Varentine's Day

Well, I did manage to get Steve a treat for Valentine's day - a nice box of Romeo y Julietas (cuban cigars). Since he's gotten all in shape and stuff, it didn't seem right to buy him a box of chocolates. So I went for the lungs instead.

In Japan - for those of you reading from afar - on Valentine's day, men get the goodies from the women, and then a month later, on "White Day", the men return the favour. Kind of sweet, except that the goodies you give are referred to as "giri choco", or obligation chocolates. I don't know if you give them because you are obliged to, or if once you give them the receiver is obliged to do something for you...

I did get treats from some of the students at the high school - my teaching monday fell on Feb 14th, so I got to try lots of homemade treats, and got a couple of bags of goodies, which I shared with Sam. Except that one of the chocolates was chili flavoured and REALLY spicy. If only I could remember which student gave that to me... I'd give her black licorice, that's what I'd do. Not a treat to most Japanese at all - our Japanese homestay students used to make the most amazing faces when they tried it. Lucky for her, I can't remember a thing, as usual.