Happy St. Valentines :)

Ok, so Christmas is a romantic holiday here where men are supposed to get that special woman in their lives a cake. Next month comes White Day, when men give women chocolate...

and in the middle of these chivalrous, romantic holidays? VALENTINES DAY!

Yes, we still celebrate the holiday here, but in Japan, it's a bit different. Girls/women/wives/daughters/sisters/female friends/girlfriends give the men in their lives chocolate. Most women actually make this special "choko" (my students do & trust me, it's delicious...basically homemade fudge!), but there are actually two main categories of chocolate: tomo-choko and giri-giri choko. The first is for "tomodachi" or friends (platanic) while the second is obligatory choclate (for the special men in your life). I have given and gotten both :)

Anyways, I spent this Valentines day relaxing and enjoying champagne with my friends Tam and Clayton, which was a pretty fun night. They celerated the week before in Tokyo and we had the champagne left over from Tam's birthday... so yes, it was me and the couple. I also got some cute cards from my students (half of which read, "give me chocolate!!") and one of which almost made me cry at work. It was written in Japanese (because "English is difficult and [the student] wanted to get his point across") and basically a very sincere thank you card from one of my favorite kids. He said that he never would have gotten as much out of class without my knowledge of the Japanese culture, cultural differences and really caring and understanding the kids. I was a littel shocked to read that part. Saying that I have an advantage over someone else in this culture because I understand the culturual differences and really see and understand Japanese culture... IN JAPAN? I guess it goes to show I really have come a long way.

Anyways, I hope all of you had a beautiful day, no matter who it was spent with or where it was spent... happy Valentines Day 2008! xo, Bren