"She looks much thinner now." This moment brought to you by Korea

Friday a week ago, my director became a grandmother when her oldest daughter gave birth. Said birth was by Cesarean, so when I saw the director, I asked how her daughter was doing. Korean is a rather pedantic language so I couldn't simply ask about her health, because she hasn't been sick. The proper question basically translates to, "How is her body?"

The response? She looked up from the paperwork she had been attending to and very seriously said, "Oh, she looks much thinner now."

Well, thank goodness! It would be a tragedy if after having an 8 pound child cut out of her, she didn't look better.

A follow up question got me the sought after information-- mother and child are healthy. She never seemed to realize that my initial concern was other than her daughter's baby weight.

So now my dilemma is too knit or not to knit. I taught said daughter how to knit several years ago, when she was trying to impress her future husband by knitting him a scarf. So, she knows I knit. However, she's... exacting (spoiled) and I'm not sure *homemade* would suit her designer tastes. (The scarf never got past gauge swatch size-- it was too much work.)

Hi, My Name is Jennifer and I'm a Tech-tard

So, after a week of trying to remember all the great bookmarks I had lost and how to find those sites again, I noticed this little star on the left side of my tool bar that looked a lot like the bookmark star. What do you know, it has all of my old bookmarks safely stored and easily available.

So, yay, I still have my old bookmarks. I'm not sure why the *new* ones (ie the replacements for the old ones) are not being integrated, but whatever. I've got my old bookmarks!

***

Work is going well. The new teachers are adjusting to the job well, but they seem to be having some difficulties adjusting to life here. I really don't know what to do to help them adjust more easily. I've moved to new cities and/ or countries numerous times and I've never felt lonely or alone. Then again, I often prefer to be alone.

I've taught my knew morning class (3 hours with Kindy students) once and they are great. Their English is quite good and they are enthusiastic. I'm glad I don't have them everyday, because that would be a tiring schedule, but I wouldn't mind having them instead of my last 3 hours each day.

***

It's been ages since I've posted a photo. I've got about a dozen or so to post, but I'm just going to post one. It's from a "pizza" restaurant, well what Koreans think pizza is, anyway.

So, you can see it has all of the usual pizza ingredients-- shrimp, potato, mayo, sweet potato mousse, and a cookie crust. The inset photo at the top right of the pizza shows the blueberry dipping sauce for the cookie crust. The writing under the title announces that it is "European Style". I've been to Europe, I don't remember pizza being anything like this. If the cuisine has changed this much since my last visit, my next visit may feature many meals of pb&j.

NOOOOOOOOO! The sound of a thousand bookmarks being obliterated

I recall reading on some one's blog that updating IE caused her to lose all of her bookmarks. I might link to that blog, if I hadn't only recalled it AFTER updating my own computer and losing several years worth of bookmarks. Well, it's about par for the course this week.

I'll be going back to the dentist this weekend (I hope), because forgetting the perils of eating while watching TV, I bit my fork and chipped a tooth. My top teeth are big enough to hide the chip, but the inside of the tooth was damaged more than the outside and the rough edge is hurting my tongue and driving me crazy.

So, wow, that means I made it a whole month without a dental visit. Yay, me.
***

I've got a bunch of photos, but I don't feel like uploading them. Actually, I think some of them are from the last time I posted when I didn't feel like dealing with it.

I've got a couple of small FOs- a hat and a scarf.

I got some great yarn with free shipping and cast on a bunch of things right away. Then uncast on (frogged) them because they weren't what I was hoping. Someday, I may learn to stop making patterns up on the needles. I may even learn to make a gauge swatch. Dreams, people.

Last night I ordered Crazy Aunt Purl's book, so I'll be watching my door for that. Yes, the postage was more than the book. Thanks, Tower.

***
The new teachers seem to be getting settled in. I've been spending a fair amount of time getting them up to speed on their classes and life in Korea.

I had psyched myself up for some long hours (extra money), but at the last minute, they decided they wanted overtime. So, I'll just be teaching three morning hours a week, instead of fifteen. When I got to school yesterday, I found out that they school had decided to take me up on my offer of getting off early instead of getting overtime, effective immediately. So, I'll be getting off at 6:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Nice.

It would have been nicer if any of us had known our schedules were changing before 2:00 yesterday (classes start at 2:30), but that wouldn't be Korea, now would it? I don't mind last minute changes, I've been teaching these same books long enough that I know how I'm going to each lesson of each story, but it's really not fair to teachers with one and two weeks of experience.
***
Ravelry continues to dominate my free time. A secret stole project begins on Friday, so I've been swatching (gasp! I know, I wouldn't have believed myself capable of it either, but I don't like overly lacy lace and the needle size given didn't seem to match the yarn, IMHO). What do you know, I'll be going down about 1.5mm in needle size to get the fabric I like. Hopefully, I won't end up with a 6" wide stole (only length is adjustable).

There's also a new group for knitters in Korea, so maybe we can get together for a little yarn trawl. Not that I need it.