Getting Colder

Last night it was very cold and I tried out all the nice little heating devices in my apartment. I have a Kotatsu, which is a low Japanese table with a heater underneath. The old style used to be with coal, but now of course they use electric. It makes the room glow orange when turned on. I also inherited two electric blankets, one which I tested last night and it made my futon nice and warm. I also have electric heaters but I’m holding off until it’s cold enough! Japanese houses and apartments don’t have central heating so it’s gonna be a cold winter.

I also bought a blanket to wear on my lap once the school gets cold. The teachers do it in the winter but during the day it’s still warm enough that we don’t need a lap blanket yet. It dips down at night but still warms up during the day, making me overdressed. For instance, this morning it was so cold I didn’t want to touch my steering wheel, but by this afternoon I was too hot in my sweater. I am at my visiting school today and all of the elementary students baked fish outside by the beach. I went down after lunch and enjoyed some fresh baked (not caught by the students though) fish and some sort of shellfish. It was hard to believe that after such a cold morning I’d be sitting by the beach comfortably warm!

Well, that’s it for now. Just a weather update I suppose. By the way, it’s cold because there is no heating, but it’s stay way warmer than Massachusetts. They leaves have just started changing color. They were green all October.

PS: I’ve been studying Japanese today and am making progress! Still, I’m not confident about the test yet. At least there are no negative consequences to failing! If nothing else it’s good motivation.