Potluck dinner at school:

Two weeks ago, we had a potluck dinner with my beloved night classes. It was the last night for me to teach night classes and we wanted to celebrate the switch-over. We threw a potluck!

Our sushi restaurant owners brought two huge trays of sushi, and there was a myriad of other dishes--but not a fork in sight. In the picture above, you can see sushi, a pasta salad (literally, salad + pasta...made me laugh), and Korean kimbap. I brought the American classics, mac and cheese, and pbj sandwiches (per request).

Here are a few of the night class students. I really miss them--the morning group is nice, but I really enjoyed working with these guys! Martin and I sometimes hang out with the group after class on Wednesday nights. We meet at a coffee shop and all hang out for an hour or two.


One student, Taka, is an expert sushi chef. He brought in some mackeral and showed us how to make a sushi roll. He torched it and cut it with a huge sword-like knife. It was some of the best tasting sushi I've ever had! :)

My former housemate:

A couple of weeks ago, I drove straight home from work and took Edna out for dinner. We went to her favorite local restaurant--Carrows (like Perkins). In this picture, you can see that Edna is quite a bit smaller than I am. When standing, her head doesn't even come up to my shoulders. I think she used to be 5'2 back in the day, but now I think she is more like 4'10. She is petite.

I was excited to meet Edna for dinner because I haven't seen her in awhile (I moved out of her house in February and try to stop by once in awhil) and I know she gets lonely. We really get along pretty well, but it took us quite awhile to get to that place. Living together was a little difficult at times.

I like hanging out with her, though. I learn things from her. She turns 95 this August and has had so many experiences. She is spunky and has a lot of gumption for her age. She only wears button down, polo-style tops because she thinks an open neckline makes her neck look old, and never wears pants because skirts are more lady-like. She gets her hair done every week, always wears lipstick, and secretly smooths on expensive wrinkle cream each night to delay the look of old age. Her friends are half her age or younger, but that is what keeps her young.

I promised I'd send her a postcard from Argentina.

Humor in English

arbitrator: n. A cook that leaves Arby's to work at McDonalds.
avoidable: v. What a bullfighter tried to do.
balderdash: n. A rapidly receding hairline.
burglarize: n. What a crook sees with.
coffee: n. The person upon whom one coughs.
counterfeiters: npl. Workers who install kitchen cabinets.
eclipse: v. What a Cockney barber does for a living.
esplanade: v. To attempt an explanation while drunk.
eyedropper: n. A clumsy ophthamologist.
gargoyle: n. Olive-flavored mouthwash.
lymph: v. To walk with a lisp.
paradox: npl. Two physicians.
parasites: npl. What you see from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
relief: v. What trees do in the spring.
rubberneck: vp. What you should do to relax your wife.

New Schedule=More Time?

The good news is that my job will be preserved while I am in South America this summer. This is a drama that took a few weeks to figure out, but my boss has told me that he doesn't want to lose me (that's a good thing, right?) and that he will keep my job for me.

The other good news is that my schedule might return to "normal" at the start of June. Part of the reason I didn't blog for so long is that I started a crazy schedule that took off at break-neck speed and has continued till present. Basically, it is this: classes 8.30-1, private lessons 1.30-3.30, 3.30-5.50 prep/lunch/break, 5.50-9.30 classes, go home by 10, sleep and repeat. For several months, this has been my schedule. To top it off, my boss gave me a new course to teach: telephone English. Never heard of it? Well, it doesn't exist, and, to my knowledge, has never been taught as a 12+ week course. So, weekends have been consumed with writing new curriculum for this and my other 5 classes.

Now, my boss has offered me the afternoon classes he just created: speaking and writing (again, no curriculum or textbook..."you can do whatever you want," he says, ...as if it's a good thing!). Anyway, now, my working day should conclude somewhere between 6 and 7 each night. Much better!

Still waiting for the bad news? There really isn't any. Life is looking a lot easier and more enjoyable! I booked a flight to MPLS for the 20th of June, leave for Buenos Aires on the 23rd, and get back to California by the 25th of July to pick up where I left off.

Some news to note:

**Congratulations to my brother and his family: baby Zachary was born on Monday! I've seen some pics--he's pretty cute!

**Also, congrats to my friends Dana and Randy in KS who had a baby a few weeks ago! I can't wait to meet Wyatt! :)

Hello again!

I know it's been awhile. I have sort of fallen off the face of the earth, I guess. I have been working pretty hard since February and don't get home until 10ish every night. This is the reason for the lack of mid-week posts. The fact that I have been catching up with lesson plans on weekends and trying to search for jobs in MN is the reason that I haven't been posting on weekends either. I am pretty sure my 3 month hiatus has caused my readership to drop down to below zero, but I will try to resurrect this dusty cyberspace and make it a little more presentable if people want to come back and check in once in awhile.

Chalet Edelweiss for Valentine's Day!

Martin surprised me with an awesome dinner to one of the few Swiss restaurants in LA: Swiss Edelweiss. Yum!

This weekend was so fun--it started on Friday night when we went roller skating with Martin's ex co-worker and her friends. We were amongst the 6 white people in the whole place. I say this only to emphasize the cultural difference we encountered as the music started and the mostly black crowd started dancing around the rink. It was so funny to me to imagine my stiff-legged, ackward glide among such rhythmically talented people! While I fall under the beginner category, Martin was surprisingly good on skates! He has such a relaxed approach to new things (like skating and learning new languages) that he was quick learner.

Saturday, Martin picked me up around 2 (with a rose) and we headed up to Santa Monica to hang out for a little while before going to the restaurant. When we got to the Chalet, we ordered raclette, traditional fondue and homemade apple strudel for dessert. Everything was so delicious and made me want to visit Switzerland. I know Martin really enjoyed being able to speak Swiss German and was able to order a sports drink he is often homesick for.

It was all such a treat--we have both been under a lot of stress (who isn't?), and it was so nice to just leave it all at the door and enjoy the evening. It was a great Valentine's Day! :) Hope yours was too!

I moved.

I have a new address now--I moved away from Edna's house. It had to happen eventually, and I am basking in the new freedom this place offers me! No more calling home if I will be out past dark (5.30PM), no more explaining where I am going and how long I will be each time I leave. No more older people things laying around the house, and no more storing all my kitchen things and bathroom things in my bedroom.

I found a place on craigslist.com and moved in last weekend. I share the house with some roommates, but I hardly ever see them. It is quiet and just a couple of miles from my running trails.

I will post pictures when I take some--I have been a little lazy lately and haven't felt the urge to post much on here.

Happy Valentines Day, by the way! Martin made plans for us--a surprise, but he is terrible about keeping things from me, and as soon as he had an idea, he said, "Bonnie, I made surprise plans for Saturday, should I tell you what it is?" :) I wouldn't let him tell me, but yesterday, he almost begged me to let him tell me at least the "general direction in which we are going." I know now that we have dinner reservations somewhere...I have a pretty good guess where, too--he mentioned this restaurant a few days ago... So much for surprises! :)

Have a good weekend!

My new roommate!

Did I mention that this little guy was in my room? I saw him crawling around under the bed one day when I got home. At first, I thought he was a snake--a rattlesnake! Lucky for me he is just a harmless, little lizard.

I trapped him in a tupperware container and released him into the backyard. Then I washed the tupperware container with hot water and lots of soap!!

Groundhog's prediction: 6 more weeks of summer in California.

Happy Groundhog's Day!

I heard that the Minnesota folk have a few more weeks of bitter cold to look forward to...I, on the other hand, am thinking about buying stock in sunblock! It has been in the 80's most of the weeks since I've been back--it is physically draining to be hot all the time, but I would rather have this than the alternative right now! My shoulders are brown from all my training runs and my legs are pasty white--so I'm stuck wearing pants till I can even out a little.

My legs are stiffer than ever--I told Edna this morning that I can really relate to her stiffness in her legs. It is difficult to sit and stand--I just kind of hover over the chair I need to sit in and let my whole weight fall! I plop down hard, but at least I don't need to use my leg muscles as much.

I am being interviewed for a new job tonight in Brea, the next town over. The job is taking care of a family's 2 kids for a few hours after school each night--not hard, but pretty good pay. It should fit pretty well with my Korean/internet job. I feel like my life is a big patchwork quilt these days; I'm piecing together the semblance of a young, productive life.

Still no place to live after Edna's. I looked at several apartments/townhomes/condos in the past week, but nothing has really fit yet.

Update on previously posted Korean recruitment: I have a "business meeting" with Dr. Park in the morning to meet with the Director of the prestigious Global High School in Seoul. I thought it was a business meeting, but today it was revealed that it will be a good opportunity for me to personally meet the man in charge of hiring foreign counselors. I guess if things get desperate enough around here, I always have a back-up plan!

4:26:08 Official Time

Yesterday was so much fun!

Martin and I left at 5AM for Huntington Beach. It was a pretty cold morning (he lent me his sweatshirt) as we waited near the start line until the sun came up at 6:47. There were so many people there--so many serious runners!

The race started a few minutes after sunrise and ended for me 4 hours and 26 minutes later! I knew I would finish, but I surprised myself with the time--I had hoped for 4:45:00 and beat my goal by almost 20 minutes! When signing up, I had to agree that I would let the truck give me a ride back if I took more than 6 hours. I kept moving because I didn't want that to happen! :)

I know I'm not the most graceful looking runner around, but when this picture was taken, I had already finished about 16 of the 26 miles! I ran alone and without music (most marathons don't allow iPods, but this is one of the few that does).

Finish: 4:26:08

Overall: 920 out of 1953 Women: 289 out of 846 F 25-29: 56 out of 158

3 Mile: 29:39 Pace: 9:53 6 Mile: 58:04 Pace: 9:41 12.2 Mile: 1:59:23 Pace: 9:48 20 Mile: 3:16:41 Pace: 9:51

These are my official race results from runraceresults.com.

Martin was waiting for me at the 16 mile mark with the camera and some encouragement--it was really good to see him there. It gave me a boost of energy! He also waited for me at the finish line and snapped pictures as I crossed the line. This picture below was taken moments after I was done--it was hard for me to stand still. You know the feeling you have when you get off the treadmill after running for awhile, or when you step out of your rollerblades after a few miles? The forward momentum makes you feel like you are going to fall forward if you don't keep moving--I had that feeling.


They say not to think about doing another marathon until you finish your first and give yourself a few days/weeks to recover and process, but as I ran all those miles yesterday I kept thinking, "I want to do this again and again and again." I enjoyed my race so much and am absolutely hooked! I don't plan to do another marathon next week or even in the next few months, but I do plan to do another one and beat my time! Who knows, maybe next time I will even qualify for the Boston Marathon... :)