Gifts

M: It is commonplace here for people to give each other gifts, however small, and souvenirs from places they've visited. So far I've been given...
- a bag of Japanese apples after one student went apple-picking at the weekend
- bookmarks from a temple (one for Jack and one for me)
- incense from Vietnam
- a lemongrass soap and phonecharm from Taiwan
- a set of rubbers/erasers shaped like a sushi platter
- a persimmon, and a sweet potato cake
- rice crackers
- and this was my favourite today...

This is no ordinary bag of potatoes. I had been talking about different types of potato with one class and one of my older students came in with these for me today...

One type is called 'Red moon'...

One is called 'Baron'...

and my personal favourite, 'May Queen'...

I was incredibly touched :)