Developing a fondness for those honey and almond things from the Turkish shop. Seker pare. Another thing I can’t pronounce properly, just point to and mumble.

Got my computer back from the shop. Found myself speaking like an asian so the guy would understand me. (He put in a new Asus board, reformatted and saved all my stuff - very happy.)

Wrote comments on some essays, same deal - using simple, clumsy grammar in the hope that they would understand it better. Sometimes I thought an essay had been written by a second language student but it was actually by a native Australian. Chinese kids tend not to reach great heights of prosaic clarity but the Aussies can sure plumb the depths when they want to.

Tomorrow I will tell them: We learn about these things for a reason. Knowing them, we have a responsibility to go out into the world and make good decisions; to learn from other people but also teach them what we know and show leadership in difficult situations. Even if we only do this in our own small way. Do I sound like an adult or what?