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.
