Students' gifts

Kayano gave me some home-made sasadango (mochi with red bean filling wrapped in leaves) to thank me for staying till 9.30pm to help her practice and record her speech entry for a speech contest last Thursday.

I don't usually like sasadango but she asked me to try it on the spot and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't too sweet cos she used matcha-flavoured mochi. Quite yummy indeed!

The very same day, one of my favourite students, Mika, who's a really sweet and funny girl, brought me pineapple kanten 寒天 (basically the Japanese version of agar-agar) that she made. Kanten is basically tasteless so Japanese people usually add fruits in it. It's supposed to be natural and very healthy. Turns out that she made it because we're going to switch classes (each class is divided into 3 groups for English classes) after the mid-term tests so that was like a farewell gift to me. Awww! 2 other teachers walked by and teasingly asked her why they didn't get any and she sheepishly replied "Ja, kondo (well, next time)".

Boy, I've never felt this appreciated at work before!