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Thursday, November 28, 2013

11-29-13 Byeonghyun and Seongmo's Poem, Birthdays, and Sanghwa Sneaks In

12 PM: Happy birthday to my beautiful baby brother. This is the first sibling-birthday I've missed while in Korea. I have so many lovely memories of my brother, and I really miss him on this day. Like on Thanksgiving yesterday, I get by by pretending it's not happening. I'm quite happy and content when I turn my mind away from what I'm missing and toward what I'm experiencing.

1-3, 1-4 B was very drowsy and didn't want to do much, but I worked with some ultra-quiet kids, and Dongseok called me over for help. He and Jaehyun and the other cool kids had a good time hanging out and figuring out how to spell words. Dongseok kept pointing out the "shocking" things that other kids wrote on their papers. I just shrugged. I don't have the language ability to convey to him that I'm American and it takes a lot to shock me. Love Dongseok so much, and Minki too.

2-1, 2-2 A was dream as per usual. KBR-Teacher couldn't be in there with me because she has a bucketload of last-minute deadlines for documents I'll never have to worry my head about. During the video clip at the beginning, I hung out in the back with Joohyunnie, who always wants to shake my hand when he sees me. Joohyun confirmed that his birthday is December 10th and I told him I'd remember.

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3:45 PM Lunch was good. I ate early and came back to the office to find Saturday-Jeongmin waiting for me. We watched videos together for a full twenty minutes. I tried to show him some I thought was funny in English, but it was all linguistic-based jokes that wouldn't be funny unless you were in the know, so we went back to watching out video game clips.

He said, "Teacher, there are bad words," and would pull my earbud out every time he anticipated cursing in clip of video game players trying a new suspenseful game. I should really be protecting him from bad words not the other way around, but he's a Korean middle schooler so he's heard everything in two languages. And he's just so sweet when he's trying to be protective--I feel like it's something I should let him do, be the gentleman looking out for the lady. This will be an important habit when he's older.

For 2-1, 2-2 B I got to talk a fair bit with HH who was quick to point out to me that his friend Euigi is an "otaku"; a serious fan of Japanese manga and anime. It's a very specific kind of geek to be. I said that I read a lot of manga in college, but only the kind for girls, while Euigi's favorite comics would be aimed at boys.

BH and Seongmo took foreverrrrr to start working on their Thanksgiving acrostic, which would be painfully easy for guys of their level. The reason they took so long is that they were creating a poem:



It's an entire story about a cruel teacher and about the ways in which the poor, abused students try to find some some happiness in their dark world. Oy. But it was all in fun--they were so proud of themselves for this narrative, and everybody was applauding them for it. HH took it from them and read it out loud twice. I signed it, "GUYS, this is horrible. Love you!" It's on my cubicle wall, now.

Along with the Pretty Art from the Saturday Girls.

During cleaning time, I heard BY debating very seriously with another kid while standing beside my desk. I asked, "Were you arguing?" He said, "No, we were just making a switch."From what I can gather, Byeongyoonie just got himself reassigned to clean my desk area, specifically, instead of whoever's place he'd been given.

I left him a cute little pink Post-It not shaped like an apple, with the message "BY is the best!" and a Reeses cup sitting on top of it. I set the note and the candy on my closed laptop, then walked out of the office. Two minutes later, I came back and saw BY's familiar mismatched stride limping down the hall away from me.

I called out to him and asked if he'd checked my desk. When I got a negative, I said, "Well, you should!" He ducked into my office, then happily took the note and the chocolate. He stepped out of the office and said, "Aww, thank you!" and gave me a big hug from behind (in Korea there is an actual name for this--"back hug" --and they seem to be as common as regular forward-facing hugs), which he hasn't done before. No matter how much of a genius he is, BY needs to be loved and cared for like any other kid.
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5 PM: At lunchtime, I found Dongjoonie and Sujin and give them birthday presents, with little notes attached. Dongjoon seemed pleased, but Sujin was over the moon. His crush just hit the major leagues, I think, because he's now calling my name and shooting me hearts in the hallway from so far away I can barely see him.

Jinseo followed me around insisting that he should get chocolate for giving me the "tip" that Dongjoon was in room 6 when I was looking for him.

Was going to play cards with my 3rd-graders, but they left the room to do unknown things, so I left to give presents to the 2nd-graders. When I returned to the math room, Jaehwan wanted to know where on earth I'd been and why I abandoned them. Heechan was back, still holding my hair and smelling it like his life depended on it. He must not see girls very often. Wooseok didn't fight Heechan this time, but Wooseok did tap my shoulder then hide under a table so I'd be puzzled and unable to find him for a few seconds.

And our Friday plans fell through because I got out of school 45 minutes later than most of the kids. But I'm sure I'll be able to walk the boys home and buy them hot chocolate on some other day--there's no rush.

In 2-3, 2-4 A, I had a weird brush with racism, not directed at me. So far, I haven't run across any Koreans say bad things about black people, but today adorable, round-faced little A-Class Minwoo asked me how to spell "Ku Klux Klan" for the "K" part of his Thanksgiving acrostic. I wasn't concerned until he told me, "my uncle is KKK. White very good!" I seriously hope he's just being funny and that there's no actual racism/ugliness in this sweet baby's family. And Minwoo's been adorably looking forward to having class with me all week, asking me, "Tomorrow?" then "Today?" then "after lunch?" then "5 minutes start?"

Also in 2-3, 2-4 A, I had Joonyoung AND Sanghwa sneak in! Last week, Redhair-Joonyoung snuck in and I let him hang out because I love him, brat though he is. Today I looked to the back row and saw a familiar lime jacket--fuzzy Sanghwa had crept in along with his buddy. I was going to let them stay, but KBR-Teacher came in and forced them out. They looked so frustrated they were about to cry as they left. I waved to them and Sanghwa yelled pitifully, "Teacherrrr! Chocolate!!!"

I told him to come back. He didn't understand "come back at the end of class" so I said something similar in Korean. He seemed to get it, and he and his pal slunked off into exile in the class they were supposed to be in in the first place. When class was over, I was swarmed by A-class boys who had done their work and I carefully handed out chocolate to each, saying their names. The whole time, Sanghwa and Joonyoung were moshing among the pit of boys, pleading for attention.

Sanghwa: "Teacher! I come back. You say, you say chocolate. Come back chocolate." My heart begins to liquefy. I ask, "Sanghwa, what is my name?" Just so I would know if he knew it after all this time. He says: "Leigh! Leigh Teacher." I said "That's right," and gave him and Joonyoung their Reeses. As usual, they can't know how much I like them, these young prickly creatures with their moments of cuddliness. Like baby cacti.

In the hallway, I finally got a picture of this really picturesque piece of poetry written on the wall on the 1st-grade wing outside room 1-4. I first noticed it when I was giving speaking tests last week, and it was such a touching message I made a mental note to get back there and snap a picture.

It's written in pencil on the wall, and the word "you're" is misspelled as "your" but it's still perfect. It says: "Far away, your my sunshine."


"Far away, your my sunshine."

I want to write a poem with that title. Or a song. Saturday-Jeongmin doesn't know who wrote it, but it's pretty special.

Tiny-Minho and Jiwoong asked for chocolate in the hallway. Rather, Minho asked nicely, but Jiwoong just looked expectant. I handed Minho the chocolate in my left hand then turned to address Jiwoong who said, "I see your right hand..." knowing I was holding chocolate for him. I said, "Yes, I have chocolate. Can you say "hi?"" just because I hadn't gotten a basic greeting from him in so long. He said "Hi, teacher," and it was another precious moment.
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Wednesday, November 27, 2013

11-28-13 Snow is Like Whoa, Cool-Daeho, and Wooseok Just....Wooseok.

11:00 AM Merry Thanksgiving, yo!

And in the battle of Leigh Vs. Snow, snow is in another weight class altogether and whipped me soundly. I got out the door at 8:20 thinking I'd catch a taxi. I thought wrong. 12 minutes at the taxi stand (usually chock full of eight or more taxis) produced only two taxis, each taken by people ahead of me. Then another taxi came up, to be stolen by an ahjusshi (50-something man) who dashed in front of a young mother and her child to get to it first. Eh. I finally realized that I had a better chance of getting to my school if I just walked it.

So I walked. And I called B-Teacher to let him know that I was going to be late if anyone asked. And my twenty-minute walk took more like forty because I was trying to be so careful on the ice. But my carefulness paid off because I didn't fall once. I also owe my safety to the cute and traction-y shoes my Mama got me.

"Swag? Check."

I wouldn't have had a hope of walking that far without these shoes. I think I could walk along the massive back of a snowed-on woolly mammoth and not trip.

I assumed that someone would be babysitting 2-1, 2-2 B when I got to school. Nope! They were just chilling in their classroom, huddled in clumps. They werevery happy to see me, and also accusatory. Yonghan said, "Teacher late. Why late?" with judge-y eyes. I explained to him that I wasn't used to the snow.

Then I got to the front of the class where Shotputter Jinseong was, and he was also aghast and my not being on time, and like a dad quizzing his daughter about breaking curfew he asked, "WHY LATE." I explained about the snow again, and since we only had 20 minutes of class left, I just wrote the Thanksgivign holiday information on the board and gave everyone their worksheet to fill out for chocolate.

While I was writing on the board, Jinseong bellowed at everybody to get in their seats and because quiet because "Sem is writing something!" I was so touched by that. Then I helped Jinseong, Hyunjoon and Comics-Joon, the three most delinquent boys in class, do their worksheet, and they were talking and making suggestions all through it. Jinseong kept bossing Joon and telling him what to write, but Joon was not going to be cowed, and instead wrote his own ideas. I've never heard Jinseong say so many English words and I was so happy to have Joon participating as well.

Yoontae of course filled out his worksheet, and it looked thusly:

He Did Put Forth A Lot of Effort.

At the end of class, Tall-Taehyun came in and asked for chocolate but couldn't answer the "what's my name?" question because all he ever calls me is "Junho's Girlfriend". HH died laughing at Taehyun's confused face and said, "He doesn't know your name! But I do. I know it." After reciting my whole long name, he got his chocolate. It was good to hear him laughing since he looked so tired when I saw him on Tuesday.

Called Bitty-Baby Seongjik over to get a Reeses when he was hanging out in the back of the room. He's so adorable, I want to put him in my purse then take him home and feed him cookies.

1-9, 1-10 B went fine. Deokryeong kidnapped my computer at the end, and I came downstairs to find he had already plugged it up at my desk.

Secret Daeho was in the office today, and he wanted chocolate but he didn't want to say please.

Daeho: Teacher, chocolate.
Me: Okay, say "please".
Daeho: *turns to leave*
Me: No, Daeho, I have the chocolate. It's right here, you can have it.
Daeho: *turns back*
Me: Just say "please".
Daeho: *squirms, looks like he is dying a thousand deaths* No, Teacher. Not say. Cool guy. Cool guy.
Me: You're going to be a cool guy with no chocolate. Just say it--nobody's watching.
Daeho: Please.
Me: There you go! *gives chocolate*

Proposal-Heejoon, Governor-Yunho, Puppy-Jinho, Shoe-Thrower-Jongmin and about 5 other 1st-grade boys were in the hall today, standing for a half hour with their heads bowed, as punishment for fighting I think? Jongmin said it was for fighting.

Huge-Eyes Jeonghee, the boy who rested his head on my shoulder during the forest game, came trotting after me in the hallway, smiling and asking sweetly for chocolate. Jinseop came around for some, too, knowing that I can't turn away one of my favorite boys. He too, knows he is loved.
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2 PM Had the weirdest lunchtime card games with varying members of my crew.

We started off with Jaehwan, Jinhwan, Daesung, and two new 3rd-graders: Heonho and Jinho. Wooseok was there of course, more intent on gabbing than on playing. Around the 3rd-graders, Wooseok is a lot like a cat running among a pack of Labrador retrievers. Nimble and perfectly capable of dodging danger if one of the Labradors decides their cat pal has batted their tails one too many times.

Jinseo, Blackhair Seonghyun, and a new friend of Jinseo's, Joonhyuk, came to play as well. Wooseok left the room, then came back and demanded that Seonghyun give up his chair for him. A shoving match ensued and I told Wooseok to just get another chair, but he was too far gone to hear me. Seonghyun lost the altercation because while Wooseok might not be the biggest kid in 2nd grade, he's potentially the craziest. It's best to just give up before he decides to do something really nuts, so goes conventional wisdom.

Made the mistake of bringing an energy drink to the conference room instead of my usual vitamin water. Wooseok drank some of it during the first second that I was distracted. Yeah, should have seen that coming.

Asked the boys about their siblings. Jaehwan has an older brother and an older sister in college, and Jaehwan is like me, one of five kids, but while I'm the oldest of five he's the middle of five. Wooseok has an older brother, Daesung is an only child.

Wooseok came close to fighting with a 3rd-grader named Heechan. Heechan is the kid who asked yesterday if I had a boyfriend, and said he liked me. 50% of the students say these kinds of things, but Heechan seemed to mean them. Today when I was playing cards and Heechan wanted to hold my hair, I let him because I think of it as one of those humanizing things, something that makes me into a real person who doesn't think she's better than you.

But Wooseok decided that Heechan should not have hair-touching privileges and they got into a shouting/shoving match over that. I just scooted my chair away and let them argue it out because no one was really getting hurt, plus these fights over me are never about me--it's always about the boys themselves, struggling to be assertive individual personalities. If I weren't there, they'd be fighting over smartphones or Pringles chips or flip-flops or whatever was on hand.

Heechan won, but Wooseok got in the last word, which was in Korean but the meat of which seemed to be:

"Yeah, hold her hair all you want, but I'm walking her home on Friday, so who is the real winner, here? WHO?" Wooseok then smarmily announced that he'd seen me yesterday by my favorite coffeeshop and I'd even offered to buy him something. I said yeah, but you had to go to the PC bang.

After Jinseo left, Wooseok came over to take the now-vacant chair next to me. He used this as an excuse to snap his plastic spoon against my leg. Not hard enough to hurt, but enough for me to make him stop. He started babbling in a cartoony language that was not Korean, so I babbled back in something that was inspired by English, sprinkled with Swedish and Cookie-Monster-ese, which also made no sense. We carried on for half a minute's worth of meaning-free conversation. Jaehwan and Jinhwan cracked up and Wooseok finally gave up talking that way, because he couldn't out-crazy Sem on this one.

During one game, nobody was listening to him when he was dealing for UNO and asked "Myeot jang, myeot jang?!!" (how many cards does each person get?) and he kept getting louder so I yelled back, "Ilgop jang!" (7 cards), which had Wooseok mimicking my voice for the next few minutes.

Wooseok also took it upon himself to explain a few more Korean curse words to me. He knows that I correct him for using about 5 words, but he must have noticed that the others just slip past my radar. Jaehwan tried to help him translate the concept that he was trying to broaden my Korean vocabulary.

Jaehwan: "Teacher. Korean bad word. Do you know? For example, E. X. : %&*&#*#."

I said yes, I knew that one. The interesting thing was that Jaehwan must have learned the phrase "for example, ex: " by seeing it on tests because he actually spoke aloud the "ex: " part, like "ee, ex". Wooseok ran through a list of 25 words, only ten of which I knew, checking for comprehension after each: "Arayo? Arayo?"

When it was time to leave, Wooseok hoarded the spoons and folded his arms over them, laying his head down to sleep. I gave him a hug and asked for the spoons back. Nothing doing. So I started to braid his hair, which is just long enough to work into micro-braids. Jinhwan and Jaehwan were laughing, but Wooseok kept his head down, protesting, "Mwo haeyo? Isanghaeyo!" (What is she doing? It's so strange!)

I tied off his braid with one of my hair ties, then turned to talk with Jinhwan. Now that I was no longer paying attention to him, Wooseok's head instantly popped up and he felt what had happened to his hair. He laughed and I tried to get my hair tie back, but he dodged away and ran off, insisting that the hair tie belonged to him, now. I hope he didn't return to his homeroom with the braid in. But I know he totally did. If some other kid doesn't pull the tie out first, he'll be walking home from school like that, too.

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Tuesday, November 26, 2013

11-27-13 Rude Joonyeong, Serious Snow, Dialogue With Daeho

11 AM: First real snow! It's really sticking on the ground this time, and the kids are all making snowmen and throwing dustpans full of slush at each other. Funtimes for all. Seongwonnie hit me with a snowball, but I just bought an industrial arctic coat, so it bounced off. I attempted to strangle him, but he was too fast.

*sigh* Redhair Joonyeong said my hair looks bad today, and it is frizzy today, that's true, but his comment depressed me more than necessary. Why do I have to be so sensitive to words? I have 100 boys per day telling me I'm beautiful, so why should I care about negative words from one child? Eh, it's just silly.

On the other hand, this reminds me of why I work so hard to stay positive with the boys. One misplaced word can ruin a day; ruin a week even, if the kid is a Words person. I want everything they get from me to be good.

And Joonyeong's just in general a rude student, as evidenced by his making fun of a mentally disabled boy last week. Also, this means that Joonyoung is trying to make some kind of connection, even if it's a negative one. It means that he keeps tracks of my daily looks enough that he can make comparisons between different days. I felt like being petty and ignoring Joonyoung, but I made sure to come by and work with him and tell him that he looked nice.

Sanghwa didn't say much, but he came by at the end to turn in his worksheet for a Reeses mini-cup.

After class, all the boys from elsewhere filed in, including both Byeongyoonie and Wooseok. Gave chocolate to both of them, because they are equally beloved, the metropolitan genius and the sunshiny hooligan.

In 1-1, 1-2 B, I had fun talking with Seonghyun and Chaeho who are in my afterschool and seem proud of that fact. Other boys near them were interacting with me more, so I had to wonder if they had been telling their friends that I was a fun, accessible teacher. We had a nice time talking and laughing, and I discovered Woobin across the room, a boy also in my afterschool but who I couldn't recall teaching.

Woobin's name is nearly identical to that of one of my favorite actors, and when I pointed that out two days ago, Woobin smiled but the other kids said, "No, Kim Woobin's handsome, he not handsome, Teacher!" I made sure to say that Woobin was very cute. Everyone cares what people say about how they look.

Taught Jaehyung some of Canon in D, but it's taking a while.

Mr. B told me that this is the first real snow, and that it's supposed to make you think of your first love. I told him in America, snow makes you think more of childhood memories and family times. But here it's romantic, or so the boys tell me.
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2PM: Aw yiss, next class and lunch were good. I had 2-9, 2-10 A, and instead of reading them the slides for the Powerpoint, I followed some advice I saw on a teacher's forum and got the boys to read them. This would only work in A-ban, but my boys did it great. And I knew enough names that I could just say, "Yoonseong read this one, Seonghak read that one," etc.

For a second I tripped over Cutie-Joonseok's name and said "Joon....suh..." because I couldn't remember if it was "seop" or "seong"or "seok". He looked dramatically offended and when the other boys hollered "Jooseok!" I asked, "Chuseok?" which is a holiday, also known as Korean Thanksgiving. Joonseok immediately understood that I was teasing him, and he began to cry fake tears. Adorable.

We had fun in this class. Under the "G" letter in the Thanksgiving acrostic Seonwoo wrote "Guys!!!" I wrote NO. BAD. next to it, because Seonwoo's only having fun when I'm reacting. After class, he came back for extra chocolate after everyone had left. He is so reveling in his status as a favorite.

After lunch, I stepped outside to watch the snow and the kids playing. Love-You-Sungjae gave me a snowball as a present, so I threw it at Intensity-Insung. Insung hit me back, in the leg, and man those semi-melted snowballs sting.

While I stood on the front porch, taking pictures, I looked up to the windows in the 1st-grade wing and saw Jeongminnie. A few minutes later, he came downstairs and greeted me in the hallway, asking how I was liking the snow. He couldn't sit with me today because he said his friends were fighting. I think he was going to try to solve their problem?

My 3rd-graders came to get me, as did Jinseo, Blackhair Seonghyun and a new 2nd-grader. Wooseok showed up, too. We played a billion rounds of cards and had a good time. Wooseok has been looking for my apartment and told me it didn't exist. I tried to clarify for him where it was, then realized there's no reason to bother.

Some extra 3rd-graders hung out in the room and I heard them figuring out English vocabulary to together. What the boldest one finally settled on as correct grammar was, "Teacher, do you are with boyfriend?" He lost no time in confessing his liking for me.

The Reeses cups are a smash. The boys come back requesting more, looking slightly drugged. Not used to the heady combo of chocolate and peanut butter, it would seem.
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4 PM: Afterschool classes are cancelled on account of the snow. Holla! B-Teacher high-fived me when he heard the news.

Had no Mr. B in 3-1, 3-2 B, and we couldn't get the video cable to work, but the boys weren't upset that they had no movie--they were content to sit and talk and do phone stuff, and to play cards with me. Sungyeong, the jjang, was ordering people about, bossing them into line and making them join the game.

Sungyeong played music from us from his phone, and when I asked if he had "Bittakhage," he said no. But then he bought it through a phone app and played it for me four times. Dude. Ask and you shall receive, I guess. Sungyeong got so distracted by dancing in his seat, he lost at spoons three times, simply because he wasn't looking at what the other players were doing.

I stood outside in the snow again, just kind of drinking it in because it still seems magical. Secret-Daeho hung around and we talked, but when America-Hyunkyeong came up to talk, Daeho refused to translate. Hyunkyeong gave me a Snickers chocolate as a present, then as he walked off Daeho said, "I hate him".

Me: Why?
Daeho: Nappeun nom.
Me: He's a bad person?
Daeho: Yes very bad. Kkangpae.
Me: Hyunkeoung's a gangster?
Daeho: At this school, everyone hate him.
Me: But he seems so nice!
Daeho: Nice only on surface. I want chocolate please.
Bomjoon: *waves hi at me*
Me: *waves hi back*
Bomjoon: You're beautiful!
Daeho: *points at Bomjoon* That student is very dirty.
Me: Daeho, is there anyone at this school that you think is nice?

Junho's back at school. Thank goodness, because I was worried. He seems really withdrawn and serious-faced, and he didn't even bother hollering at me in the hall the first time we ran into each other. That's almost like a boy not eating at lunch...it's a sign that something's not right. But then during cleaning time, he held out his hand like a knight offering to escort a lady through dragon-country, and I gave his hand a quick squeeze because I was glad to see him back to normal.

Sujin is now saying I'm his girlfriend--all that chocolate must have sealed things. And I met a sweet new 2nd-grade C-class named Dongyoon. He's tall and skinny and has a precious personality. He used his limited English to try to talk me into giving him 10 Reeses--we had this whole bartering thing going on before he ultimately settled for 2. Dongjun reminded me yet again that his birthday is on Friday. I said I'd get him something, and Sujin slammed him against a wall for his audacity. Fortunately, I have two small presents all ready for both of them on Friday. Ha!
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5:30 PM Home!

The bloom is off the snow-rose already because I had to walk home in the driving wet wind with a million flakes fighting to get under my umbrella and into my eyes. It's hard to feel the snowy magic when it be cold as all get-out.

Was greeted by Jinhwan, Jaehwan, and Teacher's-Pet-Jeongmin on the way home. Met Wooseok close to my favorite coffee shop and asked if he wanted me to buy him hot chocolate. Nope, he had to get to the PC bang (computer arcade). Nice to know where I rank in the Wooseok Pantheon of Important Activities: ahead of playing tag with the other kids, but beneath playing online games. :-)

Saw Seongmo and Byeonhyun in the hall. They shocked me by simultaneously waving and calling out, "Sweetheart!" Daww, the cute. The unexpected and Southern-influenced cute.

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Monday, November 25, 2013

11-26-13 Good Demon-Class, Sweet Shion, Good Apathy-Class

10 AM: The Demon Class did great. They still, you know, swung their headphone cords like cowboy lassos (Youngmin) and tossed balls until I confiscated them (Seongtaek), but overall we had a super good time. I sat with Sujin and worked with him, because I know he's been wanting to hang out. Sujin's got a sly sense of humor and we made each other laugh with ideas for the Thanksgiving acrostic.

Then I moved back to work with Tall-Jeongwook, who likes me and has amazing hair, and Jiwoong, who doesn't hate me as much as I thought. We had a lovely time joking about whether or not Jiwoong actually contributed to the completion of the worksheet and whether he should get chocolate at the end of class.

I was five steps past happy to see Jiwoong laughing and using English to protest the Jeongwook was a liar and that the whole worksheet (except the word "toilet") had been entirely his idea. Jiwoong crowed in victory and Jeongwook groaned in defeat when I wrote both their names on the paper, qualifying them equally for after-class chocolate. Ah, Jiwoong. You don't know how it brightens my day when you're feeling glad.

Ikgwang's name isn't Ikgwang, it's Ikhwan. Don't know how I got it wrong--I probably misspelled it in August and something distracted him from correcting me. He kept score for me in the turkey game and wrote me as one of the things he was thankful for. KBR-Teacher was telling me that he's in her homeroom class and he always helps her with things. He's a very thoughtful, protective boy, the epitome of a Southern gentleman, really. After class, I gave him two pieces of chocolate, and then handed over I third when he said "Please may I."

Sujin stopped me in the hallway to talk again, then Gyuchan came up to show me a card trick. They're fun people to be around.

In the special needs room, Yeongchang called me over to the piano to show him the left hand part for Canon again. He's getting it so quickly, I think he's actually got a good propensity for music, he just hasn't had the benefit of lessons.
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3 PM: Good day! Kids in 1-5, 1-6 B were cute and awesome, and by now I can stand at the front of the class and simply call out names to answer questions because I know almost all of them, and they like that.

Baby Heekyu was on the verge of sleeping in class like usual, because after 9 hours of school he goes off to hagwon, but I nudged him awake just enough to do his worksheet for chocolate. My new policy for the worksheets is, if you complete them and bring them to me at the end of class, you get chocolate. This keeps the boys holding on to their papers and it reinforces my memory of their names because I write their names on the papers, then see the papers once more when they hand them back.

Jeongminnie was waiting for me both before and after lunch and we got to finish watching his video together. His friend Woohyuk tagged along, but Jeongmin made a subtle point of saying, "Woohyuk is here, but you can't talk because you don't speak much Korean."

Listen, sugar, I get along okay with Korean, and Woohyuk is A-ban and knows more English than you think he does. But Woohyuk's actual communicative ability was not what was at stake, here--Jeongminnie just wants to be special to me, to be the only boy I can have conversations with. Woohyuk is meant to be a mere afterword to the novel that is Jeongmin. He is a wingman, only.

While finishing the video with Jeongmin, Talkative-Jinseo and Blackhaired-Seonghyun (previously 'C-class Seonghyun' but that seemed too elitist) came by. "Teacher, cards. Cards please." And with them was Jiwoong! He didn't play with us, but Jiwoong came over with Jinseo and stood around my desk for awhile. Aww.

At cards, Seonmoon from yesterday joined us, as did Daesung. Then Giant-Shion got into the game, and he's just as delightful as I predicted. He's so big he looms over everybody, but he has the nicest disposition. Euijae joined us as well, and Wooseok. In between games, I arm-wrestled Wooseok (stalemate--he kept cheating. I might actually be stronger, but I'm not willing to wrench my wrist to find out) and Euijae, who won easily, and Shion who won easily using only two fingers. That's how strong this kid is--my whole hand is not equal to his first two fingers.

Jaehwan and Jinhwan showed up and Jinhwan translated between me and Wooseok, which says something about Jinhwan's intelligence because he only scored 10% on his last English exam. And still, he's a smart kid.

Wooseok was again trying to figure exactly where I live, and now I know the purpose--he wants to walk me home from school. I was trying to figure out if he wanted to walk today, but he seems to think it should be on Friday. He also wants to know what floor I live in and seems to think he will be coming inside. No, honeybunny. But I'll buy you gimbap at the corner store, how does that sound?

2-5, 2-6 B was awesome. Seongsu talked a mile a minute, and Dongjin flirted incessantly...

Dongjin: I love you. Teacher is my wife.
Me: Hi, honey. *continues preparing lesson*
Dongjin: So pretty. Leigh Teacher my girlfriend.
Me: Ah, but I'm Junho's girlfriend. *connects internet cable to computer*
Dongjin: No, no Junho! I Junho dead.
Me: You're going to kill Junho? *connects audio cable*
Dongjin/Seongsu: YESSSS.
Me: But he's so big.
Dongjin: No, I strong!
Seongsu: Teacher, I get knife. Knife. *mimes stabbing Junho*

Haven't seen Junho in two days--he's either skipping school or he got suspended, because he's not at lunch, not in the hall or with his two BFF's, who are currently plotting his demise, it would seem.
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10 PM: Names to remember in 3-3, 3-4 B (The Apathy Class): Hosun, Hunyeong, Juyeong, Jaemin. Because I had no Mr. B for this class period and even though I was just playing them a movie, it's hard having a class I can't engage at all, even in low-key games. Two weeks ago, the only kid who would play UNO with me was Jaebom, but the next week I didn't even offer to play with him because the other boys were teasing him too hard about it.

But today, I saw one kid looking at me curiously while I set up my computer, so once the movie was playing, I went to his table and said to the 4 boys there, "We're playing spoons." They were so interested, they forgot their shyness/discomfort/apathy/ and had a great time. Hunyeong even came from way across the room to join. We had a lovely time, and I met some amazing kids. Here I thought this was a dead class, but I was just asking the wrong kids to participate! I look forward to seeing them again.

Byeongyoonie surprised me twice today, once in the office, once in the hallway, and the second time he turned a shoulder-grab into more of a hug.It was adorable.

Seonwoo sang "Joah" to me and followed me down the hall to ask for chocolate. I miss you too, Seonwoo-yah.

Had a killer time with my 1st-graders in afterschool. I assigned them a crossword that even I had trouble solving, but we got through it all together.

Sat with HH at the bus stop for a while. He looked really tired, but he told me he just rides the bus home instead of going to hagwon after school. I was so relieved! I don't want any of the boys overworked.

Sujin said, "I love you. I think of you every day. Please give me chocolate." He also said that his birthday is on Saturday when Dongjun said, apropos of nothing, that his own birthday was on Friday. Why are the boys suddenly telling me their birthdays? Angling for more presents? I already feed you lots, kiddos.

Jinhwan and Yeonghyo think they're also walking me home on Friday. Who all is going to be doing this? Is it officially a group activity, like a field trip?

Inha got absolutely verbally torn to shreds by O-Teacher today. I found out later that it was because he was hurting Seongwon. All the boys roughhouse and it's to be expected, but Inha takes it too far sometimes and O-Teacher had had it with him damaging Seongwonnie. But I didn't see anything, I was just in the room hearing Inha getting yelled at. Jaehyung took me by the elbows and carefully steered me out the door, saying "Dashi oseyo" or "come back again". All I can figure is, he didn't want me to see the ugly scene that was playing out because he never ever wants me to leave the special needs room.
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Sunday, November 24, 2013

11-25-13 Thankful Day, Acrostics, and Wooseok Wants Bubbles

9:30 AM Got some Thanksgiving lessons ready to go, which is ironic because I've been really non-thankful this morning.

It's dark and cold and rainy outside. I'm sleepy. And when I walked through the school doors, I greeted Sanghwa, who ignored me even though he was 3 feet away. I thought, "Ah, so it's going to be one of those Mondays."

But! God loves me. I'm healthy and I have so many beautiful kids to love and teach and talk to. I'm ready to turn this Grumpy Monday around and have a happy heart.
---------------------------------------------------

11:00 AM It got better! First class was grand. We had a lovely time, just writing things we were thankful for in a sort of Thanksgiving acrostic poem.

I spent most of my time with Jangyeop and Minjoon, then moved over to help Taeho, Hyukjae, Yeongchan, Moonshik and Kibeom. I successfully named four of them before tripping over Kibeom's name. He asked in Korean, "Sem, you know my name, right?" I apologized and said no, could he please tell it to me again. He said it was Kibeom and then he smiled in that strained "am I really so lame you can't remember me?" way. I protested that there were so many students and only one teacher.

Then I got to tease Kibeom because he didn't know my name either--he and the other boys thought it was my last name because they're not clear on the personal-name/ family-name inversion in English. I cleared it up for them, then had to compliment Taeho a zillion times because Hyukjae kept saying Taeho was "dirty". The boys most frequently use this word to mean "morally or socially inferior" not "covered in dirt". I said Taeho was a good guy and had a very cute face, whereupon Taeho struck a movie star pose, framing his face with his thumb and forefinger. Taeho's awesome.

After class, all the kids crowded around to get chocolate, and I made sure 12 of my favorites from B-class got their chocolate before I talked to the A-boys. One loud, charming A-class 1st-grader, Jongyoon, was also terribly letdown that I didn't know his name. I see you once a week! And I don't even teach you! But still, it's my bad, Jongyoon. I should know you.

Proposal-Heejoon again professed his dual love for me and for chocolate (the two things are inextricably connected in his mind), and I threw him a heart-sign back. He came into the special needs room and attempted to play me "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz on the ukulele while Jaehyung attempted to braid my hair. Neither the song nor the hairstyling were particularly successful, but we were all having a nice time.

Sangyeop from 1-3, 1-4 B (sandwich-gift) hangs out with Proposal-Heejoon, so I think they're actually both in 1-3 or in 1-4.

Yeonghyo came by to wheedle some chocolate and to extract a promise to play spoon-cards with him at lunch time.

Yeongchang's mastering the left hand part of Canon in D, which is quite difficult.
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5 PM: Totally great day. How did it end up going so good? I was convinced it'd be a nightmare.

My class with 3rd-graders was just playing them a movie, but I got to interact with new boys! I played a few rounds of UNO with just me and Jangwon, who was one of the players last week, but this time around he was brave enough to hang out with me by himself.

Two other boys looked interested, and I asked them a few times to join us, but they declined with embarrassed smiles. Finally, I positioned my chair between Jangwon's desk and Doyeon's desk and dealt Doyeon a hand whether he wanted it or not. He absolutely did. He was thrilled to play, and we happily went through three games with the new arrangement. Some kids want to be sought and asked for their participation--some kids want to be hunted down and made to participate at gunpoint, so it seems.

Saturday-Jeongmin tried to surprise me in the hall after lunch, but I turned around, spoiling the shock. He seemed so excited about the idea of sneaking up on me, I almost felt like apologizing for depriving him of that joy. We watched videos together, using my earphones, until my 3rd-graders (and Wooseok!) same by the office to borrow me.

I was so caught up in Jeongminnie's funny video, I kept motioning for the 3rd-graders to wait. Instead, they opted to come in and watch the video over our shoulders for half a minute, then Jinhwan calmly took out my earphones and Wooseok began to carry my pink bag full of card games into the hallway, nodding his head for me to follow. They don't play around when it comes to game time. I decided to go along with it, since we do have a standing appointment for this.

Jeongmin was not happy about not getting to finish the video with me. He told me his little sister thought it was hilarious, and he kept asking me to stay just a little longer, but I had to go. So far, none of the boys have ever gotten angry at the others for spending time with me, but I wanted to deflect attention from Jeongmin, just on the outside chance that the big 3rd-graders could develop any sort of resentment for Jeongmin taking up their time. I supremely doubt that they would hassle him, but it's not worth finding out.

Wooseok continued to inquire further about exactly where I live. He's a sweet baby, but he actually had some angry moments today, it seemed. Just angry at life, I guess.

We were joined by 3rd-graders Seonmoon and Euijae, both of whom I teach (I think?) but neither of whom I've directly talked to before. Euijae sat by me and it wasn't long before he gave into the temptation to hold my hair. And while holding my hair, he might as well smell it, right? That seemed to be Euijae's logic, and it's what most of the kids end up doing. On Thursday, Jaehwan correctly identified the brand of shampoo I used, from smell alone. I'm trying to think of some way to make that seem not-weird.

In 2-9, 2-10 B I had computer troubles, but all went well. Jinseop did his worksheet, as did Woonki, and Jeonghee, and Byeonghyuk, and so on. They were shockingly enthusiastic when given the chance at chocolate. Minchan, who has never spoken a word to me, came across the room to find me and tell me that he didn't have a worksheet and he needed one. Woonki's normally pretty taciturn, but he was making all manner of noise to get me to come check his worksheet.

In 2-7, 2-8 B, Cardsharp Minsu and Do-Il did their worksheet, which marks the first semi-conversation I've had with Minsu in 3 weeks. Had a killer time with Chansu, Danhee, Changyo, Jungbok, Duyeol, Sanghyeop, Hojin and Joonwoo, too. We get along immensely well and I think Chansu's going to come looking for me at lunch someday, because he's desperate for UNO.

Then I only had one afterschool period instead of two because our hours have been cut down, yay! The boys were great and we had fun together. Though the left side of the room is basically one giant love confession, with everybody accusing everybody of loving me and forging each others' name on homework papers. We were writing Thanksgiving acrostic lists, and one pair's work looked like this:

T-Teacher love
H- Hi hello
A-Apple
N- Naver.com
K- Kola
S- So pretty girl
G- Girl
I- Iloveu
V- volt
I- I love, Lee Teacher do you love me?
N-Nike
G--good thank you

Yoodam doesn't play the accusation game--he just tells me he loves me twice per class. No angst, no games, just clear information about how he sees things. He's a straightforward kid. Played cards with Seonghyun, Chaeho, Munju, and Dongwook for the last 10 minutes while we watched a movie. It was great.

During the day, Wooseok went a little nuts, insisting that I should give him bubbles because "Yeongchang got bubbles on Friday". Yeongchang, you and your bragging. Now Wooseok feels neglected, and it seems to really be bugging him. Wooseok does not like hearing me say nice things about other boys and evidently doesn't like me giving them presents, either. I told him I'd bring him something tomorrow. Maybe I shouldn't have said that, but I felt like he needed some kind of reassurance that he was important.

Sujin asked if I was teaching I today, but I was in B--he was hoping I'd have his class, but I'll see him tomorrow.

High-fived Seongmo in the hallway, was greeted by Byeonghyun on the walk home, gave Byeongyoon two pieces of chocolate while he cleaned the office.

Yeongjoon informed me that he knew where I'd been last night--one of his friends saw me at the theater and reported back to him. Our town is full of spies.

Good thing I wrote Loud-Jongyoon's name on my hand, because I ran into him on the walk home and he wanted me to tell his friend that I knew his name. Everyone was gratified when I managed to do it.
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Saturday, November 23, 2013

11-23-13 Saturday Afternoon Class, Spoons, Jiwoong Again

9:30 PM Taught another sudden-replacement Saturday class today. Didn't have time to put together a new lesson, so I did the "haiku and art" lesson again. It worked fine. Half the kids were gone last week, anyway so it was new to them, and the existing kids needed syllable-count practice because syllables run differently in Korean than in English. Example: In English we say "Christ-mas" (2 syllables), in Korean, we say "Keu-ri-seu-ma-seu" (5 syllables).

Girls were darrrrling. In 2nd grade, Minji prides herself on being the only Justin Bieber fan at her school. The other girls like K-pop bands, so she feels very dedicated and counter-cultural for liking a pretty Canadian boy who sings instead of a pretty Korean boy who sings. Minji has the best English of all the girls, and she likes telling me about her school life.

Naturally, Her Haiku and Art Were About Justin.


And Suyeon's just insanely good at art--she let me keep the artwork she did last week, and now it's tacked up in my office. This is what she made this week:

Pencil and Pastels and Awesomeness.

One of the first-grade girls whose name I don't know wrote a very pretty poem about love:


"Love is a red heart.
Love is like a medicine.
Love that makes you tall."

GOODNESS. She's got this poetry thing nailed.

Another 1st-grade girl wrote this heartbreaking piece about studying:


"The Study Machine.
They are student, that means I'm
a Student Machine."

The boys' stuff wasn't as amazing, mainly because they didn't feel like trying much. Which was fine, since they were happy and we had good conversations and they at least had the concept of haiku.


Daehoonie slept for the first 20 minutes of class--poor baby must have been quite tired. But he soon rallied and wrote a good haiku about his favorite ice cream. I told him today that he has a wonderful smile, which is so very true. That's why his apellation in my head is "Sparkly Daehoon"--he always glows a bit.

Got to talk tons with HH, who gave a presentation of some sort earlier today. And the presentation was an application to get into...somewhere. A camp or a club or a scholarship or something. He didn't explain because he was distracted with trying to fix my unfixable school computer. 

He asked me if his haiku (which he wrote in 30 seconds and which was honestly pretty lame) was good and I waited a beat before saying "Yes, it's good." He said, "Lie," like he was disappointed that I didn't think his non-effort was amazing. But good things happened for him later when he begged his way to getting extra cookies by telling me his favorite color (which is still in constant flux), and he also extended the 2nd-graders game of spoons by requesting that we play just a liiiiitle longer. 

Tried to get a picture of Jiwoong, who didn't even attempt to write or draw, of course. He moved, so I only got a picture of his shirt but then he came up to ask me, "Delete the photo. I don't like pictures. I hate taking pictures. Delete the photo." He was saying it nicely and I showed him that I'd only got a picture of his shirt, but he still wanted it gone. Poor Jiwoong. I wonder if this photo aversion is because the other boys tease him about being ugly. I think it must be.

Also, when I walked over to give Jiwoong his paper, I exclaimed "Jiwoong, I missed you!" because we haven't had afterschool together this week. I expected him to grumble or roll his eyes, but he blushed, ducked his head, and smiled. I said, "I saw your smile! I saw it!" Boy doesn't hate me after all.

With my 1st-grade class, I let Saturday-Jeongmin play videos on my computer the whole time while I worked with the other kids. He doesn't have friends in the class, he didn't feel like doing the same work again, and he needed to do something that made him feel special. He walked me to the bus stop again when we were done, and he told me there were no lights on the street that leads toward his house, but fortunately it wasn't getting dark yet.

During break, I played spoon-cards with the 1st-grade troublemaker boys and we had the time! This week, they were already trying harder to write good haiku, and they kept sweetly asking for help, "Teacher, teacher, teacher..." It was so doggone cute, coming from these boys who couldn't care less about anything during week one.

Hyungro was precious. For some reason, I had though he was the toughest kid in the bunch, but's he's got a very soft side. Yejae has an angelically beautiful face, Jeongwan is a good writer and doesn't go to our school, and Jaewon is as tall as a third-grader. They went nuts over the spoons game and kept asking for "one more, teacher, one more!" And then they changed the definition of 'one': "Play three  "one more" please." We played for forever and joked a lot, and it was a good day for everyone, all told.

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Thursday, November 21, 2013

11-22-13 Fashion, Jeongmin's Apology for Nothing, and Redhair Joonyoung

9 AM Jaehwan was right--the 3rd-graders are all going to Everland! Everland and Lotteworld are the Korean equivalents of Six Flags, and one is better that the other but I can never remember which.

Yesterday, Jaehwan told me the entire 3rd grade was going on a trip there, and I wondered if he was communicating accurately because English is tricky, though Jaehwan has the most English of my C-class boys. Sure enough, this morning I walked up the path to find the whole ginormous crew of them walking out of the school gates and toward an unending row of tour buses.

They made me smile, because I was greeted by about 50 of them as I walked past--I tried to say as many names as possible. Model Seokho and Sooncheonie and Yeonghyo and Secret-Daeho were foremost among the ones I got to say 'hi' to. They were all smiling and waving, and somebody called out, "Fashion good today!" Which is what they always say on the rare occasions when I wear leggings, as I did this morning. Because they're such dedicated fashions mavens, I'm sure.

Seongsu and I stepped into school at the same time. He said, 'It's cold!" in English, and I was so proud that he used the phrase just for me, when I would have understood the Korean anyway.

Then when I walked to the special needs room, Seongwonnie greeted me and Jaehyung at the door with "Hi everybody!" in English. He was smiling. And he spoke two words in English, back to back! Then he went to the piano and successfully played the bottom part of "Heart and Soul," which he had evidently been working on when I wasn't looking. After he finished, he looked up at me like, "Did I do a good job?" I told him he was amazing, and gave him a hug.

Eunchan from my Friday 1st-grade class (which I'll have in a few minutes) came in to listen to Joonsung play piano. He asked me when Joonsung took lessons and I said "maeil maeil" or "day by day, every day".

Currently eating the chocolate that Proposal-Heejoon gave me yesterday. He knows how to treat a lady.
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12 PM: 1st-grade speaking test went well. Dongseok came out into the hall with his usual swagger.

Dongseok: *walks up behind me* Hey, man. *slides into chair*
Me: Again with the"hey man" stuff?
Dongseok: Thas right, baby.

I can't win.

I raised an absolute fanfare for Walk-to-School Minki when he came out, and he glowed. (he was little firefly Minki! cuuuute.) And Sangyeop was thriled to talk to me, too. Last week when I was walking home from school, Sangyeop gave me a sandwich. An entire half-sandwich, just took it out of it's wrapper and handed it to me. I feel like we're close now, with all the food exchanging.

Speaking of food from kids, I finished a butterscotch I received from some unknown child on Thursday, and in my pocket is a stick of gum a 2nd-grader passed to me this morning. They are getting very free with their edibles, perhaps because I've fed them so much, collectively.

2-1, 2-1 A was dull but I talked to bunches of them. Met Jinwoo,a solid and smart kid who sits by Kyeongbae. I've seen Jinwoo around and I got the sense that he wanted to be one of my favorites but didn't know how to get the ball rolling. I initiated things today by asking his name and working with him. He started asking questions of his own, before long.

Jinwoo wanted to know if I like B-Teacher, since I said he was a cool guy. I explained that B-Teacher was a seonbae (mentor/senior/cool person who is slightly older) not an oppa (in this case, "older guy who is boyfriend material") to me. Jinwoo seemed satisfied and inquired further about my age--B-Teacher's two years older, and the boys went "ahhh" like that was somehow very good.

HH was the only student who knew the English word "autograph" instead of the Konglish word "sign," and he said I had "good eyes" because I could read words that students held up from across the room. We had a mild debate over whether singing together was a good friend-making activity and whether some people wouldn't enjoy noraebang.

Artist-Joohyun stayed after class to ask me questions. He asked, "When is your birthday?" Dawwww. Cutie. I told him in English, then tried to say it in Korean, which made him laugh because, in his words, "I know what you said." I asked his birthday, and it's December 10th. Got to remember to get that baby a present--he was bringing up the birthday stuff for a reason.
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3 PM: No 3rd-grade class because every last one of them's gone. I missed my 3rd-graders at lunch, but I still had company because Saturday-Jeongmin came by to call up a video on my computer for us to watch together. He's priding himself on finding interesting clips related to the forest game.

And speaking of Saturday Jeongmin, here's the art he made on Saturday, based on the haiku he wrote:

It's Got Depth.

Then after Jeongminnie left for lunch, Jaehyung came by to fetch me. O-Teacher had to leave early today, but Jaehyung has his own key to the special needs room, so he and I and Byeongsu, Joonsung, and Chanyoung and 1st-grade Myeongchunnie (who is not special needs) locked ourselves into the room and hung out. Joonsung did computer, Chanyoung drew, and I played cards with the other three boys. Byeongsu was as animated as I've ever seen him. 

Myeongchun wasn't even trying to use English--Jaehyung ends up saying more English words just by accident, like "thank you" and "yes" and "my turn". I've also apparently said the words "I'll be back" so many times when leaving his classroom, Jaehyung says "I'll be back" to me every time I leave, like it's a farewell. He's so, so darling.

Saturday-Jeongmin came by the special needs room and I invited him in to play, but he said he just wanted to apologize. I didn't know what for, and he said it was for taking up my free time at lunch. Poor baby looked crestfallen. I asked if the other teachers had told him to apologize to me--it sounds like something a well-meaning senior would say to help me out--but he said no. 

I told him that he didn't need to apologize. That I wanted to spend time with him. That he was important and he shouldn't worry about taking up my time. He smiled and went off, cheerily. There's also the possibility that an older boy or group of boys told him that he was wasting my time, because it seems really random that Jeongminnie would suddenly start worrying about imposing on my free time, when he's never been concerned before and I've never once indicated that I cared.

2-3, 2-4 A was good. Redhair Joonyoung from B-class sat in on my entire A-class, which is the exact same class he had with me on Wednesday. I rubbed his head and told him:

Me: You should be with Sanghwa.
Joonyoung: No, not with him.
Afterschool-Jeongmin: Sanghwa is dead.
Me: No!
Joonyoung: Yes, dead!
Me: Sanghwa, bogoshipeo (I miss you)....
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9:30 PM: Also in 2-3, 2-4 A I heard a loud scream in the tiny vestibule that separates the English center from the hall. I thought someone was fighting, but I only heard one voice. I was the only adult in class--KBR Teacher was elsewhere--and I went to the vestibule to find...Joonsung. He was sitting on a chair, crying and wailing. 

I think he came in to use one of the computers we keep in the vestibule because he likes computers, and he seemed to have hit his hand on something. I was patting his head and shoulder to calm him down and to let him know that someone was there who cared, and Inha came out to ask what was wrong and Byeongyoonie came to translate for me. I asked Joonsung to come sit in class with us, but he wanted to stay in the vestibule and he finally stopped crying.

12 other boys crowded into the vestibule too, and Redhair-Joonyoung started mimicking Joonsung's theatrical crying. I grabbed Joonyoung's coat lapels and told him very sternly to stop. I wasn't furious or even super angry, but I was not going to let a sassy, clever boy make fun of a child with severe mental and learning disabilities. Joonyoung just wanted attention, anyway. And there are better ways to get it.

Joonyoung answered the worksheet for a second time this week because he wanted to earn his chocolate. For the "I forgot my homework, What should I do?" question, he answered, "Not do homework." On further questioning, he revealed that "not have to. Teacher not angry. I handsome." In other words, as Tall-Yoonjae explained, he thinks he has such a stunning face, no teacher could hold it against him if he didn't do his work. 

I sensed that Joonyoung wanted to be praised, so I said, "Well, he does have a handsome face." Yoonjae protested that no, Joonyoung was "very dirty". But you know, for all his brattiness, Joonyoung wants to be loved and admired. No one sneaks into a second round of a very dull class unless they need attention. Afterschool-Jeongmin's getting downright charming lately, coming by after class to cajole and request and plead for chocolate. It warms my heart to see my former afterschool boy being so animated and sweet.

I asked BY how he felt about Wooseok since they're in the same class and I know Wooseok's jealous of BY because he kept telling me that BY's an outcast loser. BY said that Wooseok is probably ADHD because he can't sit still and he's always screaming and causing a ruckus in class. Byeongyoon says that if he could change one of his classmates, it would be Wooseok because it's impossible to rest or be at peace while the other boy's in the room.

Well. At least now I know how matters stand. I love both boys, but I can see how super-genius-massive-ego-charmer BY would not mesh well with ghetto-hyper-rough-and-tumble Wooseok. They mutually dislike each other in a non-angry way, and I'll have to make sure I don't talk to them about each other, just to spare feelings all around. 

BY also told me that starting from Monday, he's assigned to clean my office, the first floor office. I can see how that's going to go--other kids will clean, and BY will spend 15 minutes of the 20-minute cleaning period gossiping with me. I look forward to it.

After 6th period, O-Teacher had asked me to round up her students for their special afterschool class. I found three of them. Chanyeong was missing when I went to 1-5 to get him. None of the kids knew where he was, so I went around the entire school for 20 minutes, explaining to various students and teachers who I was looking for and where I had already looked for him. 

I used a ton of Korean and I was still no closer to finding Chanyeong. Seongwon helped me some, but when he suggested I try room 1-5, I said in English, "No I already looked, but he wasn't there." HH was passing at that time and he said, "Who wasn't there?" He can't resist a puzzle or pass up a chance to be helpful. I explained the situation and HH said, "I think Chanyeong is easy to find. He's usually outside or in the gym." 

Now I'll know for future reference that this is what he does, because as it turned out, Chanyeong had run away from school and gone home already. I had to laugh. The child spent the last several weeks telling me he was going to run away, and he finally did it for real. He always turns up again, though.


Wednesday, November 20, 2013

11-21-13 Food-Sharing, Jaehyung's Birthday and Wooseok

11 AM: I'm exhaustifried, but happy.

2-1, 2-2 B was quite good. We didn't even play Apples to Apples--just did our worksheet and got chocolate for it, but all went well. They were wonderfully well-behaved and I got to interact with about 15 of them, so it was wonderful.

Minseop was darling and respectful, as per usual. Yonghan gave me a piece of his own chocolate cookie-crisps, which was extra sweet because Yonghan's been kind of a bossy, grabby kid in the past, demanding candy instead of asking. Today, he held out his hand and shyly offered to share his crisps, and I begin to think that Yonghan's just a Gifts person. Small objects matter so much to him, he gets overly demanding. I'm glad I took a little time to remember Yonghan's name and to give him chocolate in the hallway, because it seems to have softened his heart.

Worked with Comics-Joon on his paper, a boy so dubbed because he's never done any work in a single class I've taught him. He reads manhwa and doesn't look up. That's fine because I have other kids to work with, but today I decided to be brave and try working with him. It went fine! He's not a rough delinquent! Though why that should bother me even if it was true, I don't know, because some of my favorite students are rough delinquents.

Had fun with Twin-Seungho and Cutie-Hyunki, because Seungho has next to no English and Hyunki has, for all purposes, no English at all, so I had to use boocoodles of Korean. My language skills are getting honed to a fine point thanks to teaching B-level and playing games with C. Seungho cracked me up by saying "If I were you, I'd give up" to the "I forgot to do my homework, what should I do?" question. He seemed deeply gratified that he made me laugh.

And Hyunmook's in this class, but I get him confused with Taejoong from 2-3, 2-4 B, and I don't know how to keep them straight. Yoontae was darling. Seungho filmed me helping another kid, then ran the phone clip through a visual filter that made our heads look like aliens. Pretty hilarious.

For 1-9, 1-10 B I did a speaking test. Governor Yunho's still calling me Juliet. Baby-Deukhee and Teddybear-Deokryeong and Hair-Yooseok and Tan Sanggyu and Laryngitis Seonghoon and 8-Bit-Glasses Seonghyun were all great. AND I discovered that one of my new afterschool boys, Hyunseok, is in this class. I've been teaching him for 3 months, but when he got to afterschool I couldn't tell if I taught him before or if I'd merely seen him in the halls a lot. He's funny and has the best English in his class.

In  the special needs room, it's Jaehyung's birthday! Yayyyy! He must be a really young 2nd-grader because he's only just now turning international-age 14 (Korean 15). We're having a birthday party at lunch time, and Jaehyung told me he expects a "saengil seonmul" from me--a birthday present. Fortunately, I think I have some little things tucked away in my desk for just such an occasion.

Gave Giant Shion chocolate in the hallway. Technically, I think I have him for 3-4, 3-4 B but he's only come to class two times in the past several months, so. But Shion is such a beautiful kid, so sweet and respectful. He always bows when he sees me, and he lights up like a sunbeam. Chocolate is the least I can give to someone so kind--I always feel better after seeing Shion.

Yeongchang is now expecting greeting-hugs as his rightful due. So long as winter lasts, that sounds fine by me. Does Yeongchang get hugged much at home? I feel like he can't go 30 seconds with pushing or hugging the other boys, and can scarcely go longer without nudging my arm or bumping into me. He's just a Touch person, like HH likes Words and Yonghan likes Gifts and Mimic Jaehwan's got have Quality Time. Everybody needs something to make them feel cared for.
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1:45 PM Well, I got Jaehyung's present to him (a tube of blue bubbles with a lid shaped like a star), but I missed the cake they had in the special needs room because I was playing cards with the 3rd-graders and Wooseok. I kept meaning to disperse everybody so I could go to the party across the hall, but I felt like my 3rd-graders needed me.

Today it was just Jinhwan and Jaehwan who came to get me, but when we got to the conference room we were soon joined by Model-Seokho. I was so excited! I've been hoping for the longest time that I'd get to spend time with Seokho, and I finally did. He played about 3 games of spoon-cards with us, then left and was replaced by another C-class 3rd-grader named Geonhee,

And for the whole time, Sunny-Wooseok was with us. This morning, Wooseok peeked through the office doors while I was running the copy machine, then just kept opening and closing the door a few inches so he could smile at me. I stepped closer and gave him a high five, then he trotted off. Wooseok really is a beautiful child. He's not physically little and doesn't have one of those high voices, but you can picture exactly what he looked like as a baby because he still has bright eyes and cute baby cheeks.

Wooseok made it a point to speak with me as much as possible during the card games, but all in Korean because he's C-ban. He was trying to figure out where I lived, and I told him some locations that I was near. He must live close because he knew where everything was. He also asked if I lived alone, and when I said yes, he asked if it wasn't scary living by myself. I told him that it honestly wasn't.

Keep in mind that the whole conversation from start to finish is happening in Korean...

Wooseok: ":Do you have any Korean friends?"
Me: "Yes, a few."
Wooseok: "Do you have foreigner-frends?"
Me: Yes, lots of them."
Wooseok: "How many people?"
Me: "20."

I asked Wooseok if he had any foreign friends and he said no, looking like it was a funny question because of course he doesn't get the chance to meet middle-schoolers from other countries. I indicated myself, then said, "There is one American friend". He looked confused for a second and we got caught up in the card game. I thought "Oh that was the wrong thing to say, because the word "friend" implies that you're the same age."

But when the next round of cards was finished, Wooseok was grinning from ear to ear. "Korea, America," he said. ".....friend?" I nodded yes, that he and I could be friends. When the game was over, I told him to follow me to the office if he wanted chocolate, and he came along. Wooseok's very special.

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Tuesday, November 19, 2013

11-20-13 Proprietary Yeongchang, Student Apologies, and Don't Call Anybody Stupid

11 AM: First classes were okay.

Gave a spelling test to the 1st-graders and discovered that that the kid I'd been calling Sungmin for 3 months is actually named Sejoon. Baby lied outright about his name and nobody corrected me. Oy. So I started calling him "gojitmaljaengi," which means liar, and he found this to be hilarious. One of the jjangs, Sangho, had the best English of anybody, much to my shock.

But while I was administering Won's test, I saw the worst case of student-disciplining I've witnessed so far. I was sitting in the hallway at a desk, interviewing Won for the speaking test, when one of the sweet little female teachers of the 1st-graders came out into the hall, screaming at Puppy-Jinho, who I teach on Tuesdays.

I have no idea was he did, but he was getting cursed at pretty severely and she was hitting him as hard as she could with the stick that all teachers carry. He was wearing a giant puffy coat, but lots of blows were landing on his legs and he was crying. It just went on and on...kids from another classroom opened the windows to see what was going down. I really hope he did something horrible to deserve that. Isn't it awful to be hoping that Jinho hurt another student or stole money from teachers or something equally severe? But that's the only way that what I saw makes sense.

When the tests were over, Proposal-Heejoon came out into the hall to tell me he loves me and he also loves chocolate. I had assumed that Heejoon was an A-class 1st-grader by his willingness to speak English to me, but he's in C-ban. When I asked him my name, he didn't know it, opting to call me "PrettyTeacher".

2-3, 2-4 B was dull as tombs. But I did get in good speaking time with Sanghwa and Joonyoung, though Sanghwa finally did move seats to get away from me. The pressure was just too great! And I did get some good moments with B-Class Minwoo and Joonsang, who love me and I them. They said, 'If we not...play..game, we........very sad." It was emotional blackmail of sorts.

Tall-Sweet-Junho (who is not Need-You-Junho), B-Class-Byeongyoon and Little Jongseung did well on their worksheet and when I wrote "good job" on it, Junho protested, "Not good. I want "great!"" I marked through the first word and wrote "great" instead.

Had some good interactions with Good-Speller Taejoong, a boy who seems to adore me now that I embarrassed him over something inappropriate he wrote on the blackboard two weeks ago. Teasing equals love for this one. Afro-Woojae did an awesome job with his worksheet, Jiseung was charming, and I wish we'd had more to do in class.

Sunny Wooseok came into class at the end, and at both the end and beginning of class, Inha and Yeongchang came in to tell me that they were B-class and wanted to stay with me (it's not true--they're A and C-class, respectively).

Yeongchang has also gotten immensely jealous over the fact that I hug my female friend, O-Teacher. He was protesting that it was improper, but O-Teacher and I explained that it's an American greeting and I gave him a quick hug, which was more like a collision of two giant puffy coats because we're bundled up for winter, even in the special needs room. That pacified him enough that he was done with fussing and was back to following me everywhere, like a puppy. But a really massive puppy that gets in your way and is stronger than you and has a thick winter coat. Like, I don't know, a malamute or something.
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2 PM: Well. Lots of good things happened, but it was exorbitantly tiring for moments.

2-9, 2-10 A was going well until Joker-Yoonseong decided to eat some of the pieces of Apples to Apples paper, and to throw the rest on the ground. Seriously. And he wouldn't pick them up. JY-Teacher kept Yoonseong and 5 other boys for eight minutes after class was over, lecturing them about their disrespectful behavior.

The main force of her argument, from what I could understand, was that I had worked hard to make things for them. That I had a difficult time because I was living in a new place, but I always tried hard to prepare things for them. Her words were so sweet, I got a little misty. It also made me feel kind of fragile to be defended like that--I must not be doing too well if I need my big-sister figure to take care of me like that. She made them apologize to me, too.

But at lunch, JY-Teacher told me, "Don't worry. You must understand that the students are just like that. It's not you. In my classes, too, they don't listen to me and they're always doing things I don't want them to do. I end most classes with yelling at them. And remember that many students love you. They want to learn English with you and because of you." I assured her that I was going to be okay and that I wouldn't give up. I thanked her for her kind words.

At lunch, 3rd-Grade-Jimin said hi to me in the lunchline. He said it was nice to see me. I said it was good to see him again, too. He said, "This is our sixth meeting." JY-Teacher overheard that and said, "He's counting each time you meet? That's weird." I said I thought it was cute and she replied, "It's like being a stalker." Heh. Plenty of the kids have stalky tendencies, but Jimin's not one of them.

Saw Byeonghyun briefly in the office when he came by for some other business. I smiled and said, "I miss you! Even though it's only been one day, I miss you." I was being funny, but I did mean it. He said, "I missed you, too."

Also, when I walked into 2-9, 2-10 A, Seonwoo started singing "Joah" to me. He and the entire two front rows alternated between  chorusing "guys!" in a Southern accent and singing bits of the song as I set up my computer. Seonwoo was having a grand old time with this new thing he's found to tease me about. Seonwoo loves to laugh, and looks for excuses to joke--I'm just pleased that he's choosing to interact with me.

When class was over, Seonwoo got a piece of chocolate from me, then came back begging for another one, please, please, please? Child thinks I have a soft spot for him and that he can get nigh-on-to-unlimited candy just by being polite and precious. He's not wrong.

After lunch, I played spoon-cards with Byeongsu, Myeongchun, and Daesung and I was tired and ended the game when Myeongchunnie had to go to lunch. I was walking down the hall to go back to the office when Talkative-Jinseo spotted the card deck and spoons in my hand and asked what they were for. He said he wanted to play, so we marched right back to the conference room and played.

With Jinseo was C-Class Seonghyun, not to be confused with A-Class Diamond-Seonghyun of 2-7, 2-8 A or 8-Bit-Glasses-Seonghyun on 1-9, 1-10 B. This Seonghyun was in my afterschool class but only came 4 times out of 40 class periods. Not kidding. But when he came, I fed him. I was thrilled that spoon-cards gave me the chance to interact with C-Class-Seonghyun.

Sunny-Wooseok joined us too, and before long Dokyung, Byeongkeun, Jinhwan and Jaehwan filed into the conference room, looking betrayed once more to find me already playing with 2nd-graders. I managed to integrate the two age groups, so 3rd-grade Jaehwan, Jinhwan, and Daesung played nicely with 2nd-grade Jinseo, Seonghyun, and Wooseok and me. We had a grand time.

Wooseok is facinated by my foreignness, in a darling, inoffensive sort of way. He halted one card game so he could get a better look at my eyes, murmuring "eye color..." in Korean. I said, "chorok-sek"(green), he said no, they were "paran-sek"(blue), but insisted on green and Jinseo settled the matter--my eyes are green. Their eyes are "kkal-sek"(brown) and my hair, Jinseo says, is "geum-sek"(gold/blonde).

Wooseok has also been amazed at my nose for quite awhile--when I turned in profile to him, I look back to find him tapping a forefinger against the bridge of his own nose, like he's comparing them. I've never given any thought to noses, either my own or anyone else's,but the boys have determined that I've got a good nose.

Wooseok started saying something to Jinseo in Korean about how he guessed that foreign people often had unusual eye colors, but he's got a really ghetto vocabulary and he used a swear word for "foreign people". He immediately corrected himself when he realized what he'd said in front of me, and I told him I forgave him. He truly didn't mean harm, and I like the idea of being one of the people who makes Wooseok realize that foreigners are people. Just like him, but with weird eye-colors.
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4 PM: Ah, Jimin isn't Jimin, he's Juseong. My bad. Jimin and Juseong are in the very same class and they look remarkably similar, but it's Juseong that keeps track of our meetings, which are now up to 7 since I had his class today.

For 3-1, 3-2 B, I was supposed to have a movie but Yoonseoppie couldn't get the tv cable to work, so we had nothing. I offered to play spoon-cards with three of them, and soon it was spoon-cards with eight of them because 3-1, 3-2 B knows how to participate! And their jjang is fond of me, which helps with partcipation.

I started playing with Wooyoung, Cheolmin, and Juseong, and Juseong was floored when I called him "Jimin". He looked like I'd cut out his heart with a rusty spoon. But further discussion revealed that he didn't know my name and that both he and the class jjang decided that "Juliet" was closest to correct. The jjang is Sungyeong, and I don't really know for sure if he runs the show, but he's the loudest and most boisterous and the other kids follow his lead in most everything. So.

Sungyeong couldn't bear for fun to be happening without him, so he quickly came snooping around the card game when it was clear that we were enjoying ourselves. I had to beg him to play, but that's what he wanted--to have his presence so desired that he was forced to submit to the will of the adoring masses. He learned the game fast and soon he was running the game. I still decided who shuffled and who dealt in what direction, but for most intents and purposes, it was Sungyeong's game.

Mr. B had to tell my crowd of boys to be quiet three times because every time Sungyeong would win, he and his three best friends would stand up and cheer. Gosh, but they're loud. Donghyun and Joohyun and Yeonghwan also joined, and five other kids watched the proceedings excitedly. Everyone gathered around for chocolate afterward, saying please properly.

In the hallway, Strong-Donghwi found me, as did Playground-Youngjin and America-Hyunkyeong, so there was a big free-for-all of fifteen 3rd-graders crowding around trying to out-polite each other in their requests for chocolate and their correct remembrance of my name. I gave extra to Donghyun and Sungyeoung, because "play cards together," as they said, which entitles them to a bigger share. Secret-Daeho was mortified to have to say "may I please" because he thinks he's above formal requests, but he wants chocolate bad enough to humble himself.

Later, I stepped outdoors to enjoy a moment of sunshine on the porch and Camera-Mingyu asked "what are you doing?" Hyunkyeong followed up with, "Prettygirl, pretty pretty girl!" I said I just wanted to be outside. Hyunkyeong mimicked my voice and I good-naturedly called him "babo," expecting him to continue walking off to play soccer. He doubled back to make sure I knew what I had said to him. "Babo...stupid. Yes?"

I smiled and poked his jacket sleeve. "Yes, stupid!" I was joking and he pretended to pout over it, but I also knew that I'd better verbally backpedal quickly because although the "stupid" doesn't carry the same insult-weight in Korean as in does in English, my Hyunkyeong is C-ban, and he's naturally sensitive about it. I said, "No, you're very smart. Dokdokhan haksaeng." He gestured toward his face and asked hopefully, "Handsome?" -"Yes, you're handsome, too. Jalsaengitda." So long as I was complimenting him, he figured he might as well get the full array of praise. So I'm never calling any of the kids babo again, on the off chance that it might hit home with some of them.
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7:30 PM Afterschool went okay. They did a different worksheet from yesterday, then we tried to watch a movie but I'd picked the wrong file, so we just hung out for the last 15 minutes and played spoon-cards. I fed them chocopies like I did with my old kids, and I'm gradually getting some names.

Joohyuk is funny--he said, "Who are you? I want B-Teacher..." It was very sweet. Jungwoon is smart and cute, Jinsu is thin and is constantly teasing the other students, and everyone accuses Hyungsoo  of liking me. Yoodam outright said "I like you" and threw me heart sign with his hands.

Again, I hope to find something interesting for them to do, something they'll like. Maybe I'll bring the spare art supplies for them tomorrow. They're my new kids and I want to do good things for them.

Saw Junho and his crew downtown when I was heading out to eat dinner.

Junho: "It's my girl!" *high fives me*
Me: "Junho, hi!"
Seongsu: *points to Junho* "Teacher, he smoking!"
Me: *ruffles Seongsu's hair* "Yes, that's bad. He shouldn't."
Dongjin: "Hello, my wife!"
Me: "Hi, sweetheart."

On the walk home, BY was disappointed because I saw him before he could surprise/scare me. He's thrilled with the fact that now, minus crutches, he can sneak up on people. HH met me at the bus stop to give me a high five with both hands, which is apparently our thing, now. Saw Saturday-Jeongmin briefly in the hall--his hands were covered in colors, so he must have come straight from art class.

I had to remember to thank the Lord for my boys today. I try to bless them, but they are a blessing to me.
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Monday, November 18, 2013

11-19-13 Baby-feet, Recordings of Me, and 1st-Grade Afterschool

10 AM: First class was good.

It was with the Demon Class, 2-7, 2-8 A, but they weren't bad, and I'll be doggoned if they're not becoming some of my favorites. I met 4 new ones: Seunghwan, who is constantly teased about his weight, Sungtaek, who wears a green jacket and is quite studious, Seongwoo, who wears glasses and sits by Taehoonie and couldn't remember my name yesterday.

We did worksheets, then played Apples to Apples, and it all went okay. Fun-Hyunmyeong's a bit of a genius with English and he helps all his classmates. Hyunmyeong's still teasing me about my song, too--I think he's a musically inclined kid and singing really touches him. When asked what I should do if I became president of Korea, he replied with the perfectly thought-out sentence: "If I were you, I would make Korea better." Dawww.

Hyungmin, who used to be the worst trouble ever, sat nicely and talked with me about the paper. He put his sock-feet up on the table after I had moved on the next kids, and I came back to hold up my socked-foot as well, to compare sizes. Hyungmin smiled to see that my foot was much smaller than his and he announced, "Baby!" I have baby-sized feet, according to one Korean teenager.

KBR-Teacher still had to scold the boys for eating in class and making a mess, but I didn't feel disrespected. I feel like I'm with a bunch of rowdy boys that I care about. On the downside, I spent all my time with the precious troublemakers and didn't get to talk to Daehoonie or Ikgwang or Jihyuk or the nice boys. I'll catch you next week, fellas.
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2:40 PM: Next batch of classes went fine, if somewhat dull. Some weeks I feel like I'm running around like a gazelle on the Serengeti with so many activities for classtime, and some weeks there's lots of downtime. But I don't regret the slowed-down pace for this week--I need some recovery time, and it lets me conenct one-on-one in a way that the more boisterous lessons don't. On noisy weeks, everyone has fun but I don't meet any new kids or learn any new faces.

1-5, 1-6 B was fine. I know almost every child in there and it was good to see them. They really liked Apples to Apples.

Saturday Jeongmin was waiting for me before and after lunch and he sat by me at my computer and played the game again. I told him I was taking over the 1st-grade English afterschool and he told me wished he could be in it.

Played UNO and piano in the special needs room. Jaehyung's sunny as usual, Seongwonnie's not unhappy, but he's a smidgen withdrawn, and Yeongchang is always getting in my way so I can push him. He's not taller than me, but he is wider and heavier and has a lower center of gravity, so it's really only out of his own free will that he moves.

My 3rd-graders came to get me after lunch when I was playing computer with Jeongmin. Even without Yeonghyo as ringleader, Jaehwan, Jinhwan, Byeongkeun and Dokyung decided that gametime would continue, and they brought a new kid, Juseong.

We had a great time, playing spoon-cards and UNO by turns. When the boys would lose at spoons, they'd deal out a "punishment" and hit each other in the head with the plastic spoons with enough force to separate head from body. But the one time I lost, I extended my hand, palm up for spoon-punishment and they all gave it a delicate tap with their spoon, like I was made of dandelion fluff and would bruise from the slightest roughness. So sweet.

Jinhwan also decided to be my champion a couple of times--their were 5 spoons for 6 people and sometimes he would steal an extra spoon and hand it to me if he didn't think I'd be quick enough to get my own spoon and thus avoid punishment. They all kept accusing each other of smoking, and I'm fairly sure they've all been guilty at some point or other--it seems to be a particular issue with the C-class boys.

Jinhwan also gave me a shock by pulling out his phone and playing a song he was smiling over...I couldn't make out who the singer was until Dokyung and Jaehwan exclaimed, "Sem!" Sure enough, Jinhwan was playing video he took of me at the school festival. He wouldn't really let me see it, though. I was a teensy bit mortified.

There had to have been 800 smartphones in that audience, and plenty of the kids were close enough to get a decent recording. How many students' phones am I on? Is it uploaded anywhere? How do I get a copy of the file without giving the kids my number or email? Questions for the ages, right there.

2-5, 2-6 B was good and I finally met Jongin, the student that looks like Simyong but isn't Simyong. I found out that Taekyoon has some of the best English in the class and that Injae has a killer sense of humor. And Seongsu and Dongjin had to do pushups for ten minutes because of something they said or did around JY-Teacher. I didn't see it, but I know they deserved it. They liked Apples to Apples, also.

After class, 20 kids zoomed in for chocolate. I'm having way too much fun with the "what's my name?" question because there are about 5 ways to answer correctly--any one of my names or any mixture thereof will do--but some of the boys I've been teaching for 3 months still don't know any of my names. My favorite incorrect answers to "what's my name" are "Cinderella" and "Natasha". What do they call me when they're talking amongst themselves? Foreign-Teacher-Who-Isn't-B-Teacher?
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6 PM: Class with the 1st-grade babies was a success!

Though they aren't really babies. I walked into classroom 2-7 and thought I'd accidentally gotten a batch of 2nd-graders transported in, because not a single one of these kids is the tiny pocket-size that is reasonably common among 1st-graders. And I know 3 of them because they're in my B-classes--everyone else is A-class whom I haven't met yet.

I said if we all did our worksheet, we could watch a movie, so lots of dedicated writing earned them 15 minutes of film. They were well-behaved and I sat with a group of funny guys near the back how decided to spend all their time insulting each other and accusing each other of all manner of bad behavior. I just laughed and joked with them about how they couldn't stop laying blame. They were super cute and this was their way of getting attention.

They're also still new enough to me that they're excited by the fact that I can write in Korean, so that's fun. I hope to get to know them better this week because I wasn't able to keep any of their names in my head.

On the walk home from school, Junho walked as close as my giant coat and three bags full of school supplies would allow him to, and crooned the lyrics to "Joah". He's got a nice voice and I sang with him for a bit. I got called Junho's girlfriend three times today and I just smiled  instead of replying. This whole back-and-forth with Junho brings joy to him and the other kids, so who am I to squash their fun?

While I was in my new afterschool room, Dongjun poked his head through the door just to say, "Hi teacher..." Sweet. Seongmo held out his arms to me in the hallway, as if to show how much he missed me. It's been one day, Seongmo-yah. I think you'll live.

Didn't see BH even once today. Got to talk to HH about four times today, so that's been good--he's happy that I'm taking a Korean language class. Sanghwa met me in the hallway to tell me that life is awful and Brenton hates him. I love you, you little whiner. Saw Jinseop on the walk home from school and told him I missed him. He smiled.
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