Chiko II

Well, Chiko and his henchmen were there waiting for me, 8:00 on the nose, just as we arranged.

'Zees ees my brudda!', proudly states one of the henchmen, pointing at Chiko.

'Your brother? Really?' - the henchman nods to confirm - 'Very nice to meet you' (in our 'chats' about family- not sure I can describe our communication in English as a chat - I had previously learnt that Chiko did in fact have a brother and four sisters).

'You nice to meeeet!' replies the brother/henchman. He and the second henchman then left to let Chiko concentrate...of course, he wasn't Chiko's real brother, he was 'like a brudda' as Chiko told me afterwards, part of 'da bruddahood' I guess...

Anyway, Chiko didn't last long - I had to cut the 2-hour lesson short when, after half-an-hour, I spotted his chin on his chest and a rasping, snorting sound coming from his drooling mouth...So, with a gentle prod in the ribs, I told him that I think we should stop doing these 2-hour 'marathons' and that maybe we should meet up twice a week, an hour each time. He was a happy camper after that, he even managed another ten minutes of intensive 'introductory' English! However, whenever Chiko manages to kick himself into gear, I can't help myself from thinking that there is a Scotty-like character (Star Trek, people...) in charge of his brain, always just about to scream over the intercom: 'Captain, she cannae take any more! She's gonna blow!!'

Below is a picture taken from Chiko's balcony. Nice view of the Diamond Exchange in Ramat Gan, always keeps me occupied thinking about where I'll invest all those shekels I make from Chiko while I wait for him to polish off various exercises...