Food

One of my favorite things about tutoring is the food.

Both of the Japanese mothers I work for will bring me a drink while I'm tutoring her child. Yosuke and Yuki's mother always brings me food as well. They like to mix it up, and I always find myself looking forward to seeing what I'll get each day.

Miki's mother used to only bring me water. I attributed this to the fact that when I first came to her house to discuss the tutoring job, she offered me a drink and I asked for water. After that, I got a bottle of water each day when I was tutoring Miki. One day when it was a bit chilly, Miki's mother offered me a hot drink - black tea, green tea, or coffee. I told her anything was fine, and she brought Miki and me some coffee. Since then, she sometimes brings coffee or black tea, or sometimes just water. Last time, she brought some lemon iced tea.

One day, she brought this Japanese sweet I had never tasted before and some hot green tea. The green tea was so delicious! I hadn't had such yummy green tea since I did a homestay in Japan over two years ago. I meant to compliment her on the tea, but I was too wrapped up in complimenting her on the sweet and asking her about it that I completely forgot. I can't remember the name of it, but it was a specialty of Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu. It was sweet potato wrapped in something else - I don't know what it was, but it had the consistency of motchi. It was very delicious, and she made it by hand! (I asked her because it seemed like it was store-bought because it looked very difficult to make!)

It's the little things like this that make the tutoring job enjoyable for me. Of course the main reward is helping the kids, but the cultural exchange is the fun part.