and a new era begins…

today was the start of a new beginning at ils with the new teachers. it was kind of strange not seeing sammy's smiley face when we walked through the doors. "the devil" child refused to go to horace's class so jk taught her for two classes. her last day will be december 21. jk told her mom that he thinks she needs a break. supposedely at her last institute she cried every day with the foreign teacher that she said. its apparent that her problem runs deep and there is not much we can do for her. her mother seemed very understanding about it. she'll probably return in march 2005 or even perhaps next january 2006. i couldn't really understand what jk was telling me. i just nodding that i understood. my classes are going well. the 3 boys are behaving a little better these days. i make them line up at the end of every class before leaving. i've become quite militant in that class. with all these classes i'm finding less and less time to prepare. and when i do have a break i'm drawn into the newspaper. although i'm getting a little tired of reading about nuke talks with north korea, the college test scandal, and iran. unfortunatley now that mr. bush is back in office i'm sure that news will continue forever. i did read something with the officials in north korea called bush and "ignoramus". you gotta love that.

we learned combo fake punches and kicks today in tae kwon do. that was fun. i was partnered up with dr. no until his glasses fell off and broke. then i got stuck with master shin. after practicing various combos we moved onto sparring. of course i got stuck with master shin. he was kicking my ass up and down the mat. i did manage to get a few good jabs and kicks in that made me feel good.

its been cold here lately. i find myself drinking more tea than i've ever have in my life. the best is this ginger honey tea that comes in a jar. it has chunks of ginger in it and is quite thick. a scoop of that in a cup mixed with water…so good. i'm definitely going to bring some of that home with me. its one of the best things i've discovered so far. i had strawberry milk today too. i'm such a child it kills me.