...samples for photographic purposes only 😂 (38/365, 7 Feb 2022)
With marking and grading done, just a couple more days of entrance exams ahead, it was time for a little down time, of sorts. Of course, in an otherwise appointment-free day, there was a 10 minute meeting plonked right in the middle of the day thus limiting options for going hither and thither.
In 'normal' times, before-covid times, I would have been making final preparations for a trip home with teaching duties now rested for a few weeks. Actually, let's face it, without Covid, I would have been home for good last March, but I digress.
And so it has been almost two years since I've flown in a plane, anywhere. This time two years ago I was getting ready for a trip home to attend a conference on the Gold Coast, having just returned from Australia in January and expecting a further trip home for a break, in March 2020...the February trip happened and the March trip was cancelled, and the rest, they say...well, we say lots of things now.
My short trips home during my tenure here have included catching up with friends too, especially with a small group who appreciate the finer things in chocolate. Japan goes in big for chocolate on Valentines Day and its reciprocal White Day, exactly one month later. Yes, more marketing than shooting arrows romances.
Valentines Day here has kind of evolved into a form of bribery and obligation, until recent times. It is how I learned the word 'giri-choco', chocolate you are obliged to give, basically translated to mean women in an office scenario over time became 'obliged' to hand out chocolates to male colleagues. Of course women, usually paid the least in wages or salary, usually in positions so low down the hierarchy that failure to hand out chocolate would result in other pressures. Enough to turn you off the whole thing really. White Day (14 March), another marketing invention, is supposed to be the day the men 'repay' the February chocolate-givers with chocolates of thanks. It rarely happened.
But, fortunately things are changing. The usual vox-pops on tv at this time of year, asking people about their 'giri-choco' purchases are showing a strong trend away from this 'custom'. Many have said that, given the last couple of years, they are buying chocolates for themselves and it is a relief to not have to go through the charade of chocolate for co-workers...
The department stores have enormous chocolate sections and selections all year around but at this particular time of year, they up the ante and put on special exhibitions. Today, as part of my rest and recreation day, and to keep up recent traditions for the Brisbane branch of the chocolate appreciation society (I still remember my rather surprised reaction when I first went to university and discovered there was an actual chocolate appreciation society; I had hitherto imagined uni clubs and societies would be about serious academic things, if they weren't about serious sporting things), I went to the local department store's exhibition (yes, the one I mentioned in an earlier post, but I decided a less-crowded weekday might be an option).
So...for this year's long distance meeting we have the following agenda items to consider...
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| Chocolate, not spectacular coasters |
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| There is a donut-appreciation sub-committee |
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| Truffles (including ruby chocolate) |
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| Goat milk chocolate. I mean, one needs to be adventurous |
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| 'Numbing' spicy, fragrant, peppers...in chocolate |
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| The vegan market is growing |
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| Chocolate-styled variations on a traditional Japanese sweets theme--underneath the chocolate is the more traditional red bean and yokan (a kind of jelly) base |
I'm sure we will get back to face-to-face meetings one day soon.
Today's pics snapped with the iPhone 12 mini, once I returned home.
