why my students are the awesome

I love my students, I really do. They're all generally nice people, and they work hard and do their best. And they are sincere about things. It's unfortunate (but understandable) that so many of them are cancelling their classes because of the school situation. Some of them have gone to visit Ito Yokado and have come back disappointed. No surprise, because the Ito Yokado school is a joke. In a cruel twist of fate, the punchline is my own misery.

Wait, this is a post about how much I like my students. Right.

First, I don't deserve their praise and loyalty - a number of them are transferring to the Ito Yokado school because I'm going there too. (no word yet on what I'll actually be teaching, but it damn well better be the adult classes . . . that's another rant, and I'm trying to be positive here) Suffice to say that they apparently like the way I teach. Go figure.

Second, they bring me things that they think I'll like. I am terribly unworthy of their gifts and so am very grateful whenever they think of me. That feeling is completely indescribable.

I love wagashi (Japanese sweets), especially daifuku, which most of my students find endearing. The above feast of wagashi was brought to me by a couple who take a private lesson. The yellow blocks are made of a sweet potato paste (delightfully yummy, not too sweet), while the white (plain mochi) and green (mugwort mochi) daifuku are filled with anko. The pink balls are wrapped in oak leaves and are traditional treats for Children's Day in May (though Hitomi-san tells me it's also for Girls' Day in March). It's an interesting combination of flavor - and yes, the oak leaves are completely edible and really make the overall experience worthwhile.

Another of my students likes to make sweet things every once in a while - she's brought cookies and caramels before. On Tuesday, she brought little tarts for everyone. A chocolate-almond tart and a lemon cream tart with fruit. Both of them were absolutely delicious.

And practically all of our students enjoyed the peanut butter balls, which I neglected to take a picture of. Oh, well.

In other news, February continues to suck major chicken balls. And only about 10% of that suckage has to do with the weather.