7:30 AM Day off for some holiday, the precise nature of which is unclear to me. My friend and I are going to Seoul for shopping and haircuts and maybe, just maybe, a guitar for me.
I feel like I have a better perspective on the afterschool boys after some rest. I neglected to say that they've been studying like maniacs this week, in preparations for midterms next week, which should be an utter nightmare for them. Midterms for Korean kids are not like midterms for Americans, unless perhaps you're at some kind of Harvard-prep school. Here, I believe midterms affect your placement in class, which in turn affects your future. The A-class boys will go to good academic high schools while the C-class boys will go to technical high schools to learn a trade, and I'm not sure where the B-kids go.
In other words, their brains are friend to a crisp, preparing for one of the least-fun weeks of their lives. It's not surprising that they didn't behave well for me. And I put too much pressure on them to validate my career choice--if they respond well to a lesson, then in my mind I'm a good teacher, so I'm getting rewarded professionally. If they don't respond well, that means I'm not a good teacher, which makes me disappointed and upset with myself, so I get upset at them even though it's not their fault.
They're kids. They're not going to behave in an idealized way, not even half the time. They have school stress and family problems and who knows what else. If I've lost some (or all) of their respect, I need to find ways to mend it or work around the lack of it.
Because as much as I wanted to not be their teacher yesterday, because they're not charming, delightful kiddies who enjoy my every word, I am still their teacher. I can pray for them, and in some small measure I can help them. Yesterday, just one time, I got Taehoon away from the bullying kid.
And while Sanghwa was sweeping the steps in the afternoon, another kid said to me, "Sem! Sanghwa, he hit me!" Sanghwa said it was the other way around. I had a whole conversation with the boy on the steps about how Sanghwa was my afterschool boy, and I was probably going to be on his side in the argument. The conversation was had mostly in fun, but it was interesting that Steps-Boy decided that I was invested in how Sanghwa behaved, like his homeroom teacher might be.
I also have to remember their souls. I rarely pray for the salvation of anybody, because it's just not something I think about. My own heart rests safely with God, and the same goes for the members of my immediate family, so I'm ashamed to say that I seldom consider the eternal life of the people I meet every day.
But even if I don't know how to witness to these boys, I can focus on loving them the way God loves them instead of getting lost in my own hurt feelings, which are unimportant. Hurt feelings distract me from serving and from praying. Last night, I woke up twice in the middle of the night with a burden to pray for Dongmin, the bully. This doesn't happen to me. I just pray--I don't get impressions about who or what I should be praying for. But I prayed for his life and for his heart, that the Lord would save his body from harm and his soul for heaven. I was barely awake enough to know what I was praying, but it must have happened for a reason.
It's a good life. There are things to do and people to care for, and instead of simply hoping that things go well in the future, I'm going to actually ask God to bless the kids.
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7:30 PM Whee! Had a fun day. Me and my friend (L-Friend) went to Hongdae, a district of Seoul known for being great for shopping, music, and artsiness. It's the district around Hongik University, or in Korean, Hongik Daehakgyo, shortened to Hong-Dae (홍대).
We bought our tickets to Seoul last night, then boarded our train this morning and sat on the floor of the cafe car all the way because we'd accidentally bought standing-room-only seats. But the cafe car wasn't crowded and we laughed and chatted all the way.
In Seoul, we had a few mix-ups with the subway, but the subway lines are all color-coded and even if you get on the wrong line, you can transfer at several different points. So we took the orange line, transferred to the green line, and stepped out of the correct exit. (If you get directions to a place in Seoul, they usually tell you to start navigating from a particular exit point. If you leave the subway at exist 5 instead of exit 8, you're often in a whole different section of town, and it's hard to navigate Korean roads by street number, because the numbers are rarely in numerical order and the streets aren't always in blocks.)
L-Friend had a haircut appointment, and I decided I needed my bangs trimmed, just to see if this salon was workable. It was great! The staff all had some English, they did a fine job with my bangs and a gorgeous job with my friend's hair. And while I waited for her cut to be finished, one of the girls in the salon brought me a glass of water, cookies, a pillow and an English magazine. Salon, you've won me over. Me and my friend decided we're definitely going to be repeat customers there.
Then we had lunch at a place called O-Bento. "Bento" is Japanese for "lunchbox" or possibly just "cutely packaged lunch," and our food came in these precious little bowls. It was warm and delicious and very filling, so we said it made up for our nasty dinner in our hometown last night, when L-Friend got some deokbokki and fish cakes that were less than good, and I accidentally ordered teriyaki-style chicken hearts.
Yes, chicken hearts.
The restaurant looked so normal and so Western, and we were lured in by the promise of not having to cook our own dinner. We learned much that night. I learned not to order anything that is two words long in Korean when the only word I recognize is "teriyaki". I should not assume that the second word relates to beef. The second word might, in fact, relate to chewy organs whose rubbery texture makes them barely edible.
After lunch, we shopped at a department store, then got our nails done. It was the happiest, girliest, most refreshing time. Which is good, because tomorrow I leave for Seoul again at 6:30 in the morning for an all-weekend-long workshop for writing test questions. But after figuring out the train and subway with L-Friend today, I feel more confident in my ability to get to the place by myself. Should be an adventure!
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