How to stay warm in Dunedin

Today, we also discussed how to stay warm.

The students wrote a star diagram on the whiteboard and put up many words about how they stay warm in Japan. I then told them how to explain some Japanese words in English. One word is "kairo." This is like a mini hot water bottle that is cheap to buy in Japan and it stays warm for about 6 hours. After this you throw it away. It doesn't use water, but a chemical (I don't know the details of how it operates.)

The kotatsu is also a heated table with a blanket over it that is very common in almost every Japanese house.

The bath is another way to keep warm. To soak in a bath is quite a natural every day occurrence.

Japanese people usually take clothes off in their house, but in New Zealand - you guessed it, people usually put clothes on if they are cold. It's a cultural difference, but a big hurdle to get use to if you are trying to adjust.

I explained about "thermals" and other ways to keep warm in Dunedin - jokes about long underwear etc. It was a good class and I think that the students understood the differences.