As I was coming up to school, Taehyun slowed down and kicked the snow out of his boots so I could catch up with him. He said hi, then as I wiped away tears generated by the icy wind, I said "I'm crying." He asked 왜요? (why?) and I said "Because it's cold. 춥다." Taehyun is a C-class 2nd-grade kid that I really like and I'm surprised that we get along so well after I blew up at him for calling me Junho's girlfriend the first time we met. He thought the anger was cute though, and after that incident I went out of my way to talk to him when I saw him.
Deokryong saw me in the hall and greeted me joyfully by waving with both hands. It was so sweet. To think that in the first few weeks I knew him, he kept trying to get rid of me so the other boys wouldn't tease him. But now we're each other's favorite people. He told me, "Your desk beautiful!" I don't know if he meant the flowers or the Christmas lights, but I know he approves.
Our soccer field is a blanket of snow.
"Sleigh Bells Ring! Are You Listenin'?"
And our little garden planters of...maybe cabbages? Probably cabbages. Are utterly consumed with whiteness.
This Was Once a Cabbage. Probably.
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11:50 AM: All was good! For 1-3, 1-4 B, I just played them a movie while I did Monopoly with Smart-Eunchan, Baby-Yong, and Taemin, with Jaeson as our banker. They were all up in Monopoly, sooooo enjoying it. Eunchan is such a brain, he was able to help me to explain stuff to the other boys.
The only downside, I thought, was that I wasn't getting a chance to play with Minki, Dongseok, or Sangyeop. But my tiny problem was rectified in a few minutes when Dongseok and Minki came over, asking when this game would be done so they could play. I told them we'd end this game in 5 minutes, then another game could start.
I'm not quite sure how it happened, but while he was waiting for his turn to play, Dongseok held my hand for about 3 minutes. I can't remember if I reached back to pat his hand or if he reached forward to grab something from the board and I stopped him, but there we were; I wound up playing several turns left-handed because Dongseok was holding the right one. This is the kind of thing the kids do with each other, so it's extra sweet--it means I'm part of the school family.
For 2-1, 2-2 B we watched a movie while I played Monopoly with Shotputter-Jinseong, Hyunjoon, and Hyunki with Twin-Seungho as our banker. Poor Hyunki lost all his money within 3 minutes of the first game, and Jinseong won after a run of luck I haven't seen in 30 whole games.
Also, Jinseong insisted on reading his own Chance cards, which most kids just surrender to me instantly because they don't want to bother with the English. Jinseong painstakingly read every Chance card, and he figured out the meaning of half of them on his own. I was so infinitely proud. My gigantic boy is using his brain, and that's great.
HH came into class at the end, and interrupted when I was asking Minseop about what he wanted for Christmas. I said, "You can wait--I am talking to Minseop." He replied, "I AM Minseop!" Logic so ridiculous, you can't argue with it; you can only give it chocolate to make it stop. Later we got to talk about our winter vacation plans. When I said I was headed home for two weeks in January, HH said, "Good for you," and said that he doesn't know what his family is doing for the break.
Saw Soccer-Minwoo and B-class-Seonwoo in the hall, and I'm glad I'm finally getting to be friendly with this particular Minwoo. (I shall add him to my Minwoo collection! Bwahahaha...kidding.) For some reason, even though Soccer-Minwoo is smart and funny and should by rights be one of my favorites, we just never had the right amount of interactions to make for a real connection. But after he asked for an encouragement note during exam week and actually gave him one, that seemed to clinch things for us. Now he smiles when he sees me.
This morning, I greeted 1st-grade Soonhyuk (Sooncheonnie's brother) brightly, and his face just transformed. For anybody, child or grownup, it's nice being appreciated.
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3:30 PM: Lunch was good. We had a sort of bibimbap dish with egg and spam, plus a really filling rice porridge and one of my favorite varieties of kimchi. I finished lunch sooner than usual, so I got in a solid half hour of video-watching with Jeongmin, who was thrilled with the extra time.
Jeongmin is memorizing the name of Reeses' Cups because he wants to be able to buy them in Canada, since you can't get them here. I am these childrens' sole supplier of Reeses goodness. He also reminded me, "Sometime next week, we will say "Merry Christmas" to each other." I'm guessing this means I need to get him a present.
After that, none of my 3rd-graders came by to get me to play with them, so I just wandered around, watching the students snow-fight. At one point, I planted myself at a window on the 2nd floor and just watched the fun going on below. Minseop came by and asked me, "Teacher...why stand here?" I explained to him that I wanted to play in the snow, but none of the other teachers were, so I was just going to watch.
To my own ears, I sounded kind of bleak. But Minseop struck up a further conversation with me, asking where I was from in America and wondering about my Christmas plans and telling me that he was going to California for Christmas. Which doesn't sound possible since we only get one day off for Christmas--maybe he meant he's going to the states for Winter Break, which is longer. Anyhoo, I was grateful to Minseop for the sweet conversation.
2-3, 2-4 B was another movie-watching thingy and I was the banker while Woojae, Jiseung, Sanghwa, and Joonyoung played Monopoly. Sanghwa left the game before it even started, and on a hunch that he wanted to be sought out, I pleaded, "Sanghwa, come back. Please come back." He smiled but didn't move. Then Joonyoung decided to chase him around the room four times and physically haul him back to his spot in the game.
But Sanghwa decided that staying was worth his while, though he and Joonyoung spent the whole game acting like 8-year-olds. Sanghwa is terribly rude, but he was never rude to me specifically, so we were okay. I was glad to sit by him and watch him just being happy for awhile.
When class was over, I was sitting at a desk and putting the Monopoly pieces back up as the kids shuffled in and out of Sam-ban (room 2-3). Byeongyoonie came up behind me for his usual backhug, which happens so often now, I don't even flinch when I get tackled.
Then I had to scurry and get my computer because the boys started changing for PE while I was still in the room. For Pete's sake guys, you could at least give some warning. Some of the 2nd-grade boys have modesty, but nobody in Sam-ban really does so I just kept my head down and got out of there after giving Wooseok his chocolate.
3-7, 3-8, 3-9 B was more of the usual, and I let Seokho, Sungjoon, Jongha and Jieun play while I managed the bank. Seokho looked sleepy and hurt and all kinds of mentally and physically fried when I spotted him at the back of the classroom, but I still beckoned for him to come join the game. He refused for a while, then gave in because it's so nice to be liked and to be sought out.
I wish I could adopt Seokho. Since I'm pretty sure he's the kid with the abusive dad, and since I know for a fact that he often looks exhausted and emotionally drained, I just want to be his mom and feed him stuff and tell him he's worthwhile. Lord, please protect Seokho and guide him.
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5 PM: Back home. :-)
The 3rd-grader who said he was better at English than me (and who said he was stronger, then asked if I wanted to fight him) made another appearance today! He smiled at me on the stairs and said again,
Student: Hello, Teacher. Do you want to fight me?
Me: *laughing* No. No--why would I want to do that?
Student: Do you know Park Jaebeom? Singer?
Me: Yes. [Note: This is the name of the guy who sang "Joah," the song I did for the school festival]
Student: Park Jaebeom is ugly. And he cannot sing!
Me: No, he's handsome! *punches Student's arm*
I lightly punched the boy's arm through his puffy coat because I was clearly meant to defend Park Jaebeom's honor at this point. I can't imagine ever getting in a real altercation over the relative attractiveness of any singer, but the boy was really wanting to make me a little mad, so I complied by playacting some anger. I was laughing the whole time, though.
But how terribly interesting that this kid wanted me to fight him or get mad at him, and when I had no reason to do so, he made up a reason for me to get mad? I got playful, not aggressive vibes from him, so I don't think he's a bad guy.
If I were to guess, he wants to be a favorite, but since I don't teach him, he doesn't know how to get into the inner circle. And there's only so many ways you can get Sem's attention when you only see her for 0.5 seconds as she walks past. Come to think of it, that's what he was probably trying to do with the "I'm better than you at English" and "I'm stronger than you" comments--he was trying to make me mad all along, he just kept picking things I didn't care about.
Jungbok needed the key to English room during cleaning time, so I went up to the 2nd-floor office to get the key for him. Junho was at a nearby desk and would not stop playing with my hair while I searched for the key. Normally I don't mind that sort of thing, but I was trying to find something for Jungbok, trying to greet the brand-new 2nd-grade teacher (I told her she was pretty) and trying to talk to Danhee at the same time. I finally gave Junho a death glare and said, "Would. You. Stop." No, he wouldn't. If my hair is within range, it's going to get played with, and I might as well accept it.
Best thing ever happened on the walk home! I walked with Piano-Jaehyung.
It was leaving time and the kids had all gone away one full class period ago. It's cold and quiet and the sky is gray ("and the sky is gray...I've been for a walk on a winter day...), but when I went by the special needs room, I saw Jaehyung and Joonseong finishing up their afterschool class in cup-stacking (yes, cup-stacking is a sport, here). Joonseong left quickly with one of his caretakers, but Jaehyung stuck around in the room.
I wanted to wait for Jaehyung so we could walk together, since he lives in a giant apartment complex just three blocks from me, but for whatever reason I kept walking, assuming that maybe Jaehyung was going to stay longer for something.
I walked along the cold, gloomy, kid-free path, trying to perk up because I had a really good day, I loved the students, and now it's the weekend. All good reasons to be thankful to God and to be joyful. I kept looking behind me, though, in case Jaehyung might happen along.
Then as I was passing the gas station, I looked back and there was Jaehyung, running and ducking for cover behind stop signs so I wouldn't see him! I called out to him, and then he pulled his coat hood up over his head so that he could still surprise me although I had already seen him. He caught up to me and we linked arms and walked the rest of the fifteen minutes home, singing "Jingle Bells" most of the way.
It was beyond words. It was too wonderful. Jaehyung is the sweetest baby and his company made my cold walk just perfect. We only passed a few people, but they all looked at us like we were crazy. Maybe we're weird--but we are happy. :-)
And I feel like God gave me the walk with Jaehyung as a present. To let me know that He sees me when I get down over little things. I know I'm in the right country and at the right job, and I love my life, but during small moments of weakness I can still feel blue. But the Lord sees. He knows. He sent the sweetest boy at school to go with me so I wouldn't be by myself on the chilly walk, and I think he used me to bless Jaehyung, too. That was a great Christmas moment.
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