This is Gary

Molly and Mae



Downtown trip

still here

its been awhile again. im finding it hard to keep up with this while im going to class full time. i'll try and give an update.

the second session of classes is almost done. just a few more days left. i think ive had all of my hard tests for now. im almost done with phonetics for good! that will be about 3 less quizzes/tests per week that i'll have to take. another class im taking is phonology, but that will continue into the next session. phonetics is the study of the possible speech sounds made with the mouth while phonology is the study of language systems, the actual set of sounds that a particular language chooses to incorporate. its a little more complicated than that and i still dont think i understand it yet. i also have second language and culture acquisition, SLACA, which is kinda like practice learning another language without books and courses and things. its learner initiated so we are working in small groups with one person who speaks another language, and we are responsible for making lesson plans. i never though my one TESL (teaching english as a second language) class in college would ever come in handy. it turns out a lot of the methods and things we learned how to teach english can be used the other way around.

so i am learning Korean for the next couple months. its pretty amazing. our group is learning by spending time with a Korean-american girl pretty close to our age. we learn a few new things each session, we spend about 3 or 4 hours each week with her. we have a tape recorder and whatever props we bring, and we are starting to record words from the language in IPA (international phonetic alphabet). eventually we will have to try to figure out the grammar of Korean. its all really exciting but i know it will get harder. what a great idea for a class!

its still hot here. i am beginning to doubt it will ever cool down. i cant wait to go to indiana for thanksgiving. i'll get to bundle up and be in the chill air! i just found out that i'm on the same flight to hawaii as Tara and Dave for christmas. how fun! otherwise it would just be the longest trip of my life.

oh, and there are multiple scorpions around. the other day we killed 3 scorpions in the hallway in less than 24 hours! our doors have a pretty sizeable crack underneath them, so we've taken to stuffing towels under them overnight.

everything is still going pretty well in all modes of life here. i'd appreciate if you could pray that i will remember to thank God and keep Him my focus. it's so easy to be distracted in this environment. there is so much to do and think about.