Winter Solstice

I hope everyone is having a lovely festive season. Being in Asia means that I'm still working, but we'll be having our break soon enough. On the 18th January our holidays begin and we'll be off for about a month. I'm looking forward to it.

My students (or at least their parents) have decided to make this a happy month for me. I have been receiving gifts all month, the latest being a big box of mini satsumas that range between two and five centimetres in diameter. They are very sweet. I've also got a mug emblazoned with the immortal presence of Xmas trees. Seem odd using it on 364 days of the year, but I may get used to it.

Here are a few things I was gifted with before Xmas, though with the festive season in mind:

A selection of wrapped chocolates complete with bells and a model Rudolf glued onto a clothes peg, a box of dark and really rich chocolate squares, a packet of imported tea (you know, because I'm a foreigner) and the jacket hanging over the chair. That last one was actually a gift from a friend, not a student.

This chocolate is handmade by "locals" (and by that I mean the aboriginal people of Taiwan). They probably add that line to increase its sales, but to be honest it's one of the best chocolates I've ever eaten. It's almost too rich.

Being a foreigner who speaks English of course the parents decided to buy me imported English tea. At least I'm guessing that's the reason. No complaints from me, I love tea; though if they wanted to tickle my English side they could just have got me Earl Grey. There's really nothing better.

This needs a special mention. Some of the teachers at my school took part in a Secret Santa. It was a delightful event and I got to learn a lot more about my colleagues. One of the gifts that someone got was two boxes of plasters (or band aids). Only they weren't. They were wrapped up to look that way, but were actually small individually wrapped chocolates. There's a novelty I would have completely missed on the shelf at the shops. I think the strangest part about them is their name. I'm wondering if there was a foreign influence in it.

This was my gift - a delightful bottle of instant coffee which now sits in my cupboard at school, behind the aforementioned Xmas tree mug. What I really enjoy about it is the blurb on the front:

Mocca Great Coffee is like a fascinating

book-you will appreciate its long

lasting meaning; and is just a like

wonderful melody-the pleasure will

stay with you forever.

great.