A Day in Review: Valentine's

I really enjoy Valentine's Day. In Japan. It's different here, in case you didn't know.

In Japan, Valentine's Day is celebrated (that's right, celebrated!) when females give gifts of chocolate to males. These chocolate gifts range from friendly chocolate (tomo choco), chocolate given to co-workers and the like (giri choco), and then finally the real deal, chocolate that's given as a sign of liking someone (honmei choco).

Last year, timing was perfect. I was at my biggest school in Higashi on Valentine's Day and I received chocolate from 15 girls. It was really nice, the attention - I'd be lying if I said otherwise. I was also really surprised, because if you were to watch some of my classes (especially when the kids are having a bad day), you'd wonder why so many girls would even want to give me chocolate (I figured it out - they like me more outside of class, when we don't have to do the business of studying).

This year, at first glance, Valentine's seemed like it was going to be a flop. For one, it fell on a Sunday. No school basically means no kids. Second, I was at my smallest school that week, with a total of 13 students (3 of whom are girls and apparently don't celebrate this awesome commercial holiday).

But I was happily surprised to find a package in my mailbox on that Saturday. Delivered from the US and containing homemade chocolate (which was really really good, by the way), it was my first Valentine of 2010 (Shan, thank you!).

My first student chocolate came as I was getting into my car, when I crossed paths with one of my students who lives near me. She gave me a carefully wrapped Valentine with a cookie, brownie, and a small sliver of cheesecake. It was delicious!

The lighting isn't great, but you can get the idea.

Later that week (I always go to my big school on Wednesday afternoon), there were a few girls who were waiting to give me some chocolate. I happily accepted it.

And then at the start of this week, I was hit with the effective Motherload of a Valentine's Day gift. A few of the girls must have gathered what was left from their stash and put together this package of sweets. It caught me off guard (coming 9 days late), but I gladly accepted it as well.

Life was beautiful then!

This isn't all of it - I had about a dozen pieces before taking this shot.

But that wasn't the last of it. Two of my students, who also happen to be immediate neighbors of mine, one day on the way home from school asked if I was going anywhere that night. I said no, I'd be home making bread. They were happy with the answer, because they told me they were going to make some treats and bring them by later. Sure enough, about 9 o'clock that night, I had two more gifts.

Think cornflakes rolled in chocolate.

And that was the last of it. I savored my way through it, trying not to get too crazy with all that chocolate laid out on my kitchen floor.

Lest you think that Valentine's Day is just a day for me to be spoiled, don't worry. White Day (March 14th) is the followup, where males who received chocolate on Valentine's Day reciprocate with their own batches of sweets. Last year, I made dozens of cookies. This year, I'm thinking either fudge brownies or sticky ginger squares. Either way, it will be fun to give back to the girls who made my day (several days, actually) this past week.