ten minutes to write this entry

So I feel like so far this winter I have suffered rather less than I had by this time last year. I'm still not sure how to fix the fact that I am guaranteed to wake up at five a.m. every morning with a frozen nose, but during my waking hours I have been much less timid with the kerosene heaters and as a result have been much happier. Neither of my ALT neighbours have started using theirs yet, which is INSANE to me as the past week or so we have had some minus temperatures. One of my neighbours never uses her kerosene heater, so intense is her dislike of the smell, and one of them is trying to hold off as long as possible in an attempt to save money. Well good luck with that you guys. As soon as it hit like fifteen degrees I was pulling my heaters out of the closet. :P

Had a pretty good day at work today~. According to the schedule the board gave us this is our last week of school before break, but because the board doesn't actually seem to consult the schools when it makes our schedules I always ask my teachers if they want me to keep coming in up until I leave. So I will probably go to school for most of next week as well, at least. But today was my last day at this particular elementary school and I quite happily had four classes, two of which were spent decorating these really boring posters I made of Christmas trees haha. Before lunch I gave a candy cane to each of the teachers, and omg I absolutely love when I manage to bring something in that I feel is a worldwide item only to discover that nobody here knows what it is. It's this weird mix of mindblowing and humbling and just really interesting. I gave candy canes out last year as well (and got a bunch of "How do I eat this? Do I put all of it in my mouth at once??") so I already knew they were a rarity here, but today my teachers went even further and asked me if they were candles and where do they light them. Haha, man! Cultural differences! Fascinating!!! Clearly I need to get better at explaining what things are when I give them to people!!!!

Aaaaand I hope this entry is readable because I have an online lesson now and thus no time to proofread~~ xD