There are benefits...

I have always tried to cultivate relationships with students of other cultures whenever I could... not at all because of any perceived benefit for myself, but because I just feel as though I would want to have someone treat me kindly and help me if I were in the same position.


I posted a week or so ago about a gift that my Vietnamese students gave to me for Lunar New Year. This past week (before I got so sick and missed school) one of my students returned from a trip to Mexico with her mother to visit family. She actually withdrew from school and then re-enrolled so as to avoid triggering the attendance failure thing. Any-hoo, she brought me back a couple of t-shirts and several bags of Mexican candies (see above photo).

What's special about these candies is that they all contain chiles! Yes, they're most definitely sugary candies, but somewhere in the recipe (either a powdery coating or mixed into the candy itself) is chile powder. It's an unusual sensation, but it's not at all unpleasant. My favorite is the little red one, the Rellerindos -- it's tamarind flavored, which (if you haven't ever tasted tamarind) is remotely raisinish or figgish, but not exactly. Anyway, Rick finds the tamarind flavor revolting. Fine with me -- that means I get all of them for me.

The others are strawberry with chile and watermelon with chile; she also included some mango/chile and pineapple/chile... very very kewl stuff.