Updates

So, I have now had my first response to the teacher's workshop survey, and I am happy, because it was really positive. The answers were far from specific, but I guess I can deal with that at the actual workshop. Apparently I scared a few of the teachers with the amount of work it seemed that I wanted fromthem, which is good, because I think that that may have been my goal in the first place. So I wrote back (the first response came from the best speaker) and explained front-end loading (work hard at the beginning so that there is less work later) and that the survey was their big work for the semester. Hopefully that does the trick, and makes them less scared.

The dinner/ping-pong party at my school was actually awesome. There was a lotof ping pong, and some delicious food. And when I turned down soju, no-one got offended (asopposed to usual) because instead of just saying no, I said "Aniyo, nokcha juseyo" or "No, green tea please" so at least they got to hear some Korean, which made them happy. I played pingpong to warm up with the new Korean teacher, who is very nice, and is always making me tea and asking me questions in english, then when I answer he says "I am english baby!" because he can't understand. It was fun, and by the end of our game, I was getting the hang of holing the racket Korean style. You actually can't hold it North American style, because the handle is shaped differently and there is no padding on the backhand! so whenever I hit it backhand, it usually flies off and breaks a window or something.
The food was good, there was a delicious sauce (dokjang, I think) and lots of grape tomoatoes and greenhouse strawberries.
Then, it was game time! Turns out, we were playing doubles, whichis near impossible for me when playing Korean style. Plus, it's intimidating to have to jump in front of/around your partner, and they seem to flipflop between "my side your side" and "my turn your turn" so that I never know when to get in there, and often narrowly avoid getting whackedin the face. Plus, with no backhand, I have trouble when I can't stand off to one side. Of course, we lost horribly.

At piano, I have had some measure of success as well. I am now on piano book three! Oh yeah, I am probably the best piano player ever. It is green, and introduces one sharp and one flat.
Watch out Billy Joel!

Last night we went back to the Ryus for our Korean lesson. We reread the story book that I had read alone on Monday. Once again, I was very embarassed. This time, because Jessie is such a good Korean reader. I swear... I can't do double consonants to save my life.

All of my debts are now paid off. It's a good feeling. Now I will sign up for a course at Athabasca and be one step closer to a biology teachable.