Ode to my Kotatsu

This beautiful piece of furniture is my kotatsu. Functioning as a regular coffee table during the warm seasons, this bad boy has a little heater on the underside that plugs into the wall to create a sacred space in my world without central heating. The table top lifts off, allowing me to put a thick, fuzzy blanket over the table to trap the heat but maintain a hard surface for movie watching, elementary school lesson planning, dinner eating and anything else that I do in my apartment when I'm not sleeping. I have a little space heater that I put behind me and literally sit on the floor under the kotatsu for hours and hours everyday.

Also on my little table is a bowl of mikan (Japanese clementine-type citrus fruits), these are the other half of the Japanese Winter Survival Kit -- I easily go through a bag of 15 or so mikan each week. Every now and then the teachers at my school remember that I ride my bike everyday (even in the crazy wind and snow), leading them to fuss over my health for a few minutes. Our conversation almost always goes something like this:

teacher: It's cold, isn't it?! Is it cold like this in New York?
me: The outside temperature is colder, but when you go inside it's always warm. All of the rooms are heated. (unlike Japan, where I see my breath in the hallways at school and in my kitchen)
teacher: Wow, that sounds great... do you have a kotatsu??
me: Yes. I sit under it all night.
teacher: ...and mikan?
me: I eat them all the time.
teacher: Good. It's Japanese culture to be cold in winter, but you can stay healthy if you eat mikan and use your kotatsu.

...or you could throw a little Pink Panther insulation in these paper thin walls. Either way, this is my all-time favorite table in the world and I've got a few more months to enjoy our love affair!