Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Sept 16, 2019 22:08:23 GMT -8
Tai had mostly been doing his homework during the study periods at school. It wasn't terribly hard so far, though getting up to speed on precisely what his class had been studying in history had been a little bit trying. He was caught up now though, and that meant history was pretty much just reading.
This was the first night that he'd brought home any homework, and he figured it would take him no more than half an hour to complete. He went and found some open space on the floor in the boy's dorm, not surprised that he was the only one there so far: he got home earlier than the high school students. He figured they'd probably get back a little bit before he finished.
He worked on the writing assignment carefully. His teacher's one criticism of his writing had been that he sometimes used a bit outdated and overly formal language, and he'd been trying to fix that. It was getting easier just being around his classmates and teachers because he was seeing how they used words.
He figured that he might go ahead and get ahead on math if the others were spending time on homework before training, which was generally the case, but he also might just head over to the training rooms early.
Felix Choi Sungjin
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Trainee.
Homosexual.
Single.
11/29/2002.
21.
Horse (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Felix Choi Sungjin on Sept 18, 2019 12:00:50 GMT -8
Adjusting to school in Korea was a bit more of a challenge than Felix had expected. For starters, they couldn't find him any Spanish-speaking schools, so he ended up going to a Korean-speaking school. He was thankful they didn't try to put him in an international school after he eventually convinced the staff his English was by far the worst of the languages he knew, especially since he'd been studying Korean since passing the audition, and studying it intensively since returning from the training camp. Although, studying wasn't always easy when his entire extended family seemed to want to say good bye to him. He didn't even have a comparatively large family, but it was still a rather overwhelming few weeks between when he returned from the training camp to arriving in Korea.
He was also glad he got adjusted to the route to and from school fast enough he could catch up on sleep without missing his stop. He arrived back at the dorms, taking off his shoes and dropping his backpack on the couch in the living room before he had even noticed Taijia sitting there. "Oh hey Tai." He said simply. He paused to let Taijia respond before going into the bedroom and changing out of his uniform and into more comfortable clothes, a t-shirt and sweats. He also grabbed a snack from the kitchen before rejoining Taijia in the living room. He pulled out his homework and let out a sigh. It seemed like every class was giving him trouble, but especially his history, Korean, and English classes. He had never been the best math student, and it was a little embarrassing when he discovered he'd been placed in a math course with all first years, but he was doing okay. Didn't mean he had a clue what went on during the course though. "Wait a second, your fluent in Korean." He said aloud, the first half in Spanish, before looking to his younger roommate. He winced a bit, "Is it okay? I really need help with homework..." He ask Tai.
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Sept 21, 2019 0:01:40 GMT -8
Tai was just finishing up his writing assignment as Felix came in, and he waved at the older boy, only half looking up from the assignment. By the time Felix emerged from the bedroom, no longer in his school uniform, Tai had switched over to his math work. The math was simple, and he paid a bit of attention to Felix's movements around the rooms, getting a snack then settling in with his own work, as he rapidly marked down the answers. It was not a very long assignment, and he could have saved it for the weekend, but he would rather spend that working on dance when he could get large blocks of uninterrupted time.
He was a little bit surprised when Felix interrupted his own sighing, first in Spanish simple enough that Tai followed, before moving to Korean. Tai nodded when Felix said the rather self-evident statement that he was fluent in Korean, and then glanced down at his own work. There was one problem left, and as he wrote down the answer, he replied in slow, clearly-enunciated Korean, "I can help. What subject is it?"
He tucked away his math homework into his bag and added, "I just finished that. It's for next week, so even if I hadn't, it wouldn't have been that big a deal."
Then he smiled a little bit, adding, "This is weirdly familiar because I sometimes helped Kangwan-hyung with his homework when he was in high school and would watch me."
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Trainee.
Homosexual.
Single.
11/29/2002.
21.
Horse (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Felix Choi Sungjin on Oct 26, 2019 12:11:29 GMT -8
Felix was shocked when Taijia mentioned having used to help their sunbae with homework. He knew the history already, or at least the basics of it; that Taijia met Kangwan while both were in America, and Kangwan became his babysitter. But it still blew his mind, let alone thinking of their sunbae getting help from an even younger Taijia. "Heh, interesting." He managed to get out, and in Korean. "I pulled out math, but I honestly can probably figure this one out. I need help with Korean and history especially." He pulled out his work from Korean class, the worksheet already filled with scribbles of translated Spanish and some attempts to use the Korean definition of other words. "I need to write an essay, but I don't understand the prompt. Something about careers? I think?"
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Oct 28, 2019 23:28:58 GMT -8
Tai took the offered assignment sheet and glanced over it. He said, enunciating carefully and not talking to slowly, "You're on the right track. It's about what your desired career is and how it connects to your major at your school. You're majoring in Practical Dance, right?"
Majors in high school were still something that Tai was getting used to the idea of, especially since he was really torn on what he might want to do once he entered high school himself. He added, "I was actually working on a writing assignment when you came in, and I've been talking with my teacher about good school writing in Korean."
It hadn't been a big struggle, he'd still been getting good grades, top of his class still, but it was the thing that was the most different. He asked, "When is this due by? Are you having to do it all at once, or is there a draft or outline stage?"
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Trainee.
Homosexual.
Single.
11/29/2002.
21.
Horse (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Felix Choi Sungjin on Dec 2, 2019 23:24:04 GMT -8
"Aahh..." Felix said as he looked at the paper. He nodded, "Yeah, I am." He smiled as Taijia mentioned he'd been working on writing. "Oh good, then this is useful for both of us." He only half-joked.
"Um." He began, digging through his bag for his agenda. He found it and flipped through until he found the proper date, "It's due next week, but it's a draft and outline, and then in two weeks is the final draft." He said, lowering his agenda and looking at Taijia as he finished his sentence. "My goal is that it is not so much full of grammar mistakes that the writing is not considered." He said, wording it a bit awkwardly but hoping the point got across. "And I can use a dictionary for words I don't know, but I am worried it won't be natural sometimes because of grammar."
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Dec 17, 2019 1:29:10 GMT -8
Tai listened to Felix's explanation and said, "Well, starting with the outline and getting your ideas down sounds like a good place to start. I can help with words and grammar more than I can with ideas. Do you feel more comfortable talking in Korean than writing in it at this point?"
He thought for a minute and said, "Just a second, I've got a template that I like to use for outlines. It's in English because it's one that my teacher in the US gave me last year, but I can change it to Korean in a couple of minutes by writing it out on paper, and that gives you something to fill in. You can tell me the idea, and I can help you get it on paper if that helps. Does your teacher want it typed or written by hand?"
He figured that that was probably enough questions at once, considering Felix still took a little while with things in Korean, even though Tai hadn't talked to fast and had kept his vocabulary simple. He smiled sheepishly at Felix, and hoped that he hadn't taken too many thought steps at once.
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Trainee.
Homosexual.
Single.
11/29/2002.
21.
Horse (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Felix Choi Sungjin on Mar 19, 2020 17:31:16 GMT -8
"More comfortable speaking." Felix responded quickly, without a second thought. He was used to the characters, but he had a hard time translating the speak he heard or words he knew into writing unless he read them first.
His breath caught in his throat as, for a split second, he though Taijia was going to give him something in English, but quickly let out a sigh of relief as he mentioned translating it into Korean for him. "Uh, yeah, I'd like that." He said, relief apparent in his voice. "I think she wants it typed..." He said slowly, "But I can type in Korean okay. Just need someone to help me get the right words and grammar across." He was slow at typing in Korean, but thanks to having found Korean keyboard stickers, he knew which letters belonged to which keys.
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Mar 24, 2020 18:16:54 GMT -8
Tai took his outline format and a sheet of paper, and with tidy, precise handwriting, he quickly translated the outline and wrote it down on the paper in pen, figuring that it would be more helpful to Felix if he couldn't accidentally erase the outline headings. He put it down on the table in front of Felix and said, "So, the general idea with making the outline is that you'll have your big ideas and then you can start expanding them."
He pointed to the first header and said, "The place to start is probably the beginning. Which with this prompt probably means the simple version of the answer to: What's your major? What's your career goal? And how are they connected?"
He lifted a finger for each of the three main questions, then snagging a pencil wrote down a sentence with blanks, saying it aloud as he went, "I am majoring in blank which will help me become blank by teaching me blank." **
He looked up at Felix and said, "Does that help as a starting place?"
[[** Obviously, Tai is using good grammar in Korean...]]
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Trainee.
Homosexual.
Single.
11/29/2002.
21.
Horse (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Felix Choi Sungjin on Apr 6, 2020 20:08:51 GMT -8
Felix followed along, immediately thankful for the outline. "Huh. You have nice handwriting." He observed. He wasn't sure why that surprised him, it was within what Felix knew of Taijia's character to have good handwriting, the kid seemed meticulous on good days. But somehow he expected the boy to have messy handwriting, or at least handwriting that looked more like a kid his age. He had little cousins the same age that wrote illegibly, or at least it felt like it whenever he tried to read over the card his cousins had giving him when saying goodbye. Which reminded him; he had promised to write them.
He forced himself to focus on what Taijia was talking about, realizing he had gotten completely distracted. He nodded, "Okay, yeah, I think that will help a lot. Thank you." He gently slid the paper closer to him, filling out the blanks in the sentence Taijia had written in pencil, and then adding a few more sentences in explanation of each part of the sentence. Except for a few moments of stalling to remember a word, it didn't take him long to come up with an outline, and it was easier to address the other questions the essay prompt had with the set up. He shyly slid the paper back towards Tai once he had finished writing the outline. "Is this... okay?" He asked hesitantly.
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on May 22, 2020 1:28:53 GMT -8
Tai was a little startled when Felix commented on his handwriting, but he said softly, "Thank you."
He watched as Felix finished filling out what he'd written down for him and when Felix offered it back to him, he pointed out a few places where Felix had used the wrong hangul. He nodded though and said, "This does look good. You'll probably want to copy it all out over again so that you've not go my handwriting on your pages. Before you do, there's a few sentences we should fix the grammar of a little."
He wrote in pencil as well, editing a little bit of what Felix ad written and explaining the difference between the two.
When he was done, he smiled up at Felix and asked, "Do you feel more prepared?"
He smiled a little bit and added, "You did a good job. Is it hard trying to take all your classes in Korean?"
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Trainee.
Homosexual.
Single.
11/29/2002.
21.
Horse (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Felix Choi Sungjin on Jul 13, 2020 12:58:23 GMT -8
Felix felt a bit sheepish Taijia had to correct his spelling and grammar in some spots, but reminded himself he was still learning the language. He decided to take the compliment and stay quiet about the mistakes.
He looked over the explanations Taijia provided him, glad for them, and nodded to the younger boy. "I do, thank you." He said, giving Taijia a smile.
It faded slightly at the last question, "Rather than hard, I think it's tiring." A soft laugh escaped from him, "I've never slept better than I have here. But thinking in my second language for 12+ hours a day is really... it's difficult, and makes me think so much. But also, for all that it's difficult and tiring, it's rewarding. Even just a couple months ago, I wouldn't have even dreamed I could have full conversations with people, or heck, write this." He said, motioning to his essay. "So yeah, it's hard to do, but I like the results." He sighed, "Even if my grades aren't the best because of the language barrier... But I'm still managing."
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Jul 18, 2020 13:29:58 GMT -8
Taijia gave a little relieved smile, glad that he'd been able to help. Felix seemed positive about the challenge of it. Tai told him, "I get that. It's been weird just being in a different school system and changing the language that I do school in, even though I'm already fluent. I can imagine all the ways that it would be harder if I wasn't."
He said, "I should make sure that I practice Spanish with you more often though, so that you have the chance to be the one who's confident in the language and help me fix my mistakes."
He added, "And you can always ask me if you need to check something on your homework. I bet that Seoji-hyung would say the same thing, just don't go to him for help on your English classes, I can help with those. And I know that Thomas-ge is literally being paid to help, and he's good at helping. You don't have to deal with the hard parts by youself."
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Trainee.
Homosexual.
Single.
11/29/2002.
21.
Horse (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Felix Choi Sungjin on Jul 28, 2020 19:27:31 GMT -8
Felix nodded in response to Taijia's musings. He wished he had already been fluent in Korean, but there was only so much he could learn between audition and arriving in Korea.
He laughed a bit at Taijia's comment about practicing Spanish, and muttered, "I would welcome that anytime."
He laughed again, "I think I might be doing better than Seoji in English class. I could be wrong though. Thank you for the offer, though. I will keep that in mind."
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Jul 28, 2020 21:48:10 GMT -8
Tai snorted and said, "From what Thomas-ge mentioned and what I overheard, you're definitely doing better in English than Seoji-hyung. I'd offer to help him with it, but I think that he'd just be upset or embarrassed, even though there's nothing to be embarrassed about because I'm fluent in the language."
Tai said thoughtfully, "Maybe when we can work on Spanish when we're practicing dance the two of us. That would be interesting and show me a way that would be different to use it than classes and textbooks. I've been practicing online some, but it's not as useful as talking. And we practice the two of us for dance plenty often."
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