Three is a magic number

Three things I feel good about right now:

1. My 14-year-old Korean tutee

2. My weight loss

3. Robert's concert present to me

1. My 14-year-old Korean tutee

My tutee, we'll call DH, has been in the United States since 2005.  I've been tutoring him, his brother, and his mother since March 2006.  When we first met, he spoke in extremely clipped sentences, preferring to answer with nods, shakes of the head, or shrugs.  Slowly but surely, he's been gaining confidence in his vocabulary, grammar, and syntax to such a degree that he speaks in complete, coherent sentences.  He's self-conscious about his accent now, so we'll occasionally spend time perfecting the sounds "f," "p," "r," and "l" make.  (Something I learned about Korean when I first started tutoring them: "f" and "p" are reversed as phonetic sounds.)

Aside from his own self-consciousness, the boy is making unbelievable strides.  Since this April, we've read three Shakespeare plays together (taking off May and June for my surgery and recovery).  In April, we started with A Midsummer Night's Dream.  The language is typical, but pretty light, and he was somewhat familiar with the plot from a Korean book of popular world stories.  We read it slowly, taking plenty of time to focus on strange language or themes; I explained a great deal of Shakespeare's influences and motivations to him so that he would understand it better.  In July, we read Hamlet.  The language and plot are much more complicated.  Again, he was somewhat familiar with the general story line, but not the details.  This time as we read, I only helped him understand some strange words that he couldn't guess the meaning of, and guided him through sticky points of the plot.  This month, we read Twelfth Night, finishing it this evening.  We paused only a few times to check that he understood the plot well enough (he did).  A moment of happiness for me: when I asked him what he thought of Twelfth Night, he responded, "I really liked it!  That was great!"

He started ninth grade this week, and they're going to read their first Shakespeare play this year...probably Romeo and Juliet.  R&J has nothing on Hamlet and Twelfth Night.  I am so proud of him--he'll be so far ahead of his American classmates, and will hopefully feel confident in Language Arts. :)

2. My weight loss

I went shopping for my engagement portrait outfit yesterday...unfortunately came up empty-handed, but happily discovered that I am officially a size 16, which is one size down from what I was at the outset of this weight-loss journey.  If I could get closet to a 14 by either my bridal shower or my birthday (within a week of each other), I'll be so freaking stoked.  If I don't, I'll still be proud because I know I'm still going to be working hard.

I've been running 2.5 miles four days a week (we're working our way up to five days a week), and I'm feeling very proud of myself.  I hope to get myself up to 3 miles pretty soon.  In addition to various strength training exercises every day, Robert and I have been kicking ass on our abs.  I'm pretty damn proud, actually.

Next week, I'm going to start a new work-out schedule, which includes going to yoga on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30-11:30.  I'm going to do my cardio either right before or right after yoga...maybe right after because I get really gross and sweaty--I wouldn't want to be disgusting while trying to be centered, hehe.

3. Robert's concert present to me

Robert went to see Nine Inch Nails in Atlanta with a friend of ours last night.  He had an amazing time and came back with great stories--it sounds like it was an incredible show.  Because I couldn't be there, he bought me a t-shirt that says "Art is Resistance" on the front and has the "NIN" logo on the back.  It's really cute and very "me," so I immediately fell in love with it.  The only hang-up...it's a woman's-cut shirt.  My large-breasted friends understand exactly why that would originally seem like a problem.  Fortunately, he got me an XL (because 'Manda has a pretty large rack).  Right now, it's still kind of tight, but it's not beyond hope.  I think I could fit into it comfortably within the next month.  After I tried it on, I told him that it'll be a "sexy for Robert" t-shirt for now...after I get a little smaller and feel better about my body, it'll be a "sexy but appropriate for everyone" t-shirt, hehehe.  I can't wait to put it in my regular rotation of clothing because it's so completely wonderful! :)

Life is still challenging and will continue to prove challenging in different ways throughout this coming semester (and the rest of our lives, if I'm entirely honest), BUT it's a good life, and I feel very fortunate for everything (and everyone) in my life.