Thick Tea

I hung around after lesson again, and once more went for a stroll in the English garden with Brendan. We went somewhere different this time, where there were tables and chairs. We did our homework for ages, so that it was about 2.30 when we came back. We normally finish dinner at 1pm-ish, so that’s a lot of homework!

I read some of my book on the history of Japanese literature. It’s quite heavy going, but it’s not an academic book by any means. It’s a translation from Japanese though, which means it has a rather large glossary that one needs to keep referring to. It’s long, but I hope to get somewhere with it. Maybe not the most ideal bedtime reading, but I shall persevere!

Linden Hall again today (hence why I hung around!). I was going to do it with Rushen (with Brendan doing the 2^nd years), however the Chancellor wanted to see Brendan, so Rush and I were left to teach separately. Rushen’s not meant to teach the 2^nd years since Rena (the Chancellor's grand-daughter) complained about him, but he did anyway since she wasn’t there. That left me with a bunch of 1^st years to look after. I wanted them to take it in turns reading a book to me, though half of them got there own books out to read, and the one’s that were paying attention all read together. Half way through they got bored of reading too, so I finished reading the book to them. Once we’d done that, I got them to draw a picture based on the book title: “Dinosaurs’ Day Out.” Two of them drew pictures of boats, and the rest copied from books. A girl called Rina did the best work, colouring in the whole page with a self-imagined dinosaur in the middle, some trees and some other things. It kept them quiet at least!

This evening I came straight back and went to tea ceremony. One of the Taiwanese girls that hangs around the reception came too, though I found out it was because the teacher had asked for someone to come to translate for me! She wasn't that helpful as she only translated the most basic things that even I understood! Anyways, I find it part of the fun trying to understand what the teacher is trying to say. I don’t think she even tries to make what she says remotely simple though, using whole sentences of words that I’ve never heard before. I just blank out at those times. It was still fun, though, with some nice cakes. I’m pretty good at the regular ceremony (the thin tea) and can do long bits now without assistance. We’re doing another part of the ceremony now, though (the thick tea) that I only did for the second time this week, so that wasn’t as good. There’s more to it as well. I’m sure I’ll learn quickly, especially since I’m the only one doing it at the moment. The others come back mid-March, so I have until then.