On Friday a lovely lady left us at Nova after 2 fabulous weeks. We hope she had fun because we know we did. Before her farewell BBQ she gifted us teachers with a photo card with some photos of our time together. It was absolutely lovely.
Unfortunately I didn't get to spend a lot of time with her during her second week, just a few hours on Thursday and all of Friday due to other lessons happening at the same time but I enjoyed that short time all the same. We organised a super special tour of a local primary school for her during the second week which she loved. It was one thing she really wanted to see as she is an Elementary Teacher in Japan. I think that may have become the highlight of her stay here in Cairns.
She was part of a larger group that came over from Japan, all from different locations, some of who knew each other from past Nova summer schools. We had a great first week together learning about this that and everything from how to ask for and give directions to Australian animals to cooking an Australian BBQ which is a lot different to a Japanese one.
On the Monday after the larger part of the group (who were so much fun) left I was gifted with a cute little wiggly animal decoration for my house that was left at the office for me. It is so sweet and thoughtful.
Also that Monday a new group arrived and with them a teacher who bought us a tasty gift to try. I loved it. It is Imagawayaki (or Darayaki which is similar but two seperate pancakes) and looks like a pikelet. It has an azuki bean paste filling made by boiling and mashing azuki beans (red bean) which is then sweetened. The azuki bean filling was in a way similar (especially texture) to cooked dried dates. I wish I could get more of these as it was so tasty.
Unfortunately I didn't get to spend a lot of time with her during her second week, just a few hours on Thursday and all of Friday due to other lessons happening at the same time but I enjoyed that short time all the same. We organised a super special tour of a local primary school for her during the second week which she loved. It was one thing she really wanted to see as she is an Elementary Teacher in Japan. I think that may have become the highlight of her stay here in Cairns.
She was part of a larger group that came over from Japan, all from different locations, some of who knew each other from past Nova summer schools. We had a great first week together learning about this that and everything from how to ask for and give directions to Australian animals to cooking an Australian BBQ which is a lot different to a Japanese one.
On the Monday after the larger part of the group (who were so much fun) left I was gifted with a cute little wiggly animal decoration for my house that was left at the office for me. It is so sweet and thoughtful.
Also that Monday a new group arrived and with them a teacher who bought us a tasty gift to try. I loved it. It is Imagawayaki (or Darayaki which is similar but two seperate pancakes) and looks like a pikelet. It has an azuki bean paste filling made by boiling and mashing azuki beans (red bean) which is then sweetened. The azuki bean filling was in a way similar (especially texture) to cooked dried dates. I wish I could get more of these as it was so tasty.
Such thoughtful gifts. I spent some time in Japan on exchange - incredible country.
ReplyDeleteThey are so thoughtful Jacana. I love working with the Japanese, they are so considerate and polite and just plain fun to be around. An exchange in Japan, that would have been eye opening, fun and a great cultural learning experience. I went to Germany as a student for a few weeks and had a ball.
ReplyDelete