[saddlehill lane]

i turned in my apron, server card, and name tag to my manager today. I'm really going to miss Todai. I've learned so much about older generation asians and have been able to look into worlds so vastly different from my own. I started improving my spanish and had just begun to warm up to all of the hispanic kitchen workers. I was hoping maybe i'd be able to help them start reading and speaking english so they wouldn't have to work 50 hour weeks washing dishes or making sushi for people that don't have enough class to tip more than 5% of the bill. *ahem* that's another topic altogether.

I'm looking forward to accenture. It's going to be a great summer working for such an awesome corporation (yes, almost as awesome as Todai [that was dripping with sarcasm, by the way] ). I just have this terrible sinking feeling about how hard i'm going to study. I have so many doubts about how my grades are going to turn out. I have to get myself out of the mentality that i'm already doomed. I've really gotta kick some ass.

so tonight, i'm planning to do a little homework and then maybe watch a movie with my mom. my dad and little sister left for the philippines last night while i was working the friday night shift, so i thought i'd take my mom out to a movie to keep her company before i leave for berkeley tomorrow morning after church.

my mom hired a hispanic gardener to maintain our garden while she's still on crutches. Martin, like the kitchen workers at Todai, can't speak english very well. He and my mom communicate with signs and nods and pointing. I help when i can, but my six years of spanish at pine hollow middle school and clayton valley never taught me to understand spanish at the speed at which native speakers rattle off the words. I'm learning though, but now that i've left todai, i can't have my weekly practice joking with Oscar, Francisco, Julian and Jorge. I only told Julian (the first worker that i ever revealed my spanish skills to) that i was leaving. I figured they'd all learn from him that i'd be leaving the restaurant.

After speaking to him that one day a few months ago, little by little all of the workers would go up to me and ask if i spoke spanish..."hablas espanol?". I guess they all just share information among each other during lunch break. They were so warm.