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[Study English]
1. Writting English on Blog.
    - Oops! Diary (Internet Cafe / Hunting)

2. Reading English Book.

    - Cinderella ( Usborne Young Reading)

Wednesday, January. Cloudy.

Internet Cafe

Another lazy Sunday. I picked a book at random from the bookshelf. Hmm, "The Catcher in the Rye." I was about to start reading when Sungjin called. Half an hour later, we met up with another friend in an internet cafe. I decided that I would play games for only two hours.

Eight hours later we all stumbled out of the door, It was dark already. The street was a sea of buzzing neon.

We all went to a convenience store and ate a cup of ramen. The store also had coffee. I'd never drank coffee before and I decided to buy some. Coffee tastes like burnt dirt and makes me talk three times faster than normal. I was in the middle of telling a long story to my friends when my phone buzzed. A kakao from Mom. It was 8:30 already.

I ran home, my heart pounding from the coffee. Mom was not impressed. I'm three weeks into winter vacation now. My pocket money is running out. I'll spend tomorrow doing something more constructive.

Thursday, January. Sunny

Hunting

With nothing much to do over winter break, my brother and I were bored at home. I suggested going hunting in the mountains. We gathered up some stuff from around the house: string, nails, and my craft knife, which I tucked into my belt. We spent an hour making bows and arrows.

Then we put our bows over our shoulders and marched up the mountain path. Tiny birds seemed to be the only animals around.

Then we saw a pheasant, about ten meters up the path. I can run 100 meters in 14 seconds. I handed my bow to my brother, took out the knife and clicked it up as far as it could go. Then I charged down the path at the pheasant. I had gone about two steps when it took off like a jet plane and vanished.

After another hour or so we saw a hare. My brother tried to shoot an arrow at it. The arrow missed and bounced off of a tree. The hare was still for a second, and then it vanished, like smoke. We trudged back to town and hunted down a kimbap.

Saturday, November. Sunny

Cosmos

I woke up around eight this morning, but since it's Saturday, I stayed in bed. I was just drifting back to sleep when my mom poked her head into my room and told me to go pick up some rice.

She had decided to make some fancy juk and needed some fancy rice for it. I threw on some sweatpants and an old t-shirt and put a hat on over my dirty hair. Then I headed to the rice shop, my slippers slapping against my feet. I bought a couple of kilos of chapssal. They put it into a plastic bag for me. On my way back home I noticed a patch of cosmos flowers nodding in the wind. A few chubby bees were working in the flowers. I put the bag of rice on the ground and took out my phone. I took a few pictures of the bees for my blog, and then picked up the rice and walked home.

Slowly the rice bag got lighter and lighter. I thought I was getting stronger until I looked back. A dotted line of rice traced out where I'd walked, like on a map. I held the bag up, saw the hole. I knew I'd be in trouble.

Sunday, November. Rainy

Fire

There's a big bundle of cotton on my desk. Mom bought it to stuff the blankets with, so we can be warm this winter. My brother pulled out a long, thin wisp. He made it into a fuse, leading to the pile of cotton. It looked like a cartoon bomb.

He suggested, for the sake of science, that we light it and see what would happen. I argued that this might not be such a good idea. He convinced me that it would be okay, as long as we cut the fuse before it burned the bundle. Okay, I said. I was curious, too.

The moment I lit the end of the fuse, the fire jumped into the bundle. In a split second the cotton had turned into a fireball.

I stumbled and threw my blanket over the fire like an idiot. My brother burst into tears, waking up mom, who was napping in the living room. She got a bucket and, after a few trips to fill it up in the bathroom, put the fire out. The damage wasn't that bad, actually. The fire had jumped to some of the other furniture, but my mom managed to get it.

There's still a black mark on the wall. It wasn't until I sat down to write this that I realized that we could have died. It makes me shiver.

Wednesday, December. Snowy

Baduk

Baduk makes me nervous. There's something about sitting down in front of the board. Millions of possible moves, and each one could be a mistake. Once you've placed your piece you take your hand off and that's it. You can never take it back. One false move and you'll never escape.

Anyway, this wouldn't be much of a problem if Dad didn't like baduk so much. But he loves it. My brother is away at school and Mom hates games of any kind. I'm the only person who'll play with him. I've never beaten him before. 

Never before today, anyway. Mom was visiting a friend in Busan, so it was just me and Dad at home. Dad made weird Italian food for dinner and after I finished the dishes I saw that he'd taken the board out.

The house was very quiet. We didn't talk as we played. It was a close game. We counted out our points and captures. I realized that I'd won.

I wonder if, this one time, he let me win. He's not saying.

[Study English]
1. Writting English on Blog.
    - Oops! Diary (New fridge / Squirrel / Cosmos / Fire / Baduk)
2. Watching Video.

    - Mrs. Englisk ( 실용 영문법! 수동태 원어민처럼 이해라고 말하기)

3. Reading English Book.

    - Stories of Snowmen ( Usborne Young Reading)

Sunday, October. Couldy

New Fridge

The air is getting chilly in the mornings and evenings. I was doing my homework when I heard a knock. I looked up and Dad was standing there. He said that he was going to buy a new fridge. Our old fridge rumbles like a tank on a mountain path. Once you notice it, it starts to drive you crazy.

When you open its door, the smell of five years of kimchi and fish slaps you in the face.

Dad and I headed for an electronics store. We checked prices and debated features. The number of features you can cram into a fridge is pretty surprising. We checked other stores. We argued with salespeople. Finally we zeroed in on a huge, double-doored model. Dad paid for it with his credit card and we walked to the door.

As we were leaving, a mini stereo caught my attention. It would fit my desk perfectly. I opened my mouth to ask Dad to buy it. Then I remembered how he'd winced as he paid for the fridge. I closed my mouth and swallowed my question.

Saturday, October. Sunny

Squirrel

Eventually, I want to be a painter, although I think my parent's have other ideas. Over Chuseok this year, I packed my sketchbook and a couple of 4B pencils. Then I hiked up Bomunsan, a mountain that's close to my house. It was just starting to get cold. The trees on the mountain looked like frozen fireworks, red and yellow and orange. I saw an owl dozing in a blue-green pine.

I quietly took out my sketchbook and sat down on a flat rock under a chestnut tree. I was busy sketching the owl when a bunch of chestnuts fell and plonked off of my sketchbook.

I heard scrabbling behind me. It was a squirrel. I put the chestnuts into my pocket and hid behind another tree. The squirrel climbed down to look for the chestnuts. He looked confused, went back up into the tree, and shook down another bunch. I stole these, too.

From the tree, the squirrel looked down at me. After cursing me loudly in Squirrelese, he vanished into the treetops. I looked back at the pine, but the owl was gone.

[Study English]
1. Writting English on Blog.
    - Oops! Diary (Banana Spider / Neck Pain)
2. Watching Video.

    - Mrs. Englisk ( 손님 초대&방문시 영어회화 / 음식점 영어회화)

3. Reading English Book.

    - Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves(Usborne Young Reading) 

Wednesday, September. Sunny

Banana Spiders

A couple of days ago, I was snapping a banana off of the bunch in the kitchen when I noticed something. It was a small, fuzzy bundle, stuck to one of the bananas. Spider eggs!

I remembered something I read on the internet about tropical spiders hiding out in shipments of bananas. It was a news story, I think. Some lady got bitten and almost died. I was curious about what kind of spider the eggs might be from. I'd seen pictures of freaky-looking poisonous tropical spiders, as big as a dinner plate. I imagined training a mighty legion of attack spiders and sending them against my enemies.

I put the banana that the eggs were attached to in a jar, put the jar into my closet, and waited. I'm looking at the jar as I write this, actually. The eggs still haven't hatched. The banana, though, isn't looking too good.

Monday, September. Thunder

Neck Pain

My life has entered a dark tunnel. It started last Saturday morning. I woke up and my neck was stiff and it hurt to move.

This is it, I thought. I went to a han-eui-won near my house and got acupuncture, something I normally hate. It didn't help at all.

I lay back on my bed, accepting my doom. This morning I opened my eyes. I didn't move, hoping that things had changed. Then I tried to look at my alarm clock. Instantly, a wrenching pain shot down my spine. Mom said she'd call my teacher, and that I could rest at home. Normally, this would be great. This time, not going to school didn't make me happy at all. Mom and Dad went to work and I thought about all of the simple things I couldn't do. I promised to be a better student and son. My neck continued to ache. This might be the first time I've ever said this, but I hope I can go to school tomorrow.

[Study English]
1. Writting English on Blog.
    - Oops! Diary (New Term  / Sculpting)
2. Watching Video.

    - Mrs. Englisk ( No.4 - Accent / No.6 - 헷갈리는 영어발음)