A CUSTOMIZED CHICKEN LEG DOLL

Doing this by request. One of my students is so crazy about Korean things. Some time ago she landed her favouritism on a chicken leg doll. This chicken leg doll is actually originated from a Korean drama titled "My Girlfriend is a Gumiho". I haven't watched that drama, but I searched for the chicken leg doll shape in the internet.

I tried to make the pattern and so on. During the labor, I had to force this little pink mass in my skull to work extra harder to figure out how to combine the pieces or finish this project.

Some thoughts here are wrong, so I revised
them during the process ^ ^ '

Well, it's a project in a way. Giving this as a late birthday present to my student will be, honestly, a kind of promotion, hopefully it works (*crossingfingers*). :P This handcrafting issue is another form of money provider I'm doing. I'm trying my best to always spare time to create. I have basically created some mini stuffs from air-dry clay, but this page is totally dedicated to my newest-and-freshest-from-the-oven creation ... the chicken leg doll!

Ta-daaaa .....

Showed it to big bro, "It
looks like a bone."

Mom said, "It looks like
a fish."

There are her fave Korean
singer's name and hers.
Both are in Korean
characters.

I should have made it wider.

Anyway, I'm going to sell my next chicken leg doll to any interested plush lover :)

Heart-throbbing

Some time ago, I turned into the last page of a very stunning novel written by Ms. Jodi Picoult. It is hilarious in a smart way and mind-absorbing in a massively amazing way.

"When someone does not look you in the eye, does it mean he/she is lying?"
-Emma Hunt-

Asperger's ... Had never heard of it before till I bumped to this book in PERIPLUS. Jacob Hunt is indeed a greatly-created character based on real Asperger's syndromes Ms. Picoult had researched. Reading page by page of his life, from different story-tellers, including him, represented through different fonts, though took most of my time, was very worthy. I have even planned to go through that moment again some time in the future.

The whole story is ... WOW ... I'm getting trouble finding words to praise this novel.

Let's put it this way.

I laughed in the right intervals and moments from the first page till the end. 

I read some parts loudly to my colleague since I was so awed by this stream in autism. Yes, I even read it at my work place. *widegrin*

I got quite emotional when Jacob had to go through the ordeal of real life for it was so unfair.

I cried long enough to swell my eyes on the last pages.

"Only a liar knows that he is lying"
-Jacob Hunt-

During my every second I spent reading this novel, I kept thinking whether I could be as patient, as tough, as compassionate and as amazing as Jacob's mother. Not that I'm asking to be given an autistic-bearing child - that'd be too much. It's just that ... being a mother is a tough job description, let alone being a wife and a figure in the society. How we deal with people, how we deal with our family members, how we deal with our spouse is how people will score us. 

Darn! I'm really lost in words here.

Anyway, anyhow and any whatever, do spend time to read this novel, despite my lousy overview. Once you lie your eyes and mind on every single page, you'll realize how unconditional and extremely awesome love and promises can take forms.

My Predicament

Well, my second entry in this blog. I don't feel like writing this on my diary, so, here I am.

The title ... sounds so ... beyond normality, like I'm exaggerating it.

I'm an English teacher. I've been trained to teach IELTS. Lately, I've found myself moving from one website window to another, looking for speaking questions that have been given in international tests as well as writing questions ans sample answers. All is for the sake of enhancing my teaching skill and my students' in turn.

How.eveeerrrrr ........ I now have a student who is so negative about her skills. She's always wailing about her inability to cope up with IELTS materials, especially in Speaking and Writing. I know most students face a similar situation, but as they stroll slowly yet persistently through all practices and pieces or even crumbs of advice, they do show progress. This girl, no matter what I have told her (practice, hypnotize yourself every day telling that you can beat this up, memorize terms and expressions, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera), never fails to get stuck in delivering her thoughts.

I'm not saying that she has not attempted hard to do her best; it's just that, as long as that negative mind or unimportant fear lingers in her mind (I positively believe she is in this state), there will not be any meaningful progress.

I've been trying to suppress my anger or annoyance on this stagnancy since she's such a delicate girl in the inside. Doing it the hard way may not do her any good.

*frustrated* What am I supposed to do? She needs band 6, which I believe, once all the trivial fear and actions are peeled off, she'll excel.

Whenever I find me in this situation, I start to question my ability to teach my students. I feel like I haven't done much. *stressful* Maybe I have lost my ability to teach? Oh nooo .... this is not good if it's true.

*thinking* Planning to return the course fee she's going to pay me when she doesn't get her 6. It sounds so foolishly noble, like I'm so wealthy and completely well-off that I do not need any of that cash, but I do feel guilty. Completely guilty. She has been so kind to me. A part of me seriously hopes that return-the-course-fee moment does not have to happen.

*heavy sigh*

PATIENCE TESTED

Leaving home without praying is indeed something. Don't really remember the last time I felt this way. Well, I'm actually quite capable of recalling that day, but don't really remember the day. Anyway, I was so sleepy also and was kind of half-hearted to teach these two kids. I came there, trying to give the lesson to them, but as always, they wasted time. I was so heated inside, especially when the lil boy didn't want to do the composition seriously. His low interest in English, or language to be exact, is so frustrating. I lost counts of how many times I yawned. I almost snapped.

It was quite painful to hold the anger inside. I do want to get angry to my students as easily as how I used to. It seems so long ago. I've been trying to control this anger actually, but there are still times when I just snap. The last time I snapped, I got fired embarrassingly. Well, it's another story, tho. The point is tho I snap satanically, my day is ruined and others, I quizzically always feel guilty to them and I always wonder why I should feel that way. I'm paid to get them good scores in English, so when they show a trace of laziness, why can't I just snap? Why should giving lessons at home be any different to teachers giving lessons at school? Why can school teachers yell at their students while I should not?

*heavysigh*