Hyo got some answers nobody else knew, as did Hyukjae. I was proud of their knowledge. All my boys had fun with the game, and we didn't even get to move on to the second game I had prepared. It was a great post-finals-week stress diffuser and we all left with smiles.
On my desk this morning was a package from a bookstore, but the label was Korean, so I assumed the school had ordered me an extra English textbook. In actuality, it was a present! From O-Teacher, my friend who left the school! It was a book of Korean poetry, translated into English.
My Very First Volume of Korean Poetry.
This is so touching, because I've been saying for months that while I've read a lot of translated Japanese and Chinese poetry, I've never read any Korean poetry. To me, it's such a shame that Korean literature isn't that well known in America unless you happen to be a college student in an Asian Studies program. It's rough that even World Literature courses don't have much in the way of Korean works, and if they do it's short stories, not poetry.
I mentioned this to O-Teacher a few times, telling her I kept meaning to buy myself some Korean poetry, but she was a step ahead of me and gave me some as a present. Ohhh.
It Came With a Card, Too.
Stickers!
In her note, she encouraged me to read through the whole book, even if I don't quite get it all at first. The author lived during the pre-World War II era when Korea was colonized/occupied by the Japanese, and his life was very stressful. The first poem in the collection is supposed to be well known. It's called "Prelude":
"Oh, heaven, may my life be
Clear of a single particle of shame
Till I die.
I was afflicted
Even by winds rustling tree leaves.
With a heart that sings of stars,
I will love all dying things
And I must walk the path offered me.
Tonight as ever stars are grazed by winds."
So good. I can't wait to read the rest of it.
Sat with Joonseong this morning while he played 3 really lovely songs. I don't know to what extent Joonseong notices or appreciates having company, but I like sitting by him and hearing him play. I know that I'm caring for him and appreciating him, even if he doesn't know.
This morning, some child crept up behind me and put their hands on my shoulders, attaching themselves to me like a baby koala bear and keeping step close behind me so I couldn't see them. "Seongwonnie?" I asked. Because Yeongchang or Jaehyung or BY would do the same thing, but they would loudly announce their presence, instead of doing it silently. After five more steps, Seongwon detached himself and smiled at me.
Later, after my class, he saw me and softly threw an empty cloth pencil case at my arm. I told him not to, them I walked down the hall with my arm slung around him, to let him know he was precious. He seemed proud. Seongwon has definitely come a long way from the constant jumping-screaming-hitting, to understanding a bit about how to show and receive love.
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While most of my 3rd-graders watched a movie, I played Monopoly with Yeonghyo, Teacher's Pet Jeongmin, and Good-Singer Kyeonghyun. They were thrilled with the game--TP Jeongmin has spent 5 weeks refusing to play UNO or Spoons, but when Monopoly was on offer, he was elbowing other people out of the way.
Then after game one was over (Yeonghyo won), TP Jeongmin dropped out and Sooncheon stepped in. I love me some Sooncheon--his smile, his sparkly eyes, his braces, the way he tries his best to use English so I'll understand. He recently got some kind of K-pop perm-style thing and it doesn't make him look more sophisticated, as it was undoubtedly intended to--it makes him even more adorable.
Jangwon was our banker for the games, and he stayed to help me clean up. I told him that next week he'd be playing, not just watching, and he smiled. Jangwon is taller than me by a bit, but I've seen him as a little kid to protect ever since he cried during his speaking test. Jangwon has a tender heart and he's always been kind to me.
At lunch, Jinhwan sat at the table across from me and kept reaching over the aisle and poking me in the side. Later, when I called him out for it, the 3rd-grade C-class boys learned a new word, "poking" and proceeded to use it often during our Monopoly game. "Teacher! He poking! Me, he poking!"
Saturday Jeongmin had texted me over the weekend to tell me what he was doing, and he was waiting at the office today, to walk me to the lunchroom and again waiting when I got back. We watched our video game Youtube clips, then Yeonghyo, Jinhwan, and Jaehwan came to get me for Monopoly. The trouble with Monopoly with Jinhwan is that there will be cheating, you just don't know how bad it'll get. And it's hard to have any sort of meaningful game when the results are being rigged.
Byeongkeun and Heechan came into the room and they were the bankers, but they kept dispensing money as they saw fit, which put a weird spin on the game especially since I was paying attention to other things. Joonseong wandered into the room and Heechan was greeting him way too loudly and aggressively, when I told Heechan that Joonseong was "our student," and he was to be treated well. So my eyes were on Joonseong as he flitted about the room, not on the game where Byeongkeun was slipping 500s to Jinhwan.
In 2-9, 2-10 A, I had Seonwoo, my super-loud darling boy, among other favorites like Stoic Seonghak. We just did the Icon game and we had a lovely, boisterous time. One kid was an all-out genius at it, but I can recall his name. Yoonseong kept sinking his own team because he couldn't keep his mouth shut when he knew the answers for other teams. Thus, he gave them the answers and gave them the points, earning Seonwoo's ire.
Didn't have a co-teacher for either of my 2nd grade classes, but we did okay.
Demon Class was great. They have become, to a severe extent, my boys. They are still a tad frustrating, but I'm not facing a room of strangers--in every corner, there's a kid I love, who will answer if I call him by name. When they got too rowdy what I had to do was go over and--firmly but not upsetedly--pull them off of tables, into chairs, then pull those chairs up to tables.
I used to just sit helplessly while they slumped over everything and wheeled their chairs into unwanted configurations, but now I know I can go and tug one of them by the sleeve until he's in place, or push another one's chair until he's where I'd like.
Byeongjo kept score for me, and he's still doing his joke of calling me "Mr. Leigh". Gimin smiled and said "remembered" when I called him by name. Never would have thought Gimin would care that I knew his name--later, he clicked a slide ahead to get answer when I wasn't looking, then I pretended to strangle him, which actually made him very happy. Jiwoong paid attention and answered a ton of questions. Taehoonie was nearly pulling out his hair, trying to answer questions. Hyungminnie answered a ton, as did Hyunmyeong, and Jeongwook. I still had to pause to get their attention and call them by name, but they responded and we all got along.
At the beginning and the end, we all gathered around my computer and played Cat Mario, a simple game designed to be very frustrating because it's the inverse of Mario games--everything can kill you, and your cat-character just keeps dying over and over as you try to remember where the traps are. They loved it, Youngmin especially, and I so enjoy being at the center of a big knot of kids who are having fun.
Pepper Dongmin came into class for a few minutes. I told him I didn't mind if he stayed. The other guys were trying to tell me that because Dongmin is C-class he has "no IQ," but I told them to stop. Never imagined I'd be defending Dongmin against bullying words!
After class, Baby Minho came up saying, "I love you chocolate!" and I pretended to cry: "You love my chocolate but you don't love me? Ohhhh...ohhhhh..." Sujin actually started hitting Minho pretty hard for making me "cry", though he clearly didn't do any damage. When Minho stepped outside, Sujin slid into his place and said, "I don't just love your chocolate. I love you." I told him I knew. :-)
Sanghwa came running up to me after classes, shrieking, "Chocolate? Chocolate please!" This is the kid who once knocked a piece of candy I gave him into the dirt because he was so upset. But I waved to him to follow me, and he and Tall-Yoonjae got chocolate before they went home. I asked what they wanted for Christmas, and Sanghwa wants an X-box. He looked so excited while he was telling me about it, I could easily picture him as an elementary school kid on Christmas morning.
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