9:50 AM: Delivered another round of notes to my boys in 2-5, 2-6 and found a bunch of them off in the 1st-grade wing. Now I know where they're being kept!
Had written notes out for more boys and I was thankful that I'd added a couple of kids who I barely knew, because they went nuts when I gave them their notes. They were so happy. Looks-Like-Simyong-Jongin was gratified to get a note, and Twin-Jeongho did a little skippy dance when discovering his name among the pile of notes.
I wrote names on my hand, from kids requesting their own notes. Pepper Dongmin was wondering why there wasn't one with his name on it, so I just now wrote him one. Who could have known I'd like Dongmin so much or that he'd care to ask me for special things.
Yeongjoon decoded what the notes were for, "This is for me, get a high score?" I told him yes, to do his best.
Injae tried to get another note, but I told him I gave him his yesterday. Later, I saw him showing off his own folded-up "encouragement paper" to Jeongho--Injae had kept in his pocket all day yesterday and brought it to school with him today.
-----------------------------------------------------------
10:50 AM So many little run-ins in just 10 minutes, with me trying to get notes to kids. Had to tell poor darling A-class Minwoo that his chocolate had been purloined by B-class Minwoo who just happens to be in the same class. B-class baby sees a paper with his name on it, knows I love him, and therefore assumes it is his. I don't have the heart to correct him and look at his disappointed face, so I had to look at other Minwoo's disappointed face.
Also, I haven't seen Diamond-Seonghyun yet but his chocolate was taken by Blackhair Seonghyun, a boy who needs affection so much, the longing to be appreciated just oozes from him. I gave him Diamond-Seonghyun's note and petted his hair and told him it was for him. And it was.
In the hall, Sanghwa came running up to me and jumped and wiggled in place, asking for his chocolate, saying "Me too, me too, me too!" he was smiling so brightly, I didn't correct him for saying it in banmal (non-respectful mode). I told him that his was coming later.
3rd-grade Jjang-Donghwi made it a point to stand as close as possible while he watched me talk to other students, and by close I mean physically touching at all times. That's one way to keep the others away, I suppose. Don't give them a chance to elbow in.
Gave Daehoonie his note and he had an English question for me. It made me feel smart.
Byeonghyun followed me into the hall and adorably said, "Ah, I forgot to write you a letter back..." I punched his arm and dramatically called him a bad boy for forgetting me already.
BY tried to scare me, but it was too late, for I had already seen him, BWA-HA. Then after BY left, I was immediately backhugged by Seongwon. Seongwon. My Seongwonnie being affectionate for the first time in a month! Got to get him a note.
In 4th period, I will get to oversee a test with KBR-Teacher! Whee!
----------------------------------------------------
2 PM: Normally, I get to go home early, but our VP hasn't given us the go-ahead yet, so maybe I'll be here until normal quittin' time.
The 4th-period test observation went fine. The poor boys, though. So many kids I know and like were putting their heads down on their desks in exhaustion long before the testing period was through. They look beat, and they've got another day of this ahead of them. I keep saying I'm not going to begrudge things, but I really think I'm not going to begrudge the boys any bits of joy in their lives, now that I've seen the energy drain out of them molecule by molecule over a math test.
In the hall, Byeongwook, a kid I had steadily worked with in 2-3, 2-4 A despite him reading a comic all class, came up to me to ask me a question about his English test. And Hyungro, one of my Saturday boys, came up to ask me a question from his test that looked like it had been written incorrectly, because even I couldn't guess what the gist of the English paragraph was supposed to be. But I didn't tell him that--it would be disrespectful to whomever worked to make the test, and it was definitely one of our teachers.
Finally got the notes to 2-3 and 2-4 after lunch. Sanghwa crowed and howled out his victory when he got his note and candy. Joonyoung was equally exultant, and grumpy Afterschool Jeongmin and Emo Joon were thrilled as pie to get theirs. I was handing out notes and explaining to one kid whose name I didn't know that there weren't notes for every single boy and that I was sorry, and Tall Yoonjae said smugly, "It's not a problem." I said, "Yeah, you don't think it's a problem because you got yours!"
Annnnnd....I met HH's mom! At lunch! I've been seeing different mothers around today, and most of them were ladies I hadn't seen around school before. I would smile and bow when I saw them, and most of them seemed thrilled to see me. I'd briefly scan their faces thinking, "Whose mother are you? Are you Jungbok's mom? Hyunho's mom? Yoonseong's?" The only mom I know 100% is Tall Yoonjae's mom, who is gorgeous and very classy, not to mention fun.
So at lunch, I got a plate of what I thought I could manage to eat because I'm still not back to full eating capacity, then sat down by G-Teacher. The mothers filed in at our table and one mother sat by me. We greeted each other with "Annyeonghaseyo," then after I'd taken a couple bites she said in English, "I know you!"
I was pretty surprised,and for a second I thought she was going to tell me that she saw me at my favorite sushi restaurant or something because people lately seem to observe me in my natural habitat for a while before they speak to me. Then she said, "I'm HH's mother." I was so thrilled to meet her. It was like meeting Byeonghyun's mom or BY's mom or something--to finally see the person who put so much effort into molding a lovely person.
I told her that she should be proud of HH and that I'd wondered what HH's parents were like, because he was so smart. She said she'd heard a lot about me, that I was really nice and creative, and I said that I often thought I wasn't a very good teacher at all but I always tried my best to have fun lessons.
After a long getting-to-know-you chat, we said goodbye and when I stood up to return my tray, I heard an excited voice call out, "Eomma!"(mama!) It was HH, standing in the lunchline opposite where we had been sitting. He was happily waving with both hands to his mother, and I was just so thrilled to see that he loves his mother that much.
She reacted the same way to him--totally delighted, as if instead of seeing him this very morning for breakfast, she hadn't seen him in months. It's pretty much the way my whole family says hi to each other and it made me homesick. I was already walking away but I waved at him and HH spared a smile my way, then looked back at his mom as if to say, "You guys have finally met; isn't this awesome?" I figured most boys would be horrified to learn I was talking with their parents, but HH just sees two of his favorite women having a conversation and figures that all is right with the world.
---------------------------------------
3:15 PM: The Adorable History Teacher is yelling at some student. Whatever they did must be bad, because that man is angelic. If he is yelling, something is wrong, wrong. I just looked, and it's three students in trouble. The Vice Principal verbally backed Adorable History Teacher up on this too, so the kids are in the wrong.
Annnnd somebody just got paddled in the office.
Background: Adorable History Teacher is one of my heroes at school. He's married and speaks virtually no English, but within the limits of propriety and language barriers, he's been as nice to me as anyone could be. Most guy-teachers at school greet me in the hall, but about 4 of them act like I don't exist. They never acknowledge that I've bowed to them or said hello in Korean--it's like I'm not a person to them. But AHT is in another category altogether--he makes you feel like he's glad to see everyone, like bowing and saying hello is something he does joyfully.
He lives fairly close to my apartment I assume, because I'v run into him once or twice and we've have mini-conversations where he apologizes for not knowing English, and I tell him that it's nothing to worry about. One time the kids were razzing him about not knowing English and they kept saying random English phrases at him until he ordered them (in English): "Korean speaking now." The first month of school, he saw me and KBR Teacher together at a coffeeshop and couldn't stop telling her how cool he thought that was.
But the big thing (which I'm certain I mentioned in the school festival write-up but which I'll say again), was that on the day when I performed for the school festival, he helped me take courage. He was the only person who took the time to explain to me in what order I sang, by pointing to the all-Korean itinerary of events: "This. Nine. Leigh-time, Sixteen," letting me know that I could go rest instead of hanging around the stage getting progressively more nervous.
Then he came backstage to give me advance warning that I was 2 songs away from showtime, saying "Leigh time is next, next." And before I went out he clenched his fists in solidarity and said "Leigh, fighting!" which is what we say in Korea to mean, "Go you! You can do it!" (It's the English word "fighting' pronounced like "hwaiting" or "pighting" because there is no f-sound in Korean. I wrote 화이팅 on all my boys' encouragement notes today.)
In short, AHT is a wonderful person. He's like the super-nice character in a Charles Dickens novel, the character who is so sweet you don't think a real person could be like that (Tim Cratchett, Lucie Manette, Oliver Twist), but some people actually are.
I should probably do profiles on my other favorite co-workers. I don't want to forget why they're great.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
3:50 PM: Also today, I saw Jeongminnie again. He had Kakao-messaged me last night because he didn't see me at school and was worried. But today we got to hang out after lunch and he showed me all these special easter eggs (meaning "special surprise features") of the Google search function, where when you type in certain words, Google lets you play games.
Type in "zerg rush" on Google and little golden 0's will start falling over the page, gradually erasing your visible search results. You're supposed to click the 0's to make them go away, but there are so many, you can't get rid of them all, and the page gets devoured until it's blank. That's pretty cool.
Jeongmin wanted to walk with me when school let out, so we made plans to meet back at my office. He sat with me for about 20 minutes after 1:30 when he finished school, but then I sent him home because instead of going home early today like I had anticipated, I was going to be at school for an unknown amount of time. It took some convincing.
Jeongmin: I'll wait for you.
Me: I don't know how long I'll be here.
Jeongmin: It doesn't matter.
Me: You need to go home. Isn't your mother waiting for you?
Jeongmin: Yes, but that's why I stay. If I go home, mother is there and then I will have to study.
Me: Jeongminnie, go home.
Jeongmin: I wanted to walk with you.
Me: Go home. *gives chocolate*
Jeongmin: Okay. I'll go.
Also, thanks to Jeongmin-time today, my phone is now equipped with the mobile app version of Minecraft, a creative game where you can design entire blocky little worlds, like 3-D Legoland. Jeongmin downloaded it for me, then when I said I needed to go to the Homeplus to buy a Christmas tree, he used the game to build me a Christmas tree.
He built me a tree.
Isn't that the most precious thing?
He also alluded to the fact that he's going to teach me Korean in the future. I'd settle for him teaching me to play Minecraft so I can build my own forest.
------------------------------------
6:40 PM Today, my Vice Principal gave me a chocolate bar (the same kind I had given him for Chuseok)! And my Principal told me my shoes were pretty.
Clearly, my mother has killer taste in shoes because I only wear the shoes my mom sends me, and I get endless compliments on my school slippers and my snow boots. Rock on, Leigh's Mom.
Ran into TE-Teacher on the sidewalk and she invited me to dinner! I ate with her and KBR-Teacher and YSR-Teacher. It was a great ladies' night out and I could follow a decent amount of the conversation. They really encouraged me in my teaching and I thank the Lord for their sweet company. They told me that our school has a reputation for being the hardest place to teach in our entire city. Dude. I'd heard that before, but it's another thing to hear from my co-workers themselves.
Today, Joohyunnie came running out of a classroom to tell me: "Birthday candy! Teacher, my family eat it all! I have 2 pieces, Simyong have 2, family eat it all." He was laughing though. Then my darling Simyong said something and Joohyun translated, "He want me to tell you his birthday June 6th." Hee. Now that they know I'll pay up when my boys have birthdays, the conga line to get their birthdays remembered will commence. :-)
-------------------------------------
