9 AM: Friday! I have a cold this morning, but I have a Sprite for my throat and I can get more cold medicine later. And there were tangerines in the office this morning, so I got my vitamin C. Also, when he found out I had a cold, one of the teachers rubbed my hands in an accupressure-y way and I actually felt better--maybe it just surprised me so much I forgot to sneeze, but it worked!
Planning out some edible-playdough crafts for Saturday class tomorrow. Only got to make it through 4 hours of Saturday class, then I can rest before church.
9:10 AM: Went to the school nurse and got some cold-pills and a warm tonic that tastes like molasses. Score. I have been much fussed-over by the other teachers this morning, once they found out I was sick. I love being fussed-over. :-)
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11:50 AM Good times. 1-3, 1-4 B was fine. Walk-to-School
Minki, Bossy-Dongseok, Tan-Loudmouth-Sanghyeop, Round-Faced-Heesu,
Inho. Tiny-Quiet-Seongyu (middle of room), Personality-Jaeseon(tan,
back of room-revenge minecraft song), Bully-Jaekyung, Supersmart-Eunchan.
Not much interest at first, but they were riveted by the bomb game and Bully-Jaehyung was answering with all the vocabulary he had. He was really interested in answering the questions. Not a word from Minki. He hangs out in the back of the room and I can't seem to ever see him.
I had to explain to Bossy-Dongseok that he couldn't address me as "hey girl" OR "hey man". I explained that "Sem" was fine. He didn't seem like he wasn't trying to be disrespectful, just like he was trying out some cool new vocabulary he had learned, and it wasn't quite matching up with the social situation.
The same "What to Call Teacher?" issue cropped up in the very next class, 2-1, 2-2 B (Shotputter
Jinseong, Thank-You-Minseop, Taylor-Swift-Yoontae, Twin-Seungho,
Cutie-Hyunki, Smart-Sits-Next-to_Seongho-Hyunmook,
Glasses-Yonghan), because Smart-Hyunmook was trying to get my attention during the Scattergories game and after trying "Teacher!" and "Sem!" and getting no answer since I was listening to other kids, he resorted to "heyyyy girl!"
Now, the pleasant-neutral expression on his face did not match the intonation of "heyyy girl," so I just corrected him and went on, assuming the he was just repeating something he heard in a song. Kid's definitely heard some American R&B at some point.
After 2-1, 2-2 B was over, HH came in, sliding to the front of the candy line with a nicely-worded, "May I have your chocolate?" And he answered the favorite color question I'd been giving to the C-class students, also.
HH: "My favorite color is yellow."
Me: "Last week you said it was green."
HH: "It changed."
I had to give him a piece after that.
Went to the special needs room briefly and found Spritely-Yeongchang practicing Heart and Soul on his own. I slid in to help him learn, but Jaehyung soon ousted Yeongchang because he knows he's my piano-priority. When I finally shooed the boys out to go to their respective classes, Yeongchang blocked the doorway because he's learned that if he gets in my way, I'll push his back until he moves. He's been getting in my way a lot, just for the push. He's another one who needs affection at home and probably doesn't get it.
Got candy from Daesung. It was good.
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3:50 PM Safe at my apartment, because Mr. B blessedly decided that I was too sick to stay at school until 4:20, and drove me home. I'm eating soup between bouts of typing. I'll be okay--I have supplies.
For 2-3, 2-4 B, a small miracle happened. Mr. B noticed I was low on energy and said that on the days when I'm really sick, I can just sit in the class and let the boys self-study. I felt like I could muscle my way through the lesson, but I'm glad I didn't. My strength was only at about 65%, so I sat at the lectern in the front of the class, arms propped on the top of it, looking for kids to engage quietly.
I called up Birthmark-Joonsang to work with me on the English-Korean word game. I wish I had a better mental nickname for him, but the birthmark on Joonsang's face is how I distinguish him. He hangs out with Inha some, so I've been talking to him in the halls, not even realizing he's in a class I teach every week.
Also...hahaha, C-class Minwoo is actually B-class Minwoo and I've been teaching him for 2 months! Ain't it a wonder? Minwoo just blends in, so until I started talking to him in the special needs room, his face didn't register as one I'd seen before. He played the word game with me and I found out that he's left-handed.
Now we come to the miracle.
As I wrote words with Minwoo, the other boys in class talked quietly or threw paper airplanes or read their textbooks. Then I noticed to kids creep up to the front to sit at the desks right in front of my lectern: Redhair-Joonyeong, a fun troublemaker who comes to my afterschool even though he's not even in my afterschool, and.....Sanghwa.
Now, Sanghwa was pretty well ticked with me for witnessing his breakdown last week, or at least that's how I interpreted it. This week, he wouldn't return my smiles or greetings, and he only grudgingly ate the food I gave him in afterschool, after a long pause.
But there was Sanghwa, looking casual, but like he'd appreciate being interacted with. I offered to play the word game with him and Joonyeong, fully expecting to be turned down. They didn't. They wrote English words, then I wrote the Korean, then I wrote Korean and they wrote the English. Sanghwa quietly asked Joonyeong how to spell "chocopie" in English, so now I know that the food-gifts did register with him. Food=love, to most boys, and I've been feeding my kids chocopies.
We chatted a bit, too. Sanghwa said the Joonyeong had a phone with him, and that according to school rules, I should confiscate it. Sanghwa also said that Joonyeong likes girls "very very much," particularly ones with long hair. I told him that liking girls was a good thing for boys to do. They didn't want to play UNO, but they hung around while I played UNO with three other boys, so it was quite magical.
Also, Joonyeong and Sanghwa know the routine with me well enough to know that I've probably got goodies, so they asked if there was candy. They told me their favorite colors (Sanghwa's is yellow) in exchange for a chocolate piece--the very thing that Sanghwa would have none of last week. Will living wonders never cease? I was fed up with trying to reach this boy, and now I spent 40 minutes sitting across from him, thinking how he has beautiful eyes and the most precious fuzzy head, and admiring how many English words he was using.
Magician-Byeongyoon came by for chocolate. HH found me in the hallway and asked for more candy:
Me: I already fed you today.
HH: No, you didn't.
Me: You can really be a brat sometimes. Brat means "bad child".
HH: I'm not a brat!
Me: Only sometimes.
HH: My favorite color is blue.
I also found out that he has one younger brother, who is 10 years old. B-Class Minwoo has two younger sisters.
Then it was time for the speaking tests for 3-7, 3-8, 3-9 B. I sat in the hall at a desk and waited for them to come out, but there were 30 of them and the process was exhausting. I had my coat on, but the school only heats the offices and the hall and classroom windows stay open, so I started to get really cold, which did not help my health status.
But then...three of the boys rushed out of the classroom to give me their jackets. Don't know if Mr. B told them to or if they planned it on their own, but it was sweet. And necessary. One of them put his jacket around my shoulders, and the class jjang (leader) immediately removed the first jacket and replaced it with his own. So for the last 20 minutes, I wore the jjang's purple jacket over my coat and used the other two as lap-warmers. The jjang's name is Donghwi, and he did well on his test.
The other two names I got were Tall-Jaekwang (who is really-super tall with really-super pale skin), and Guide-Jaewan, the charming boy who directed me to the correct class last week. He said one sentence, then quit, looking tearful. I told him gently that he was B-class and he could do better than this, and he said he knew. I think he was fairly disappointed in his own self.
After lunch, I had put my head down on my desk and was thiiiiiiis close to getting some sleep when my office door opened and I heard the query, "Oh. Sleeping?" in Korean. It was Yeonghyo and a crew of lost boys (3rd-graders), all bright-eyed and ready to play UNO. Yesterday, they waited for me outside the math room. Today, they came and got me. I could have said no, but I decided to rally and spend time with them: Yeonghyo, Inhak, Jinhwan, Tiny-Mimic-Jaehwan, Swimming-Suyeong, Dokyung, and Byeongkeun. We had a fun time and I found out that except for Yeonghyo (B), they're all C-class. I'm so glad I had the chance to meet them. They matter.
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