saturday- workshop

didn’t get up until 8am. It’s great to be able to get up whenever you want to. Well it was Saturday so I should be able to sleep in anyway but since I came here, there is no weekdays or weekends. I knew that there was a painting class until 11am so I took my time and realized that I should have done my washing. oh well.. I hadn’t eaten breakfast cause I couldn’t be bothered going out for that. I haven’t used the kitchen here. Well,Pr said that I can use this house as it is mine but if I do that this house would be a mess. Oh speaking of which, I found out something happened at home in Australia which make me feel a bit upset. I had been soooo happy here well this is sort of escaping from reality I know. I’m sure I would look back and think what an experience I had here. It was almost noon when I got there. I bought my breakfast and cheese cake to share with everybody from the bakery. Some people were still there finishing up their painting. I served the cheese cake around. Jos was there. She said that she was staying for my workshop. I asked her if she was gonna have lunch there. BTW our conversation takes so much time to understand each other but still better than with someone older. I told her that I would make some Japanese noodle and she got excited. Long sleeved girl joined to help me with Jos. I couldn’t find ginger but didn’t know how to say it tried to explain but it was impossible. Looked up in my phrase book. They were like “ohhhh I see” There wasn’t any ginger left there and some said that they can go and get it. I told them it’s not necessary although it’s much better with ginger. I asked the lady who got my gift accidentally (and gave me a gift later on) to stay and have this noodle. They had to go somewhere but I said that it takes only for two minutes. Well, it took probably 5 minutes or so but it was quick enough. She was going to just taste it but liked it so much and ate until they are all gone. Her kids had them too. Everybody liked it and we didn’t have enough. After the family left Iva started to cook for the second course. She was cooking the purple vege and I said “oh I like this one” which she didn’t understand. Jos was there, too and I said “how do you say I like this?” They were looking at each other. I said “this” and pointed out things around there. They were saying “oh table?” sort of thing. I said “nonono this, this”then they go “ohhhh XXxXXXXXXXXxXX!” phew they got it and I practiced the sentence then went to see Si and test it out. I pointed the cheese cake on the table which I brought this morning and said that sentence. She looked puzzled and I laughed and said “well, didn’t work” and left there. Cha was saying it must be “XXXXXX” I said yeah it must be that,I guess. When we were eating the second lunch, I said that I couldn’t say “I like this” which I could say before. Then they were talking a bit and found out that the sentence I was trying to say was totally different from “I like this”. Apparently I was saying “put it down here”. The cake was already there that’s why they were so confused. Iva was laghing so bad.
It was already after 1:30 and people started to come to the workshop.
There were about 10 people attending the workshop. I have no idea how they found out about this workshop cause we didn’t really advertise it except Cha made a poster there. I did it in English.I wanted to see if they can make it without understanding what I say. Some knew English a bit and she was telling others what to do though. Well they all finished making it and they were all happy. They said that I was a good teacher. I wanted to say “yeah, I know” but couldn’t. Many of them are coming back next Saturday.
One was very late and she was saying it was someone’s fault, she was told that it was from2:30. She wanted to lean from the beginning so I said “well they should be able to teach you, let’s see if they remember the steps” They did it okay. Someone said that they wanted to learn some more so I showed them how to make lily. There were about 8 people staying still. After making it they wanted to make another one so I said the same “just try and see if you remember” I was making something else while they were doing it. They wanted to make what I made so I told them to buy my book when I get it published.
One of the ladies wanted to take me to karaoke. I wasn’t really keen but she said sue would be coming too. I asked Cha but he didn’t wanna go. She was calling some people and waited a bit there but decided to wait at her place. She lives near my place and we walked. She doesn’t speak much English and my Chinese doesn’t help at all. So we were pretty quiet on the way home. It was the office I went when I tried to buy some paper from the stationary store. They had an old shrine and I thought they used to e very rich. Well, they might be still rich, I don’t know.
We were waiting long but still no one came. I was holding my paper so it was okay to be silent. The bakery I go almost everyday was just in front there. I made a bird and took it there. They were so happy to get it. The lady followed me and asking them something. They said that they told her how much they love talking to me etc. We went back and waited a bit but no one came. ha called to see if I was okay. I said not really and he was gonna tell her that someone is there to see me . I didn’t want to make him lie so I asked him to tell her that I had to go back there before 7:30 which was sort of true. She was offering some food but I had no idea what they were. I tried to explain that I can’t eat meat. She finally understood and said, well wrote that we can go out for dinner. I wasn’t sure what it was but it was just a take away restaurant. I picked some which I thought I can eat and waited for her. She said she doesn’t eat there and she was gonna wait for me. I said that I can’t make her wait for me to eat. I said I’ll take this back to the camp.
She was very sorry that her friends didn’t come soon enough. I said “no worries”.
Went back to the camp and they were relieved. I ate my take away dinner with them. Iva wanted to learn some more origami so I showed her the lily which she missed this afternoon. She had a meeting and she was disappointed that she had to leave. The guy who does temple painting came and he joined us. While we were making it, cha was getting ready for the movie. I was about to leave cause I had sent a message to my students that I would try to get online tonight. Well, I found out that the movie was Japanese anime and something I wanted to watch. They tried to change the language to Japanese and have Chinese subtitle but didn’t work. Well I knew how to do it but couldn’t grab their remote and change it just for me. I left after 10minuets.
Well no one was at home and no one got online. I went to bed a bit early.
Got a phone call around 10:30. it was Sum and she said that she was coming here tonight with her sister. Well, she didn’t ask if she can so I said “oh ok” I let Cha know that she was coming here tonight I didn’t think it was necessary but I did anyway. I was already half asleep when they got here. I told them to do whatever they want to do and went back to bed. Cha called me cause he didn’t understand my message. Well I didn’t talk much cause they were next door. They went to bed soon after that.