choonping was here for dinner on wednesday night - my mother, worn out by preparing a feast the previous night, threatened only to serve jia chang cai, to choonping's dismay, but in the end, when he arrived, she had steamed three huge sri lankan crabs, fried pumpkin and lotus root tempura, grilled thinly sliced salmon and beef, fried home-made yong tau hu, and sliced pickled gourds and other vegetables for maki-wrapping at the table. and there was fruit - watermelon, mango and pineapple, and a sweet potato and longan soup afterwards, followed by tea. choonping, regarding the overcrowded table top, said to my mater that "ni dui wo zhe me hao, wo xiang dao wo de gao ji hua wen mei na a1 jiu jue de hen dui bu qi ni" which made me chortle. i didn't, you know, get to talk to choonping much all night - the fact is, he started talking about teaching to my parents - and for four whole hours that was all they talked about. school life and the philosophy of teaching and obstacles and an analysis of choonping's options. choonping has come away "confused" - he'd been absolutely sure of his choice - and now he had much more to think about. given so many of my friends are going into moe - cindy is considering it, and choonping and poach are definitely going to moe - i should have a "new teachers' seminar" at home and get all my teacher friends to come for dinner and have a faq/sharing session with my parents.