Japanese people I don’t count on the bonus as part of my budget – a bonus is a bonus to me – but many of my students have already spent that money using credit cards last month.

One of the things I’d like to do with part of the bonus money is buy a truffle. I’ve been big into truffles lately but I’d really like to hold an actual truffle and see what it is all about. Truffle oil and truffle salt are fine products but that is like making an evaluation of wine by tasting wine-flavored chocolates. So I’ll probably buy a small truffle online and hope that it is in fact a European truffle (when likely it is an overpriced Chinese truffle). For about 6000 yen there is not that much risk, so later once the holidays blow over I’ll make the plunge.

This weekend is our first holiday party (we’re hosting two this year, and joining the Fukumi’s for another) and so I had better get my holiday ham skills ready. Our little oven has been making odd squeaking noises lately, and I have the feeling that this might be the last season for the little white hotbox. We’ve had our eyes on a replacement, but of course there are no big American-sized ovens available for some real baking power. One of the small sacrifices about living in Japan, I guess!


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