January 12, 2008
There is no place like... a kotatsu!
Jason, as snug as a bug in a rug!
Hi everyone, it’s Jason again! It’s been a long time since my last post. Lots of interesting things has happened since my experience of picking potatoes. We have just come back to school from our winter holiday break and what a break it was. I spent most of my free time when I was at home under my home stay’s kotatsu (a table with an electric heater underneath covered by a quilt).
It’s terrific because in a drafty, cold Japanese home, you can eat, sleep and watch TV while seating inside the kotatsu.
Can you imagine seating in a nice warm area where your feet are toasty, and you are relaxed while eating, well you pretty much are imagining a kotatsu. I spent all my meals eating in the kotatsu located in the living room. It felt like I was a king.
After a hard training session there is nothing better then coming home and having a nice snooze inside the warm kotatsu. It feels like heaven especially because it’s so cold here in Japan right now. Japanese homes are drafty because they are built for summer when the house needs more air movement to reduce the repressive humidity. But the problem is in winter it’s absolutely freezing and that’s where the kotatsu comes into play.
Watching TV while laying down in the kotatsu I believe beats going out to the movies. However, there is only one problem with watching a DVD at home while seating in the kotatsu and that is trying to stay awake during the movie because it’s so cozy.
All in all I had only five whole days off training during my winter holidays because of my busy soccer schedule and in those five days I didn’t do nothing spectacular, but seating down, relaxing inside the kotatsu. Really it was better than going out with friends and having fun. The biggest problem is if you ever get inside a kotatsu, it’s so hard to leave!
Jason Davidson